Some days I like to go to the park after work to unwind. One of my two little places of serenity is this little nook in North Ross Park. It's a small walkway between rock piles. Unlike my other place of serenity that has a great view, all you can see is rocks. But I like it there. Underneath one pile of rocks there are some groundhog/mole/badger creatures that poke their head out occasionally. That's the most company I usually get.

Today there was another guy walking around. He eventually found me and tried to start up a conversation. While I generally go to the park to be alone and collect my thoughts, if I do stumble on someone I generally try to be as friendly as possible. This is especially true since the only real area where I'm currently dissatisfied with my life is in the area of friendships that I haven't made. You can't make friends if you don't talk to people, I figure.

"Tried" is the operative word in the first sentence of the previous paragraph. He asked me where I was from and I answered. He asked if I was here for school and I answered. I asked him a few questions, but his answers comprised of less words than mine did. I brought up a couple of subjects, but he didn't bite. I eventually gave up and went on my way.

A few years ago during one of my family's annual treks to Florida, I started talking to a man by the beach. We talked until security told us that we had to leave and he invited me up to his room, where we talked for another several hours.

It's funny how easy some conversations are compared to others. I pride myself on my ability to find some sort of connection with just about anyone, given the time. Some of my neighbors at Thrifthaven are not people I share a great deal in common with, but I can generally at least carry a conversation with them. But every now and again I'll run across someone where I feel like I have to do the heavy lifting of the conversation.

While I'm not weak in the area of communication, I'm not the most extraverted person in the world. I can communicate what I need to, explain what I know about this, how I feel about that, or what I think about the other thing. I can also do so in a generally friendly and personal manner. But without that basis, I'm usually happy enough to be left to my own thoughts.

But I think of people that are even more introverted than myself, and people that aren't even as skilled as I am at meeting people, and sometimes wonder how they function. People that don't seem to have political opinions or philosophical beliefs. They don't seem to have a whole lot to say about... well... anything. Even when goaded. I used to think that these people had a rich inner world that I would find if I poked around enough, but I've come to find out that a lot of them really are just that boring.