Sunday, June 28, 2009

Coffeeshop Eavesdropping

There are these two weird old hippies sitting next to me on the patio. Either that, or medieval religious history/religious studies profs. At one point someone mentioned someone being kicked out of a class, and they keep namedropping medieval theologians. No, wait --- batshit crazy is what they are:


"And then I sent him to the place of eternal torment. I had him struck with the ninth curse, the [missed this phrase]. Which, on the mundane plane of reality, manifested as the development of [______] leukemia ---- which, on the earthly plane revels itself as a whitening of the skin, as pinpoints of whiteness," here he leans forward, jabbing his finger with incredible emphasis, as if he has just clinched his argument. "As a sign of the dematerialization of the skin, of the ... loosening, see, of carnality and a transcendence to a more spiritualized place." He nods.

Here the other fellow leans forward to speak. I notice he has some port wine stains scattered on his head and nose; his head is mostly shaved to hide the balding spots; what's left is gray.

He speaks as if replying to the first man's statement.

"But I, am afflicted right now with women who demand too little of me. And I am freighted with a consuming melancholy, not at the moment of initiating sex, but after..."

-------------

Ok, this conversation is wierding me out. I really have to work now. And I lost their conversation in the process of trying to transcribe what I first heard. Funny thing is, they don't look like homeless people --- they're dressed just like any other preppy software engineers in the area.

9 comments:

Fie upon this quiet life! said...

Ye gads - you wouldn't happen to be in Belmont, CA, would you? I hear this sort of crap a lot at the Peet's coffee there.

Anonymous said...

um. wow.

Tree of Knowledge said...

serious role-playing gamers?

some brand of Wicca where you curse people? (cause most Wiccans don't go in for that, but that would fit the hippie bit)

they saw you eavesdropping and decided to weird you out?

Bardiac said...

Sounds like way too serious gamers, to me. Heck, I've practically had that conversation!

Errr... are you blogging about me while I'm having my coffee reading blogs and chatting with my friend?

capcha is "revel"! Love it!

Phul Devi said...

Hey, I *like* the nutty Dantesque hippie medieval cursers. The first one, anyway. The second one is just pathetic.

Sisyphus said...

They didn't *look* at all like gamers --- for one thing, both are at least 60. And they weren't holding any gaming paraphernalia, just coffee and cigs. They also had that "I did a *lot* of pot and acid back in the day" sound in their voices.

And later it became clear that they had been at some retreat with some guru and someone had gotten kicked out of it. The fact that they both seemed to be talking about completely different things as if it were a conversation that meshed up was really fascinating to me.

Anonymous said...

that's the thing about gamers...they look just like you and me...

Anonymous said...

freighted with a consuming melancholy,... The "freighted" is priceless, FTW. Note to self: use "freighted" to affect profound ennui...

Anonymous said...

Also, "weird, old hippies"... Department of Redundancy Department, how may I assist in helping you?