Jujudu haroo?
Yesterday was...different.
While the setting was reporting for jury duty I wanted to talk about the interactions with people.
After I parked I was walking to the courthouse and there were a couple ladies I encountered descending the stairs who were talking. I listened for a moment and once outside it became clear we were all headed to the same place. I don't remember what was said but it provided an opportunity to join the conversation...so I did.
I'd like to say that I joined it with a specific intention but...no. I joined it because it was an opening and it's what people do. Period. No further motivation. No ultimate goal of what I was trying, if anything, to get out of it. It was something to help pass the time on the way to the courthouse which was a few minutes walk from where we'd all parked.
One lady had to turn back half way there when she realized she forgot something in her car. So I carried on a conversation with the remaining woman. Maybe it wasn't a great conversation but there was a minimal amount of awkward silence.
Once inside we had to queue through a very small lobby while waiting to deal with security, which felt like a slow-moving process. We continued to chat now and again as we moved through the line off-and-on as we moved. It was okay.
After getting through that and checking in I went to the back of the room and sat in the last row...because it wasn't my first time and I wanted to watch the room. I started sitting close to the center but moved to the left side (there was a very cute girl there in the corner reading (I didn't want to disturb her but wanted to try to limit people on either side of me.)) after a couple minutes while the room was still mostly empty.
Eventually two ladies sat on either side of me. One of them did bring a book and caused me to realize that I had left mine at home, right next to the door. (I couldn't believe it.) They initially said something to each other and instead of being awkwardly silent in between them I opted to join in on the conversation. It seemed like much of the room was fairly silent and yet here I was involved in a conversation with a couple chatty individuals. I could hear that there were others talking based on the volume and the general direction of the noise but I wasn't tuned in to try and identify individual words. I might do that while at a restaurant with friends listening to another table and one (or more) conversations at my own table too. Yesterday there wasn't anything close enough to pick out but this isn't the point.
The point was that I was participating in a conversation, some of which included small talk--a conversation which in the grand scheme of things was utterly meaningless--because...because it was there and the alternative was being silent? If I hadn't I would have paid more attention to observing people. I might have mulled over whatever thoughts crossed my mind (not like a conversation was going to stop that) but I wouldn't have felt particularly entertained or fulfilled.
The behavior struck me as a bit uncharacteristic of me and thus worth noting.
But that's hardly the only thing on my mind.
That is so frequently true, that there's something in the back (or side) of my mind that has my longer-term attention.
Another couple things I've been kicking around (of lesser importance than The Other Thing I just referenced) concerns smarts and the other struck me today about the trouble with credit cards from a security/risk point of view. I made some notes on that one that I can use when I write that up. I was going to write about the smarts one but then remembered I didn't write about the interactions from yesterday at all last night.
In retrospect now I realize that I didn't pay much attention about what kind of lines could be added to the Conversation Handbook. While I missed what started the conversation on the walk in (as I joined it already-in-progress) I can't remember/or forgot what started the one inside once I was seated.
While the setting was reporting for jury duty I wanted to talk about the interactions with people.
After I parked I was walking to the courthouse and there were a couple ladies I encountered descending the stairs who were talking. I listened for a moment and once outside it became clear we were all headed to the same place. I don't remember what was said but it provided an opportunity to join the conversation...so I did.
I'd like to say that I joined it with a specific intention but...no. I joined it because it was an opening and it's what people do. Period. No further motivation. No ultimate goal of what I was trying, if anything, to get out of it. It was something to help pass the time on the way to the courthouse which was a few minutes walk from where we'd all parked.
One lady had to turn back half way there when she realized she forgot something in her car. So I carried on a conversation with the remaining woman. Maybe it wasn't a great conversation but there was a minimal amount of awkward silence.
Once inside we had to queue through a very small lobby while waiting to deal with security, which felt like a slow-moving process. We continued to chat now and again as we moved through the line off-and-on as we moved. It was okay.
After getting through that and checking in I went to the back of the room and sat in the last row...because it wasn't my first time and I wanted to watch the room. I started sitting close to the center but moved to the left side (there was a very cute girl there in the corner reading (I didn't want to disturb her but wanted to try to limit people on either side of me.)) after a couple minutes while the room was still mostly empty.
Eventually two ladies sat on either side of me. One of them did bring a book and caused me to realize that I had left mine at home, right next to the door. (I couldn't believe it.) They initially said something to each other and instead of being awkwardly silent in between them I opted to join in on the conversation. It seemed like much of the room was fairly silent and yet here I was involved in a conversation with a couple chatty individuals. I could hear that there were others talking based on the volume and the general direction of the noise but I wasn't tuned in to try and identify individual words. I might do that while at a restaurant with friends listening to another table and one (or more) conversations at my own table too. Yesterday there wasn't anything close enough to pick out but this isn't the point.
The point was that I was participating in a conversation, some of which included small talk--a conversation which in the grand scheme of things was utterly meaningless--because...because it was there and the alternative was being silent? If I hadn't I would have paid more attention to observing people. I might have mulled over whatever thoughts crossed my mind (not like a conversation was going to stop that) but I wouldn't have felt particularly entertained or fulfilled.
The behavior struck me as a bit uncharacteristic of me and thus worth noting.
But that's hardly the only thing on my mind.
That is so frequently true, that there's something in the back (or side) of my mind that has my longer-term attention.
Another couple things I've been kicking around (of lesser importance than The Other Thing I just referenced) concerns smarts and the other struck me today about the trouble with credit cards from a security/risk point of view. I made some notes on that one that I can use when I write that up. I was going to write about the smarts one but then remembered I didn't write about the interactions from yesterday at all last night.
In retrospect now I realize that I didn't pay much attention about what kind of lines could be added to the Conversation Handbook. While I missed what started the conversation on the walk in (as I joined it already-in-progress) I can't remember/or forgot what started the one inside once I was seated.