after reading the 'people watching' article and seeing many replies about
past experiences with it I thought why not share some of our interesting
experiences and confrontations of our people watching experiences.
personally I cant say I have don’t an excess amount of people watching. I
don’t really get the time. occasionally I will just sit back and say
nothing all day to see what people around me do. if wont speak unless
directly spoken to. but other than that I have no good stories.
(if this is already a thread, sorry. i looked around and didn’t see one. if
this topic is new I hope to hear your stories)
____________________ fucking classy.
punkwriter
Coward
Posts: 5 Registered: 23/9/2004 Status: Offline
posted on 6/10/2004 at 07:31 PM
Ok, so I go to an undisclosed University in the not-so-great state of
Oklahoma. This enables me the opportunity to watch an excedingly high
amount of silver-spoon kids pretend to be inteligent.
The other day I was skating to class and low and behold their was a street
preacher standing up yelling at everone concerning the "fact" that they
were all going to burn in hell. He was throughing accusations based on
everything from men wearing pink, girls with short hair, guys with long
hair, eating marshmellows to belonging to a sorority or fraternity.
Now the interesting part of this people watching episode was watching the
300 plus students standing around shouting at this guy. This went on for
three days and the mind boggling part to me was the stubornness on the part
of some of the students who showed up everyday to scream at him. Now I am
all about a good inteligent debate, but when the preacher in question
refuses to acknowledge the presence of anyone and simply continues to rant
on and on and on. One would think at some point an individual would realize
hey this guy is ignorant and won't listen. But, no people amaze me.
____________________ Waking up to a sleepless world, only now do I truly understand the depths
of my abstract dream. In a reality that never sleeps who's to say that the
dilusions are not reality themselves?
—Me
Andree
Member
Posts: 112 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
posted on 7/10/2004 at 01:51 AM
I watch people.
I watch the girl in the cafeteria whose posture is perfect and polite, both
feet on the floor, knife in one hand, fork in the other, back straight, no
elbows. I make the assumption that she is of the homeschool variety.
I watch the boy who is too attractive for his own good, with surfer's hair
and a straight white smile, yet for some reason I study him the way I study
art instead of viewing him as a sexual object.
I watch the boy and the girl who linger by the door, their smiles
interrupted only by a kiss.
I watch my roommate cry because of a boy. Her tears spill from her green
eyes and she asks why love has to hurt so much.
I watch the man who serves me coffee. His teeth are crooked and beautiful
because they live in a grin, and when he hands me my double grande nonfat
latte it feels like a gift.
I watch a ridiculously short skirt hover over tall black boots.
I watch the pretty indie kid with his messy Dead Poetic hair, tight pants,
tight shirt, suede shoes, green eyes, feminine nose, veins in his hands
that I would like to touch someday, slight frame, soft mouth, good ass.
I watch the twenty-two-year-old who has changed so much since high school,
when he was a pothead who took band with me because he needed the credits.
Now he totes a toddler boy and a baby girl; he ties shoes, administers
bottles, zips jackets, and holds his wife's hand.
I watch the crazy man who carries a rag doll, talks to himself or to
everyone (I can't decide which it is), keeps his fingers stuck in his ears,
and never takes off his bicycle helmet.
And sometimes I play for those who watch me.
____________________ < / hate >
pale-face
Fanatic
Posts: 478 Registered: 22/9/2004 Status: Offline
posted on 7/10/2004 at 01:16 PM
I must say. There are some interesting people out there. I decided to take
the opportunity to sit in a public place and just watch individuals today.
It came some what of a gathering. Me and several people ended up sitting
around just looking at people and what they were doing.
One person in particular I remember very well. I caught eyes with him and
he got rather mad at me. He was waking in rather obscure long and drawn out
circles for quite a long time. he finally stopped to sit down on a park
bench. he pulled out a apple and comb from his coat pocket. after finishing
his apple he looked up and saw me. Angered I imagine by his actions of
storming, is why he forgot his comb and came running back for it.
This is all quite fun. I must people watch more often.
____________________ fucking classy.
MystryssRavynDarque
Extreme Fanatic
Posts: 648 Registered: 24/9/2002 Status: Offline
posted on 8/10/2004 at 08:43 AM
This makes me want to go to the park, but then if there are parents with
small children out there I might just get annoyed. The squirrels are
better to talk to.
