Face to Face

For starters, life got in the way of my doodling this week, so I apologize for the lack of cartoons in this post. Here's a picture of my dog's nose instead:

Raisintoast

Anyway, this past week, my moods have been pretty similar to summer weather in North Carolina. Imagine opening your curtains to a beautiful sunny morning. As the warm light hits your grinning face, you think: today, I'm gonna finish that book. Today, I'm gonna write that screenplay. Today, I'm gonna go swimming in my new string bikini 'cuz I'm comfortable with mah body, yo (disclaimer: I've never owned a string bikini). Then, in the afternoon, just as you're about to head for the pool so the world can admire your fleshy awesomeness, the thunderstorm hits. Hail stones pelt your head as you run back inside to spend the rest of the day in your small, dark bedroom-cave staring up at the stalactites of disenchantment.

I figured my emotional state had something to do with loneliness. My hometown, despite being fairly close to several metropolitan areas, is becoming like one of those remote mountain villages, full of youngsters who dream of escaping to the "big city." Thus, most of my friends have moved away. Fortunately though, one of my best friends still lives nearby, and last Saturday the two of us went to visit a another friend from high school at the cafe where she worked. The place was a cozy wooden hideaway, complete with arm chairs and shelves full of homemade muffins and natural peanut butter. The three of us talked over coffee and cinnamon rolls for a good two hours, and at one point the shop handyman paid us a visit. He was a soft-spoken, forty-something Mexican guy with a motorcycle helmet and many tattoos (he seemed especially proud of "La Virgen" on his chest). He told us stories of fights in Mexico, including one involving a man called El Ruso (the Russian), which left a few scars on his hand. After he left, my friends and I spent the rest of the afternoon discussing everything from life goals to jobs to romantic misadventures. The visit didn't completely cure my mood swings, but I felt a lot better when I got home.

The afternoon made me realize the value of face-to-face communication, something that's easily forgotten in today's social media-crazed world. There's something really comforting about actually sitting down with someone and hearing them tell a story, rather than instant messaging them. I think it's being able to see the human behind the words, to look into someone's eyes instead of a computer screen. You also experience the  added color of the person's speech and mannerisms that gets lost in type. Sometimes I wonder if things like Facebook are actually hurting our ability to make new friends, in a way. The Internet isn't always the best place to strike up a conversation with a stranger, and we're so connected to our group of close friends all the time that it feels less and less necessary to expand our socialization out in the world. Instead, we tend to stay somewhat closed off, missing everything around us while we text or tweet on our phones. I know because I'm guilty of this myself.

That about wraps up my speech for tonight. Tune in Friday to see me discuss human nature and potato salad.