where to sit?

– growing up, i loved assigned seating.  whenever the teacher would threaten to assign seating for the class, while the rest of the class groaned, i secretly cheered for it.  i loved having the opportunity of sitting with people i normally wouldn’t and being “forced” to get to know people that normally wouldn’t think twice about me.

– me and my girlfriend went to an indian restaurant yesterday at the recommendation of a friend.  it was pretty good.  i would recommend it to anyone who likes indian.  zyka on scott blvd in decatur.  anyways, we were sitting in “couple style.”  the tables were squares and so we sat on adjacent sides (a concept that is still new to me, i usually just sit across from someone if it’s just two of us).  i look around and all these two-person tables are sitting in the exact same way.  a lot of them were older men sitting adjacent from each other.  i wondered if this was cultural.  i don’t think american people sit adjacent from each other if they’re not with their significant other.  if there were just two of you (couple or not) eating at a restaurant, where would you sit in relation to each other?  across?  adjacent?  separate tables?  i think the puzzle is further complicated when instead of a table it’s a booth or one of those looooong bench-style seats.  do you still sit on the same side or across?

– in an empty classroom/lecture room/church worship space/school bus, where do you sit?  front?  middle?  back?  and if so, why?  i used to sit toward the back in my classrooms just because i used to browse the web during lecture and didn’t want to distract anyone, but now i sit more towards the middle.  i think in worship (if i am sitting in the congregation) i sit toward the back.  we learned this concept in my youth and young adult ministry class about the “invisible audience” where an adolescent or teenager (young adult in my case) thinks that people are always looking at them even if no one is around.  the example my prof gave was of a girl who is in the middle of the desert who trips and falls will still look around to see if anyone was watching her.  i think i have that mentality when i sit in the front or middle of a room.

generational fears

when i went home for thanksgiving, i had a couple of good talks with my dad.  i realized something as i was talking with him.  i think some of the fears he has or had in the past for himself are some of the same fears that i have now for myself.  i wonder if fear is hereditary.

i wonder if i’ll grow up and pass on the same fears to my children.  hmmm…  maybe there’s something i can do about it.