Learn from the mistakes of others

so, while i sat waiting for a friend today, i took the opportunity to watch people. again.

are so many people really so unaware of how they look to others? or don't they care? particularly when so many insist on putting so much faith in their ability to assess others on first appearances.

sitting here, in the middle of the cbd, watching people wander by wearing whatever the hell. i'm not sure what is sillier, the way some of these people dress (apparently some of this ;is the "latest" fashion??) or the way they are acting.

in the last few years, there has been an increasing trend for teenagers to ape their american counterparts. at least, ape what they see of them in popular media. and i have to say that it strikes me as absurd to see wealthy white australian kids dressing up and acting like gangsta rappers, and hangin' as if they're in some hood or whatever. they just look like dickheads. [especially the way they fling their hands around and shit.]

anyway. i am sitting here, watching people. body language, clothing, whatever. some obviously belong to identifiable social groups. the wannabe gangstas, the bogans, the 'pretty girls' ... [i should point out that most final year high school students are out and about now coz their schooling has finished for the year.]

it is fascinating to watch what people consider to be appropriate/acceptable behaviour in public. who they seek attention from, and how they go about getting it. i can only guess at why, though for some it appears obvious. peer group prestige, or a sense of self-affirmation.

so, this leads me to think about how i look and act in public.

it seems to me, that the less self-conscious you are about how you look and how you act, the more natural you appear to others. and this seems to equate with attractiveness, or at least, more appealing. [at least to those people that i want to try to impress/attract :grin:]

there is also the element of what one is wearing, but i think a lot is covered by how comfortable you are wearing whatever-it-is that you are wearing. i know that i find a confident woman attractive. and a woman who appears to be comfortable in whatever-it-is that she is wearing certainly gets my attention. and i will admit that i find neat casual more appealing than some of the 'thrown together' concoctions that seem to be fashionable at the moment. mind you, i suspect this represents an age divide as much as anything. and perhaps a desire to be with (other) professionals.

i miss being with my peers. my real, intellectual peers - and my aspirational socio-economic peers.

i am lonely.