Interpersonal Overload and the "Rules of Oggling a Stranger"

Let me introduce you the very first guest on BTVT: If you don't already know who my dear friend Constance Culver is, then I suggest you check her out: http://poetrysuperhighway.com/ppa503.html#fp1....you're going to have to cut and paste that until I figure out how to make links

You may have fiured Connie was a poet with her comment on yesterday's blog. She's always had a way with words. And since she is probably my only viewer at this time, I am indeed going to touch on the "Rules of Oggling a Stranger"- hey, isn't it sweeps or something? i need to give my audience what they want...

Connie, I don't have a list of rules yet, but let deconstruct your train ride occurance in the meatime:

While there is no Wikipedia entry for "Staring" or "Oggling" I did come across an entry for "Eye Contact" which led me to the term "Gaze Aversion," which seems like what this boy was trying to do. "Looking at faces is quite mentally demanding. We get useful information from the face when listening to someone, but human faces are very stimulating and all this takes processing. So when we are trying to concentrate and process something else that's mentally demanding, it's unhelpful to look at faces." So says some British Doctor. Which could explain why people (or the fethcing young thing in this case) avoid, or are uncomfortable with eye contact. This leads me to my next bit of research

It is possible you and this lad were subjects of a sociological phenomenon called "Interpersonal Overload." It turns out there are several studies where sociologists have observed the eye contact between strangers on trains. It turns out that strangers on urban trains are far less likely to make eye contact than those on suburban trains. "Gaze Aversion" is merely a method of adapting to one's urban environment.... basically, urbanites avoid too much eye contact in order to thwart off chronic headaches trying to focus on too many faces in one day....

In your case, I wish I could rule out the possibilty that this guy was "overloaded," How could anyone avoid your cute little face standing out against the sea of New Yorkers? How ever, there is too much evidence to support the theory.

Like I said, Connie, I don't have a list yet. While eye contact may be overwhelming or intimidating, it is still necessary for landing those "fetching young things" But, perhaps there is a better approach to oggling, in case you ever happen to be on a very long train ride back into the city

Stay tuned.....

Becky's TV Television

Hi Ya'll
Some of you may know about my talk show called "Becky's TV Television"
For those of you who don't, let me give you some background:
When I was little (in age, not size) I used to pretend I was the host of my own talk show. I only did this whenever I would take a shower. I would imagine that I was (clothed) talking into the camera that was (imaginarily) placed in the side wall of the shower. The guests on my talkshow would usually be my crush (also clothed)...at that time is was usually Ted. I can't remember what we talked about....
To this day my love of gossip, I mean, talking to people, and also Oprah are the reasons I still daydream about one day having my very own talk show. Ideally, it would be broadcast on Philadelphia's Lasalle 56, but I already wrote them and they told me I have to be a part of the faculty, staff member, or a student. Im not going back to college...
Alas, its 2:22 am, I have a strange TB like cough that is keeping me from sleep, and just to create this blog on a whim. Hopefully, I will one day really have my own talk show. But in the meantime, please feel free to e-mail with "Show" topics.
So, here's to some shocking paternity tests, riveting washed-up celebrity interviews, freakshows, conversations with The Other Side, triple cheating boyfriends (who may just be girlfriends), and my original segment entitled "The Former Crush Segment"
I love redundancy
Happy Reading
Happy TV
I love redundancy