About Me

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I'm not doing this project to necessarily make new longterm friends, or go have a drink with these people. Nor is it to pass any judgements on ones life. My goal is to simply meet interesting, and maybe not so interesting strangers who I wouldve never taken the time to talk to otherwise. One that may differ, or perhaps relate to my own life. So many times, you walk past someone, and they wont even raise their head in the slightest to say hello. I'll never understand why. The challenge to myself is not only to surpass that simple hello with one person a day, but to convince them to look into my lens and tell me something about themselves. My name is Amanda Surkin, and this is my journey of meeting 100 new faces. Take the time to listen, you may learn something :)

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Stranger #100

Meet William Heil.

"I do a lot of fishing! That's mostly all I do to get out of the house and relax. I've been fishing since I was 9 years old. I fish for salmon, but catching bass is my favorite! I go all over to fish. I've gone to New York, Jersey, Maryland, etc. I don't keep any of them unless I catch flounder or salmon. I'm retired, I had a heart attack 6-7 years ago and I lost my job because of it. I was making $27/hr. I'm single, I just go out and relax. I also play a lot of video games! I play black ops a lot, it's an army game! I also have slot machines in my house that I play! I live with my nephew now because my landlord raised the rent on me. I fixed the house up so much, and one day he called me while I was at work and asked to talk to me. So, I asked my boss if I could leave to talk to him, I only lived 5 min away, and he let me go. He told me he was raising my rent $150, and if I don't pay it, get out. I went back to work, and ten minutes later, I had my heart attack. It's $150 a month for my medicine, and I have to take it for the rest of my life. First thing in the morning, and at night before bed.


I've been married twice, and my first wife cheated on me with one of my nephews. When I thought the child was mine, I had to pay child support and the kid wound up being my nephews and not mine. She had two kids with him. I got married ten years later to another woman who was a liar. She would borrow my car, and tell me she was going to work. One day I called her work to tell her to pick up some steaks so we can cook dinner, and her boss told me that she hasn't been in work for two weeks. I said cya to her! I'm a nice guy! I play darts, and monopoly with my buddy up at his house. We also play Triple E with pennies, and we have a ball!"- William

Monday, May 21, 2012

Stranger #99


Meet Adam.

"I'm a poet. I've been writing for 5 months. I'm an artist, an urban artist, and I do graffiti. I do pictures too, maybe turn a mailbox into a monster! I do art for fun, and I've been doing it since I was 8 years old. I've always loved drawing. The more you do, the better you get at it. I also dress up as the ninja turtles. I have a hat for all of them! St. Pattys day, i'll wear orange. For Christmas, I'll wear red. I wear blue a lot, because it's my favorite. I like their lifestyle. I love the martial arts, partying, and the movies!"- Adam

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Stranger #98

Meet Joe F.

"My wife works full time, and I'm a stay at home dad. I'm a learning coach, and my kids go to cyber school. My daughter is 15, and my son is 12. They've been in cyber school since 1st grade. The school is called Commonwealth Connections Academy (also known as CCA). They send books, and any equipment that's necessary. Basically they have a teacher from the school, and they communicate 1-2 times a month by phone. They also have live lessons. You only need to attend the live lessons if you need extra help or if your grades fall. So, mostly when they're in the lower grades, they're more dependent on me, but when they get older, they work by themselves more. The school has a field trip kind of thing to socialize all of the students. The school is for the whole state of Pennsylvania.


I've been married for 16 years in July. My wife does computer work, she's an IT analyst. I have 5 cats, and I got my oldest car before my daughter was born. My family jokes a lot, and I say that my first cat is my first born son! Our family loves all kinds of animals. We've had a rabbit, snake, mouse, 10 different cats at different times, guinea pig, and fish. I think birds are the only animal we've never had. My family aren't dog people. We don't know how to train a dog at all. When I was 10, we had a dog, someone left the front door open, our dog got out, and got hit by a taxi. After that, I just had cats all of my life. One of my cats was the most memorable. I had her for 16 years, and her name was black magic. My daughter has a dog named Queeny (pictured above). She sold a bunch of her dolls, and toys to buy her and pay for all of the initial food and necessities. Queenys favorite hobby is chasing the cats!"- Joe

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Stranger #97

Meet Sandy.

"I'm originally from NY. I own four parrots. Their names are Mr. Magoo, Albert Einstein, George and Eli. I also own two plush coat German shepherds, and a siamese cat. That's all I'm going to admit to!"- Sandy

Stranger #96

Meet Clem M.

"I'm a biker, fisherman, dad, and husband. I'm an airman, in the Air Force, and I've been an active guard for 26 years. I like to garden, and I'm a cook. I particularly like to cook for my lady! I've been married for 28 years in two weeks! I live in Northeast Philadelphia, and I've lived here all my life. I'm a city guy! I'm a big Eagles and Phillies fan. I'm not really into baseball and hockey, but i'll get on the bandwagon for the few weeks of the playoffs!"- Clem

Stranger #95

Meet Alisha.

I like fighting. I'm training in boxing right now,and I want to get into a fight soon! I haven't been able to get a fight because I had to get 3 surgeries on my ankles. My first surgery was March of 2009 on my left ankle, then I had another surgery on my right ankle in May of 2009, and then my last one in June of 2011 on y left ankle again. I had problems with bone loss which caused pretty bad fractures, or I probably would've gotten a fight already. I want to get into med school, but my grades aren't that good. I'm a bit of a slacker; I've always been that way. I know I have to do it, because I want to be a doctor. I'm hoping that it's different when I can actually work with the patients!


I'm really into art. I'm trying to get into drawing and painting more! I also make jewelry. I just draw and paint whatever. I've always liked it since I was a little kid. I would always draw when you weren't supposed to, basically on walls, and I marked my cat once with markers. I'm trying to sell my art work, but I haven't gotten a lot done yet. Nothing is finished. There's a store near my house that wants to buy my jewelery. I started making jewelry when I was 10, and I sold it at a craft sale at a church. I'm supposed to be a roman catholic but I haven't gone to church. I don't think I have to follow a religion to be a good person. I've met a lot of religious people who are assholes, judgemental, and they're so rude if you don't follow every rule possible. They're also so quick to tell everyone how horrible of a person they are and how they're going to hell. I just believe in God!"- Alisha

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Stranger #94

Meet Kevin.

"There's not much that's interesting about myself! What would you like me to tell you? I work for channel 3. I'm a floor director, and I've worked there for over 30 years. I don't want to retire there, but I have no clue what else I want to do. I'm from the shore, and I love the beach! I drive back and forth every day about an hour and a half. I live in Toms River. I coach a scooter team. My son is on it, and he's 13. My other son is a rock star. He has a new album that just came out and their band is called Nemora. It's one of the screamo bands, and he's the screamer! He's the goodlookin' guy in the middle with blonde hair, and I would tell you that he get's his good looks from me, but he'd get mad at me! I'm happily divorced, and in my spare time, I'm just a roady for my sons! I'm a cool dad!"- Kevin