Party of One

July 17

It’s official. I’ve starting talking to myself. In public.

I’ll admit something here. I’ve always been prone to having long conversations with myself when I’m alone. I almost always have a running monologue going through my head, but I can usually manage to stop it from tumbling out in public. Until today.

I was walking down the street in Harajuku (more on that later) when I saw a man looking strangely at me. I realized I had been talking out loud. I don’t even remember what I was saying, probably commenting on the scene. I can only imagine that this is happening because I’m not used to spending so much time alone. Even though I’m surrounded by people at the office all day during the week, I don’t have many conversations, except during lunch or the occasional meeting. On weekends, I only speak a few times a day, in restaurants and shops, a few words here and there. The first two Mondays I was here, I was losing my voice. I thought maybe it was nerves, but now I think it was lack of use.

I thought about it a lot today. People actually spend money to go away on spiritual retreats where they eat vegan meals and have periods of silent reflection. I always thought that sounded scary. All that time alone in your own head. Who would want to do that? It’s like Being John Malkovich up there. But, here I am getting my chance at silent reflection whether I want it or not. I just hope I can shut up long enough to experience it.

Harajuku was bustling and energized. It’s a very trendy and young shopping area teeming with tourists and teenagers. The famous “Harajuku girls,” mostly disenfranchised teenagers wearing outrageous outfits, were out in full force.

We have a lot of strange-looking people in NYC, so there costumes weren’t so shocking. But I just couldn’t believe the amount of clothes they were wearing. It was so hot today that I actually considered getting myself a sweat towel (see “World’s Greatest T-Shirt, #3). Instead, I bought myself a cool new pair of pumas.