The ultimate answer to life the universe and everything. Plus 2.

I went though most of today inside my house. I had to catch up from a week being ill. I ended up going out to eat tonight without meeting anyone all day. I didn't want to meet anyone at dinner, though. I just wanted to sit down in my own happy bubble and not be bothered by anyone on the outside. That's when I remembered why I started this blog in the first place; to engage people when I don't feel like engaging. To force myself to be social, and in so doing, to care about those around me more than myself. I can't give up. I needed to fight this urge to isolate myself. I decided to do something drastic. I looked around the restaurant for the person I would normally be least likely to approach. I spotted a guy with a shaved head, handlebar mustache and tattoos eating by himself. He had to be 6' 8" and pushing 3 bills. I made a bee line and hoped for the best.


Mike is his name. He told me about his tattoos. Many of them described his military career. He was a sniper in Vietnam. A what in where, you ask? That's right, a sniper. In Vietnam. I'm kind of happy he didn't go into gross detail about his time there. I'd probably have trouble sleeping tonight. Or for the rest of the week for that matter. He wasn't too talkative, so I left him alone pretty quickly. I figured I'd already interrupted his evening enough. Then the strangest thing happened. 5 minutes later he came back and approached me. I thought he was mad, at first. Then he started laughing and telling me more about himself. We talked and laughed like we were friends. It didn't go on all night, or anything. We only talked for a total of maybe 3 minutes. But in those 3 minutes, I made a connection. I connected with a guy who, to me, looked as likely to break your arm as talk to you. I'll have to look back at previous posts, but I know I've said this before. I need to stop judging books by their covers. I really hope I see Mike again. I'd love to hear more about his life. His story has got to be amazing.