Sad

Today I went to lunch at the hotel. I had my book and ordered a salad with salmon. the salad was great but the salmon was a bit undercooked for me. Anyway, you know that I cannot keep my ears to myself. I have to be in everyone's conversation. A real Nosalina. So, I am reading, eating, and subtly listening to the conversations around me. One table of dudes were talking about cholesterol and heart issues, and eating better - this while getting the lunch buffet of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and pound cake smothered in chocolate syrup. One table was talking engineering terms and so I got bored pretty easy. The table next to me was talking about post-modern blah blah interpretations of victorian writers blah blah. One woman in particular was annoying. or particularly annoying, as the case might be. Anyway she was prattling on about the secondary sources she has read about blah blah - now of course blah blah was the primary subject the three people at the table study so I am not sure why she called them secondary sources. what I gathered is that she was reading the less popular author's interpretation of post modern victorian blah blah. I wanted to take my butter knife and wing it at her head. But I refrained, and lost total interest (still and again) with Steven King's Duma Key. I focused on the salad and the conversation next to me.

I am so suprised and excited when something turns from totally boring and annoying to intriguing in a nano second. The other two people at the table must have been as bored and annoyed with the woman as I was and the guy changes the subject. He asked how the other woman's kids were. This prompted a subject change. The second woman started talking about her kid - who is a bit below his age range and is at a special school. I realized that there was a nervousness in the way she was talking about him but she couldnt stop. My analysis is that the incessant chatter about the special school was just her way of somehow proving that she was a good enough mom. As if to say yeah, my kid is special but look at all that I am doing for him. It was not quite embarassment but she was definitely covering. As though talking about it would deflect the fact that he had disabilities. Who cares - ok there are people who care but they shouldnt. Eventually the guy stopped her by asking the crazy post modern pain in the ass is she had any kids. I wanted to punch him - we had about 5 minutes of silence why ruin a good thing.

And then something even more amazing happened. She said she didnt have kids wasnt married but dating someone. Prompting the what does your partner do question. To which she replies well - he's not an academic like us. What! He works at a vet and the vet has a kennel and he manages the kennel. CLEARLY EMBARASSED by the fact that her boyfriend scoops poop at a kennel. WHO CARES! THEN to make matters worse, she says that it is better this way because he doesn't understand what she talks about anyway. That because she is smarter she makes all the decisions and he has learned that her way is the right way. SHE WAS SERIOUS! By this point I was steaming and I wanted to take her out back and kick her ass. KICK HER ASS! I couldn't believe she was saying these things. It was just sad and I felt bad for the dude because he was with someone who totally disrespected him.

Why do I care. I really don't but was totally pissed at the time. People suck though.