Just taboo bustin'. nbd.

      We kids these days have a problem. Outside of the world of instant communication, a lot of us are just reallyyy stupid when it comes to initiating social interaction. I've noticed this from day 1 of class. SO MANY PEOPLE here either a) deliberately stare straight at the ground as they walk, or b) intentionally stare off into the distance as they walk, even if you and that person are the only two people on the sidewalk/ in the classroom. And then if/when the dreaded eye contact is made, the universally known "Ohmygosh-how-awkward-we-looked-at-each-other-I-want-to-curl-up-and-die-of-embarrassment" moment ensues, where they stare right back at the ground & secretly pick up the speed to get away from the horrifying situation. No comprendo. Seriously, we Facebook stalk people we don't even know, but then we can't interact with them when they're physically in our presence? You're a human, I'm a human. We at least have that in common. Let's interact! What happened to social skills? Is making eye contact with a stranger taboo in this world? This happens so often on campus. And it's really gettin to me. So lately I've been trying a little somethin fun: flat-out staring people right in the face till they do the inevitable, secretive last-minute glance and then giving them the most ginormous, brightest smile I can manage. What usually results is always interesting and commonly one of these five reactions:

•  Reaction #1: an expression of extreme awkwardness & evasion of further eye contact
•  Reaction #2: pure confusion and/or other expression that indicates the victim really has no idea what it was that just happened
•  Reaction #3: staring at me with no reaction at all. Yeah... that's always a little uncomfortable.  Jerks.  
•  Reaction #4: a small smile
•  Reaction #5: a big smile, and if they're extra cool, a "Hi!"

      The people who perform the latter reaction are officially dubbed awesome. There needs to be more of them. In fact they should probably just create a club and start teaching people about being human. There are some pretty nice smiles out there, I have to say, but I do appreciate the Reaction #1 and #2 people nonetheless; it gives me a sort of confidence boost to know I can scare the pants off someone just by smiling at them and I find their discomfort thoroughly amusing. So a few of them should stay the same. But who knows, maybe in a few weeks I'll upgrade to a cross-eyed, tongue-out approach & see what happens. We'll see how it goes.