Unfamiliar conversations and learning moments

As I write this, I find myself in a conversation I am unfamiliar with. 

 

I find that this happens to me quite a bit, but it’s nothing I complain about. Usually when I am in these situations, I listen and I learn something–either about the topic or about the person sharing information. 

 

In college, I was friends with a lot of engineers, so I frequently found myself on the sideline of a conversation, watching and listening as others exchanged thoughts about things related to their classes, people they knew, or inside jokes that are only funny to engineers. 

 

I also spend a lot of time listening when the people I am with talk about other people they know but I don’t, which has been happening to me more often as I am around people who share a longstanding friendship with each other, but not yet with me. I also don’t usually enter into conversations about politics or sports, since I don’t feel knowledgeable on those topics.  

 

This conversation in particular is about concerts. I was asked whether I’ve ever been to Red Rocks, to which I had to answer “no.” So far in my tenure here, there have not been any artists at Red Rocks that I wanted to see, not to mention the high costs of going to see one. 

 

Then we got to talking about the insane cost of concerts in general. I know Noah Kahan was in Minnesota recently; soon after, he also traveled to Denver. I knew of one girl who paid a handful of hundreds to go see him, which baffled me. 

 

I have never been a concert enthusiast when it comes to artists I can easily play on my phone, so I honestly could not comprehend why she was willing to spend so much. Jack mentioned a coworker who paid close to a grand to travel and go see a concert, I believe a KPOP one. 

 

I come from too frugal a background to spend my money willy nilly, which I’m not saying concerts are a willy-nilly expense, only that I don’t see the value in some of them. Personally, I would rather spend the money to see a musical or theater performance. In a week, Jack and I are going to see Monty Python’s Spamalot, which I was way more excited at the prospect of seeing than a concert. 

 

Or I would rather spend hundreds traveling than seeing a concert for one night. I’m not sure why I’m like this. Maybe I’m cheap; maybe I just haven’t found an artist who has touched me in that way, or maybe I just put value in different areas of my life. 

 

All of this is just me rambling about how I don’t normally attend concerts, hence why I have yet to go to Red Rocks even though I have been here a year. I wanted to go to see The Princess Bride when they were doing a summer movie series there, but it was on a day I couldn’t go. Maybe someday the music will speak to me and I’ll happily spend my money to attend a concert. 

 

My Determination: “Oh, but you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you.” — Monty Python and the Holy Grail