i read over my previous entry on compartmentalization and realized that i kind of got one tracked with it. by that i mean that i got onto one single track and didn’t really go into some of the other things that i wanted to. i mostly concentrated on how we compartmentalize time, and how we feel the need to know when we are. i also really wanted to go into how we compartmentalize people. this is something that i know i did a lot when i was much younger, but i can definately say that wisdom has tempered me. now when i look at someone i might think they fit into a category (geek, professional, whatever) but i don’t pigeonhole them into that place as being where they actually are, i look at it more like an “i would guess this is what they do, or what they are like, but you can’t really judge someone by how they look”. sometimes i’ll do it when i ride the light rail to or from work. i’ll spend a whole leg of my journey just watching people who get on and off and ride the train. guessing what they do, where they’re going, etc. when 4 adults get on herding 12 kids and they’re all wearing uniforms, it’s not hard to guess that they’re getting off at the children’s discovery museum, or great america. other people are harder. sometimes, more and more often lately, i’ll catch myself and think “tom, you don’t like to be labelled, so why are you trying to label other people?” and that makes me open my eyes even more to people. i’ll look over people that are sitting and think about not just what their job might be, but what do they do in their spare time? what makes them who they are? where did they come from? what do they want to be doing? do they like their job? hate it? why do they take the train instead of driving or biking? do they have to, or just like it, like me? and then i think more about how people in general really need to put people into categories, or compartments. they need to know where someone fits in their world view. if you meet someone and think you know a bit about them, and then suddenly they do something totally out of character of where you *think* they should be, or what you *think* they should be doing, we’re astonished. an example could be: i’m riding the train and a guy gets on, clothes all ragged, smelling of booze, unwashed, sits down, reaches into his bag and pulls out a brand new ibook and starts coding. sure, maybe not totally unusual in san jose, where anyone might be holding up a ‘will code for food’ sign, but in general, that could really throw someone for a loop. frequently i’ve wondered why we find ourselves labelling people from an early age. then i wonder how people label me? arrogant? geek? slacker? freak? do the labels people put on me have an effect on how i see myself? then that leads me down the slippery slope of how i see myself, and like a lot of others, i was tormented in high school and don’t have a very good self-image. i’m not going to go down that path since that’s an entry or two all unto itself. enough rambling.

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