Yada yada yada

I have often heard that the subject people most like to talk about is themself, and I find more and more that is all too true. (Themself, themselves, hs or her self, their self; what is the correct grammer?)

Ya know, the older I get, it seems the less I have to say. It is just easier for me to listen than to think up something to say. Sometimes I wonder if the other person thinks I'm a dud or boring because I don't say much. Guess I won't worry about it. If I felt like the person was interested in what I was saying, I'd talk plenty.

It just seems as if people are only interested in what they have to say. And it's amazingly easy to tell. I wait for them to ask a question, maybe about me, maybe to clarify something I said, maybe just to ask to hear more. But they never do. I am always amazed at how people display no interest in what I'm saying. Maybe I'm just boring.

It amuses me what people ask me how I'm doing, or what I've been doing, or some such opening statement, and I answer "Fine", or "Not much," then immediatley ask about them, and they're off to the races. No one ever seems to notice that at the end of the conversation I've said almost nothing, they've learned nothing about me, but that they've spent the whole time talking about themself.

I read two gems of wisdom on cards stuck into the border of my friend's mirror, in fourth grade. His grandfather had given the cards to him. The first showed a foot and a dripping nose, and said "If your nose runs and your feet smell, you're built upside down." The other showed a smiling cocker spaniel, and said "The reason a dog has so many friends is because he wags his tail instead of his tongue." Words to live by.