BOOK AND MUSIC

[drunken dragon]

PEOPLE WHO TALK TO ME WHILE I AM READING A TEXTBOOK AND WEARING HEADPHONES AND SITTING BY MYSELF AND MAKING NOTES.
WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM EXACTLY.
STOP ASKING ME WHAT I PLAN TO DO WITH MY LIFE WHEN I GRADUATE. I AM STUDYING.
MY ANSWER IS ABOUT TO BE "SERIAL KILLER."

[LunchBox]

Ahaha I hate when people do this. I've considered making a textbook cover or else a sign on the back of my net book that says "leave me the fuck alone".

[helium]

Dear God I fucking hate that so much! You're sitting there clearly involved in stuff, often with tons of notes and books spread out around you, and people still feel the need to come up to you and fucking make small talk. There was one dude at my community college who did it ALL THE FUCKING TIME, he was a super creeper and the best way to make him appear was for me to get really immersed in whatever I was doing an put my headphones on. It was like a fucking summoning charm or something.

[Bork]

That is so annoying!! Why can't people see that you clearly don't want anything to do with anyone else, and just leave you the hell alone??

I hate it when I'm on the bus and I have my headphones on and am doing everything I can to exude "leave me alone" vibes and people try to talk to me.


Also, I just realized that the title is "Book and Music" not "Booze and Music." Makes a lot more sense as book...

[drunken dragon]

I mean generally people have enough sense not to do it in a library. But our library doesn't have coffee and biscuits (my preferred study snacks), so I go to a 24/7 breakfast joint. Which is instantly a mistake because then some trucker or homeless guy starts offering me their wisdom regarding college/careers/life and I'm like "Can't you see I'm trying to MAKE MYSELF SMARTER OVER HERE?!"

I'm just going to hop on Spreadshirt one of these days and make a tee that says:

I AM AN ENGLISH MAJOR
NO I DON'T WANT TO TEACH
I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I WANT TO DO
I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK
I'M STUDYING RIGHT NOW
LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE

[Storage and Disposal]

Yeah, I run into this from time to time. Or, equally irritating, I'll be in a situation where I have to concentrate on the road and my mom will be, "Hey, look at that! What's that? Over there. Do you know what that is?"

[monk]

But I'm bored. I forgot my book or I don't feel like reading right now. I save music for when I'm at home because when I'm out in public, part of what I want to do is interact with people. Our culture is changing in that everyone is isolating themselves in their own little sensory worlds where they eschew human contact. I don't like it, I don't think it's healthy and I am advocating against it. If you're in a library or something working, yes, I will leave you alone, but if you're just ipodded up while we're both on the bus/waiting in line/in the elevator, be prepared to engage in some human interaction.

I promise to try not to be creepy about it and if you politely tell me to go away, I will,but I'm going to try.

Also, when I do strike up an interesting conversation with my single serving friend on the bus, you ipod people always listen in and pay attention to it. I call foul at this behavior, I see you listening.

and introduce yourself to your neighbors and give them some motherfucking cookies sometime even if you have to buy some and pass them off as yours.

[rowan]

^I think just listening to music is different from reading a book and/or studying.

Anyway even on the morning commute when I'm not reading or listening to music, I really hate when people try to talk to me.

Look, I haven't even had my coffee yet and you're trying to get me to talk to you? Go away! Bleh. I'll interact with people when I want to. Which is not on the bus. Or when I'm obviously doing work in the coffee shop. It's not being antisocial, you're just trying to have a cuppa coffee and a snack and get work done at the same time.

[Sonic#]

I AM AN ENGLISH MAJOR
NO I DON'T WANT TO TEACH
I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I WANT TO DO
I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK
I'M STUDYING RIGHT NOW
LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE

Even better, make it a poem:
AN ENGLISH MAJOR
IS GONNA LEARN YO SAUCE ASS
SOME GRAMMAR, YOU CUR.

BUT THAT AIN'T MEANIN'
THEY HAVE TO TEACH, JUST LIKE YOU
DON'T HAVE TO ASS-UME.

I don't get regularly approached when I'm feeling unsociable, and suspect it is, at least in part, related to people reading women as more approachable and available in public settings. I could see getting bugged if it happened regularly.

[Wes]

I only really study in public when I have a test or something coming up that I know I'm not prepared for. For one thing, I'm extremely unapproachable at these times because I look half-dead/hungover/homeless. For another thing, they'd have to break through my Monster Assault Energy Drink Barrier.

[Rainbow Dolphins]

All my classmates are really dependent on me to help them, so when I need to get some studying done I literally have to HIDE. Sometimes they still find me in the library. One time, I sat at a table in the library and intentionally spread my shit ALL over the table so no one would sit down, got out my calculator, and was CLEARLY working (not just reading, but like, pen and paper working) and I had my headphones on, and they are black headphones and I wear a white jacket so it was SO CLEAR. But this kid from my class walked in to the library, saw me and made a fucking beeline for me without even hestitating. Asked me for notes from a class, I only took one headphone out to talk to him, gave him the notes and IMMEDIATELY put my headphone back in and continued working, thinking he would leave. NO. Cue 15 minutes of smalltalk. I have also had to respond to any question with "I am studying right now" and refuse to answer anybody until I finish studying, so they would not talk to me. And I mean, this is like, a whole group of people swarming over me any time I sit down in a common area these days. It's a terrible problem.

[drunken dragon]

Monk. When I am face down in a textbook it's obviously not okay to walk up like "WHATCHA DOIN'" because the answer is PRETTY OBVIOUS. When I'm on a plane or in line or whatever, yes, bring on the single-serving friends. But book = I am fucking busy. Don't tell me to socialize, punk. When I'm not STUDYING, that's all I do.

Wes. How did you know what my entire sophomore year looked like.

[Tookie]

Yeah, strangers striking up conversation doesn't really happen in either of the two Canadian cities I've lived in, although I can't speak for rural Canada. Or the Maritimes. I bet folks in the Maritimes are chatty. Anyway, I was kind of weirded out by it when I visited the States. So many more people are totally content to just talk your ear off. It's kind of great.

Clearly the solution is to do your studying in Canada.

[Mathmo]

Clearly the solution is to do your studying in Canada.

Or England. People here are really good about shutting up and letting you get on with whatever you're doing. (Or rather, not interrupting you or talking to you in the first place!)

[anonymousrabbit]

Or England. People here are really good about shutting up and letting you get on with whatever you're doing. (Or rather, not interrupting you or talking to you in the first place!)

See, I was always told to expect that in England, but I tended to attract people like moths to a flame. People would randomly come up and talk to me, and I very regularly got invited over for dinner by complete strangers ("I'll put a roast on for you!"). In northern England and Scotland, I even stop traffic, but that's something else entirely!