Out With the Old In With the New

As the circular nature of our world and our life continues we find ourselves at another predictable moment of celebration for an arbitrary occasion. As much as I like parties I have never been a big fan of obligatory soirees. Its too much pressure for me to have a good time when perhaps I just want to have a normal day. Maybe I am just holding on to old ideas that I have been thinking for years and maybe I am coming around on the whole thing but every birthday or holiday celebration always makes me feel like I have no choice in the matter. Acquiesce or face the stigma of going against the grain of not fitting in and being shunned by society(shunned might be a little strong). Perspective always enters into the conversation with me as I am constantly trying to better understand myself, others and our various motivations for our actions. Since I work in retail I find it necessary to fall in line when it comes to the pleasantries that people expect from me in that context. "Good morning", "have a nice day", "sure is cold outside", "what about that local sports team or other relevant information pertaining to our shared experiences". Despite that fact that I am the king of small talk and can over explain anything to my hearts content(this blog being a prime example of that) it gets boring saying the same things over and over again to the same people on the same days. I try to mix it up and give unusual, but coherent, responses to people's statements and questions but I only have so much energy to spend. After a long day at work talking to customers, or even coworkers, I often feel the need to socialize on a more informal level which usually involves me going to my favorite bar to strike up some interesting conversation with the other patrons. For those of you that don't spend much time drinking and talking, although I suspect none of you are reading this blog, you would be surprised how the conversation can wend and weave itself to all kinds of topics. Last night we talked about musical theory a subject I would not expect at a bar. At most bars much of what I overhear involves sports or nonsense, the two may be the same, for as we drink we digress or devolve into comfortable familiar and uncomplicated ideas; it just makes sense not to try and have intense interactions as our faculties are affected more and more by the alcohol. What does any of this have to do with anything? Everything! Our society is structured in predictable ways and most of what we do is scripted to an extent and as the new year fast approaches we are adhering to the script perfectly as we head to our various parties to ring in yet another arbitrary passage of time. HAPPY NEW YEAR!