Myself and friend were lucky enough that our names were on the guest list, we had free drinks and access to the cabin type bar lounge which is set next to the rink. Leather chairs, wooden everything, barrels in the middle of the room to function like standing tables. It did look and feel quite nice. Great Russian ice skating display and banter along the side. My Samantha style sex and the city jokes didn't go a miss.
The night got a bit more interesting though, when we were propsed with the question of:
"excuse me ladies, have you by any chance seen my mini bongo drums?..."Now if that isn't a line I don't know what is, I wished I had seen this middle aged guy before he came over, just to see he had wooed the room with his question to others. Of course, we had not seen his drums. The more interesting part was this guys jumper, a v neck sleeveless knitted top you see guys wear over shirts. His was a mint green with random tiny flowers over it-something which only certain people can pull off, I'd say this guy pulled it off because his overall look wasn't impressive anyways (wow i'm harsh...) so the jumper was lost.
As conversation grew over jumpers questions and wine... Stuart was soon to announce he is a writer/producer. I'm not even sure how or why his occupation came up so quickly as we were talking, but having a film background I couldn't not be drawn in. Though, I still thought this guy was a berk. Why, well-not at one stage did he ask about the two girls he was with. His manner was less loud than some I have met, clearly trying to boost their ego and deciding what to do with their cocks- this guy seemed patient and self assured, I think in a good way.
The underlying question though, is what on earth was a guy of his age talking to two young girls in their twenties-why did he stay after looking for his bongos? Well that one is obvious, he wasn't looking for bongos otherwise he would have buggered off to find them. Should we be so skeptical about someone older than us starting conversation? I'm someone who is quite prepared to listen, and have my judgements-I think it's healthy that way instead of an instant too harsh dismissal. Also, I was interested in seeing what he had to say as opportunities like this don't come this often to chat with someone working in an industry, only a year ago I would have ran a mile to meet, just because of their job title. I think in the process of challenging this guys perseverance I might have come across a bit obnoxious in questioning most points he raised. I wasn't shocked by his documentary about the history over bras, his facts to impress females with a males knowledge in how a bra should fit correctly, and that most women don't know they are wearing the right bra size-I already knew. Whether I'm being arrogant, he just didn't grab me in the way I feel he wanted to, but he hid disappointment very well...
Over time, he left and reappeared with drinks. Fair doos, he had a conversation and decided to come back for more. I have to be honest though, it's not like his conversation was boring-I think it was just a good let out for me that night to stretch my brain into a frenzy of, how much could I piss this guy off by not being in awe of him... Perhaps it was also because earlier I noticed an even older guy walk past, glance at Stuart (in a knowing way) and have a smirk on his face-did he know what Stuart was up to?
So I was being the dick. For once, but I liked it though because he was still coming back with other points to say-my assumptions were proved wrong as such because there wasn't a moment when he didn't have anything to say, though the conversation wasn't balanced in his sincerity of getting to know two girls. All I know I wanted to do was not give him the whole 'ohh woooow' and 'that's sooo impressive' bullshit. I think he knew all I wanted was conversation, not money or anything else superficial so i'd get my kicks.
For some reason Stuart and I began to talk about life lessons, whether this led from me questioning what he wears to his film meetings (his response was, 'I go as me'). All in all I think it stemmed from him quite keenly showing how he was calm and chilled, compared to two girlies who liked to question him about particulars. It most likely came across as, what we didn't know about-he became the guru. However, when someone says that 'our winters' now are nothing compared to 'the winters you will face in years to come', in aid to shock us and make us take a step back-say that to someone who has lost both her parents and had numerous other events to cope with, you think 'please just shut the fuck up, i am not like most you meet...'. Which, he actually went onto say 'unless you have lost your nearest and dearest, winters now aren't going to be so bad as they will be later in life.' Once I'd told him I had, he did look the other way slightly. Stuart said, he wanted to be the oak, 'strong and steady' but when a massive storm brew he broke, where as now he is 'the willow tree, spread out and swaying'. I can see his point, but sometimes the way we put things (me included) you have to laugh!! We get very silly sometimes. I can't really fault him, he seemed happy and was definitely showing it through his words of 'wisdom', it was like he was on a high. I just don't think he expected to bump into someone like me that night-an exception to his rule.
Throughout the night my most interesting conversation was with a 40 year old Irish woman from Dublin who openly chatted about her sex life, lack of fertility, bitchy boss and how she see's myself and my other 20 something friend. With this lady, I had the best conversation of all that night-because she talked about what she felt and there was no instance of saying anything that she thought I wanted to hear. There was no fear to her words, only facts, experience and brutal honesty. And that was what gave me the most to think about.
Will I contact Stuart, who knows (I have his card). I know very much I certainly am not the person I was over a year ago, I'd much prefer to talk with Dublin again. And, I could not delve into the crooked world of seeming interested in someone to get guest list events, free drinks or nice dinners. As exciting as it may be, I prefer people not professions.
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