City Sights - How Much Is That Thing In the Window?

I was walking down the street, and I literally had to stop and take a step back to realize what was going on in these window displays.  This happened twice...in two different areas of the city.

This new store in the neighborhood is a weird
combination of kitchy home decoration items and
used furniture.
A bunny cart, though? It's not even big enough to ride on.
A great addition to any Easter display..or something.
Allston, MA
March 2011

Sorry for the crap quality. But really, it was whatever
graffiti on the window that made it difficult to see.
In the window display of a Tibetian restaurant,
these are yaks!
Yakity Yak..don't talk back!
Cambridge, MA
March 2011

Moral Lessons Outside My Office Door

Being that our office at work is somewhat centrally located, we get a lot of strange experiences.

We also have a window that overlooks the gym, and that often leads to random people entering our office - usually without asking - just to look in the window.  "I'm just checking to see if my kids are there."  "I'm just looking for this one teacher."  But never, "Excuse me, is it alright if I look through the window really quick?"

The other day, I was placing something in a mailbox, and I made the mistake of leaving our office door open.  As I turned around, a teacher peeks to see if someone's in the office and walks right in.

"Umm..excuse me??" I asked to no avail.  The teacher looks into the window and say, "I'm just making sure my kids are all there."  Then he walked out.  I don't even talk to this man.  He's not even a teacher in the school we're part of, but of the school we share the building with.

If I were to do that in that man's office, I'd be yelled at.

Then, there are the random things you'll hear in the hallway.

In previous years, one of my coworkers overheard the principal telling kids that she was sent there by god to be the principal.  I mean, don't get me wrong.  I understand the whole "I have a calling" thing, I really do.  But how appropriate is it, really, to tell kids that in a public school system?

Sometimes, it's teachers yelling at little kids about ridiculous things.  Yes, there's yelling.  People don't want to believe that their kids are getting yelled at even though they're in the 1st grade.  But it happens.  And usually about stupid things like staying in a straight line, or fidgeting, or crying about something.

I forget that we're training the kids to be soldiers.  Wait...we're not?  Well, YOU tell the teachers that.  I don't want to get yelled at.

Sometimes, it's teachers sharing their bit of wisdom to little perplexed kids.  I just overheard a teacher asking their Kindergartener what they would do if they saw money on the ground.  The kid first said they would leave it alone, but then they realized that they would pick it up.  After being asked why, the kid said that they would be able to buy stuff with it.  But the teacher decided that the moral lesson of the day was that they should give it to any adult who's nearby, because it might be theirs.

Personally, while I think it would be good to look around and to see if someone nearby might have dropped some money or even to ask a cashier if it's near the register, there's something to be said about not feeling guilty for finding and keeping something someone lost.  Really, that child would probably give the money to their parent anyway, seeing that he probably won't be going on random mall trips by himself.

If a child approached you and asked if that dollar bill (of whatever amount) was yours, what would you do?  If that child was yours and they picked up a dollar bill (of whatever amount), would you want to find it's rightful owner?

Tempting, eh?

Now, let me tell you a little story.

When I was younger, my parents taught me never to pick up anything off the ground.  Nothing.  It's dirty, who knows where it came from, blah blah blah.  Then one day, after walking out of church, I was with my uncle and there was a $20 bill on the ground.  Now, I was told not to pick up anything off the ground.  So I didn't.  But when my uncle caught sight of it, some other adult reached for it and claimed it as their own.  I was reprimanded for not picking it up. 

So, if I'm going to take away any lesson from being part of an outside agency in a public school setting, it's that you should make sure to check your morals before going around and sharing them with other people's children.

Window Watching

Hi, my name is Cecilia, and I'm nosey.

But hey, I think you might also be nosey, seeing that you're reading about random bits of my life.

So, the way I look at it, if it's evening, night time, the sun has set, you have your indoor lights on, AND your blinds/shades/curtains are wide open, you're basically asking for someone to peer into your window.

I don't really want to catch anyone doing something bad or disgusting.  In truth (I swear!!), I just like seeing how people are using their time and how they've decorated.  I especially like to see what other people are watching on t.v.  I've never actually sat there and looked through another person's open window.  Mainly, I've just been walking down the street and catch glimpses.

Because of this, the boyfriend has insisted that I watch Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window."

"Rear Window" features James Stewart and Grace Kelly

Truth be told, I had never seen it.  But May 1st officially became Rear Window day.

The day started like any normal Saturday.  I wake up easy, head to pilates, and go back home to prepare for whatever might be happening including doing absolutely nothing.  On this particular Saturday, we made plans to chill with friends later that night, but the rest of the day was open.

So, the boyfriend suggested that I finally watch "Rear Window."  Within the first 20 minutes, I fall absolutely in love with the movie.  Firstly, Hitchcock's cinematography and direction are amazing.  Secondly, the set was impressive for that time.  Thirdly, look at all the windows to watch!!!

Even when the movie was over, and we were on our way to meet our friends for dinner, I was still praising the film.

After dinner, we went to our friend's apartment and checked out their roof deck.  They have an amazing view of Boston and the river, and I virtually invited myself to their 4th of July Party.

On one side, however, their roof deck faces a bunch of buildings.  As we peered into one of the buildings with many, many windows, they tell me that it's actually one of the local university dorms that we're looking at.  I tell them all about watching "Rear Window," and they said that the most they ever saw was an attempt at getting laid with a girl who was too busy cleaning her room.

So, we're laughing, drinking some beers, watching some college kids in their rooms and lounges.  On the top most floor, two folks were studying.  One floor down, some dude was sitting on his bed, watching t.v.  Another floor down, there was an empty lounge with several people walking through the hallway.  Then we saw the next floor down.

Just to review:
Top Lounge
Boy's Bedroom
Another Lounge
Girl's Bedroom

A girl was practicing a dance, facing her wide open window.  I'm assuming that she was dancing facing the window because there was a reflection.  But why did she feel the need to then take her shirt off in that same location?

My friend and I nearly fell over the railing laughing our butts off!  We called the other people in our group over, but the moment was gone.  The girl disappeared into a separate area that had its blinds down.

Maybe 15 minutes later, after more laughing, we noticed 3 guys in the lounge above the dancing queen's floor.  One of them proceeded to start dancing on top of one of the tables, while another one started booty dancing on a chair, and the third was tapping a beat on a wall.

Amazing!!!

They also soon disappeared into a different part of the building.

Alas, the top two floors were less exciting.  The most we saw was the guy had friend's visit, then he changed his shirt and left.  Clearly, we pushed out luck with two different floors.

No, actually, as I type this, I'm remembering that the girl eventually reappeared with another girl.  The same girl then proceeded to take her shirt of AGAIN, but facing away from the window this time

But that was really it.

I couldn't believe how the day turned out!  Now, obviously, I didn't take any picture of it and I'm not saying which college it was.  While I'm sure the "right" thing to do would be to turn away, but again, these people's windows are wide open.  They live in a neighborhood with other tall buildings, of which I'm sure they're perfectly aware of during the day time.

But it just blew my mind to think of the variety of things that were occurring in the same building, and we were the voyeurs.  To think that the occupants are doing normal and not so normal things, but they live completely unaware of all the other things occurring just one floor away.

It was a great way to start the month.  And it will definitely make me more conscious of who's looking down at me and what I'm doing when the blinds are up.

This is what my neighbors see.