Much as I probably shouldn't admit this
it's true that I'm probably considered a bit eccentric by many. I've been known to be walking along in public and stop and start inspecting things seemingly at random and taking an interest in things that most people might run from.

One day, for instance, I was in Maymont Park with my kids and was waiting down on the path by the Japanese gardens while they went running through the bamboo forest. Being too big to follow them through the paths that children had carved through there- and not really feeling a great desire to go pushing through bamboo anyway- I stood below waiting for them, when my eye caught on something.

I stepped over onto the grass and inspected a lump of grey fuzz about the size of a golf ball. I looked at it for a moment, then got a stick and started poking at it.

"Find something interesting?" an unfamiliar voice said, with a trace of mockery. I looked up and saw a guy and his wife looking down at me.

"Yeah, actually, an owl pellet."

Now he looked intrigued. "A what?

"An owl pellet. It's the bones and fur and stuff that the owl can't digest. They spit it out." I poked a bit more. "I think that's a shrew skull."

Within minutes I had a dozen people surrounding me as I used the stick to pull apart the wad of stuff and inspected the bones. We took our best guesses at the skulls and other bones, and finally I stood up and backed away so that the others could see it for themselves.

How many other people could get a group together at random to inspect owl puke?
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Fri 31 Oct 2008, 18:07, 6 replies)

My dad
regularly does this... I remember as a child, he once started pulling apart and categorising a couple of owl pellets, and ended up lecturing to the crowd that gathered.
( ascorbate, Fri 31 Oct 2008, 18:24, closed)

...are you my daughter?
...nah, couldn't be- she wasn't with me that day.

It's really kind of funny- when I take an interest in something like that while I'm in the park I'll often find other random people stopping to see what I'm doing. I end up giving impromptu lectures quite a bit.

Or maybe it's just that I'm weird.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Fri 31 Oct 2008, 18:27, closed)

nah
it's called having an interest in the world around you. It's sadly lacking in most people.
( ascorbate, Fri 31 Oct 2008, 18:30, closed)

Sometimes
it's almost eerie- when I go hiking in the mountains I'll sometimes find a nice spot off the trail to sit for a while and rest, like a rock next to a stream (or in the stream), and within minutes I have half a dozen strangers surrounding me, splashing and calling to their friends as they clomp around. It's like I put out some sort of pheromone that says "Hey! Come over here! You'll be happiest if you stand RIGHT HERE!"

The Lunatic Artist was with me the last time it happened. Until then she thought I had been joking about it.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Fri 31 Oct 2008, 18:34, closed)

sometimes
It happens to me too - we are just interested in everything, and that is interesting to other people...
(The Lunatic Artist throws paint to the wind, Fri 31 Oct 2008, 20:16, closed)

Nah!
Your just very handsome and everyone wants to be seen with you : )
( girlinthehole, Fri 31 Oct 2008, 19:25, closed)