tavie.com

Was waiting on the subway platform at 23rd for the train to school today, and reading my book. Someone taps me on the shoulder and steps in front of me. She goes, "Are we related?"

I'm stunned, and sort of stare blankly for a second, and then I see a young woman, around my age I guess, and she's waving her ponytail in my face. Her hair is as long as mine.

So I say, "Wow!"

And then she just starts TALKING to me and we're on the subway platform TALKING. She's looking at the Borg-cube pin on my collar that Rynn gave to me. She says, "Are you going to [something something]-Con this weekend?"

I say, "Oh, no, this was a gift." Meaning, you know, I'm not THAT Sci-fi-y. I'm not a Con-going type. Gosh, no.

And we're talking some more and she's telling me about how her cat lives at her boyfriend's house in Long Island because she's not allowed to have cats, and since my F's not here she'll wait with me since she's on her way to Penn station, and do I have any pets?

Funny thing is, it wasn't at all hard to talk to her. She had that kind of... I don't know how else to describe it, but it's a sort of mannerism that a lot of, let's call them Sci-Fi fans, have, where they're talking to you but they're not really looking at you, but they're really friendly? And it was a language I sort of understood (although I myself was drilled by therapists from an early age to look people in the eye when I talk to them.)

And she asked where I was going and I told her the name of my school, and she said that she's familiar with it because she lives on Roosevelt Island.

Hello!

So then we had way too much in common, so we ended up exchanging phone numbers.

Isn't that funny! Her name is Janice.

It's really not that hard to talk to strangers... but imagine, I wore my hair down today instead of in a ponytail, which I never do, just because it's spring and I wanted to feel my hair flapping around my hips, and if I hadn't I wouldn't have met this strange, endearing person.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 11:28 PM | shower me with attention