Talking to Strangers.

Guys, something's been troubling me.

Talking to strangers:

how?

Seriously, how does it work?

On the bus,

when a high school girl gets on

and starts chatting amiably

with the sixty-year-old driver.

At an intramural frisbee game,

when one of the players' roommates

starts joking raucously

with the fans for the other team.

In an airport,

when a grizzly biker

and a buttoned-up businessman

start shoptalking

about classic cars.

HOW?

How does it work?

In every one of those situations I mentioned,

I watched in awe, almost transfixed.

I literally don't know how

you start talking to the bus driver

or someone in an airport.

I can't imagine a situation in life

where I would really feel the need

to do that.

It seems to take a level head

and dose of social panache,

but also comes with

a level of vulnerability that,

surprisingly,

I'm not comfortable with.

You have to go into it

confident that the stranger

will want to hear what you're saying.

(Unless, of course,

you don't really care about whether they do.)

I can't say that I have that optimism.

I remember a conversation

my boss and I had

a few months ago

about how I'm not very friendly.

Don't get me wrong.

If you read this blog,

you know that I love people.

I really do.

And I love talking to other people.

But when it comes to talking to strangers,

I ask, "Why would I?"

when a lot of other people

just ask themselves, "Why not?"

I'd just rather talk to the internet, I guess.