Flush.

I love people. Love love love! However, that doesn't mean I understand them at all, not one bit. Mike seems to understand the worst things about them in an uncanny way, and each little glimpse I get into how he makes sense of them makes me glow like the world is maybe not so difficult to understand. I love Mike's philosophies.

Today I was in the bathroom stall, looking at the feet of the lady who was in the bathroom stall next to me, and I had that recurring thought of mine that seems to happen only in public bathrooms when there is someone in my personal space on the other side of a metal divider with their pants around their knees. That recurring thought goes something like,

Our lives are just the events that happen between bathroom breaks.

I wonder what that other person is thinking. If they are looking at and judging my choice of footwear as I so often do, if they are trying not to fart while they go or if they are embarrased at the silence that humans normally can't tolerate when two people are left in a room together. I wonder how friendly they would be if I decided to strike up a conversation.

Oh, I once struck up a conversation in the dressing room at the gym, about the tv show that was playing, and was ignored by two women. Not very friendly while trying to squeeze into their sports bras.

But back to the public restrooms.... We are dependent on having those porcelain water-filled portals to the sewer, keeping our most disgusting of bodily functions hidden from the eyes. Convenience is key.

Have you ever wondered if anything would change if they started giving girls urinals too, or at least took down the dividers in the majority of public bathrooms? Maybe females would be less body concious. Maybe we would start being more daring, less shy, less concerned about what other people think. Maybe we would be less private and feel less alone.

Maybe not... But really why do they make men stand side by side in an open room where they can look at each other in the eyes when they do the deed? Of course, few people want to take a crap in a room full of onlookers. And please don't make me watch.