I people watch 24/7/365. It’s one of my favorite things to do. It’s why I really don’t mind waiting in line, or being stuck in traffic….there’s always something to watch. I meet the most interesting people and I make mental memories of them. (I’ll note here that it’s usually complete strangers I’m “people-watching”…..so my friends won’t think I’m making notes about them now…..) I’ll even text myself little reminders about a conversation or an event. When I write later sometimes it’s just fragments of a meeting and other times it’s a rambling description of an entire event…..it’s my journal, it’s not like I’m writing my journal for a literary award or anything.
Here’s a recent entry:
At the pet store: A woman buying crickets for her lizards. (Funny….. I’m buying crickets for my lizard too….whoever would have thought I would be in this position.) This woman had way too much info for me…..like how her geckos were well behaved and how she had “house trained” her lizards. I think I brought it upon myself though when I asked what lizard poop looked like (for the record….I still don’t know what it looks like). This woman’s lizards are trained to use the bathroom in a certain area of the cage. I’m convinced that most animals pick a certain area of the cage….who wants to hang out in poop. Anyway, back on track….apparently she wraps up a paper towel to be a “pee pad” and puts it in the corner of the cage. She mentioned that she caught most of her lizards in the wild. I think she must spend a lot of time outside. Her skin was overly tan and I could tell she’d probably never applied sunscreen before. I think once your skin gets to a certain “leather” you don’t need sunscreen. I’ll have to ask someone about that. Her hair was grey and past her hips…..kind of in the style of the Crocodile Hunter’s wife…..bangs and all. She was wearing acid washed jeans and a lavender top. (Aside: I wonder if Crocodile Dundee ever wore sunscreen?) She offered up that she lived out at the Salton Sea. I asked about the “flats” and if it was a good time to visit for photography……since I’ve always wanted to snap some of the abandoned areas. She told me not to go…..that the flats were filled with “rapists and murderers.” I have no idea if that’s true. She told me that the flats were originally a military base. I pretended I didn’t know that tidbit of info….she seemed like she could be easily annoyed….and I didn’t want her to think I was a know-it-all. She seemed a little like a know-it-all type. Us know-it-alls have great “know-it-all-radar.” Her husband walked out the front door with the crickets and she yelled “ARE YOU GOING TO PAY FOR THOSE?!” He was really embarrassed. I imagined she and her husband living out at the Salton Sea, armed with shotguns to ward off the rapists and murderers…..and a house full of lizards…..but really smart, potty-trained lizards.
Oh my goodness…so that’s what it’s like to be in your head…I LOVE it!!! So funny! And I am loving this journal idea. Sometimes it’s hard to come up with creative things to put down. This is awesome!
Aw, man! This means I have to leave the house today. 😉
You could spy out the window at your neighbors or the postman….
hilarious!
I ended up watching TV and studying people who were at the Democratic National Convention 😉 Some of them were pretty. . . Interesting!
i love this! i meet some strange people too! pssssstttt – they are everywhere!!!!! lol i actually really admire the fact that u write these little things down. like you said, who is really going to read them. but i think its part of having a creative mind, observing the world around you. that lady seemed off the charts wack-o!! lol
I LOVE to people watch! I like going to festivals and such, sitting down and watching. It’s hilarious you really start to see that people do start to look like their dogs (or vice versa) Or the elderly sisters that dress alike… I love it all.
I work in a restaurant and meet tons of different people every day. I thought I might be the only one that makes up facts about their lives in my head based on my interactions with them. Haha I love this!
Also – I’ve always wanted to explore out in the desert! I say go for it! But take someone with you. People always tell me I’m going to encounter “murderers and rapists” on my abandoned house adventures but the worst I’ve encountered is an angry badger. :p
So funny!!!!
I just think we’d be great friends in real life!! 😉
You are just a hoot! I’m enjoying the process of this journal, and I can see that you are a kindred spirit when it comes to people watching! I once sat in a mall, an elderly man sat down next to me and we began to chat and I made him laugh by telling him imaginary stories about each person that past by us. What fun it is to observe people…my husband has stopped asking me “what are you looking at” and I wonder why.
went to a hip bar Saturday night just to enjoy a cocktail and people watch…everyone was trying way to hard to be WAY too hip…women dressed in over the top dresses with sagging cleavage showing…fake eyelashes…and 6 inch heals that they couldn’t walk in…men with jeans on that had more bling that the jeans women wear…men that only work out their upper body but have no ass or legs and then wear super tight t-shirts that hug their biceps (and their bellies)……NEXT DAY…go to the mall…these same people are at the mall…hair not done, makeup not put on, shorts showing their flabby legs with flip flops and the men, oh the men…still wearing their jeans but they were outdated blue jean shorts with t-shirts from a softball tournament dated 1987!!!!! It was way too much people watching…gone wrong!!!!
Come on people…look in the mirror…you’re too old for prom night bedazzelling and too young to be put out to pasture…get healthy and you’ll attract the attention you want.
Well, I brought my lunch to work today and was planning on just eating at my desk… but I guess I’ll need to get out now and do some people watching! 🙂
Loving the journal series!
CRACKING ME UP!
So needed this today.
I am loving this. I have a brand new journal and I have really enjoyed all your prompts! I had to catch up and I have been sitting down and journaling for hours and I feel so relaxed. My 5 year old saw me making a map of my kindergarten classroom and we had so much fun comparing classrooms (he started kindergarten yesterday!)
Thank you for this project, I can’t wait to see your prompt for tomorrow. 🙂
Boy-we were just at the NYS Fair talk about a good spot for people watching!! :0) However being at home with my day care kiddos and homeschooler means I don’t get to people watch often. I did get a great e-mail from one of my former day care kids parent about the first day of kindergarten….she wanted to know when they were going to do Chemistry. I printed it out and put it in my journal–a good thing to look back at on a rough day!
Argh- the only interaction I had was the weirdo guy at the grocery store making a lewd remark when I dusted off my shirt from carrying a watermelon inside… bah ha ha…pervy pervertson…
Hi, Ashley! I have been looking at your blog now and again for a while now. You sure have a wonderful outlook on life! I happened to take a peek on Monday and loved the first journal prompt so much that I ran to get a journal! I find myself very eager to see the next prompt. I had so much fun with the classroom one – I remember a little about every class since nursery school plus my kids nursery through fifth grade rooms (I was fortunate to be class mom nearly every year!) I jotted down memories as they popped in my head, names of classmates, themes studied – thank you for that! I can’t wait to come home to check the day’s prompt and think on it that evening while doing the dishes. Thank you so much for this, Ashley; you’re adding joy to a lot of lives!