People watching - or where writing starts

Have you ever seen a dog begging for food? Or maybe a hungry kitten is meowing, rubbing against someone in hope of getting a treat? There are three scenarious that can be expected - being ignored, being fed, or being cast aside.
Sometimes, I think imagination is a lot like that, hungry. And just like the stray kittens and dogs, they beg for food. How do you feed it?
I people watch. I admit it, it's a personal guilty pleasure. When I look out the window, either from the train or from the bus, I love to see the flashing silhouettes of others passing me by. Sometimes, I see a man talking on the phone and I wonder, what is he talking about. Seeing a person move his or her hands in a certain way or watching her fiddle with a ring always draws my attention. I wonder what's on their mind right now. What makes them nervous?
There is just so much in this world that we cannot fathom unless we see it echoed in others. It is said that people always understand themselves less than they do everything else. Maybe that's where it starts.
The newspapers are always filled with the same stupid stuff, 99% of it either rape and murder, or political intrigue. Watching the news is not people watching, but it's illuminating in its own way. Everything is so fake and hypocritical that you can have fun hunting for the cracks in the facades of the politicians. If they are there.
But in the end, I am a romance author, and I want to see honest interaction. So I people watch. Sometimes, even in my own home. Have you ever taken the time to see how your loved ones act when they want to ask you something, but know they shouldn't? Or how they act when they're hiding something? Or am I just weird for doing it?
Today, I caught myself doing it to my mom :). It's always a marvel to observe a person you know so well and realize that you actually know so little.
I like to see love out there, people holding hands, laughing. I like to see honest affection in couples and families. And I watch it, just like I watch the occasional conflict on the street, be it taxi drivers screaming at each other in the busy summer traffic or two kids fighting over a treat.
Sometimes, I ask myself how do they see me. And how do we all look to that higher power, or to any other race that exists other than us? Even cats and dogs, they have their own way of people-watching. So what do they think?
Maybe my writing starts here, in observing people. And it's quite an enjoyable past time :) Try it. You might be surprised at what you'll find.


And with that, I'm going back to my WIP :D. I've procrastinated enough for today.