| And everyone wants to tell you their stupid bullshit, and a lot of them don’t know when to stop talking. |
| You ever run into that guy? |
| Doesn’t know when to stop talking, just continues running at the mouth like verbal diarrhea. |
| Don’t know when the conversation is over. |
| Stupid, trivial shit you don’t care anything about, things you’re not even remotely interested in. “Did I tell you about my mom and dad? |
| Well, my mom and dad went on vacation down to Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. |
| This is about six years ago, I think. |
| It seemed like it was six, about six years ago. |
| Six or seven, possibly seven, could be. |
| Yeah. |
| Somewhere in there, six, seven, more than six, less than seven. |
| Let’s call it six and a half. |
| So my mom and dad went on vacation to Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, and my dad found a big rock. |
| What he thought was a big rock turns out it was a dinosaur turd, a petrified dinosaur turd, 27 pounder. |
| You know, now that I think of it, it might have been eight years ago. |
| That would have been close to Y2K, wouldn’t it? |
| Remember Y2K? |
| Whatever happened? |
| Everybody’s all worried about that. |
| Nothing ever happened. |
| Ha, ha, ha, big fuss. |
| Nothing ever happened. |
| You know? |
| God. |
| That was strange, you know.” |
| “So let’s say, we’ll say, it’s eight…eight years. |
| It was either eight or five. |
| So my dad gave my mom this big turd. |
| He says, ‘Here, Mom. |
| This is a big dinosaur turd. |
| Put it in your purse to take that home.’ My mom said, ‘Dad, I don’t think this is a dinosaur turd. |
| This thing is still warm. |
| Whoever dropped this thing is still walking around in here, and we’d better get the fuck out of this cave.’ Nine years ago. |
| Nine. |
| I know it was nine because my wife was pregnant with our first boy, Mach Moody Benel Sayid Ben Salam, and he’s ten now. |
| Or is he? |
| He’s 11. Maybe, he’s 11. He’s either 11 or 5.” |
| And while all of this is going on, you’re searching through your mind for something graceful and diplomatic you can say to bring the conversation to a close, and all I can ever come up with is shut the fuck up. |
| Shut the fuck up. |
| Shut the fuck up. |
| Shut the fuck up. |
| But you can’t say that. |
| Good manners don’t permit it. |
| You have to find another way, and I go to body language. |
| I try to use my body language to show that the conversation is over. |
| I find myself leaning at a 45-degree angle trying to indicate the direction that I’d like to go if this person would just shut the fuck up. |
| And then, I might even give him a verbal cue. |
| “Surgery. |
| Surgery. |
| I’m late for surgery. |
| I’m having my ears sewn shut.” |