Fantasizing About Strangers...

One thing I love about city life is interacting so much with strangers. When you drive everywhere, you end up only interacting with people you're driving to see or from seeing. But walking through busy streets and riding the train every day forces you to be around strangers.

Today, I was jamming out to a little Paolo Nutini when I noticed the guy sitting across from me on the Metro. He looked about my age, and was wearing black pants and a black shirt with the Capitol City Brewing Company logo on it. I've been there a few times so I assumed he was on his way to work. He was reading a copy of the Express and had a skateboard leaning against his legs. It had a skull on it with wings and those scary earrings people wear that look like bolts. Creepy.

I started wondering about this guy. What is his life like? Why is he a waiter in his mid20s? So I started imagining a life for him. A really cool one. With a girlfriend who has green hair and tattoos. And he's in a punk band. Trying to make it big. Or maybe he's an intern for some cool liberal group like MoveOn.org or TreePeople.

In imagining all these lives for this stranger, I was projecting my own fantasies onto him...and it was fun! I have all kinds of fantasy lives that keep my imagination entertained. I live in a punk band, I'm a crazy activist, I live in Austin and work in the music industry, I live in Chelsea and work at an art gallery, I live in London and oh, I don't care what I do, I live in London!

Then we got to Metro Center - his stop. And he exited the train. He had a little sticker stuck to his pants. They must have been new - it was the sticker that tells you the size. I almost reached up and ripped it off for him. Then I remembered we actually are strangers. And I decided to let his friend he writes comic books with take it off...