conversation – Yahooey's Blog

Quote of the Day

“As a general rule we do not want much encouragement to talk about ourselves.” — Joseph Conrad, A Personal Record

Quote of the Day

“In the meantime let us try and converse calmly, since we are incapable of keeping silent.” — Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

Quote of the Day

“Much of that which passes for conversation these days is the lobbing of small bombs of dogma and little clots of banality at one another.” — Dee Hock, Autobiography of a Restless Mind

“A duel in the form of a debate. The clash of arguments and jar of words, Worse than the mortal brunt of rival swords, Decide no question with their tedious length, For opposition gives opinion strength.” — William Cowper, Conversation

Quote of the Day

“A fool must now and then be right by chance.” — William Cowper, Conversation

Quote of the Day

“Method is not less requisite in ordinary Conversation than in Writing, provided a Man would talk to make himself understood.” — Joseph Addison, The Spectator, N° 476

Conversations Resumed

Calling a bluff I did not make, she continues to provoke. “Do you talk to your son about your sexual exploits?”

I don’t flinch. “He talks to me about his …” They are his attempts at male bonding. Claims to manhood. He has made jokes about his need for the paternal role model. I fight my discomfort. I sanitize. He is trying to imitate a benevolent rogue.

“My father was a character, not in the good sense and …” He over-shared. Proud of things most people try to hide.

“My father thinks I’m still a virgin.” I wonder what she is reading into my ellipses. I laugh with her and let the conversation lapse into polite silence.

**********

“Maybe the closest aliens are too far away.” We are spending the day together. Our on and off discussion of the Fermi Paradox, like commercial breaks, filling the gaps between activities. “And we can only see their worlds before they’ve evolved.”

The face of the guy sitting at the table next to ours changes from bored to thoughtful. Waiting for his food to arrive, he is borrowing our conversation to pass the time.

The difference with 3 AM drunken conversations is that we are lucid enough not take our musings seriously.

**********

I find the video to a song I had mentioned. I click on share.