I had a friend in college who was a film major, and she got me in the habit of writing down every time I saw a character in public and describe them in detail. She would save them for inspiration for when she was writing scripts, and I would just keep them in my Notes app to laugh about later.
I forgot about this until I found some from 2018 in my Notes app. I can’t believe these people are real, but I SWEAR to you they are.
I tried to bring this back last winter (I really should keep this up) and it was a sweet reminder that 🚨CORNY ALERT🚨 when I’m having a rough day, there is so much around me to smile about. I just have to look for it!
Chicago 2018
Man in giant top hat decorated with bullets and giant studs, wearing worn leather jacket with flames going up the right sleeve, the cleanest black sweatpants, a glossy embossed (present-day Elise: I don’t know what I meant by embossed, I really wish I added more detail) sweatshirt zipped all the way to the top (under the leather jacket), boxing gloves attached to the back of his backpack, Nike frees, OtterBox phone case.
Young businessman in a grey suit riding a longboard
Man in zip-up black hoodie unzipped halfway (nothing underneath), dirty black sweatpants (the kind with the cinching at the ankles), black circle sunglasses, TINY black beanie, partially grey hair, two dreads coming down from his beard, those Skechers that are supposed to look like Nike Frees (present-day Elise: I guess in 2018 everyone was wearing Nike Free Runs).
Walgreens: Danny Devito-esque man holding up the line buying SO MANY PACKS OF TWIZZLERS, keeps leaving line and coming back with more, people in line getting frustrated
NYC Dec 2022–Feb 2023
Williamsburg Whole Foods self checkout. Beautiful European family. Really cute baby in floral snowsuit and black balaclava/ski mask and they just popped her up on top of the scanning thing and she’s just kind of looking down at them scanning things, also they have one of those really expensive strollers.
Outside the Downtown Brooklyn Trader Joe’s: An old lady/grandma pushing a stroller of two toddlers, one boy and one girl. The boy wore a beanie that said BOY and the girl wore a beanie that said GRL.
Woman on the bus from Bed-Stuy to Greenpoint putting an entire roll of Smarties in her mouth. Instead of eating them one by one or unraveling the roll and holding it over her mouth (like how you would eating the crumbs from a bag of chips), she put a few in her hand and cartoonishly threw them back like a character in like a Superbad-type-movie taking ecstasy would do. She couldn’t fit all the Smarties in one hand, so she threw her head back like 3-4 times. I was sitting behind her, so I didn’t even see her face, but was scared I would kind of make half eye contact when she tossed back the Smarties
NYC Oct 2023
Guy in a shirt and matching flat brim hat, both say D.A.R.E. ME TO DO ALL THESE DRUGS (like the D.A.R.E. logo). Rick and Morty socks, grey and blue striped swim trunks, Beats headphones, four gigantic gothic silver rings, playing Nintendo Switch (purple and orange controllers), iPhone with OtterBox phone case charging with cord going into his backpack, one of those gigantic round smart watches, necklace with a bullet on it.
Please leave a comment if you’ve seen any silly characters. If not, my homework for you is to try and spot one and get back to me.
xoxo,
Elise
obsessed
This was so fun to read!!