eh, their happiness and sociability grates at me

sally, i has the same exact thought!! :D

I also wonder how they can walk around so unaware.

Although I agree that they do seem pretty unaware, I often feel like I'm watching an alien species, and it's a strange feeling, sometimes, but I can feel like a cultural anthropologist, and kind of get into that. Harry, I think that's a great idea, certainly for some of us. I think it would be good for me, certainly! I live right across from a downtown mall, and I scarcely ever go over there because I find walking among people to be unnerving. Sitting on a wall and watching them, however, is a great idea, since I do sometimes become too much turned in on myself. Thanks Harry!

Remember they think the same thing about us! They can't believe we are not as fascinated by their BS as we are.

I think people-watching has been priceless in helping me to "pass" as one of them.

People watching is a way for us to learn how to imitate them. I can pass for an NT because I spent many years reading about human communication and interactions. I studied body language, and then tried it out myself. To this day I watch people to see how they behave, and adapt it for myself.

Good idea.

The same goes for me. I have learned to pass pretty well, although there was a price: the less I engaged in my comforting stims, the more anxious I felt and then I ground my teeth more. I've paid the price in dental bills. I did study body language and learned to imitate it, sometimes by even practicing in front of a mirror! After a couple of decades, it is actually almost automatic. Cliff, I get that completely! I for one I am usually not fascinated by the BS aspect *ho hum*

I'd love to just go to Miami Beach and sit there, people watching. I'm addicted to staring at people. I love watching faces, watching people interact. There is a passage in one of the Russian Classics, I think Tolstoy or whatever, where this guy says "I like looking at faces. I like being in a group of people, sitting at a party when everyone is having fun and laughing together.." That's how I felt since middle school - I love people, I just don't quite understand them and can't connect.

LOL. I feel that way too. I do love people, it's just that kind of out-of-sync feeling that I just can't quite connect with them, and maybe that makes me want to watch them even more.
I just thought of something kind of weird, though, which is that when I started doing watching other people, I would be thinking, "should I look like that woman? Or that girl?" or sometimes even "like that man?" it was as if not being sure of what mask I should be wearing caused this constant scouting of other people to look for one that was more right than another. It wasn't necessarily a thing that was restricted by gender, either - I felt this kind of fluidity in my gender identification. Not in my sexuality, I've been pretty firmly ensconced in my heterosexuality. But watching other people seemed to have this dual purpose, trying to understand, and scouting for what mask might fit me. I didn't realize for so long that the mask was not the person (I guess that's the "lacking theory of mind" thing) By the time I finally did figure out that I was not going to find any mask that "fit me", and that I was never going to BE any mask I put on, I was somewhere in my thirties, I guess. By then I was pretty firmly fixed in the people watching habit, and I just look at them for fun. I am also into costumes, because I sew, and because I live in a costumy kind of town, there's a lot of fertile material for watching here. That makes it even more fun. I think with a lot of people it really is all about the costumes and acts! Is there a real person under there? That's often what i wonder when I look at someone. I think I can tell usually by whether they really look at me and others, or whether they are just glancing across people. I guess that wouldn't mean that they aren't real, just that they're not interested in others. I suppose that means that I've been going around thinking that those who aren't interested in others aren't real people. Hmm. I'm going to have to think about that one some more.

Ryleeeee!! You sew!!!????

*Sig Squeals in delight!!

I just posted some pictures of my projects that I did for classes this semester. Phew, I don't ever have to look at another piece of fabric for the rest of my life if I don't wanna, but, give me a week...

I am soooo with all of you on this that I don't have to add a thing.
When I was in my 20's I was dating an Army Psychologist said that I was far too aware of what was going on both in and out of my head but that it was absolutely fascinating.
About 10 years ago little sister, (not A/S) was working on her BS in Psychology and told me that she figured out that I wasn't in any of the books. Kinda proud of that.

On awareness and sewing:
Clotho spun the thread of life from her distaff onto her spindle. Her Roman equivalent was Nona, (the 'Ninth'), who was originally a goddess called upon in the ninth month of pregnancy.
Lachesis "allotter" or drawer of lots) measured the thread of life allotted to each person with her measuring rod. Her Roman equivalent was Decima (the 'Tenth').
Atropos "inexorable" or "inevitable", literally "unturning", was the cutter of the thread of life. She chose the manner and timing of each person's death. When she cut the thread with "her abhorrd shears", someone on Earth died.


Ok, the connection:
I'm sometimes acutely aware of the interwoven strings that make up our lives. The fact that many don't sew, or sow or cook or build, or write, or sing...cruely separates them from the fundamentals of existence. They marginalize the necessary and enshrine/sanctify the peripheral and derivative.

Before enlightenment:
Chopping wood, Carrying water
After enlightenment:
Chopping wood, carrying water.

The difference is the realization that there is no difference.

American culture seems on the one hand to celebrate differences, (I like to think so), then when it comes to day to day existence we seem hell bent on conformity.
I SUBMIT: what need for "tolerance",(a patronizing term to me), what need for tolerance if we only KNOW that difference is superficial and all our virtues and vices stem from the same driving principle of a need for a context that our little limited consciousness can handle.

Maslow's hierarchy used to really irk me.

I love people watching - like Rylee says, it's like watching an alien species. Really fascinating trying to figure people out. It's the main reason I like reading novels - because they give a glimpse of what goes on in people's heads. I actually find people watching easier in a written context - such as in online communities or by reading novels. I think this is because there are no sensory distractors - the noise and busy-ness and movement and immediacy of watching people in a mall can be quite overwhelming. But when you are reading, you can process it in your own time and come back to it - it isn't constantly moving.