People Watching

I've always loved people watching. In the car, whenever I got tired of reading whatever book was holding my attention, I would stare out the window and imagine what the people in the other cars were thinking as they passed by our cars, our lives overlapping and intersecting for a few brief seconds. This graduated to watching people at swim meets and sports games, their reactions to key events, or perhaps distractions from the entire scene. Next came staring people down from the safety of my driver's seat, whether they be walking or driving themselves, followed closely by lifeguarding which is the best people-watching job on the face of the planet.

In college, it became more of an art form. There were prime seats in Cool Beans, Dinand and Kimball, all dependent upon what kid of watching you wanted to do. My favorites were the porches of 38 and 21 Caro, both late at night and early in the morning, but the corner Cool Beans table senior year was the best combo of gossiping, sporcling and watching to be found.

Now there's a new spot: corner table at the 2nd st downtown Heritage.

Wells Fargo outside to the left, you can watch people come up and down the street, as well as the dogs that people leave on the cobblestone patio when they come in to order coffee and get dog treats. Plus, there's a great view of the line of people that accumulates, providing ample opportunity to overhear drink orders and scheme up some new ones. And free wifi to boot. While Dolly, Rich, and Sean may not be here to creep with me, it's just enough of a distraction surrounding me to really get some thinking and writing down. And even *gasp* blogging!