I Meet the Most Interesting People

I’m not sure if it says something about me that I tend to attract interesting people. My friend Dennis believes without a doubt that I have the widest and most diverse group of friends out of everyone he knows. I can’t seem to have a conversation with him without him remarking at how amazing this fact is. I’ll admit that I do have a wide berth of acquaintances, spanning across most (if not all) typical genres and groups of people. I always had assumed that this was somewhat typical of someone that travelled and moved around as much as I did (and hopefully will do again, soon). A recent encounter on an airplane has adjusted my view of myself and relationships, so much so that I felt the need to write this post up instead of work while on the shuttle to Fort Collins. This is an interesting post for me because, you see, I’m writing it now but won’t be able to post it until Saturday, at the earliest. It wasn’t going to be my “I went to Colorado, Surprise!” post, but like I already said, I had an interesting encounter. I won’t get into the details of the trip I’m currently on, as that isn’t what I’m really itching to get down. I’ll save that all for another post.

No, this post is going to be able me and the interesting people I tend to find myself surrounded by. I’ve always known that my friends are a bit different, each one unique and special (and maybe a bit crazy) that makes them stick out from the swell of the general population. A couple may have something in common but it’s not rare for me to have several friends that’s only connection in the world is me. I’ve discussed with Shaun (co-worker and close friend in San Jose) the difference between my way of finding friends and his, and I think that a brief summary would help explain what I’m going to be diving into. Shaun and I both joined Cisco at the same time and with the same group of new hires. His approach to finding friends in that group was to hang out with them all, mine was to concentrate on only one or two people. I find that people natural group together into genres and “clicks” on their own and that I always seem to be floating between a couple of those natural divisions. Shaun was the starting point for one of those groups, inviting anyone and everyone he could to outings and events, letting people drop out on their own from the group. He’d use the outing to learn more about people and then decide who to pursue more one-on-one friendships with. Me, on the other hand, decided to start with exploring one-on-one friendships right off the bat. Typically this lands me fewer contacts, but the ones I have are stronger and more meaningful, in my opinion. I also tend to end up forging friendships with people in different groups, meaning I have access to a much larger friend base then the people that stick to just one group. This explains the strange set of friends I have in Fort Collins, and why I have to spend today and tonight juggling 4 different groups of friends I’m obligated (and extremely looking forward to) hanging out with. (Hmm.. I think I’m starting to use parenthesis and commas incorrectly, again.) I’m a bit critical when it comes to establishing meaningful friendships and I guard certain levels of information from people until I learn on what level I can trust them. I’d like to think that I’m not overly rude but if you don’t interest me and I don’t feel a connection, I don’t feel much reason to talk to you beyond what is required. If it takes me 4 introductions to remember someone’s name, it’s probably because I’ve met too many of them and they’ve all blurred together. This summary of how I pick friends really doesn’t explain how interesting people tend to find me, though. It just explains why I pick interesting people. I’ve decided the reason for the prior is because I am, in fact, interesting. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.

The most recent person to tell me this was the gentleman I sat next to on the plane today. I knew he was a bit different (him and his wife) when they asked to sit next to me and he took the center seat, his wife the aisle. He was a shorter man, balding, Indian, and wearing those ultra UV-protection sunglasses. He had no problem talking to me and asking me questions people tend to feel are too personal and I was glad to have sat next to someone as refreshingly open as myself. I wasn’t aware how different this couple was for about an hour, though, as I immediately fell asleep before we even pulled away from the gate. It was a 7:15am flight, I had gone to bed at midnight the night prior and gotten up to take the train at 4:10am. Did I mention I’ve been working 18 hour days this week? Yeah.. I deserved a good pass out. I was enjoying it, too, until my Indian friend accidently knocked his nearly full can of Diet Coke onto my leg during his own enjoyable slumber. His wife waked me, apologizing profusely, and offered me the airline snacks I missed during my nap to make up for it. Not a lot got on me and I wasn’t too concerned, not after that blissful hour of sleep and was drifting off again when I realized the little girl in the seat in front of me had been dropping nearly all her toys on the floor and they were sliding back to me. After a lengthy and complicated retrieval process (crayons are more difficult to pick up with your toes when you’re knees are restricted by the seat in front of you), I was suddenly asked by my Indian friend about my lip ring. I’m very rarely asked by anyone under the age of 30 about the piercing and was please to answer, more so when his wife became very interested in it. She continued to drill me about it and the pros and cons of other piercings, as if she were interested in getting one herself. He, I learned, slips in and out of sleep very easily and would make comments or ask questions occasionally. Eventually she decided that I just must have him read my palm and shook him until he blinked enough sleep from his eyes to take my hand and start studying it.

Now, I’ve never held much stock in these kinds of things, though I understand that to some people they hold a lot of weight. I’m not completely against the concept of palm reading, just wary of it. Nonetheless, I was amused by the entire situation and realizing I was too awake to get back to sleep, let him continue. He studied both of my hands for a very long while, sometimes slipping back into the slumber world only to be shaken out of it by his wife. He only asked me which hand I wrote with and then started to mumble to himself as he kept studying. After nearly a good 20 minutes of study he turned to me, pushed his sunglasses to perch on his forehead and asked me my name. I smirked and told him and then he remarked with what I’m assuming to be wonder “Tiffany, you are a very interesting specimen” and then immediately went back to studying. His wife’s eyes asked with intense interest what he said and when I told her, she literally clapped her hands in glee. She leaned across him to tell me with a very serious tone that he very rarely spent this much time reading anyone’s palm and that I should feel special for what he told me. I was amused, for sure, and enjoyed the swell of ego that came from both their statements.

He ended up studying my hand for just over an hour and demanded that I let him do charts for me. It turns out that he comes from a long line of priests and that he was chosen as the priest for this generation back at his family’s temple in Indian. He was raised as such and when the time came for him to take the position, he refused the title and came to America instead. I truly believe that this is in-fact his true past as everything he told me about myself I agree to be true. He told me that I was very self-confident but never could seem to find giving myself to anything completely. He said that I’m very nice and make a lot of compromises for other people but refuse to let them do the same for me. I need to be wary of trusting people that will take advantage of this and because of this, should put off marrying as late as I possibly can, when I’m sure I’m not compromising. He said I refuse to let myself grow attached to anyone or anything and until I learn to do more for myself, should continue to do so. He said that I’m a “free spirit”, unable to stay in one place too long because I can’t seem to get attached to anything. He also said that I should embrace that while I’m young, as well as find a job that allows me to do so, as well as is what I really want to do. He said that if I let myself, I could easily become a manager within a year or so, but probably wouldn’t because I don’t like where I’m at. He also said that while I’m fantastic with kids, I shouldn’t have some for a long while because I won’t be able to really become attached to them.

When he and his wife learned that I live in San Jose, they were insistent on having me over for dinner sometime. This is actually the second time I’ve been asked to come over for dinner to someone’s house that I met on a plane. The last flight I had, actually, I met a woman who demanded I let her take me to my apartment from the airport instead of taking the lightrail (I politely refused until I realized that I would have to wait an hour for the next train). She was a nanny and we talked about her charges and my experience with Caitlin. Interesting people, indeed. I think that it’s happening more often on recently flights simply because I’m flying Southwest, which lets you pick where you sit when you get on the plane, as a first come, first seat choice system. Makes sense, when you think about it, that I would pick interesting people to sit next to, and they me.

Anyway, we’re nearly Fort Collins and I have to start packing up. I’ll post this Saturday and then write another one on Monday or so.

Love, Peace, and I really wish I had my car,
Tar