Is it okay to look?

It is very nice and sunny outside (though frisky and crisp cold air abound) for a winter's day. Mind you, it is August, not some Christmas months like November or December, in Argentina when they have winter during opposite North Hemisphere's summer. So lately, when it gets really cold inside that means I have to turn on the heater and make sure that the receptable that collects the drippings of the said AC/Heater is properly collected in a bucket outside in the balcony. Okay, sometimes I forget to check it, shoot me! But today, I didn't. I stepped outside the balcony and as the rays of the sun hits my right arm, it felt nice and warm..hmmm...so unusual to have this kind day in winter but anyhoo...I head towards the south portion of the balcony just a few steps from the access door and checked the blue bucket under the AC/heater fan unit. Bucket is all good, almost empty so I'm set. I always linger a bit and as I looked to the west of me, across the street, where some more apartment units are and I see more the same balconies facing mine. Being on the 5th floor it gives me a birds eyeview of a lot of things. I like it up here. So I was scanning the street directly below me and I saw a few people here and there that I recognize, but did not holler for it is rude to do so. I looked to my right and saw that my neighbor still has their (a couple) roller window down. And to my left, it is the same pretty much. Directly across me is a creature unknown to me (some weird/odd dude) who loves to step out into his balcony with just his drawers on - always orange in color; no shirt or anything just underwear - not sure what that is all about but I will need to post something about that should something else untoward happen when he is out there, albeit summer or winter, when this guy feels like having it all hang out there (haha) - he steps out into his balcony with his boxer (breed of his dog) and him in his orange drawers and pace back and forth. Ok, so I looked. Is it bad to look? He can do this inside his house, why does he do it outside then? So those of us who have eyes, look, no?

Now right infront of my unit across the street is a lady I know and she is very nice and very friendly, to me at least. Not sure why that is but people have told me, that she is nicer to me than to anyone they think she knows. Well, I like the canaries, she feeds and her husband is nice man, and the plants in her balcony are very homey. I like her.

Now, we get to the part where I dare ask myself, if it is okay to look and look longer than just a glance when you think the person in question wants and begs to be seen? Let me put it this way, a voyeur looks and looks to see and watch when the person they are looking at does not see them. What about if the person being watched wants to be watched and be seen, is it still ok to look then? Let me tell you about this young man (in his mid20s) who lives a building across the street but to the left off where my building is. We are on the same floor level, so that makes him at my eye level. He does not have any drapes to secure his privacy and he never draws the roller windows down. He turns the lights on at night, I see him, we all see him (from across the street). If he is an exhibitionist and I look, does that make be an audience or a voyeur? Is it really ok to look? Inquiring minds wanna know.

For a few weeks now, when the weather is nice I step into my balcony (be it daytime or nightime) to watch the hustle and bustle of the street below. I already said, I love to watch people. So that is what I do regardless or not he is out there - we will call him "Capuano" for this story sake - or not. Most of the time he is not home. Since I work from home, I have the liberty to take in a minute or two of the outside and step away from my desk. So, lately ( last 3 weeks) I have noticed that "Capuano" have been having a series of different girls stop by any day of the week. I do not see much of what happens really but I know that the one who came two Mondays ago had short hair and the one that came 2 days later had much longer hair (blonde,this time) and the one that I saw there on most Fridays is a newer one with the darker and longer hair. I do not see their faces mostly, but the one that stayed over from Sunday evening to Monday noontime, is the IT girl lately . I watch and I wonder ( best part) if these girls knowingly come (no pun intended!) without knowing who else this guy is playing "spin the bottle" with. I see him amusing these girls with animated stories ( arms moving and body swaying) and then dine them and wine them (delivery from a near by Italian restaurant) and then the listening to the music and looking at some kind of album or something schtick ..then the usual..attack the prey scenario happens, this guy is funny really. Let me stop here for a second to chuckle. OK. Now that I got that out of my system...the story goes like this.. one night (2 weeks ago) as I was watching a DVD, I noticed that the lights across the street (at his place) were still on...of course this cat goes and checks out the light...DVD still going, hey it was a 2 CD video..took me until the wee hours of the morning to finish.. but I digress...so there he was still talking to the girl mind you...I mean, kiss the girl already, I thouhgt. What the heck is he waiting for? I have loaded the second DVD and they were still in the same position sitting across each other 2 1/2 hrs ago...enough of the chi-chat already - I laugh at this guy's get-the-girl style. I mean the girls have to sometimes almost jumps on him and he is still passive as can be. I mean, I took the time to load a DVD coz no real action is happening across the street and when something is about to happen there, the girl is the one who initiates the whole thing! Funny! I mean Lothario "hello"!! Get them hands busy...but I am getting ahead (hmmm..) of myself here.

So this weekend, he had this girl there, right.. - please do not think that I sit there with a beer on one hand and a ciggy on the other waiting for the story to unfold before me. Nope - I have better methods than that. Not gonna tell you - just read on...

There they were on the white couch with their backs towards me and facing his entertainment center that is against the wall and between them I can see a coffee table and 2 sofa seats across each other perpendicular to the said white couch, so there they were still talking ( insert yawn..here) and then the girl scoots over, a tad bit closer and then she turns and her head dips and for awhile you do not see her head, where did she go... and then her head starts bobbing - I would venture a guess but let us keep this "G" rated for others. Well that was the end of it for me...good but could have been better story line really, the plot took too long to unfold... And then the guy starts sliding lower down the couch and I can hardly (huh!) see his head (another - huh!) , then as I blinked (my bad!) the lights are off and I do not see them until the following day, afternoon, looking out the balcony towards where I am.

I look. My thought is coz if they or at least he did, not want his activities to be of public consumption he would have the decency to put up some drapes or something - at least for the girl's sake. I've seen the girls, the various girls he gets to take up there in his place and what they do, nothing I am sure they run to Mama and tell her about. Just wondering if each one thinks of the others, I bet they don't, coz they do not know. But I know he knows that someone across the way knows. Not the names but the different faces, I know. Boy, do I know ever!

It does not faze the people that know "Capuano" does this, portero of his building admires him almost because guys at his age think of all the women he gets to bed as a notch on his belt, a conquest and badge of (dis) honor, macho and all that...but the girls are all doe-eyed and sweet looking (notice how I did not say innocent looking) but they all know they are just to occupy "Capuano" for the time being. A guy like him (moola galore) not good looking per ser, but not bad looking either. He can wear a suit and look good and be cool about it in jeans and shirt, nice shoes, very clean shaven, clean cut ( short hair), great pad/apartment, marvelous location for it, and he is young. But as long as he does not have drapes up, I will keep looking and sometimes I just know when to turn away. I do not feel bad for the girls really, because I am sure they know what they are doing, the thing is they do not know for sure why he is doing them! Whoa!

Looking is human nature. Look but no touching has always been a very good rule. If there is something to see, I watch but otherwise, I just turn to my DVD for better entertainment and escapism. Sometimes, real life stuff like this is plain novelty but can get old and boring fast. I think I will stick to the DVDs for now. And if I blinked I can always rewind or fast forward if I feel like it. It has been a good viewing but more of the same really. Will defintely tell "R" about it when he gets back- don't worry he knows about this guys shenanigans. We will have a very good about it.

See ya another day - I will keep my eyes open.

Ciao