Waiting Room Zombies

I see them everywhere...at the doctor’s, the dentist, the DMV. I saw them when I served jury duty. They scare me!

If I know I’m going to be trapped in a waiting room, anywhere, I take a book. Sometimes I take more than one. If by some fluke, I forget to bring one, I shuffle through the magazines, looking for something like National Geographic or Audubon. I avoid garbage rags like People, or boring housewiffy stuff like Better Homes & Gardens. But usually, I always have a book. The thought of sitting there with nothing to do, makes me break out in a cold sweat.

Most people are like me. They either bring a book, or, like a friend of mine, cross-stitch to work on. I’ve seen people writing in notebooks, working crossword puzzles, doing knitting or crochet, or more often these days, playing games or trolling the internet on their cell phones. But at least they are doing SOMETHING.

Then there are the zombies. The plop their butts in a chair, put their hands in their laps, and....switch off. Literally. Eyes fixed, they stare into space doing...nothing. So, I can’t help but wonder, what are they thinking about? Are they thinking at all? Or, like C3P0 in Star Wars, do they have an internal “kill” switch, and their brain turns off?

The whole time I’m reading my book, I’m aware of them. I see them in my peripheral vision. It starts to creep me out. How can they just SIT there? Are they really human, or are they aliens, with transmitters in their brains, beaming up info on the waiting room habits of earthlings. Although, why they would want to know that is beyond me. Pretty boring stuff. Are they automatons, set up to make it look like your doctor or dentist is busier than he really is? Are they test dummies...some new, super-lifelike robot model, with little cameras behind those staring eyes, to see how well they fool the rest of us? Maybe, but if so, they need to at least make them blink.

Personally, I think they’re zombies. And sometimes they come in pairs...to make you think they are husband and wife.

Recently I had to serve on Jury Duty. There I am, trapped again, this time in a small room with about twenty other people, waiting to see if we will actually be called to serve that day. Behind me is a woman who sounds like she has the plague, and who was apparently never taught how to use a tissue. Every two minutes, for three hours, I heard “snuuuggggluuggth” right behind my head, as she sucked snot back up her nose. And there were zombies here, too.

They have to be zombies. No one can sit, without moving, without talking, without even using the restroom, for three hours! I’d feel less paranoid if they just went to sleep. Snoring and drooling would at least prove they were human. But no, they just sit...and stare...at nothing. No one is home.

Then, when it is their turn to see said doctor or dentist, or the bailiff calls us to attention, SHAZAM!...they switch back on. They blink, stand up, and follow either the nurse or the rest of the jurors into whatever place they are meant to go.

What I wonder is, what do they do when they get home? Do they sit back on the couch and switch off again? Do they plug themselves in to a battery charger, ready for their next sojourn into the real world? Do they report to Zaphod Beeblebrox at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe? Which head do they report to? Do they send data to a Death Star? It’s probably better that I don’t know.

Like I said, waiting room zombies creep me out.

New Headpiece

Here is my first experiment in pounding heavier wire, adding brass wire wrapping and beading. The wire pieces are parts of many that I salvaged from the garage floor, left there by the messy electrician when he re-wired our garage. It is actually a bit too hard to be useful for jewelry, but I hated to waste it, and it is perfect for me to play around with until I get the hang of pounding wire to give it a better and stronger look. In future, I will use wire meant for jewelry, where I can get the same gauge, but which is softer and easier to work with.

This is also my first attempt at a headpiece. And although I would have put a bit more detail in the curls of copper wire, if it had not been so hard to bend, I still think the piece came out rather nice.

There is still much to learn, but this was fun to make, and I have lots of ideas for future headpieces and hopefully, simple tiaras.