Hi

     You know, there are times when all the words in the world refuse to amount to anything more than exercise for the lungs.  It is then (currently, then is now), when I just want to go out and run rickshaw through the teeny tiny city that I call home.  Between the approaching warm weather (all doubters, you’re on notice) and the vast amounts of people watching that has been afforded to me, I want to get out and meet some new folks ASAP.
     What spawns this acute span of gregariocity (word?) one might ask?  Simply stated, I’m finally starting to hammer down what I miss most about college, and I cannot wait to go back.  It isn’t the party scene:  you all know I’ve worked that down to somewhat of a science in my time there.  It isn’t the lack of sleep, although at various times I have and do think that it’s for the weak.  No, I’ve figured out what it is, and….arrggh!
     What I miss is being crammed in close quarters with 1900 other people of similar age and ability.  I miss there always being someone new to meet, and somewhere new to meet them.  With each passing day, I rested content in the knowledge that I could very easily meet someone who I had not really talked to before.  Let the days work out as they did and…damn, it’s no wonder I hate sleep, there’s was a lot to do.  
     To those who don’t go to Carleton, a brief refresher.  The common Carl is the end of an odd devil’s bargain:  trading social skills for those big sexy brains we all hear so much about.  Carls are really socially inept on the whole, lost in their thoughts most of the time, and are more prone to glaze over when asked simple questions about sports or recreation.  Except if it’s esoteric:  Alaskan skydiving or ultramarathon unicycling, you could probably get quite a bit out of them then.  But before I’m lynched by current and former students alike, let me say that that is exactly what I miss.
     With each new situation, the learned people watcher notices that rules and standards start to come forth which are unique to their little slice of geography and culture.  For example, I had not gotten drunk and into an argument about quantum physics at the same party before:  and while that may not seem like a great time to many let me just say that, well, you had to be there, and yes, dimensionless particles are the fundamental units of our physics damn it!  Anyway, some of us come equipped with a natural craving to play amidst many different types of social situations, with the realization that pushing our boundaries should be the norm, not the exception.  I also believe that meeting someone new is like opening a new chapter of your life, and while it can be tough to write multiple chapters at once, I believe we all agree that the hassle is well worth the reward.
     So it is from between bouts of nostalgia and an incessant desire to plant both feet firmly in the city and shake it a little that I heed a call to action.  While I hear those who say that meeting new people is hard to do, I cannot agree especially when the payoff can be so high.  We meet literally hundreds of thousands of people in our lifetimes, whether the interaction is for but an instant or far longer, and of them any one could be the best thing that ever happened to you.  Think of the close friends that we all share.  I can say with pride that of my best friends walking the earth now, I can attribute one to reefer and Aerosmith, another to a Guy Ritchie movie and pouring rain, and I could go on, but you get the idea.  Other friends I have met over:  underage drinking (I don’t think I’m alone here), the Boston Red Sox, and my favorite, sunrise; the list goes on and on.
     I guess the point is that I really relish and miss the absurdity of getting to know someone I didn’t just 30 minutes before.  We really cannot see when we get started who the next important person to us might be, and in the meanwhile we can accumulate some fabulous stories (did I tell you that one about splitting that handle and waking up in field?  Or the one about…nah, you don’t want to know).  I’ve learned pretty much as much as I would like to know about myself, so if we end up in the same place at the same time, I look forward to some hijinks and shenanigans: we could be best friends, we may never meet again, but the stories…something for the kids (one day, much later on) when they ask “Dad what did you do for fun in your day?” To which I must reply “Well son, funny you should ask…”