Flag on the play

I have a lot of negative posts. But really, I'm not going to post about how great a day I had, unless it was really great. If Ted Kennedy got run over by a runaway street vendor's cart, and in the same day I caught a layout Callahan to beat Pitt in the finals at Regionals, that would be reason for a "my life kicks ass, so suck on it" post. But as of right now, that is not the case.

What the case is, is that I have figured out what probably has become my biggest pet peeve: conversation hijacking. This process is defined as when you are talking with someone and then someone else just strikes up a conversation with that person, regardless of you. I really think that there are few social situations that irritate me more than this, so to my readers, please just wait patiently for a break to insert yourself into the conversation.

There have been plenty of times where I want to get out of a conversation that's going nowhere. But I always, always, always, wait until they have finished, and then change the subject or walk away or something. I thought it was just common courtesy that you let someone finish a story, even if it's crappy, but I guess it's just me. I feel more and more like that's the case with what I hold to be proper and courteous.

Secondly, a hijacker comes in and declares himself more important than you. Not only that, but in many cases, a hijacker will start up a conversation with the person you are trying to talk to... about something that you don't even care about. I feel like I should just carry around a flag in my belt like NFL refs where I can just spike it on people and say "Flag on the play, bozo, wait your fucking turn." Hey, even if you happen to prefer sidling up to the two of us (or group of us, or whatever) and inserting yourself into the conversation at an appropriate break in conversation or with a halfway-decent segue, I will have no problem at all, even if your story or comment is shitty.

Honestly, I wouldn't have thought of this if someone hadn't done something absolutely incomprehensible to me the other day. This person asked me to tell a story about something I mentioned in passing. Okay cool, I like to talk, no problem. I get literally two or three sentences into the story, and this person starts talking to someone else, who is also obviously interested in hearing what I have to say. ABOUT SOMETHING TOTALLY UNRELATED! Can you wait like thirty seconds? I don't care if you don't like my story, whatever, but at least afford me the common courtesy of letting me talk without verbally declaring that what I have to say is not worth your time. Worse still, I simply stopped saying anything, and then they asked me to finish the story later!! Fuck you guys!

So on to lighter matters. The other day I was walking through Georgetown to get a new bike tire, because the old one was still broken from the... incident. The bike shop guys gave me a new one, free of charge... flippin' sweet! Then, on the way back, a guy in a some-college-other-than-DC-colleges shirt on asks me "Hey, do you know where there's a Subway or some place like that around here?"

Having just seen a Subway restaurant a block and a half up M Street, I said "Oh yeah, there's a Subway just up the street, on the other side though." Without even thinking, my conclusion was that he was looking for a Subway restaurant. Of course, anyone outside of D.C. would think of the mass-transit system instead. But no, that's the Metro, not the Subway. Anyhow, I hope the guy was in the mood for sandwiches.