Windows into other Worlds

I have to confess something..I am a lurker! I LOVE other people's blogs, especially the professional, well written blogs filled with beautiful photos, interesting stories and incredible talent. I am addicted. I will find myself clicking on blogs at the most inappropriate times (like work for example). I can't get enough. I will click onto one of these blogs and totally get lost in its content. It is like peering into someone else's world. I can't get enough. It makes me wonder what it is about my personality that absolutely loves learning about others. I have always loved people. I love going to the airport. It is true. I love to watch others. I love to strike up a conversation with a perfect stranger and learn about their life. "Where are you traveling". "Where is home". It is just a tiny sliver of that person that you get to glimpse. I will never see that person again, but I have met someone new and for a moment shared a conversation with them. It is incredible the amount of people who live in this world and I love being able to glimpse the life of one more person. Am I strange or crazy perhaps? What is it that draws me to the wider world?

I love watching documentaries about real people from boys learning opera in Africa, to female journalists in Iraq, to homeless youth in Utah. It absolutely fascinates me. Now, I'm not talking about reality television where people are thrown together to create drama of the very unreal kind. I am talking about real people in their very own real element. It is amazing! What is it about other peoples lives that is so fascinating? Is it the feeling of connection? Is it learning of a person that you never knew existed before? What is it?

What is funny is for a living I actually listen to recorded phone calls. Now granted these are business calls, not personal ones. All day I listen to other people talk and converse. What made me end up with a job where I am an observer of human interaction? Granted, I then end up judging these people. I have to make comments like "Please remember to speak with enthusiasm" or "Remember to use the caller's name at least once during the call". It just makes me wonder why do I enjoy watching others so much. Wes said the other day that I should be a psychologist because I am so observant with what is going on with a person. We had just had a conversation about him and he was surprised by how much I had noticed. I guess it gives me something to think about. For now though I really should get back to work. I should just put my giant headphones on and start the audio rolling. That is why I a paid. My cubicle will be my world for the rest of the day and I will AVOID browsing the wider world that exists outside of mine.