the Way of the Turtle

Distracted... Excreting?
Thursday, July 28, 2011

Be warned... this topic is more than a bit different from the things I usually write about... though I do tie it in to one of my most common complaints/concerns at the end...
On my way back to Albany this evening I walked into a Thruway Service Area restroom, as I often do (it is a 3 1/2 to 4 hour drive, after all.) Tonight, though was a first, when I was greeted by the sight of a guy at one of the urinals, presumably doing what guys do at a urinal - with his phone out texting.

I know I'm a luddite when it comes to cell phones and texting, but I'd like to think this would seem like too much even to the texting-savvy folks I know. I'd ask... but then I might find out that this is more common than I realize... oodle of people all over the world texting "Peeing now..." to each other, ack!

Of course, afterwards I had plenty of time to think of other possible explanations... maybe he was a congressman sending a photo (yuck... and another reason why I believe cell phones should be put away while in restrooms.) Or maybe this was his first time using a urinal and he was googling instructions (which caused me to flash on a 2nd season episode of the superb science fiction program Farscape, "Out of Their Minds", where one of the alien characters has switched minds with the human lead and needs directions on how to urinate: "Unzip. Pull it out. Point it like a gun... and shoot.") Maybe his urine was an unusual color and he was looking up possible medical explanations to see if he had any hope of surviving to reach his eventual destination.

Or maybe he was just the latest example of a multitude of people who apparently can't survive without being distracted every second of every day...

Sigh.

JMH