My favorite hobby is people-watching. Jess and I went up north today and hung out at the mall for an hour or two.

Today I saw an older woman, probably mid-sixties, walking with a girl (whom I presumed to be her granddaughter) in the mall. The girl was totally nondescript, but the woman was another matter. She was quite grandmotherly; silver hair, small gold earrings, a nice laugh. However, she was clad in a leopard-print jacket, which Jessie referred to as a "Who shot the couch?" coat. The woman was also wearing plaid flannel pants, and here's the kicker (pun intended): bright purple wrestling shoes with lime green stripes. She's either senile or my idol.

Later, we went to Pizza Hut, and halfway through our meal, a girl and two guys came in. I'd guess they were about seniors in high school. The girl and one of the guys were both pretty boring, other than the fact that the guy had painted his fingernails black. However, the third boy had on a red t-shirt, black jeans, a black woman's sweater, a black choker, and enough makeup to make Robert Smith wonder. Jessie was scandalized. I guess that if that's what he's into, good for him for having the guts to wear it in public.

I also observed a clueless woman at ShopKo buying her eight-year-old daughter the world's ugliest snowboots -- pale tan suede with strips of cream-colored fur glued on at even intervals. The woman kept harassing the shoe employee about "whether these boots were waterproof" and if this spray-on protectant "would be okay for these cute little things." Tragic.

It's rare that you see three interesting things in one day.