DO Talk to Strangers

A Conversation About Talking to Strangers
Originally uploaded by Ric James

This past weekend my Girlfriend and I went to a bonfire. we arrived before the sun went down and there were only 3 or 4 others that we were meeting.
A stranger approached us and asked if we would be sharing our fire pit with them. There seemed to be some apprehension by the person he was talking to but she eventually agreed to share the pit with his group.
Well as it turns out. These people were a lot of fun and we all got along. there were about Seven of us and at least 10 of them. We shared our food and drink with each other and we shared our conversations and jokes. It ended up making the night so much more fun. When I party I party harder than the people we met up with. But the other group partied like I do. We mingled and by the end of the night you never would have thought we were all strangers. My GF and I left a little early because we had a long commute and the parking lot had one exit. But the others that stayed ended up going to The Stranger's house to finish up his birthday party (his name was Jay and the person that approached us was named Niner *sp).

Two days later. I spoke to more strangers. On Monday I saw some graffiti artists in Pomona doing some interesting work on Holt near Hamilton. I asked if I could see their work close up and they allowed me to. I began speaking with a fellow named "Redoe" and someone named "worm" we began talking about art and school and it was a fulfilling conversation, They were very friendly and had some insight about what they considered art, "Redo" handed me a flyer to a party in a couple of weeks and we decided to meet and share some artwork, It'll be interesting to compare some traditional art to some urban art.

Moral of the story? Talk to strangers. You could make some new friends. I made a few this just this past week. when I could have easily and just like everyone else ignored them.