18: 59 - I Made A Friend Today

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Written by: Melaisis

Shit. I looked it and felt it this morning. Utter shite. I'd come down with a fever in the middle of the night, scratched myself a hundred times whilst shaving roughly, had both sets of friends I will planning to go out with cancel on me, and could not really think of a reason to go get up out of bed. At all. But I did. After all, on Friday I had just purchased myself a GeForce 6600 GT graphics card, brand spankin' new. Now, considering my previous card was a Radaeon 9600, the newer hardware was a considerable step up for me. Naturally, I wanted to test said card on some meaty, graphic-branding games. Oblivion or Prey, perhaps. Hence why I ended up going into town, alone, at eleven o'clock on a freezing, winter Saturday morning. To buy shit. Besides, personal events of the night and the night before had gotten me down-in-the-emotional-dumps, so I believed I needed some 'me' time. And what better way to spend such periods of time wondering around the local city centre, venturing into gaming shops for no apparent reason? Sure, in hindsight, it sounds slightly sad, but I was still pissy due to the above reasons and it was probably best I didn't go with anyone I knew asides. It would of ended in bitch-fights and other such unpleasantries which I will not care to go into detail about.

But I made a friend today.

Ian. He's 54, 55 in a month and likes computer gaming. I spent half an hour in the small GAME in Leeds just... talking to him. All because I had picked up Oblivion, he had stood nearby and said 'That's a good game,'. Of course, this led to me explaining to this balding, aging man how I had owned Elder Scrolls: Oblivion before, but on a shitter system. Within half an hour, I knew he is a house-husband (his wife is a consultant pediatrician), has three daughters, two computers, and probably has some form of epilepsy problems when he plays first person shooters. On the side, he teaches old folks how to work PCs (The line being: 'I charge like, ten quid an hour for tutorials,' 'We're still talking about computers here, right?') and fixes them. This led us to both complaining about (what he called) PCMoneyWorld and how shit their repairers are. He had purchased Dawn of War: Dark Crusade in the week and was now struggling to find a new PC game to play with.

What am I getting at here? That Ian was probably a balding paedophile with sinister intent and just started talking to me because he wanted to get into my pants? I doubt it; All the time I saw him eying me up and down; trying to guess my age. We made eye-contact a good few hundred times. This, folks, was not a paedophile. Ian was just a good-natured guy (slightly smelly, but I'm sure he only smells like that in work clothes) who was looking to have a nice, sophisicated conversation about gaming. That was all. Nothing to it. Now we're mates. I'm friends with a guy who is like, almost half a century older than me, related to one another by our love of gaming and ability to be computer literate and other such views regarding the two. Nothing hidden about that. In fact, if you ask any of my usual town posse; you'll find I get along with a load of random strangers. From the black guy (and the stoner, too!) who work at the Vue to these random blonde girls who work at LA Fitness. Simply because I either have an approachable personality, or that conversation is so easy (Bragging, much?) with strangers. Refreshing, new (usually older) people.

Now, reader, can you guess where I'm taking this?

I must admit, I get a little high from meeting new people randomly. Or discovering new things about people. A some sort of twisted altruist, I suppose. But that's fine. I can sense sad-acts or agressive wannabes from a mile away. I enjoy a comfort zone, but I love to step outside it and discover new things at the same time. Knowledge is only gained, socially, by breaking ignorance. 'First impressions' my arse. How are we supposed to further as a race, heck, even meet new people if we all balently ignore each other in public? "Don't talk to strangers"? Who the fuck are we supposed to talk to, then? Family? Let's just all become incestual and keep to ourselves, shall we? Yes, I'm certain that will solve all of society's problems. So, you say, 'teenagers and children shouldn't be doing it!' doing what? Socialising?! Not everyone out there is a fecking kiddy-snatcher. And if we do not learn to speak up, have discussions with new people and whatnot whilst we're young, what on Earth are we going to do when we 'grow up'?

'Don't talk to strangers'; load of shite.

PS: http://www.lssu.edu/banished/archive/2006.php

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Article Posted: Saturday, January 27, 2007 at 18:39.
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