____________________ "People always say what we are looking for is a meaning for life…I don't
think that's what we're looking for. I think what we're looking for is the
experience of being alive." -Joseph Campbell
pale-face
Fanatic
Posts: 478 Registered: 22/9/2004 Status: Offline
posted on 8/10/2004 at 05:48 PM
mrd? are you a fan of squirrels? at my cottage i have a few trained to come
and eat my table scraps.
____________________ fucking classy.
Stille
Occasional Poster
Posts: 42 Registered: 3/10/2003 Status: Offline
posted on 9/10/2004 at 03:28 AM
Speaking of manic streeet preachers: I think I met their king. Think of a
haggard guy that's standing outside a mall screaming:"Every day you sin,
you sin without knowing it! You sin through the crosses that you wear! Dead
crosses, crosses of wood, of metal! The proper cross is the one made of
human flesh *does the cross sign*. I saw a whore, her legs naked, her
breasts naked and a cross between them! I saw a man naked! NAKED! And with
a cross on his chest!" Ah well...
____________________
Abbadon
Fanatic
Posts: 499 Registered: 31/12/1969 Status: Offline
posted on 9/10/2004 at 03:40 AM
I've just begun some research into human and insect behavioral psychology.
Its true, people like watching other people... well any animal for that
matter.
____________________ Light is changing to shadow, and casting a shroud over all we have known.
pale-face
Fanatic
Posts: 478 Registered: 22/9/2004 Status: Offline
posted on 9/10/2004 at 09:03 AM
All people watching is fun. there is no doubt about that. i only wish i
could find out what they were all thinking. that would add a whole new
level of fun to what i like to think of as the sport of people watching. o
well.
____________________ fucking classy.
daria_4
Member
Posts: 96 Registered: 29/7/2003 Status: Offline
posted on 9/10/2004 at 10:26 AM
While it would be interesting to know what people are thinking as you're
watching them, I think it's kinda cool to come up with your own ideas of
what might be going through their heads. Did you ever mute a TV show and
come up with your own dialogue with your friends? Since I can't read minds,
I settle for thinking of people watching as the Mute-TV type of activity.
It can be an interesting challenge to force yourself to think up "dialogue"
beyond your initial and simplest assumptions.
____________________ "I've told you before, I don't comprehend religion, although
conviction is a concept I'm beginning to get. In any case, a person
with a real religious conviction is, I propose, a religious convict,
and deserves locking up."
W0rmW00d
Fanatic
Posts: 355 Registered: 5/8/2004 Status: Offline
posted on 10/10/2004 at 08:23 PM
i was sitting in the sun, smoking, feeling sorry for myself as i often do,
and there was a man and a women with the worlds supply of pidgeons
surrounding them, they were feeding them and the pigeons flocked to pick up
the scraps like the dirty parasites they are. taking what they can get.
that is people watching.
across the road there was a man holding a townie (chav, garry, scally,
rudeboy wannabe gangstas, wiggas whatever you call them wherever you are)
by the wrist. a couple of yards away stood a group of mini-rockers looking
on. from the shouted conversation of this towny's friends i caught these
gems
'he's fucked it, man, he's fucked it. man tried to rob a greb and got
caught.'
'man im gonna batter them'
etc
i laughed, a lot. these little bastards saw me laughing and said 'what are
you laughing at. i indicated the scene described, they said 'you think
thats funny?' i said, 'yes, yes i do'
at which point the police arrived, i was told i was going to be killed and
then they moved away from the cops. the idiot who had managed to get
himself caught tried to escape, it turned out that he had a load of weed on
him. cue more shouting from his compatriots.
i laughed some more. real life is far better than television.
____________________ Eritis sicut Deus scientes bonum et malum.
And the third angel sounded, and a troll army did descend upon the world.
pale-face
Fanatic
Posts: 478 Registered: 22/9/2004 Status: Offline
posted on 11/10/2004 at 04:45 PM
i must say some people that i would like to pay attention to are the
'townies' that are in my town. being one of the few poor people in a rich
town i get to watch people with huge amounts of money be stupid. all the
wigger's where I live pour money into drugs just to show up in public
places to act stupid. like i said. i need to pay more attention to them. it
will be fun.
____________________ fucking classy.
EyeCandyRayce
Fanatic
Posts: 247 Registered: 19/1/2004 Status: Offline
posted on 11/10/2004 at 08:34 PM
I used to work at a building that had the first two floors housing high
dollar shopping areas. There was a grass court yard where people would
smoke and read. I loved sitting there and watching people. The yuppy token
wife with his mounds of shopping bags. The silver spoon teenager chatting
on her cell phone. The business men coming and going in their expensive
suits while their wives spend all their money.
