Random encounters

[pphaneuf]

Yesterday, picked up one of my favourite people at the bus station. Nothing quite like getting this fidgety feeling, as one bus arrives, no, it's the Ottawa bus, another bus arrives, nope, not that one either... Oh, here it is! And finally hugging her as she disembarked. It was a very nice evening, and I smiled a lot.

As she spent some time with other people today, I went around downtown on St-Laurent, in the McGill ghetto and on the campus, doing some street photography. It had been so long I did that, I hardly remember how to do it. In fact, couldn't do much of it. Taking pictures of strangers from up close (this is with a slightly wide angle lens, no sneaking up on people from afar!) is so difficult for someone as shy as me (which is one of the reasons I took this up in the first place). I try to have the people sort of notice me, giving them a chance to tell me to not take photos. There was this girl writing postcards on a bench, she was so concentrated on her writing, I had to actually interrupt her to ask her permission orally. Not easy for a shy boy like me. Thankfully, she accepted and plunged herself right back into her writing, so I got what I wanted.


Girl on a bench on the McGill campus

While driving there, a peculiar thing (for me, anyway!) happened. I had just stopped at a traffic light on Pine, and was idly looking around, when I saw a cute girl on the roof of a McGill building. As I saw her, she saw me, and I saw her smile and look at me from all the way up there. I smiled back, and her smiled widened some more. I'm usually completely oblivious to people checking me out, and as she was sort of cute, it seems we have both made each others day. :-)

Comments

[pphaneuf.livejournal.com]

I'm disablingly shy at times. I have somewhat odd concepts of things that I would be shy of, which does confuse people sometimes (like you were), but stopping and talking to a complete stranger, all by myself, is extremely difficult and almost disabling at times.

[gregorama.livejournal.com]

I think in that respect we may be similar. I tend not to notice someone admiring me unless it's completely and glaringly obvious. Otherwise I'm just blind as a bat.

[pphaneuf.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know a few people with this same affliction, that favourite person I saw this weekend being one of them! :-)