Once again, I did the survey at the Riverwalk! The riverwalk is much more fun to do surveys at than standing on a side corner and holding the sign.
Both sides of the poster had a different question.
Songs of the day:
- Blood, Milk and Sky, by White Zombie
- In Ear Park, by Department of Eagles
I’m writing this a week later, so my memory is slightly flawed. People’s conversations were largely the same as when I did these topics on my typical corner, so I won’t rehash those thoughts and opininos, and I won’t repeat things that happened last week.
Throughout the time I left the survey there, I moved spots every 30 or 60 minutes, sometimes near the very top, sometimes on the lowest step just a few feet away from the survey. Once or twice I sat right next to it.
There were more interactions when I wasn’t sitting near it. In fact, even if other poeple did, the survey would get less attention. A few times, people sat near it, and I had to get up and move it to an emptier spot.
At one point, two men sat right next to it. People who took the survey assumed it was theres. I don’t think they said anything to correct that. They were intentionally using it to meet people!
So I sat down next to them and talked with them. One had an American accent and one was from Berlin.
When I went back to a higher step to people watch, a couple stopped me to talk to me about the survey and we talked about those two guys also.
But they were calling people over to the survey. It was making me nervous that someone would complain and security would have to make the survey go away. So I moved the survey away from them and they left.
Later, as that couple from a higher step were leaving, they told me they saw the two guys get up and leave, but that they actually just walked farther away, and were watching and talking about me from over there.
I was also expecting to meet up with a new friend. We met while I did my “Awkward Smalltalk for $2” sign. Even though we only talked for about 3 minutes, we vibed so easily that we exchanged numbers, and texted a bit (don’t worry guys she has a bf lol) and she asked if she could join me on a Sunday survey. But on that day, my phone was messing up, and texts were coming and going intermittently, which really made it difficult to coordinate.
In the end, she didn’t end up coming, through no one’s fault. I had brought wine and cookies from Jewel for us to share, so I drank both cans of wine and ate all the cookies. (Mmmmm. Cookies and wine.)
Later, I saw this young woman who looked super cool. So I sat next to her and talked with her a bit. She said she had backpacked through Europe a while, and that here people are less open to interaction, though it could be the backpacking culture. She also told me she spent one whole day walking backwards! I love meeting cool people.
That’s all I remember from last week. I’ll be doing the survey again tomorrow (I’m writing both these articles on Saturday the 13th) so feel free to sit next to me and say hi!
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