random

[jethrien]

On the train yesterday, the guy sitting next to me interrupted me while I was reading my book to inform me that he was a palm reader, and that I had two lines at my wrist, which meant that I was lucky.

I am not sure what I was supposed to do with this information. (I said thank you and pointedly went back to my book.)

After all - what good does it do you to know that you are lucky? Other than, perhaps, to question whether everything you have is just from luck and not from hard work/being a good person/something that you can vaguely control. I mean, I guess being told that you have a long lifeline would help you relax about mortality, or having a short one might make you live in the moment. But what am I supposed to do, go out and buy a lottery ticket?

It just seemed a very odd thing to say to a stranger.

(And by the way - if he was hitting on me? Even creepier. This guy was easily 30 years my senior. He also didn't bother me again, thank goodness.)

Weird.

Comments

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

But what am I supposed to do, go out and buy a lottery ticket?

Sure, why not? If you win, it's a good story, and if you lose, you're just out a dollar :) Get an instant win scratch-off type ticket to increase your odds of making it a good story.

I used the same reasoning and bought an instant win ticket right after getting assigned an office action on a patent for a method of printing instant win tickets. Sadly, I didn't win.

So far, I've generally had good experiences with random strangers talking to me on the subway. The last one wanted info on the DS Lite (I was playing Phoenix Wright 3 at the time), and clearly picked the right person :)

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I have had good stranger interactions as well, but I'm going to guess that you, as a man, probably don't get hit on by random creepy members of the opposite sex all that much. And knowing they might be hitting on you can make all interactions with strangers creepy.

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

This is entirely true.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Especially creepy strangers old enough to be your father.

[lithoglyphic.livejournal.com]

This is, in a nutshell, the number one thing I didn't expect about being on my own at twenty-three in a large city. And it sucks. It makes my life that much less interesting.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

Random strangers generally don't talk to me in the subway, except occasionally to ask the time or if the train stops at a particular station. Perhaps I'm off-putting unless you need practical advice.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I think most people find women more approachable than men for random stranger conversations.

I did have a guy ask me about the book I was reading once. Could have been trying to hit on me - at least he was my age. But I vaguely remember the book having a really wacky title (which I now forget), which may have also just prompted enough curiuosity for the guy to ask.

I almost made a comment to a guy reading a Green Lantern TPB the other day. Just because there aren't many people willing to read comics in the subway.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Have you seen Match Point? "I'd rather be lucky than good..."

[jeths-mom.livejournal.com]

Two observations. 1. Either that creepy guy has been traveling subways on the east coast for years making that same comment, or you and I (having similar wrists, I assume) truly do have some kind of lines that, in palm reading jargon, indicate luck. Because the exact same thing happened to me a couple of years ago in Philadelphia.
2. Your dad always talks to strangers everywhere, regardless of age or sex. Sometimes I worry that people will think he's a creepy old guy, especially when I'm not there to moderate with my wifely presence. So, when strange men talk to me on trains, etc., I try to give them the benefit of the doubt unless they pursue the conversation for longer than makes me comfortable.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know. But it was such a non-sequitor, really. If he'd been hitting on me, at least that would have been more of an explanation.

[jeths-mom.livejournal.com]

Maybe they expect you to become intrigued with their palm reading skills and then they get to ask you to pay for the consultation.