Justin Riccio

Prof. Gracer

15th September 2019

Composition I

Observation

Over the course of the weekend, I was able to have a great experience while up in

Boston. Along with my girlfriend we saw one of our favorite comedians live, the show started at

7:00 and we arrived promptly at 6:45. We got into our seats and proceeded to sit and wait. While

in the midst of waiting, I was observing and glancing over the architecture of this glorious

theatre, and was also crowd watching. When my head did its full 360 degree spin, my eyes

glanced upon the left handed side of the row of seats I was sitting in. What will be described next

can only be put as utter chaos. Two blackout “drunk” college kids in their seats swinging their

bodies back and forth as if they were on a rollercoaster were approximately 5-6 seats to the left

oy my girlfriend and I.

I thought nothing of it at the time and continued to look around, only to have my eyes

return there within the minute, throughout the entire event; their energy seemed to only ramp up.

Personally confused I began to ask myself some questions such as “what are they on?” “who are

these people?, etc… but my mind could never really piece anything together, but alas we carried

on. The show began and the opening acts came out to do their set and leave. Eric Andre (the

main comedian of the evening) comes out around 8:00ish and at this point, these people need to

be put into straight jackets. The term bouncing off the walls was and is only an understatement

for what these people were doing. They had their heads in their legs, they were waving their
arms like a wacky wavy inflatable arm flailing tube man; they were truly going for the overkill

aspect.

It never occured to me why these people got to a level of inebriation to the point of

memory loss. But that being said, I could only just ponder the question of why would you show

up to a comedy show you essentially wouldn’t even end up remembering? It’s the American

Dream to get drunk and wander around doing who knows what in the eyes of god, but this

seemed beyond alcohol oriented intoxication. This seemed to me personally like crack, (mind

you I’ve never been exposed to the drug, but I have been to the users; the behavioral patterns

were identical). Throughout the course of the night I kept looking to my left, seeing what in the

world these kids were doing, and then going back to the show. The show ended around 10:00 and

once the curtains closed, I looked to my left one last time and saw these people get up out of

their seats and proceed to have a mad dash like they were racehorses in the Kentucky Derby.

I never saw them again, but for the remainder of the night, and the drive back; I just

couldn’t stop thinking about them. They were like a middle school crush; just unable to take

them out of my thought process. As the mind does, I proceed to talk to my girlfriend about it; I

never personally brought it to her attention so she never saw it but I explained in detail the

scenario. We had a good chuckle and then I started asking her what she thought of it. She could

not have come up with a better one-liner saying “well I mean… they do their lives; we do ours,

in the end do what ya wanna do.” In our approximately ~1 year of dating, I’ve never once heard

her say something so theoretical and philosophical. She fell asleep about 5 minutes later and she

left me with that quote running around in my head like Usain Bolt on a track.
 We had about 40 minutes left in the drive when she fell asleep, so I just began to ponder

with my mind. “She’s right, they’re living the American Dream. They get to wake up, go to their

job, secure the $; then come to the heart of Boston and go insane for the night and not have to

worry about a thing.” Then my mind said “Damn, that's the f***ing dream right there.” My mind

after 3+ hours of contemplation of sanity finally came to that conclusion, and I honestly don’t

think it could have come up with a better one. In retrospect, my mind could’ve been more PG

oriented; but that just isn’t how my mind works. My mind works however the gears want to turn

it, and in this case; they went for the truth-bomb dropped right on my lap. In the end, it was a

humbling experience to put that to rest; because my mind loves to wrap around thoughts like a

snake to a kid… So at least I could just put the mic down and walk away without having any

moral questions hanging in the wind.