Impossible Place

What happens when nothing is happening?

Does that mean we’re waiting for something that hasn’t happened yet, or are we overlooking what’s going on?

Someone is being tutored at the next table, distracting, perhaps they feel that no one is trying to work here, but that is not the case; I can see several people pursuing something in silence. Perhaps the pair take the attitude that there is no mandate for quiet in a coffee shop, which would be true in most cases; still, this is a very small space. Everyone in the place can easily follow what the tutor is saying (if not what they are meaning). It’s the kind of place where I would be hesitant to carry on a conversation, if I were here with a friend . . . 

So nothing much is happening in my head, because I’m the kind of person who can’t easily ignore the human voice, especially spoken with the level of purpose involved here.

Since I came here to work, it’s truly annoying. Another conversation has begun at a different table, but it’s not so distracting. Interesting. Perhaps I’m distracted by the process of teaching/learning (or trying to learn).

Well, whatever I thought I was going to write now sits in the category of ‘not yet,’ of necessity, being driven out of my conscious processes, invaded as they are by someone else’s. New, to me & to the student, is what’s happening after all. And ‘not yet’ is extremely not yet.

Something to look forward to, mysterious, inchoate, desirable, & aloof?