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When we’re young, we say we want to be all kinds of things. Doctors, lawyers, business executives, as Malvina Reynolds sang a long time ago. Some of us want to be astronauts, successful (and presumably steroid-free) athletes, or maybe something with genuine societal benefit. Or sometimes something our parents wish we wouldn’t pursue. But usually, plans change and we shift interests as we get older. Let’s keep an eye on these two youngsters who recently discussed their lifelong ambitions in earshot of a perceptive Metro rider.

Overheard of the Week

April 4, Orange Line toward New Carrollton:

Two kids—a girl, about 6, and a boy, about 4—are swinging around on the railcar poles. Their mother yells at them to stop.

Mother: “Swinging on a pole gets you nowhere in life. Except maybe a fireman”
Boy: “I want to be a fireman!”
Girl: “Not me, I want to be a stripper when I grow up”.
Mother: “being a stripper ain’t nothing good”
Girl, now in tears: “I WANT TO BE A STRIPPER!”

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Cal Tech

Late Thursday night on Metro, one 20-something says to another:

“You know how in The Matrix, the robots created this perfect world for the humans, this utopia, but the humans rejected it and were like, ‘Nah, man, this is too perfect?’ That’s how I feel about California.”

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Soft power

On an unidentified street

Man talking on his cell phone: “Don’t make me have to buy a bag of tube socks to hit you with.”

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Ornithology is tough

At the Au Bon Pain in Union Station

Obvious tourist, looking at a pigeon near the ceiling: “Aww. Look at that beautiful dove!”

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It bites, that reality

Silver Spring

Two teens are walking home and one says to the other, “I would never want to take a drug because I hate my reality. I just want to see.”

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Topical spelling bee

Security line, Dulles International Airport

A father is passing the time before the TSA screening by playing spelling games with his young daughter.

Dad: “And how do you spell ‘sequester’?”
Daughter: “S-E-Q-U-E-S-T-E-R.”

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Greater Greater Overheard

Saturday, at H St and 9th NE. Three women in their early 20s are walking.

Woman 1: “Isn’t every car a street car?”

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And finally, I so need to re-up my Costco membership.

Costco, Friday afternoon.

An aisle-end display where a store employee is selling hemp seeds by the bag. A customer is tasting a sample.

Employee: “You can sprinkle them over yogurt, or on soup.”
Customer: “Tastes like marijuana.”