Stories
I was traveling alone, flying back home from a very exciting and memorable trip to New York City. Now, it just so happened that I was not in the mood to talk to anybody. All I wanted was to sit back, listen to my iPod, and jam to some Emery or MCR for the rather short one hour flight. So, realizing there was no one occupying the seat next to me, I spread out a bit, hoping for a comfortable, not packed flight. At that point, I was sincerely hoping that no one took the seat beside mine.
Now, when do those things ever go how you want?
A lady came and sat next to me, causing me to shift my position, which caused the ever unsteady iPod headphones to tumble out of my ears, and overall irked me a little bit. I proceeded to ignore her and work on getting those damn headphones back into my ears. While I was trying to do this, she started the conversation, asking who I was traveling with. She asked me almost as if I were a child. So, I responded that I was alone, then to show her I didn’t have the mind of a twelve year old, I inquired as to where she was going.
Then followed an hour long conversation in which we talked about everything under the sun. I found out that she was a graduate of Harvard Business School, single, living on the Upper East Side, with her own consulting firm. We talked about business, what she did, what it meant in the grand scheme of things, famous companies she had worked with, her successes, and less obviously, the immense amount of money she made. From there, we proceeded to talk about her love life, my ideal girl, and so many other random topics that I never would have dreamed a stranger in a plane would want to talk about. It was truly an enlightening and enjoyable experience.
Fast forward to recent times. Through the ever successful “myspace” network, and I realize that the IQ of my livejournal just decreased about fifty points, I started talking to someone I knew only by name and face. I had walked by this person every day in the hallways of Cape Henry, and really never thought about what kind of person he or she was. Yet, once I started talking to this person I realized just how interesting, cool, and worth talking to he or she is. It made me think-there are a lot of people who I could talk to on a daily basis and I don’t. I simply ignore them, walk by, and don’t give them a second thought, when in reality they just might be really interesting and might have a real effect on me.
So the point of this somewhat short livejournal post is that everyone has a story. And every story is worth hearing. So my resolution is to talk to every new person I meet like I’ve known them for awhile-it seems to take the awkwardness away from the conversation, and the awkward feeling is really what deters most of us from starting the conversation. I admit, I’ve started conversations that have failed miserably, where I’ve been rejected, but overall, it’s been so much more help than hurt. So strike up a conversation, you’d be surprised how well it could go.
On another note, Captain Coleman’s Comrades, made up of Shelby “crush” Evans, Lizzie “goose” Wagner, Courtney “court” Woodward, Niraj “2 ball” Patel, and “captain” Coleman himself took the first place finish at the V2 Tournament today. There were plenty of heated games between Cape Henry’s Finest, and we look forward to the next time we get to play.
Now, when do those things ever go how you want?
A lady came and sat next to me, causing me to shift my position, which caused the ever unsteady iPod headphones to tumble out of my ears, and overall irked me a little bit. I proceeded to ignore her and work on getting those damn headphones back into my ears. While I was trying to do this, she started the conversation, asking who I was traveling with. She asked me almost as if I were a child. So, I responded that I was alone, then to show her I didn’t have the mind of a twelve year old, I inquired as to where she was going.
Then followed an hour long conversation in which we talked about everything under the sun. I found out that she was a graduate of Harvard Business School, single, living on the Upper East Side, with her own consulting firm. We talked about business, what she did, what it meant in the grand scheme of things, famous companies she had worked with, her successes, and less obviously, the immense amount of money she made. From there, we proceeded to talk about her love life, my ideal girl, and so many other random topics that I never would have dreamed a stranger in a plane would want to talk about. It was truly an enlightening and enjoyable experience.
Fast forward to recent times. Through the ever successful “myspace” network, and I realize that the IQ of my livejournal just decreased about fifty points, I started talking to someone I knew only by name and face. I had walked by this person every day in the hallways of Cape Henry, and really never thought about what kind of person he or she was. Yet, once I started talking to this person I realized just how interesting, cool, and worth talking to he or she is. It made me think-there are a lot of people who I could talk to on a daily basis and I don’t. I simply ignore them, walk by, and don’t give them a second thought, when in reality they just might be really interesting and might have a real effect on me.
So the point of this somewhat short livejournal post is that everyone has a story. And every story is worth hearing. So my resolution is to talk to every new person I meet like I’ve known them for awhile-it seems to take the awkwardness away from the conversation, and the awkward feeling is really what deters most of us from starting the conversation. I admit, I’ve started conversations that have failed miserably, where I’ve been rejected, but overall, it’s been so much more help than hurt. So strike up a conversation, you’d be surprised how well it could go.
On another note, Captain Coleman’s Comrades, made up of Shelby “crush” Evans, Lizzie “goose” Wagner, Courtney “court” Woodward, Niraj “2 ball” Patel, and “captain” Coleman himself took the first place finish at the V2 Tournament today. There were plenty of heated games between Cape Henry’s Finest, and we look forward to the next time we get to play.