Nosiness pays off

I love my iPod, truly I do. I travel with it and its little charger all the time just so I don't ever have to be without music. (Although don't get me started on its so-called "shuffle" function. I have over 1200 songs and you have to play three in a row off of the same album? For shame!) But sometimes, it's good to unplug and listen to what's going on around you.

Hiking home after work last night, I was without my iPod. This was intentional: I've decided the iPod stays home on days that I don't start off my day with a trip to the gym. Yes, this is perhaps a bit anal, but at least it means one less decision I have to make in the morning. And given my half-ass approach to working out, I end up only getting to listen to my iPod maybe one or two times a week.

I was idly running over what I would have for dinner and calculating how quickly I could get everything ready when I overheard a guy behind me say something about "Monopoly." Turned out he and his buddy were exchanging strategies for how to kick ass and take names at Monopoly. I never really had any game plan while playing, other than to not end up bankrupt. Actually, having typed that, I realize that that kind of is my current financial strategy too.

So I listen in. Then they segue seamlessly to hip dive bars in the neighborhood...dive bars overseas....and international travel. It was just one of those rare conversations between two strangers that is interesting to listen to. Usually, they're talking about people/situations I don't know, or they're god-awful boring, or one of them has an annoying voice (I have a perfectly mellifluous voice, why do you ask?). Not these two guys. There definitely was an alpha who was doing most of the talking, with the beta responding and adding to his statements.

I spent a good ten minutes picking up my pace so that I could remain *just* in front of them. Because they couldn't see me, I was able to laugh/roll my eyes/etc with impunity at what they were saying. Finally, they stopped to look at the DVD rental box in Adams-Morgan, and I reluctantly left them behind. I did think about pretending to root around in my bag so that I could stall long enough to keep traipsing along with them, but I decided that would be somewhat stalker-ish. I continued on my way, surrounded by silence again.