Day 305: Whatcha readin'?

Ok, I'll admit, on the rare occasion I get invited to someone's house I usually do this little stealthy thing of checking out the host's bookshelf.  I don't normally consider myself nosy although I'm sure I have my moments.  Mostly I do it because I'm interested in seeing what interests them.  The books they read tell you a lot about their personality.  The types of pictures tell you what matters most to them.  Their kids, their dogs, extended family or their old school days.  All these things certainly help when it comes to starting up a conversation.  I mean there's only so much that can be said about the weather and honestly, we both know when the conversation switches to the weather it's only a matter of time before our chit chat goes into a death spiral of disinterest.  "So, how 'bout them Giants?"  "Huh?"  Of course any good host can get out of this predicament with a well worded out like, "Hey, um, yeah, I need to... um, the thing with the ah, you know um, so you just, yeah, ok, um so I'll just need to, oh, uh, cuz, um ..... HONEY!?"  Yes, I'm speaking from experience.

So I usually avoid those types of embarrassing and awkward conversations by coming up with a sure fire list of interesting topics about THEM.  Hey, we all like to talk about ourselves.  I'm so all about me I could write a blog, I mean, book.  But I digress.  If you want to enjoy your next dinner party, just do a little recon of your AO (area of operation, for you non-military types).  Books, pictures, odd looking figurines, you'll be surprised by how much material you have available to you that before the night is through you'll have convinced your host you're a charming and engaging person.  Well, ok, I'm still working the kinks out on that one but it's certainly helped me to make what could've been a mind-numbingly boring evening go by quick and relatively painless.

Wow, who would've thought a blog could be so informative?  And you see there?  I just used the technique called "bullshit" to elicit a chuckle from the reader.  (cricket sounds...)  No? Ok, well I told you I'm still refining the technique.  Alright, so the take away from today's blog is, 1.  I'm most likely to NEVER get invited to anyone's house again, and 2.  Do take an interest in those you're visiting for the first time.  It's not difficult to be engaging and wouldn't you like to know more about the person you're visiting without having to ask them 20 questions?  Who knows?  You show an interest in them, they just might show an interest in you.