|
|
|||||||||
|
~ Tales of a vagrant ant ~
Follow the journey of a vagrant ant through the story of his life. | |||||||||
|
Current Desktop 
Frequented
Other
I believe
|
2.11.2004
Tonight I went to City Hall of Guelph for one of my classes. We were learning the wonders of zoning by-laws and minor variances, and at City Hall, we got a glimpse into the lives of people for just a moment. People stood before the committee and showed their proposed changes to their property. Sounds inane enough, but really, it was sheer voyeuristic joy. Seeing all the motivations and dreams of the people who were up there, seemingly pouring their hearts out for what seemed to me such trivial things, but to them, meant a lot. A meat store being allowed to have "demo days", a citizen changing the allowable height for a fence, or a expecting mother converting a shed into a small personal library so that her family could make room for a new child. In my mind, I could picture all these places and the memories created as a result of these changes. And when they finally approved the proposal, you could almost hear the collective sigh go through the students. Whether it was because we were so bored that any spark of drama had us on edge, or because it was genuinely fascinating, being allowed a view into people's personal lives, we were all fixated on every word that was said, uncomfortable as our poor buttocks were from sitting in a bench for 3 hours. The words floated through the air, and even as relaxed as it was, you could still feel the tension between people talking and it made the shadows of the words that were said almost opaque. You could see every movement of the person standing in front of the commitee. Every nervous twitch, every cracking voice and tired muscle from standing for so long. In the end, I think that all of the proposals were passed, although there were a few close calls to a proposal being rejected. And we all left the building, almost with a warm fuzzy feeling, at knowing that people's lives were unduly enriched by these small minute changes that affect few people but themselves, and we had all be quiet witnesses to this spectacle.
I had just missed the bus, so I walked to the nearby bookstore to whittle away some time, and it was good. I bought a book. Tom Robbins, he's a good guy. It was really weird when I finally stepped on the bus that took me back to the university (residences). For just a moment, I got a fleeting feeling, that I had just finished school for the night, and was returning home, when in fact I was now returning to school (to go home). It was like a premonition of the future, of next fall, when I will be living off-campus, and will be doing that, bussing home at night, and when I get home, not be able to plod across the hall into the arms of my love. | Feeliing: thoughtful | | Listening: to the hum of my computer (or in my mind, They Might by Giants - Words are Like) |
 |
||||||||
 |
|||||||||
