Ma Veracité: Chatting with strangers

I’ve never really figured out what the standards for my shyness are. Generally speaking, I don’t like talking to people from whom I need a favor, and I abhor talking about money (I am a horrible haggler). I’m not fond of socializing in large groups of people, and I have a low-level dislike of humanity as a whole. Yet, when I’m standing in a line, or waiting for a plane to take off, or just randomly passing people on the streets, I have no problem chatting with them and starting up a friendship. Perhaps it’s the level of engagement that’s involved, I don’t know. But I am continually fascinated by how much information and background you can get from a totally random person just by saying hello.

This past week was spent looking for a place to live with my gentleman after I graduate. We looked at a couple different places, and finally settled on one that, while not perfect, is acceptable. After we gave the go ahead for the agency to hold it for us, we took some time, driving around the neighborhoods and shopping areas nearby, to get a feel for what there was. One of the things that I saw and really liked was what looked like a neighborhood pool, basketball court, and community center not two blocks away from where we will be. Curious, I asked Angel to stop in so we could inquire about rates and suchlike.

Upon entering the building, all we could see was pamphlets and plans for various 12-step programs. Alcoholics Anon, Overeaters Anon, Sexaholics Anon, Overeater Awareness, Support for Families of Alcoholics Anon, Smokers Anon, etc etc etc. I was mildly concerned at this, wondering if the area was just a lovely little hotbed for addicts, but then Angel pointed out there was a guy in the back room, and maybe he could help us. I wandered back that way, and found someone in an office-looking area, changing trash bags. Gave a smile and a wave, and asked if he knew anything about the fees for the pool/ courts, and good heavens, a floodgate opened.

It turned out that the little community center was actually, yes, the local meeting place for a bunch of support groups, and wasn’t connected at all to the pool/ courts. He couldn’t really tell us what the fees were… but… he was more than happy to tell us not only how to find out, but also a history of the entirety of Howard County, MD.

Apparently, Howard County does not have a government, per se. According to Mr Random Guy, the county is run by an association, which is required to put all (yes, 100%) of the taxes paid to the county back into it. As a result, it is one of the cleanest, best-kept, well-maintained, and community-friendly counties in the country (keep in mind, he may have been a bit biased, as he told us he’d been living there since the 70s). Furthermore, since a large portion of the monies spent were spent on parks and rec type things, the number of pools, courts, ice rinks, skating rinks, walk paths, bike paths, outdoor areas, playgrounds, and open spaces per capita is also among the highest in the nation. And apparently, if you get a parks and rec pass, you get access to all of them…

After listening to the guy ramble about the many perks of the county in general, and that- as far as he knew- the pool out back was one of the “underused” ones (perfect for people who don’t like large crowds!), we thanked him politely and went on our way. I don’t know if he just was missing company that day, or appreciated talking to people who weren’t on a 12-step program of some sort, but he certainly gave us a lot of information that we either wouldn’t have found online, or would had to have spent a lot of time digging for. We did find the county website, and it looks like they have an insane number of perks to go with the parks and rec pass, so we’ll be going in to talk about it after we move (they have it set on a sliding pricing scale).