My favorite person to watch, however, was a guy who would come out every
day, take off his shoes and do some form of slow martial art dancing. I
could see in my mind this ball of calmness around him with him being the
focus of all that great vibe. He often helped me calm down when I was
frustrated just from being there in his little bubble of peace and sharing
it with the people around that just didn't know how to appreciate it.
____________________ Suicide Hotline - Please Hold
My old apartment was perfect for people watching. My balcony opened up on
the second floor above the dumpster below, and people at the dumpster for
some reason don't seem to care if people are watching. They never saw me,
I was a master of deception from my 12" viewpoint. I would leave presents
for them, and wait with my camera. I could sit there for any length of
time and see a grandmother setting her 3 year old grandson into the bin to
reach a treasure she couldn't get at. I'd see a man pull up in his van,
pop the hatch and literally LOOT the fucking thing of anything and
everything, totally unselfconsciously to any who might see. I left my old
console TV that broke down there, and then went right back up with my
camera in time to see a hatchback squeal to a halt and reverse, then a
small man get out and load the 200lb thing into the tiny back of his car.
I watched two large families, one russian, one mexican, fistfight over a
discarded table. And once on new years eve, I saw a man dump clothes in,
and minutes later, a naked man came racing by screaming happy new year at
the top of his lungs then stop and retrieve just his shoes from the
dumpster, put them on, and then continue his naked race for Y2K. I hit him
with my champagne cork.
As for me I've had enough of people watching. I work in a christing mall,
I see enough every day. Besides. People have become booring.
____________________ Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.
Moinlen_Drigenu
Member
Posts: 71 Registered: 18/6/2004 Status: Offline
posted on 11/10/2004 at 11:38 PM
I like to watch people, because i like to see what makes them tick. What
makes them happy, and tick and usually quite close with some people. Then
i sometimes talk to them, and ask them questions and watch their responses.
____________________ "It is said that we loose ourselves in rage, I think I find what is
missing, when it happens."
"These scars are just for show, it's the ones inside that you have to worry
about."
"When I get into a fight, all I think is..."KILL HIM"..."
pale-face
Fanatic
Posts: 478 Registered: 22/9/2004 Status: Offline
posted on 12/10/2004 at 02:11 PM
Bettie, i rather enjoyed that story of the naked y2k man. and reminded me
of an experience when an unfortunate boy streaked across the stage at an
assembly only to get locked there and break down crying.
____________________ fucking classy.
Moinlen_Drigenu
Member
Posts: 71 Registered: 18/6/2004 Status: Offline
posted on 25/10/2004 at 04:21 AM
poor little bastard
____________________ "It is said that we loose ourselves in rage, I think I find what is
missing, when it happens."
"These scars are just for show, it's the ones inside that you have to
worry
about."
"When I get into a fight, all I think is..."KILL HIM"..."
angel_of_death
Member
Posts: 119 Registered: 4/4/2004 Status: Offline
posted on 25/10/2004 at 04:30 AM
quote:I like to watch people,
because i like to see what makes them tick.
im glad im not the only one... i tell my friends i like to see what makes
ppl tick, and i get odd looks... oh well... what i want to do... is take it
to the slight extreme, i want to interview serial killers, mass murders,
cult leaders... for some reason i am very intrested what makes them tick,
as for 'normal' ppl... thier thought patterns are a bit mundane...
____________________ I know whats it like to want to die, how it hurts to smile, how you try to
fit in but you can't, how you hurt yourself on the outside, to try to kill
the pain in the inside.
Moinlen_Drigenu
Member
Posts: 71 Registered: 18/6/2004 Status: Offline
posted on 25/10/2004 at 09:30 PM
to look into their eyes to see what they see in someone else, to what makes
them do what they do and why i makes them happy to see someones life filter
out between the blood stained hands. You can't get that from some normal
person at a night club. Want to look into someones eyes that made put the
gun the her head and pull the trigger, and then only to laugh at her
infidelity of not listening.
it takes someone above or below normal to do that.
____________________ "It is said that we loose ourselves in rage, I think I find what is
missing, when it happens."
"These scars are just for show, it's the ones inside that you have to
worry
about."
"When I get into a fight, all I think is..."KILL HIM"..."
angel_of_death
Member
Posts: 119 Registered: 4/4/2004 Status: Offline
posted on 26/10/2004 at 12:04 AM
mmm... and i hope i can do it well...
____________________ I know whats it like to want to die, how it hurts to smile, how you try
to
fit in but you can't, how you hurt yourself on the outside, to try to
kill
the pain in the inside.