Looking at Familiar things in an Unfamiliar Way

Looking at familiar things in a unfamiliar way to gain new perspective is something I don't do very often. I find not many people actually practice this.When I am around something and become accustomed to it, I don't pay much attention to it otherwise. For example Hub mall. I have walked up and down the narrow paths of this mall hundreds of times since 2008, my first year at the University of Alberta. Back and forth from the lrt to class and class back to the lrt, but most of the time I can honestly say I am in my own little bubble. Too tired to care about what is happening around me, to angry or frustrated because of a midterm I just wrote or even just too excited to go meet up with friends. Today, however I sat in the Rutherford Lounge of hub mall for about forty minutes or so, hoping something interesting would catch my eye. Honestly, nothing distinct popped at me. I can say however, that I did notice more of the colorful personalized windows of the hub mall apartments. Rows of bottles lined up against windows, a Canadian flag hung up in an act of patriotism and posters of favorite movies like the Inglorious Bastards. I also noticed a girl on her phone walking towards me. There is obviously nothing special about this, but the girl was different because unlike most people calmly having conversations on their phones, she was absolutely frantic and visibly upset.Her voice elevated, arms flailing with passionate expression. You could tell she was adamant about making her point to the person on the other end. As she walked towards me all I could picture was a boy just as frustrated and adamant the other end of the line. The passion with which she was arguing seemed like that reserved for a quarrel between lovers. And as she  finally passed by me still arguing vehemently all I could think was that hopefully her efforts and passion results in a desired resolution.

Another thing that caught my eye and would any other living and breathing human being walking through hub was the reporter and camera man stopping people for interviews. As people walked by, the reporter would approach them with a question but even from a distance you could feel the apprehension and tension in the student's demeanour. As is the reality of Today most people are scared of saying anything on camera or being recorded because of such phenomenons as the internet, facebook and possibility of going viral. One of the students who stopped to get interviewed was a former high school classmate of mine. It is interesting to see people you haven't seen in a long time, they are familiar faces that have become unfamiliar overtime. It parallels seeing familiar things in an unfamiliar way. He looks pretty much the same but with an unfamiliar aura of maturity around him. You could say the scruffy beard he now has could easily be the reason. I haven't talked to him in years but our paths do occasionally cross in the o so familiar hub mall.

Today nothing too exciting caught my attention but tomorrow I'll be sure to keep my eye out for more of the unfamiliar.