Lisa Kudrow

I was originally going to title this post "Boring People" but that might refer to people who are boring, or it might refer to the act of actually causing people to be bored. By the time that entire thought had gone through my mind, I had forgotten what it was that I was supposed to be doing, so I titled it Lisa Kudrow instead.

Speaking of boring people, do you hate them or what? When I was in America, it was difficult for me to refrain from saying "Stop speaking. Right now."

Sometimes, I failed. Most people don't, though. Why is that?

I think people suffer thru boring conversations because they are too polite to point out to the bore that they are, in fact, being boring. I think this is a mistake on the part of those suffering.

I had a revelation today: boring people probably know that they are boring. How do I know this? Well, I know that I am boring, I just don't care.

For two years I lived in a little green cabin in the woods with very limited contact with other humans. For a long while afterward, I spoke very little to people, and very rarely about myself.

But...there is a pleasure in talking about yourself. Look at blogging for example. Most bloggers don't care if anyone reads it in the same way that most bores don't care if the listeners are suffering. The joy is in telling the story.

Also, since our experiences are limited to, well, our experiences, it is difficult to tell any story about events you witnessed without mentioning yourself. And that is the mark of a bore, constant references to oneself.

Often, I feel the urge (or need) to contribute to the conversation, but all I can think of is some remotely tangential relation to some experience of my own. I know consciously that mentioning might possibly derail the conversation (as people habitually think of their next comment while 'listening' to the current one, but if I change the topic, they're screwed). But, hey, it's MY turn to speak.

I remember this one episode of Mad About You, the first episode with Lisa Kudrow (and thus we've come full circle), back when she was a brunette, before she was a ditzy waitress. In her (I think) first appearance, she was Paul's date. Here's the part I remember.

Paul: I make movies.
Lisa: That's so weird, because I work at a bank.

Yeah.

One of the great advantages of living in a non-English speaking country is that I don't really have to suffer bores, and yet I still get to bore people. After all, I have a blog.