I think Mr. Collins would be proud of me for being able to actually hold a conversation with another Seattlite. It was certainly a much more successful venture than his attempt to talk to the schizophrenic individual outside the EMP. Of course, in all fairness, the man i talked to yesterday didn't appear to have any mental disorders. You learn an interesting array of things from talking to random people at bus sites, mostly about how much they despise the bus system as well. As for the elderly individual i met yesterday, i found out he had been an english professor in california, and had come up here to seattle for retirement. It was a background you would not have probably concluded from his mere attire. Which is another thing one must always remember when starting up a conversation with someone new, especially in a city. NEVER assume too much. Small assumptions are always bound to happen, and in a sense, are good. For example, if you see a man with shifty eyes holding a bag of something, it might be a safe assumption not to talk to him, or at the least that something MIGHT be wrong.

or, say, a coloured boy wearing an obviously 'look-mah I'm gay' leather jacket starts talking to you at the bus station. It is safe to assume that he is, in fact, homosexual and was attracted to you because he likes older men. Try to dissuade him from talking to him by telling him that you dont like the bus system. ( this person, however, made a mistake and said he was from california (we all know californian men are homosexual) -- next time Im sure he wont / having learned his lesson ) As Jeff has stated - it is safe to make this small, yet non-important, assumptions about others - such as their personal sexual preferences. However, as he mentioned as well, never assume TOO MUCH. Just because the Guamanian bent over in front of you to 'pick up his pencil' and waggled his buttocks at you in a jiggly fashion DOESNT mean he wanted you to grab his ass. Just because he got down on his knees to get something out of his bag, doesnt me he's insinuating anything. ... heeee... waaarrrgh. me tired.