Master Conversationalist

When I get really busy with work I forget how to have normal conversations. The problem is that instead of recognizing that I have nothing interesting to say, I still try to engage. I'm like a child. 

Adult: What did you do in school today? 

Child: I don't remember. I like popsicles. You know what? Elephant.

When my oldest niece was 3 I tried to talk to her on the phone. Most 3 year olds have a lot of words, as did she, but are nearly impossible to understand unless you are their parent or are staring at them and searching for context. Okay, the child is looking at the back door so "ou-sai" must mean "outside."  But on the phone you have nothing but the earnest desire to understand. 

I had called to wish my niece a happy birthday and she was so excited to be on the phone that she didn't want the conversation to end, but she had nothing at all to say. So I got this:

"Guacamole lamp banana alphanamboramolambinguini."

When my sister got on the phone afterwards she apologized. "Sorry. Ruby was just spinning in a circle naming things she was seeing and then broke into gibberish." 

It's more than possible this is what I did at work today. Sometimes I'll stare at one spreadsheet for 4 hours. Or one contract. And sometimes I'll stare at 10 spreadsheets and 10 contracts in one hour. And I forget how to think. I don't have anything to talk about related to those spreadsheets that doesn't sound like "ahhhwhatthefuckiwantacookiewhydon'tiworkatstarbuckswherei'dbe wellcaffeinatedandfatfromcakepopsfuuuuuuuck." 

Instead the conversation went something like this:

Coworker: Smart things about work and we work with dumb people. Accountability and leadership, etc. 

Me: I don't know. I like popsicles. 

And then I ran back to my desk to talk to the spreadsheets because we understand each other.

If only I could fall back on being adorable.