Need a Hook for This / Lack of Communication

Everybody's got their niche. I'm not sure I want to put a label on myself, on my presence here. I do, when needed in life, take on a role. An expert in this or that, a manager, a peon. Most of that is for work, for marketing myself. My niche or role now might simply be "author" or "someone who is playing around on the Web." Yeah, that's it, for now. I have friends who do this to further their careers, providing you with their points of view on particular topics or links to articles they found interesting. That would be a nice-to-have for my job, a must-have to launch a career from a hobby. So far, that's not what I'm striving for (unless I start another blog somewhere).

This is an outlet, a way to express myself. To create and explore without any requirement for a specific end product. Good, bad, ugly. Whatever it turns out to be. Just to be. More than tweeting one-liners. Actually dealing with a topic.

Speaking of that... Have you ever noticed that real conversations are few and far between? Do you remember the last time you actually had a dialogue with someone where you got beyond smalltalk and the latest happenings, even beyond outdoing each other with your prepared stories to impress? Discussions like that are my moment of Zen (thanks, Jon Stewart). Where were you when it happened last? On an airplane next to a stranger? At a bar? Chances are these moments are even rare with your significant other, close friends or family if you see each other often. We're all so caught up in the things we need to get done. The planning, the doing.

Please STOP! Even if all you can spare is twenty minutes. Let it all go and let the thoughts rush in. Like the real you that appears after half a week's vacation (can you tell I haven't had one in a while?). Find a way to chill. Stare at a fish tank listening to muzak if you have to. Eventually, you'll begin to have thoughts that enable you to have a real conversation. Now, all we need is to find someone else and help release them from the trappings of this world.

Until whenever...