Total Waste of Time- Random Nothings

I have blogged previously about this collective effort to avoid any connection with strangers around us. First there was the newspaper, pretend you are reading the newspaper and hope no one will smile or talk to you. Then the cell phone, call your voice mail and listen to your old messages. The iPod, put those headphones on and you don’t have to listen to the bus driver greeting you on the bus, or even acknowledge him. Add dark glasses and you are set for life baby. This eliminates all possibilities. You have now eliminated even the slight chance that you may meet someone’s eye on the road and have to smile at them.

And then we all crib about the fact that it is hard to meet people. I was reading some articles recently and found - MeetUp, a website that uses internet to get you off the internet. You meet other people with a common interest- running a marathon, writing perl code, atheism. You wear a name tag and show up and try to have fun. Scary? How did meeting strangers and trying to have conversations with them become scary?
I am going to my first meetup this Sunday!

Also, finally -"In an unprecedented blitz against social awkwardness, Meetup.com and The Huffington Post have decided to hand out half a million name tags to the crowd at Inauguration. The name tags read "Hello, My Fellow American, My Name Is..." and attendees are to write-in their name, where they're from, slap it on their coat in the cold, and have some conversations with Fellow Americans." Complete article here.