78 - Inappropriate physical contact with strangers in public

Oh, mother.
A minibus (pictured above), a train and a bus are my modes of transport each and every morning. It takes about an hour to get to school if I don't stop for breakfast on the way and provided that the trains don't take too long. Often, on the train, I look at the people. Hongkongers are very unique and altogether, the public is able to create a very diverse and interesting city to live in.


Very frequently, I get inspiration for this blog while on the train, but I have to say, today's topic upset me so much more than anything else and would definitely go in my top ten list of pet peeves (if I made one).

One day, around a year ago, I had had a relatively abysmal day at school due to a lot of repetitive nudging of my chair from behind and a great deal of watching people fidgeting in class. Also, someone had just sent me an impromptu invitation to see a movie, which I couldn't possibly go to, because I had promised I'd go help my mother pick out hideous Crocs. Of course, the turnstile was obstructed by some dumb ol' kid as I approached it to enter the train station.

It was the afternoon/evening rush hour where everybody's finished work/school and so the train station and incidentally the train were really, really crowded. And that's when the, uh, in appropriate physical contact happened.

So, the doors of the train open and I join in with the mass of people surging into the train, filling up as much space as possible inside the train compartment. The doors closed and I am stuck there, completely immobile except for my ability to turn and tilt my head perhaps.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see the guy standing on my right, who has his chest and stomach pressed up against my side. He was in a student's uniform, probably 18 or 19, wore thick black frames and had lots of acne on his face. He was disgusting, not because of his looks, but because of his acne, and he also had a thin layer of dandruff sprinkled all over his head. (And just as an aside, I am superficial like that when it comes to appearances, at least on first impression when I'm around strangers who have their entire torso in close contact with my arm.)

I was quite repulsed by this man, because of his uncleanliness, and I could see that there was space behind him which he could have stepped into instead. So, I subtlety shouldered him to encourage him to take a step back, but no, no, this guy wouldn't budge and he had intentions of, uh, touching me. In fact, after I nudged him, he moved even closer towards me, with his left leg then touching my right. He was purposefully rubbing his body against mine and slyly disguising his movements as leaning so as to counteract the train's moving, but I was not fooled. He was being particularly physical with purpose.

I pushed him a second time, this time more obviously, obvious enough that any stranger who may not have been in the know would have backed away. He knew what he was doing, and he resisted the pressure I put on to him. And that's when I felt his ... excitement on my leg. This guy was humping my leg.

I was so in shock, at least initially. I didn't think people actually did that. I waited until we reached the next stop.

The train arrived at my station and came to a halt and just as quickly as the influx took, the outflow of people speedily stepped off the train one by one and just as the pervert was reaching his climax, God forbid, I turned toward him, swore at him and used all the force I could gather to shove him—hard. He lost his balance and gravity pulled him to the floor. He probably went into momentary shock too and perhaps took a while to look up, but how would I know ... I was gone.

If any of you are about to say I'm mean ... keep in mind that I felt his erection on my leg. ;)

10 - Dominating conversations

So obviously, yesterday's post was a bit of a joke. Some people around me do consider me to be a bit too talkative, but I don't think so. For those that didn't catch on yet, I was delibirately writing a short entry yesterday in protest to these wild accusations. I guess now I'll talk about yesterday's and today's at the same time, as they are somewhat similar.

I find people who talk too much, and people who dominate conversations, both annoying, but of course, only when I'm not the one doing the talking, or the dominating. They're different, but the people who talk too much and the people who overpower others in conversations, both have a set of commonalities: a compulsive uncontrollable need to talk, a fair amount of creativity, some irritability brought about by silence, a dash of pride, and most of all, no awareness whatsoever. I'm glad to say that I have recently tried to cut back on talking more than others.

Just to clarify the difference between the two. When you're around a person that 'talks too much', you participate in the conversation too. It's just that their points are really, really long. You experience a surplus in the amount you'd like to know about them, and it's often what we call 'verbal diarrhea' (...mmm). On the other hand, when you're around a person that 'dominates the conversation', you are incapable of joining in the conversation, because their statements are either very loud, or very bold and almost always interruptive. It's like large, unusual, and abrupt diarrhea.

At rare times though, people will actually listen to a conversational dominator like me, but at other times, they're either:
(1) nodding their head at me every two seconds,
(2) laughing for no reason,
(3) asking me "then what happened?" when I've already finished my story,
(4) falling asleep and if I'm lucky, they'll drool, or
(5) they're staring at me with a blank face, which always makes me incredibly uncomfortable, because I think they're picturing me naked (which I really hope is not true) (and there's that creativity I talked about earlier) (...and pride). As you may observe by this list, conversational dominators can get annoyed at all the incessant nodders, the erratic laughers and the possible perverts too! But we probably deserve it for pressing our own lives on to others so much.

I remember a time where I was on the other end of the conversation spectrum, the end where I get talked over and subdued, that is. Since I couldn't possibly make this guy shut up, I took the liberty to observe him and his 'listeners'. The 'listeners' really do drool. And he really is completely unaware that nobody is listening. He was talking about... cars... or stars... I wasn't really sure. I remember it was boring. I also remember several of us trying to speak up, but he would just go on and on. He just wouldn't listen to any of us. It's like diarrhea all over the place.

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, I'm trying to cut back on talking so much. I don't like seeming insensitive and self-involved. It is strange though. Recently, my friends have been calling me up, starting conversations with me online, finding me at school to talk more often. When you shut up, do people finally notice you've been a lil' quiet? In fact, I used to talk so much that I've had people ask me to fill in the silences when topics are lacking. Guess what?

I hate that too, and that's another story.

So do you hate people that dominate conversations? Is it even possible to convince them not to dominate conversations (refer to blog number 5)? Do you consider 'verbal diarrhea' to be a very vulgar phrase? And how are all of you readers out there? Just thought I might ask you all these questions. I wouldn't want to come across as if I'm talking too much, eh?