Monday, June 26, 2006

Not so small talk

Now that Hanks is home, we can now resume our TNG marathons (yay!), and yesterday we quickly crammed in 2 episodes before dinnertime. 1 of those 2 episodes featured the android Data attempting to master the human skill of making small talk, which he took to with characteristic speed and ease. Observing Data chattering away with an equally loquacious Star Fleet officer, Commander Will Riker marveled, "How can 2 people talk about nothing for so long?"

Riker's statement reminded me of the previous evening, when I attended a dinner party at the Yaos along with my parents. We arrived roughly around 7:45 PM (thanks to us getting stupidly lost in the maze of twisting-turning streets that is Greenmeadows), and left close to 1:00 AM, but the night just flew by, thanks to good food, good wine, good company and good conversation. Of all the "kids" at the party, I was the only one in her twenties (ack), but I still got seated with the "teenagers" (there I was pretending to be young again ;p). I knew I would have no trouble talking with sisters Shereen and Sheridine, as our recent encounter in Cebu proved, but I was pleasantly surprised to find Sam Ang and her brother Matthew just as engaging to converse with. I don't know if it means that I am capable of adjusting my wavelength to that of an eighteen-year-old's, or I've just been lucky to be meeting unusually mature and articulate teens. I suspect it's more of the latter.

In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed the evening, and the many diverse topics of conversation we touched on, from movies to books to education to blogs to common acquaintances to coffee and dozens more I can't even recount. There were 3 particular things brought up that I would like to expound on, but I'll reserve them for future blog posts. For now, suffice it to say that I have learned that, given the right company, talking about "nothing" for so long isn't as difficult or dreary as it sounds.

8 Comments:

At Monday, June 26, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Finally, someone else uses that term! It's amazing how you can talk about "everything" and "nothing" with people :)

 
At Tuesday, June 27, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

THE art of small talk! it is either super easy or bloody difficult! :) but yeah i love talking, and when you find that someone whom you can talk to for HOURS... without pausing, without even THINKING, then you hold on to that person and talk her DRY :)

--abi

 
At Wednesday, June 28, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

when you said you had dinner at the Yaos in Greenmeadows, for a moment there i was like, you were at my house??? hahahahaha. :p

 
At Wednesday, June 28, 2006, Blogger Ailee Through the Looking Glass said...

Speaking of talking about nothing, my friend Elyse (Ms.Go to some of you out there) is part of the production team behind a Palaca-winning play called Twenty Questions, showing at the Center for Arts along Timog Ave. The play runs through all Fridays and Saturdays of July. It's about "two friends who are forced to stay in one room for three days, so they talk and talk and talk about topics that go on and on, even things that have been kept under the rug for so long." If anyone's interested, please drop me a line. :)

 
At Wednesday, June 28, 2006, Blogger Ailee Through the Looking Glass said...

Abi, I think you'd agree with me when I say that our 4-hour (or was it 5??) long gabfest into the wee hours of that morning in Bangkok qualifies as one massive stream-- heck, tidal wave-- of small talk. ;p

Heidi, actually it WAS your house. Didn't your mom tell you she had me over for dinner? Haha.

 
At Wednesday, June 28, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

hell yes ailee, for me that was the GOLD STANDARD of small talk. CLASSIC. For the trophy shelves for sure! we never got around to doing that overnight thing you know. hehe, sometime end of this year, we have to. we just HAVE TO :)

--abi

 
At Wednesday, July 05, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

you were right next to MY house! ...which i currently dont live in... yeah, i'm shereen's neighbour :)

 
At Wednesday, July 05, 2006, Blogger Ailee Through the Looking Glass said...

Hmm, so you live at #3 Flicker? :) Man it's easy to get lost inside your subdivision. We went around in one big circle before finding our way out. Haha.

 

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