Is anyone here also a people-experimenter? Someone who does unusual things or deliberately hangs around with people who act bizarre in order to observe the reaction of people when confronted with the unexpected. I would expect most steampunks are as there is something about waltzing down the street in Victorian dress that is a kind of people-experiment in itself.
Maybe some of you have some good stories of social experiments to share?
I probably have always people watched,
being an only child,
I remember sitting in other people's houses,
just watching their family dynamic-
brother -vs- sister etc
because I had neither.
Then, in high school
I was the youngest member of
a method acting theatre company;
an was sent to the Atlanta airport
with other actors
to watch people
and then bring 'characters' back to the class
that we'd observed.
So it's not a 'second' nature
it *is* my nature.
The lines at Wal Mart are legendary at Christmas time.
My friend and I were in line just buying some household thing
nothing like some of the overloaded barges people were pushing
one foot at a time waiting for checkout.
There was a fundraiser for some Christian charity
that when you donate like five bucks
they put your name in a star and hang it on the wall...
I picked up one of the stars and
showed it to my friend
(a lady in her seventies)
saying, "hey, look a cardboard star"
I held the star across the cart toward her
then pointed to the blank line and said,
"wouldn't it be great to see one that said,
'wishing you great success ... then sign it
...Satan'?"
(said it like 'the church lady' on SNL)
Then I tried to hand it to her saying, "dare ya"-
The entire line cracked up.
If I'd had five extra dollars then, *I* would have done it!
The mood of the entire waiting line changed.
The cashier relaxed and things went faster.
People began speaking to each other in line,
conversation passing time while waiting
where before they'd been just staring sullenly
at what they *had* to buy because of the season.
It's often EASY to change
the entire vibe of the room
(or store)
if you can get the timing right.
I always think it's worth a try.
