somebody.

ugh. i hate the expression "wake up and be somebody." like, just because i'm in bed, i'm not offically a person yet? i have to get up to even be counted? gee, thanks mom and dad. you're the only people i know who use that phrase anymore.

i realized tonight at work how much small talk is involved in my job (i wait tables at a local restaurant). but i had never noticed the small talk thing until after seeing a video posted on postsecret.com. the video's on youtube and it's a research documentary a girl did on anonymity. she claims that through online sites such as postsecret and project mortified we are looking to become connected with one another, as a human race, with the strangers around us. she points out that throughout most of the day, we interact with strangers; i.e., waiting in line, at the check-out counter, on the bus.

but back to the small talk. whenever greeting someone, whether i know them or not, it's become habitual for me to say "hi, how are you?" and then expect an answer like "fine" or "well." so why did this habit start if i never actually cared about the person's response, since people always responded in the same way? it was tonight i realized people didn't always respond the same way at all. sure, with their words they did, but not with their facial expressions, their posture, their eyes. by looking past what the person is just saying, i got a sense of what they really meant. i think that with small talk, subconsciously, we're letting strangers and the world around us know how we really are, our real story, all by using the mask of politeness; so that maybe, when we really need it most, someone will notice what's behind the mask and try to help a fellow human being.