“You and those damn headphones” my buddy from college would yell as I walked around during a job fair with them hanging around my neck. I’ll admit now just how out of place they looked with a button up shirt and a tie but honestly I never really though much about leaving them at the dorm. Actually, I seldom leave without them.

Those who have known me for a while will know that no matter where I go, I am almost never without my giant pair of beats headphones. Grabbing those headphones are just as second nature as grabbing my keys or my wallet or phone. They’re just something I almost never can be without, I feel naked without my headphones. People see me with them everywhere I go and not many people understand beyond the fact that I’m an avid music listener (I’m a fiend, I’ve maxed out an 160 GB iPod classic recently). The headphones serve two purposes, one to block out the rest of the world while one the train or while walking but the second feature is the most important. Blocking out the world is the only way I can truly escape the world and enter my head so that I can sort through and interact with my thoughts. I know the concept seems a little strange but if you understood the way my head worked you’d understand why that needs to happen.

I had mentioned in an earlier post that I my mind works really fast and I mean REALY fast. MY mind works at 90 mph and with a mind that fast the rush of thoughts about anything or any moment can be a tad bit tasking and even overwhelming. At some point those thoughts have to be processed and sorted out and the distractions of the world like people laughing and talking or that person yelling on the cellphone about nothing useful or the crying baby or bratty child make it really hard for me to focus because I can’t easily tune those out. That’s where noise canceling headphones come in, they help me tune everything out so at the end of it all, no matter how many people are around me or how crowded the train is, I can be with just my thoughts and I can sort though them and interact with them and figure everything out. You’d be surprised how many revelations and epiphanies I’ve had in just one 20 minute train ride. That train ride is the only time I truly have to have everything sorted because once I arrive to where ever I need to go, I have to worry about that moment and nothing else and that leaves any other unsorted thoughts to run wild.

Lastly, Unless you know me or you happen to be an awesome person or it’s a life or death situation, I hate being approached in public. 90% when people approach me in public or on the train it’s never for anything useful. People love to solicit and I hate it. Some will clearly see me ignoring them and not making eye contact with them and they’ll get the hint and leave but some will insist I give them their attention like this guy who occasionally comes on the train trying to convert people to Buddhism. I have no problem with the religion or any religion other than mine, I just hate people shoving it down my throat and most importantly I hate when people have no concept of boundaries. I wear those headphones on the train because nothing says “piss off” better than a giant pair of headphones. It’s not that I hate people, I just want people to respect my space and let me be in my thoughts because sorting those thoughts out is the difference between a happy me and an anxious and occasionally an agitated me.

I hope that was pretty informative and I hope it answered a lot of looming questions. Hopefully the next time you see me on a train and you don’t know me very well you’ll do kindly to piss off and we’ll both be happier people in the long run. Stay classy and stay dirty, One…