ain't just a river in Egypt." ~Mark Twain
This morning I was sitting on the steps of Whole Foods eating my leftover dinner from the previous night as breakfast. As I sat there observing passerby's and the comments they made I looked up at the large apartment building across the street. The morning sun provided enough light for me to see into their windows and I scanned over a majority of the windows and into what little part of the interior I could see. I finally spotted life in one of them- a man with a slight beer gut on the phone, but as soon as I could spot him he turned away from the window. A few floors above him though was a lady in a pink shirt- also walking away from the window as I saw her.
I couldn't help but to wonder if those people observe people down here on the streets, such as myself, as I observe them. My thoughts are that they're lucky to be in those rooms with their wide screen, plasma, possibly 3-d TV (Though so far 3-D hasn't impressed me too much..mom loves it though). My thoughts are also how much it costs to be in those rooms and are they happy to live there.
When they look down at the world do they think that they're better than the others who don't live like they do? or simply "man I'm lucky to be here"? or "Those people are lucky they don't have to do my job/live the life I do/worry about the next bill" (though if you couldn't afford to live there in the first place why'd you move there? and why don't you enjoy your job? {if you're wealthy enough to afford what I think is a pricey room, can't you learn to do what you love and make a living off of that? but life has so many obstacles that it could prevent them from doing so. or they don't want to take the risk..} there's nothing much I can say about the life part, I think we all at some point or another wish we had a different life no matter how blessed we are at the moment to be living the one we have).
I also wonder if they think living in that large glass covered building is better than the one made of regular building materials. TV shows, movies and others personal experience with the common apartments have us imagining leaky roofs, rowdy neighbors, odd smells coming from somewhere, cockroaches/other varmints, or if you're really lucky a serial killer next door (unless you live on the set of Friends..but even then some drama can happen). But I can imagine that even in a nice building that costs a lot of money you can still manage to come across the same things (maybe not the cockroaches....that might depend on your lifestyle though- if you keep your place a pigsty I imagine you might gain some creepy crawly friends).
Maybe if they do have rowdy neighbors it's socially acceptable because if they live in a place that costs a lot of mula then they must be "sexeh" people just having a good time with their fellow hotties. For all you know you could find one of these fine looking folks in your hallway the next morning passed out, and you (you good samaritan you) could assist them finding their way back to said hotties- then, bam! You're in the scene of hot, rich people. Ka-ching. But that's just a silly thought of mine aha.
On the part of leaky roofs, there's bound to be a leak at somepoint- maybe not near your room if you may be so lucky, but...somewhere in that building, there's sure to be a leak.
What life is like in the glass-cloaked buildings, I don't know. Maybe a mellow, down-to-earth person resides within those walls, a lawyer who sends that good guys to jail for a check of a certain price, a simple hard working person who has spent half (or less or more) of their lives to get there, a single who inherited some money from dear aunt ruth who hopes to find love there, a rich brat who got kicked out of the mansion for partying one to many times, a man whose wife just divorced him so now he's going to live large, an old lady who just wants to look out the window every day and see as far as those eyes can see, a businessman who works overseas and only comes home every other week, a serial killer.
You never know what lurks behind some else's doors no matter how little or many times you've seen inside it or been inside. There's a secret part that you'll never see no matter what.
After staying at school late into the night I still enjoy stopping at the very top of the Whole Foods steps and looking up at that building. I see dark rooms, lit rooms, dark rooms with the TV flashing images at those tired brains, and I smile because even though I'm not in that fancy building that can see out into the distance I know that I'm happy where I am with life (also, there might be a rush because I can see into their rooms like a creeper aha). I might have to worry about paying for college next year and other common ordeals such as that, but....I'm happy and I'm fine with living in my dorm with a water stained roof, mysterious red lint-like dust that keeps appearing in the bathroom, and neighbors next door who like staying up late saying "ohmygod" over and over again at some youtube video. I am secure and happy when I go to bed at night with my earplugs snugged in tight and when I close my eyes I know that tomorrow will come with the rising sun, blaring ambulances in the city of Seattle and cyclists whizzing by.
Time to stop procrastinating my essays now I guess. Here's a rough animation that makes me somewhat laugh at it's silliness
Unicorn vs. Narwhal
~Alex
