I tend to run out of care and energy in a normal conversation after a few minutes… I don’t know what it is - the structure and predictability of normal talk perhaps- but if there aren’t any weird noises, nonsense statements, or if I can’t be purposefully annoying… I start getting the willies!
“Don’t you have the requisite information?” “What do you want from me?!” I have deep shame about my conversational impatience… because I think can trace it back to my parents. My parents have always been bad at, what I would describe as… focusing on another person when they are speaking. You can only convey so much pertinent information to them… until the interrupting, deviating, or complaining begins. Eventually everything of value within the discussion will devolve to either nothing…. or, more likely… fighting… also about nothing. I would describe conversations like these from my childhood as being much like a loud, raucous scene from a Woody Allen movie, minus the laughter. I’ve also noticed that as my parents get older, their ability to take in new information expires even faster, along with their patience. It’s a lot like chatting with a snapping turtle… that knows how to push your buttons, and hates listening to you talk.
You can tell them exactly one new thing. “Meet y’all for dinner at 6.” If you add another thing, “Sorry, I’ve got a call, I can’t make it for dinner until 6:30”… Cue the animalistic SOUNDS of pained AGONY! “Shuttup, stop it, make it stop, we can’t take it! No wonder you’re not married!!” When you see that kind of discourse dysfunction growing up… it really makes you want to be the type of person that can pick up 2, and maybe even 3 new pieces of information per conversation. Turns out… I’m can’t fucking do it either. Hiss!
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