I don’t often have time in my work schedule to sit, check Facebook, post on Twitter, watch Law and Order marathons, write and reflect. If I did, I would probably be a danger to myself. But today, oddly, I do. And as a motivation, I stopped in my local B&N for an hour’s time dedicated to writing. Yes, it’s true I spent a considerable amount of that time responding to work emails, but here I am, half an hour into some creative me time, actually writing. Success!
There’s something so appealing about people watching in NYC. I sit here and look around. Straight in front of me is a woman bent down, a hair away from the little green table, calligraphy pen in hand, looking at a book on calligraphy. Next to her is another woman who is voraciously eating a cup of pomegranate seeds, bright red nail polish matching the succulent seeds she is shoveling in her mouth. She’s writing cards she’s probably purchased on the ground floor. They are black with writing in white and the envelopes are bright green. There’s some weird matching thing going on with her. Occasionally, she stops chewing and writing and she glances at her smart phone for, presumably, addresses or texts or tweets.
Next to her is yet another woman, all in purple (yes, even the nail polish and sunglasses on her head). She is reading intently and seems completely oblivious to the environmental din that surrounds us. Diagonally across from me are three young men with laptops; my best guess is they are a study group. Then again, they might be the next smart tech creators and candidates for a meeting with Patty Stanger and the Millionaire Matchmaker Club.
In a far corner is a man that seems to have stepped out of a taping Behind the Music. He’s got that aging Rockstar, but I have had Botox and collagen shots, look. Black t-shirt with gray skulls, wig and baseball cap worn backwards, black jeans and leather mid-calf black boots. The look is completed by massive tattoos on his arms and he’s reading leafing through a graphic novel.
Two business-suits have come and gone with their iPad airs, earbuds, Blackberry phones. They weren’t sitting together, but they both looked like they had stepped out of the “I’m a businessman” episode of What Not To Wear.
Last, but not least, there is a gentleman who is the spitting image of a young Alan Arkin. He’s wearing larger than life headphones on his bald head. Dark sweater and white and blue checkered shirt. I cannot imagine what he has been listening to this whole time. There’s a part of me that believes he’s listening to classical jazz, just by his appearance. But another part of me wants to believe he’s probably dancing around in his head to Britney Spears, Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus.
And as I gather my things, off to the next work adventure, the calligrapher looks up for a moment, just to check on her lettering, chomper has just finished her red beads, and rocker has moved on to leafing through Rolling Stone.