oh, you're about to brag again i see...

you ever encounter those types of people who say things out of the blue just so that you will inquire about something that they feel like bragging about? the other day someone i don't know very well sneaked up behind me and said "man, that car is going to get me in trouble!" to which i responded "oh, whoa. no 'hi?' i have no idea what car you're talking about." he, of course, then went on to tell me about the make and model of his new car and that he got a speeding ticket while driving it. this, you could tell, was a cool story to him. new car. drive fast. law breaking rebel. to tell you the truth, Buddy, it's not that cool. factual, maybe. cool, not so much. now if he wanted to brag about how he helped a beached whale make it's way back into the ocean or about how he is amazed to learn about a new culture he's discovered through travel, then we've got something to talk about.

what bothers me about this type of interaction is that this person and i have never really had a conversation that didn't involve him talking up something about himself. it's not that he's trying to impress me specifically. in fact, i'm pretty certain he knows absolutely nothing about me except that i'm an x-ray tech and a woman, so he could care less about what i think.  he just talks about these things to boost his own ego. but little do you know, Fella, that stuff doesn't really make you cool. what makes someone cool is that you're a decent human being. and confident yet humble. so what if people can buy things. at the end of the day if your only interaction with others is to tell them you've amassed an amalgam of expensive things, then what real relationships have you made with people, hmm?

just an observation. if you think you're one of these people, maybe just add a little dab of "and how are you today" to your conversations to offset the amount at which your interests seem to revolve around only you. at least if you ask someone how they're doing, you might not seem quite as self involved.