You know these guys that walk the street wearing black suits and black tags indicating their name and "Church of Jesus Christ" or something like that? And they talk German (or whatever language of the country you're in) with the thickest US American accent ever? (See illustration #1 for further details.)
Right, I was walking home from the office tonight, I was minding my business, you know, listening to music with my Ipod on (so clearly NOT interested in conversation at all!) when one of the kind approached me. He basically looked like a stock broker with bad skin and dandruff problems from afar, so I thought to myself "Hm, didn't think that the offer from Boston consulting would turn up that quickly!" After I had pulled out one of my ear plugs he started brabbeling about a church/meeting or something like that and I thought "What the heck is he talking about? Has the vatican gone stock market or what are you trying to tell me?"
I stood for about 30 seconds, still in the process of figuring out what this person was talking about and whether he was speaking German or a weird subform of American English or something completely different altogether. The same moment I finally noticed the name tag, he said "Maybe you want to talk about the meaning of life?" (which, obviously, sounded way different in the idiom he was using, but I wouldn't know how to write it down. Imagine someone talking German with a hot potato in his mouth.) Upon which it dawned on me that this whole conversation was not at all about my future career and life, but rather about my afterlife as in life after death. What the stock broker/missonary - who, in another life, might have easily won a Jason-Biggs-look-alike-contest, thus making a real contribution for future generations - didn't know, of course, is that life after death is really the last thing I worry about at the moment. So I answered with complete honesty and a slight, exusing smile to Mr I'm-talking-to-GOD-everyday-and-obviously-it-makes-me-so-happy-that-I-don't-mind-flying-5000-miles-overseas-to-talk-to-strangers-in-the-street-who-don't-give-a-fuck: "Sorry, as far as the meaning of life is concerned, I'm definitely not the right person to talk to."
Illustration #1
Right, I was walking home from the office tonight, I was minding my business, you know, listening to music with my Ipod on (so clearly NOT interested in conversation at all!) when one of the kind approached me. He basically looked like a stock broker with bad skin and dandruff problems from afar, so I thought to myself "Hm, didn't think that the offer from Boston consulting would turn up that quickly!" After I had pulled out one of my ear plugs he started brabbeling about a church/meeting or something like that and I thought "What the heck is he talking about? Has the vatican gone stock market or what are you trying to tell me?"
I stood for about 30 seconds, still in the process of figuring out what this person was talking about and whether he was speaking German or a weird subform of American English or something completely different altogether. The same moment I finally noticed the name tag, he said "Maybe you want to talk about the meaning of life?" (which, obviously, sounded way different in the idiom he was using, but I wouldn't know how to write it down. Imagine someone talking German with a hot potato in his mouth.) Upon which it dawned on me that this whole conversation was not at all about my future career and life, but rather about my afterlife as in life after death. What the stock broker/missonary - who, in another life, might have easily won a Jason-Biggs-look-alike-contest, thus making a real contribution for future generations - didn't know, of course, is that life after death is really the last thing I worry about at the moment. So I answered with complete honesty and a slight, exusing smile to Mr I'm-talking-to-GOD-everyday-and-obviously-it-makes-me-so-happy-that-I-don't-mind-flying-5000-miles-overseas-to-talk-to-strangers-in-the-street-who-don't-give-a-fuck: "Sorry, as far as the meaning of life is concerned, I'm definitely not the right person to talk to."
Illustration #1
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