#agatt

I have a routine when I put on my motorcycle gear.

My earplugs go in before my jacket goes on. This gives the earplugs time to expand completely so that I know they're seated right before I put my helmet on. When I'm at the office I put my earplugs in before I leave the office. I have to walk through the building and down one city block to get to my motorcycle. 

The most human interaction I have generally is a quick nod to the security guard... maybe a wave to a coworker as I'm leaving the office. 

Today I had three different people try to start conversations with me. The first two I said, "I have earplugs in" so they spoke up. The third person was a man walking by as I was putting my helmet on... envision my bending down and throwing my head of fluff back and out of my face as I'm bringing the helmet to the front of my head and then sliding it on. 

So he sees this whole thing and he just stops and starts babbling at me. All I can see is a mouth moving with occasional vocal tones in the lower range hitting my ears. I say I'm wearing earplugs and he continues his babbling so I step a bit closer and I hear, "perfect moment" "beautiful" and he's mimicking the motion I had just gone through. 

He repeated himself at least five times so I got the gist even though I never heard any one sentence all the way through. Every time he said it I just laughed which is what I do when I'm happy, amused, uncomfortable, angry, have no idea what you're saying, etc. He seemed frustrated that I was laughing and was trying really hard to express to me the meaning of what he saw. 

I know that there are people who go their entire lives without a random stranger talking to them. I'm lucky if I go a week. And I know there are women who go their entire lives without having someone approach them and give them a compliment about their appearances.

I don't mind random strangers talking to me. I have books worth of life stories in my head. Even the mundane can be rich when it's not your mundane. But as I've gotten older I have found that I prefer to experience these interactions with earplugs in.

Gear heads are their own special breed. I'm not a gear head anymore (I'm in forced retirement) but I hope to get back there... but I will never be like these guys.