Area Man Just Waiting for an Opportunity to Talk About the Horses Outside of PF Chang’s

“I don’t know who I am anymore without the horse” says Chou, when asked by officers to get off the horse.
Photo by Jack Yang

Local man Devin Chou has recently caused uproar around La Jolla by sitting through hours of discussion just hoping for an opportunity to talk about the horses outside of PF Chang’s. “It’s like he’s not even listening to us,” said Chou’s friend, Anika Copeland. “He stares blankly through hours of conversation. His eyes are black and lifeless — it’s horrifying. But when someone brings up horses, statues, or even lettuce wraps, Devin joyously lights up with the opportunity to talk about his passion. It’s like he’s a whole new person.”

Chou justifies his infatuation with the PF Chang’s horses by saying “they’re just so beautiful and powerful. Like, Kung Pao Chicken tastes okay, but having a majestic 11-foot horse watching over me assures me that I can really enjoy my food. If you can’t find the beauty in that, then you’re the weird one.”

Chou’s fascination with the horses has landed him in a legal conflict involving PF Chang’s iconic monuments. “They say you’re not supposed to climb on the horses, but they can’t actually stop you if you do,” said Chou. “The PF Chang’s employees are not allowed to physically touch you, so they can yell at you to get down from the horses all they want, but they can’t physically make you. But apparently they can acquire restraining orders forbidding you from coming back, so that part blows.”

Social Psychology expert Dr. Beatrice Ruppert includes a section on Chou in her new book “No One is Actually Listening to You,” where she coins the term “The Chou Effect.” One passage reads: “After observing Devin interact with others in a group setting, I witnessed a behavioral pattern we see again and again in social psychology: a person passionately pursuing a singular specific underlying obsession. My philosophy is very similar to Freud’s (except in my philosophy people can have an obsession with something other than wanting to have sex with their mom). People cannot be invested in a conversation unless their niche passion is brought to light. In Devin’s case, he will not be able to contribute to a conversation unless someone brings up his passion — the 11-foot tall horses outside of PF Chang’s restaurants.”

Ruppert’s studies conclude that in the average day-to-day conversation, other people will only listen to what you are saying seven percent of the time. 85 percent of the time, however, people are thinking about “their own personal version of Chou’s 11-foot-tall horse statues.’” Chou responded to Dr. Ruppert’s findings by saying, “I don’t really care what she writes about me in her book. I just really love those horse statues outside of PF Chang’s.”