The Extraordinary in the Ordinary

I don't even know if I will be able to effectively articulate all of the thoughts that are going throught my mind right now. Actually, they are more like reiterations of a fantastic dialogue shared between me and my very good friend Lauren. So many issues to explore! Its so amazing how one can get caught up in the trappings of everyday trivialities: worries, stresses, obligations; and then sit down with someone and have it all kind of fade into the background. Get swept up in a tunnel of dialogue about nothing in particular but everything at the same time, and be completely revived at the other end. I am sure that there is at least one person in everyone's lives who serves this purpose. "Serves this purpose" is the wrong wording to use, as it makes the person seem like a mere tool, but the purpose I refer to is that of complete understanding and relation and enjoyment. Illiciting all the words and evoking all the thoughts you always wanted to say no matter how ridiculous and abstract they are, and totally reciprocating, understandiing and relating to everything you are trying to convey. I'm sure this description is different for everyone, occurring on different levels, about different things and having different meanings. To me, Lauren is most often this person (shout oouuutt!). To me this person is someone who is intelligent, and above all thoughtful. Which brings me to one of the points we discussed, and I wish to convey in this entry. Thoughtfulness is something I have realized that I place in very high value. Extremely high I should say. Perhaps its because I find it a rarity in everyday society, images, and life. With so many people coasting through life, drifting along on a dreamy cloud and taking things only at face value, I find meaningful and thoughtful encounters incredibly uplifting and invigorating. I LIVE for them. I'm not a highly political, savvy, in-the-know, or even opinionated person. I don't like to argue points about things that concern me very little. I don't revel in the discussion of the meaning behind other people's actions or opinions who I don't know nor ever will come to know. This is not what I mean by a thoughtful conversation. This is what many other people, I'm sure, DO take to mean thoughtful conversation. To me, it is simply a series of ruminations on everyday encounters and events, opinions and ideas. Delving deeper into your own mind than the mere surface of all these things. Seeking and considering something greater, even if you know for certain you may not get very far. Creating your own ideas of how things are, how you perceive them to be, how you think they should be. Your own ideas of ANYTHING. Having opinions and THOUGHTS about things, ANY things. MEANINGFUL ones. This I appreciate eternally, this I love, this I revel in and seek in every corner of every person I ever hope to meet of know. To play the devil's advocate, I'm not saying that a simple outlook on life is wrong or meaningLESS. I am not by any means proposing that taking things as they are, by appreciating them as they come and by wanting nothing more than what you have is at all a bad thing. I think this is a great thing! I think that this simple way of living is amazing, and I envy every aspect of it. I can appreciate the simple-ness of life just as much. And I also by no means mean "simple" in a derrogatory sense. I mean it in the most positive, bright and happy was possible. I DO think OTHER ways of living your life simply in the mind are endlessly abhorrent. I do think that a lot of this meaningful thought gets lost in the translation of life itself. I think that is an absolute crying shame. And this is why, when I come across such a person, such a writen phrase, such a spoken word, such a meaningful meaningless thought, this is why I adore it.

A quote, courtesy of my muse of tonight: "Ah good conversation-there's nothing like it, is there? The air of ideas is the only air worth breathing."-Edith Wharton(The Age of Innocence)