Alex:  Do people in LA only smile when a camera is present? I don’t get it. Walking to get my second cup of coffee this morning, I smiled at the woman who was walking past me. She gave me a look that could kill, like I should be ashamed of myself for smiling. As I waited in line for coffee, I said hello to the person standing in front of me and he looked at me like I had just told him I ran over his dog. I DIDN’T START A FIRE I SAID HELLO! Come on people. I don’t like being awake at 7am either, but jiminy crickets, stop acting like the world sucks and your life is so hard. On the bright side, the cute guy at Juice Crafters did smile and gave me a little head nod on the walk back. BOO YA!
Nik:  Ha. That’s funny. When I first moved out here, I smiled and said hello to everyone. Everyone thought I was so nice. But after living out here for a really long time, I realize that I’m always in a hurry and if I smile at the man in the hat, he’ll likely droll on about his dog and then ask for my number–Or if I smile at the woman scurrying off to spin class, she might dump her emotional bullshit on me in a 15 second rant. So. I’m guilty of not smiling. I’m actually guilty of not making eye contact. My time is precious and I’m scared that if I make eye contact, someone will suck the life right out of me. That said, it might be good to spread a little cheer. Spread a little, get a little (that sounds dirty). I’m going to challenge myself to smile at every single person today. I’ll report back on how it goes.