people watching
Thursday, August 4, 2011 at 4:51PM
Recipe for Awkward

Saw a couple people who were fascinating to look at on the subway today... The most entertaining to describe was a mid-thirty-something guy during my ride home who looked like a Gay Hipster Jew that just got off from his professional day job he probably loathes (unless, by chance, it's actually cool, which is why he gets to dress like this).  Either way, he looked quite serious, but you never really know what people are like by just staring at them, of course (trust me, I've tried).  Anyway, he was, in fact, wearing a yarmulke, along with leopard-print - or was it tortoise shell? - glasses.  He had a nice red plaid button-down shirt with the cuffs flipped up so you could see a different red plaid pattern at the wrists, and below, skinny kind of 60s-ish navy blue slacks that were just slightly too short and too tight for him, and at the bottom, pointy tan wingtips that looked vintage or possibly just well-worn.  There was a bit of beard growth, and, finally, a slightly protruding round belly.  He was probably going home to watch old Carol Channing movies, then read the Torah, then post something vaguely ironic on his FB profile.  If only I knew!!!   Anyway, I loved the look.  He was handsome in a strange way.  I wanted to keep staring at him in hopes I'd somehow figure out his story through a kind of mental-osmosis.

The other was a girl in the morning.  She looked in her 20s and wore a black spaghetti-strap tank top with a black skirt.  She had a few tattoos on one arm and a BIG tattoo of a feather on her chest.  She had pretty dark brown hair that was fairly straight and long, and it was half-up, half-down.  I don't think she wore much makeup, if any at all.  I started looking at her more intently when I noticed that the earring she wore on her left side had a strange shape and texture.  It took me a couple of seconds to realize that it was an approximately two-inch-long jaw bone of a small animal, or, rather, half of a jaw bone of a small animal (I assume the other half dangled from the other ear).  Then I looked at her a bit more, and when people moved around getting in and out of the train, I noticed that she also didn't shave her legs.  Quite hairy she was, probably about as hairy as my legs would look if I let them be au natural, being pale with darkish hair.  I gave her a silent shout-out.

I love people watching.

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