The Buffer Zone Principle

Well, since I haven't had a blog for the first 24 years of my life, and since I have been thinking for as long as I can remember, I have lot's of random thoughts I can post to keep my blog interesting. Since I have 20 minutes to kill before I have to give some poor, unsuspecting Geology 101 students a test, I figured I could blog about an issue that I have harped for a while now. That issue is one I like to call the "Buffer Zone Principle" (or theory, depending on how much you believe my evidence). The basis behind the principle is this: when you walk into a room where you must choose a seat, you will sit with at least one, and usually two, seats between you and the next person unless you know that person. Church is an exception, especially for the first 4 weeks after a new semester begins in a singles ward. Happens all the time. The sad part is, even though I recognize this happens, I just go with the crowd and sit in seats with the buffer zone, even if it means uncomfortably crawling over several people to get to the seat with an empty seat on each side.