She's not "applying make-up on the bus." She's "getting ready for work."

K.

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It's called I hate mornings and I'm running late again.

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Well, doing the latter by doing the former, I'm sure. One thing I'm curious about is what sort of work she does and if it causes the dark circles under her eyes.

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Be careful. There's a very fine line between "curious kind-hearted stranger" and "scary stalker guy," and you probably don't realize exactly where it is.

B

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Oh yes. I'm quite aware that my appearance often puts me into the "why is that guy talking to me?" area, particularly for young women on the bus. I try not to stare and keep to myself but if I keep encountering her I may find myself striking up a conversation.

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I have dark circles due to insomnia and allergies. I've made them worse by staying up too late out partying at the bar when I knew I had to get up early. Such is life.

What it is I'm sure she has her reasons.

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To me it's one thing to touch up or apply lipstick, and quite another to start at foundation on the bus. I may have mentioned on LJ at some point, but I dislike seeing people engaged in personal grooming in public. I have the same issue with people shaving or clipping toenails at the gym, especially when they perform these tasks in the communal shower.

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This appears, to my untrained eye, to be serious make-up application. It starts with something to conceal the dark circles under her eyes and other minor imperfections. Moves on to a fascinating application of some sort of powder from a container that has a circle segmented into several shades of color. This same powder is used to define and shape eyes, cheeks, forehead. Today she was further into the routine and applied mascara and curled her eyelashes.

It seems sub-optimal to me to peform this process on the bus. The jostling and such would result in disastrous misapplications, I would think. I can see where it would could annoy some but, for the moment, I just find it curious. I suppose it helps that she is otherwise attractive.

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Serious make-up application = poor manners.

But I think it's equally poor manners to comment to her about it.

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What's to ask about? She's applying makeup on the bus so she can sleep a little later in the morning, and because she thinks that because she's surrounded by strangers she's invisible. It's possible that if you burst her invisibility bubble by asking an intrusive question it will embarrass her enough that she stops doing it. But since you seem to be enjoying the show, why bother?

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Ah, but why does she need that extra sleep? What's keeping her up late at night? Where is she going to work that puts such a premium on physical appearance that she feels compelled to get made up?

My writerly mind makes up all kinds of seedy possibilities. Is she a heroin addict? Is she a stripper?

Then there are the less-seedy but also interesting possibilities. Does she have an ill partner/child that needs her care? Is she working two jobs to make ends meet?

I likely will defer to my natural shyness and never make any additional contact. I just find her interesting as a character on the bus and that's enough.

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I feel oddly like a know her a little bit now.

Regardless of intention, I think her routine counts as successful performance art.

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Which means I should film it and post it to YouTube, right?

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