"long distance" conversations?...

I love walking down main street and stopping to talk to people that I know. Nice little conversations that don't add up to much interest, like the state of the presidential offices running of our country or the weather that we had last night...

But every once in a while you tent to have a moment when you run into someone when you are both stopped on opposite sides of the street waiting for the walk signal to start...

Here you are, stuck on one side of the road, with your friend on the other, you know that you will pass in the middle, but how much time does that give you to really say anything to each other before you need to be out of the way of that 7up truck barreling down the road hoping that the light turns green before he gets there because his brakes were cut by some fiendish fiend trying to rid the world of 7up once and for all...

Well anyway, first there is the initial wave to them as soon as eye contact is made, frantic and a little over enthusiastic, like a boy that has just found a ten dollar bill outside of the candy store. Then there is a moment where you try and say something to them, but have to raise your voice loader and loader to overcome the traffic passing by like a stampede of wild animals, bleating and honking as they go by, and everything you say is washed away into the rushing swarm moving by. And so you wait, maybe with a few hand signals to each other, it brings to mind the scene from 2001 a space odyssey with the monkeys. Then there comes the moment when you finally have a chance to have a word with your friend, and as you slowly make your way across the street thinking of the things that you could say, then moment comes...

As you come close enough to ask a question of real importance they strike if off with a "how are you?" you reply, "good, good, and you?" "oh I'm just fine." With these formalities out of the way you are clear to ask the question that you have been thinking of asking for the last ten minutes... But wait, those stupid formalities have cost you the chance to really talk to the person about anything, and now you are already on the other side of the road, looking back at your friend who is off to their next appointment. A sigh is heaved and you go on your way...

If you think about it though, what would be the point of a grandiose question asked in this moment? "Hey Timmy, what do you think of the presidential nomination of the candidacy for the president of that country in the middle east?"... Not only would you not have the time to complete your sentence, but when it comes out, your friend, and the other people walking across the street might think that your a little off your rocker for asking such a complex question when you are crossing the street...