nonverbal communications
Sep. 15th, 2002 01:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
egypturnashScene: me lying on the couch, reading a book.
Enter![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
prickvixen, just recently crawled out of bed.
"Whatcha reading?"
I hold up the book so the cover can be seen, then remember that it's a hardback; my habit when reading a hardback is to slip off the dust-jacket and place it somewhere safe, keeping it from being abused by my perusal of the book, but leaving the book itself a fairly anonymous hardcover. So I grab the dust-jacket and hold it up.
The nonverbal message in this being, of course, 'I am involved in this book, please do not disturb me.' It's one I've given many times, but have never quite realized I'm giving until now. It was certainly received, as there was a three or four sentence exchange on the dustcover-removal habit (Ashy shares it, for similar reasons), followed by Ashy getting something from the kitchen and retiring to her bedroom for something that involved keyboard clicks.
Settling in with a room-mate, defining spaces of privacy, is always interesting. In this case, I was sprawled on a couch purchased with Ashy's money, reading a book taken from her library. So there's some levels of probing boundaries there, I think... I've given general license for her to read freely from my books, as long as they're treated with care, but I know that there can be a low-lying sense of violation at someone putting their hands on your book without permission. Maybe it's just the jealous, greedy, hoarding instinct I get from being a dragon. *smirk*
Enter
prickvixen, just recently crawled out of bed."Whatcha reading?"
I hold up the book so the cover can be seen, then remember that it's a hardback; my habit when reading a hardback is to slip off the dust-jacket and place it somewhere safe, keeping it from being abused by my perusal of the book, but leaving the book itself a fairly anonymous hardcover. So I grab the dust-jacket and hold it up.
The nonverbal message in this being, of course, 'I am involved in this book, please do not disturb me.' It's one I've given many times, but have never quite realized I'm giving until now. It was certainly received, as there was a three or four sentence exchange on the dustcover-removal habit (Ashy shares it, for similar reasons), followed by Ashy getting something from the kitchen and retiring to her bedroom for something that involved keyboard clicks.
Settling in with a room-mate, defining spaces of privacy, is always interesting. In this case, I was sprawled on a couch purchased with Ashy's money, reading a book taken from her library. So there's some levels of probing boundaries there, I think... I've given general license for her to read freely from my books, as long as they're treated with care, but I know that there can be a low-lying sense of violation at someone putting their hands on your book without permission. Maybe it's just the jealous, greedy, hoarding instinct I get from being a dragon. *smirk*