Eavesdropped!

go west

paradise is there

you’ll have all that you can eat

of milk and honey over there

you’ll be the brightest star

the world has ever seen

the dizzy height of a jet-set life

you could never dream

:Lyrics from Natalie Merchant’s San Andreas Fault (TigerLily)

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Small Talk

Small Talk (for the geeks out here, notice that the space between the words and the capitalized T; for the non-geeks, please pardon the parenthetical tangent) and I have never been good friends. We never got comfortable with each other. There is always this awkwardness between Small Talk and I that just never seems to disperse. I guess it may be partially my fault, since I never practiced dancing with Small Talk often enough. So we never seemed to get the right rythm and are constant stepping on each others feet.

I’ve tried several times to re-acqaint Small Talk and I, but we never seem to get be able to get past the small talk. Alas, it’s a lost cause it seems. A vicious circle. We just weren’t meant to be.

Jest aside, I seriously find small talk to be quite cumbersome. I understand that it is just another tool to help people get to know each other, but for me it becomes more of a hurdle in getting to know someone since I never seem to know when to transition from small talk to something more substantive and really more meaningful. At one point I heard a quote (yeah another one, quotes seem to be a big thing with me don’t they?) Words are at best a poor means of communication. How true. Because in the intricacies of language and more so of socially acceptable language, etiquette and behavior, the real meaning, the directness and the initmacy of communication gets shrouded with a veil or words. Word which often don’t mean anything.

The worst question which hardly ever gets a candid answer in the English language is How are you?. How often has someone ever replied to that with anything more than the cliched Fine, thank you or an even worse okay? Everyone, including myself says how are you, but we don’t really even expect an answer any more. It’s more like saying hello and less like asking a question. So then my question is, how do you ask someone how they really are?

Since I’m cutting out the small talk for the night, I think I’ll end here and take Small Talk with me to join me in a silent dinner.

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Happy New Year!

Happy new year to everyone. I for one am glad it’s time to change the calendars and as a friend of mine said recently… another trip around the Sun… especially for me, another trip around the sun, to the day.

New in Thought — caught in the act!* on Sunday, January 6, 2002

  • Small Talk – The worst question which hardly ever gets a candid answer in the English language is How are you?.
  • The fine line between what’s real and what’s not – Needless to say I’ve developed a new found respect for those who suffer from such illnesses and an even deeper respect for those who while suffering from such an illness can overcome the cacophony in their own minds to lead meaningful lives.
  • When you want something *too* much… – But is it possible to want something so much that you just screw it up for yourself?
  • Putting the final nail in 2001… – 2001 started off as a bad year. It continued as a bad year. It became an even worse year in September and it ended as a bad year. Notice a trend?

    New in Rants and Raves* on Wednesday, January 2, 2002

  • Kiwis! – I’ve discovered a new favorite fruit. Fresh Kiwis!

    New in Eavesdropped!* on Sunday, January 6, 2002



  • – from allcrazyt-shirts.com — they have very cool T-shirts!

  • dtunkelang: working through the weekend?

    reachmanu: blogging actually…

    reachmanu: nearly done.

    reachmanu: and then headed out for Kiwis 🙂

    dtunkelang: blogging = exhibitionist diary publication?

    reachmanu: correct

    reachmanu: that’s gonna make the quotes file btw 🙂


    – dtunkelang’s definition of blogging!

  • “To every man is given the key to the gates of heaven, the same key opens the gates of hell” – A Buddhist saying quoted by Richard Feynman in his lecture on the Value of Science in The Pleasure of Finding Things Out.
  • Manu, we are talking about A FEMALE, none of them are our types. They are like silly putty, they hard to figure out, fun to play with, and revile everything we do. – Sane(?) advice from a friend. Comments welcome 🙂

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  • Eavesdropped!

    dtunkelang: working through the weekend?

    reachmanu: blogging actually…

    reachmanu: nearly done.

    reachmanu: and then headed out for Kiwis 🙂

    dtunkelang: blogging = exhibitionist diary publication?

    reachmanu: correct

    reachmanu: that’s gonna make the quotes file btw 🙂

    :dtunkelang’s definition of blogging!

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