did a little shopping at trader joe's this evening.  felt lucky because often shopping at trader joe's on a sunday evening means a dearth of parking spots and there were three open spots one of which i crammed our suv -- the family truckster -- into one. 

i know the corporations have a profile of my shopping habits and probably consider them a bit boring.  i buy the same shit every time.  i know where everything is and if the store happens to get a directive from 'headquarters' telling the store employees to rearrange the shelves well hell i feel like dustin hoffman character in rain man [1988] when he can't watch judge wapner. 

but being the kind of person i am i love watching people.  back in my salad days i read the letters of van gogh.  van gogh was not a people watcher.  van gogh loved the things made by people. he says somewhere in a missive to theo that he'd rather be among things than people.  i'm the opposite.  things are just things.  but people are endlessly fascinating.

like the people who work at and shop in trader joe's.  the tattoos, the hipsters, the oldsters who still wear chuck t's [me!], young families, you name it.  if you want to see a slice of a certain kind of 21st century u.s.american stop by a trader joe's.

my love of people watching probably extends to my love of movies.  because who else populates the movies?  hell yeah, people.  and when it comes to art and artists i'm more inclined toward the conceptual sort such as the dutch/mexican artist francis alys whose work is mostly videos of himself and others doing all kinds of wacky things. 

even language is coded people.  maybe that's why i love language so.  i can't read your thoughts so i am forced to read your words.  i am utterly fascinated by people, their movements, their sounds.  so much that an ordinary shopping trip to trader joe's becomes an expedition of storied delights.