A Conversational Wallflower

Echoing the experience of one of my students, I recently had the discomfort of being at a meal where people were talking about something I hadn't seen: the finale of The Amazing Race Asia 2. So I just looked out into the skyline and imagined the monster from Cloverfield ravaging the buildings in the middle distance.

What made it somewhat worse was that despite my admitting to them that I couldn't relate, the feeling was repeated after dinner when they were discussing - very animatedly - about the US presidential candidates.

I mean, it's the kind of topic that you'd want to have an opinion about if it were a state dinner, but not when you're with supposedly intimate friends.