You can't see me!

     As I sat in MiCasa Cafe Wednesday night I felt some what like I was not there at all. My assignment, to watch other people. I usually do this with out knowing, but when Corrigan gave me 5 things to notice about the people I was supposed to watch my eyes were opened to some pretty insightful stuff. The sensation was weird, I could almost imagine myself as an undercover FBI agent who was scoping out my target. The ironic thing was that I felt invisible and almost all-knowing. I could see people but they could not see me. This spell of thinking was broken when a friend of mine noticed me in the corner taking notes. She came up to me and asked what I was doing and I simply told her, "people watching." At first she laughed and then she saw I was serious because of my elaborate notes. I then asked her what she was doing and she told me, "I was actually watching you!" This shocked me and I felt vulnerable because I wondered if she had the same 5 steps in her head as she watched me. This is nonsense to think that she was watching me in the same way. Who would naturally do that? Maybe some weird stalker, or a lovesick admirer, but not a normal guy who would sit down at a cafe for a cup of coffee.      Here are the five ways to present/develop characters
a) physical description (what they wear, way they move and sound)
b) the things they say
c) the things they do
d) the way they are responded to; including the things others say about them
e) their thoughts, if they are shown
     He was dressed in nice black dress-shirt with some dark jeans. His movements reminded me of a puppy who was surrounded by little kids. Nothing seemed to hold his attention very long. He texted on his cell phone for a couple of seconds then would resume his conversation with a couple of people sitting at a table. He would then look up after briefly making eye contact and glance at the TV screen to watch Sports Center. After that got old he wondered off to another table to talk with some more people. The people he makes small talk with do not say much back, and when he realizes they will not give him attention, it is off to another table and then finally some food. I could not tell what he was thinking, but after a bit of observation I guess he was looking for some one who would give him attention. Maybe he thought that the people he engaged with were boring. Nonetheless this exciting observation practice with the 5 things in mind put myself in my subjects shoes.