What was an interesting conversation you had with a complete stranger?

7 comments

1. I used to work at an R&D center and had a physicist there with like three doctorates give me a roughly half hour explanation of how reality isnt real. I have no idea what most of it meant but it was fascinating.

2. Met a guy playing pool who was a soon to be washed-up minor league baseball player. He was a star baseball player in high school and college, got drafted by a major league team, and then floundered in the minors for years.

   He was turning 26 and told me that his career was essentially over at that point. He said if you don’t make it by your mid-20s, it’s usually over for you. He was really depressed about it because he said baseball had been his life since he was in tee-ball and he had no idea what to do next. Really eye-opening conversation.

   He was also REALLY good at pool despite only occasionally playing it. Just had insane natural hand-eye coordination.

3. Wife and I took a trip to Yellowstone back in the day.

   Met an old man at a campsite who was really an interesting guy. He wrapped wire in the trees and the around his am radio and we listened to the BBC for a while.

   He then pulled out pictures of when he was a kid sitting on Blackjack Pershing’s knee. Evidently his father had served with him.

   The he started basically showing us his life in his camper. Guy had been all around the world and now in his 80s was just excited to let someone know he had lived an amazing life. We soaked it in and he was aglow with joy in the moment. Truly magical.

4. some years ago I was flying home by myself for the holidays and I happened to strike up a convo with my seatmate. She was currently working for the Library of Congress or the Smithsonian Museums or some such, but she had before that been a rare book procure. She described how rich collectors would pay for her services including first-class flights around the world for her to personally hand retrieve and deliver rare texts for their collections. Sounded exhausting and like it would make you realize just how disconnected the lives of the ultra-wealthy are from the rest of us. Still seemed like a cool thing to do for a few years. She sounded happier with her new career.

5. I was in Germany at the airport. I notice this lady with an American passport and I struck a conversation with her. She mentioned that she’s a singer and was doing a tour in Europe with her band. Spoke for bit and left. I saw her on the news a year later for winning an Oscar for best song in a film.

6. Went to this customer’s house when I still worked for Dish Network who had a large female german shepherd.

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   The customer starts tellings me about his money woes and marriage issues of the past when one day he stopped at this farmer’s house with his dog (for business or something else I can’t recall) and she starts to aggressively dig in the yard. He tries to get the dog to stop but the farmer tells him to let her. Turns out she has a very strong perk to sensing moles. The farmer tells the man he’ll pay them $200 for every mole they kill because they are injuring his livestock. Soon enough word spreads around and every cattle in the state are wanting his services.

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   The man tells me how he’s ever so grateful for his dog. She is retired now and he only needs to work part-time to provide for their very modest living arrangement as they have a very secure safety cushion.

7. These threads always facinate me.

   Posting here as a bookmark. I have one ill post tomorrow.