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Art of small talk

Today I met some new faces. As in it was an alumni meet sponsored by a former employer. And the alums that came were all new to me. Now as far as this employer is concerned I think its a smart use of their discretionary funds since it allows the business to interact with their former human capital (that is depreciating somewhere else) and perhaps make new introductions for a possible sale (think new revenue stream). Besides some are existing clients allowing for reinforcing their engagement in a hair down setting. Where my narration is headed is that I too ran into a number of X's i.e. X-employer alum who could shared the highs and lows of a life that was and for whatever reason it now was not. Most seemed happier in their current status. Some people were job hunting, gate crashing and some were there to enjoy the food and beverages. I admit to doing a lot of the latter (and it was good too, not the Zagatish pretentious kind of morsels but actually quality you could taste..more in another blog). Also another angle was to get to know new individuals that might or might not cross paths with you again - with a common thread that of having the same employer write our checks at one time in history. Varied backgrounds and experiences from different corporations but more importantly a chance for me personally to explore what people do with their time and see if there is a new calling that I could explore. This event turned out interesting since I ran into a fellow blogger who hitherto had been just an Avatar online. It was good to put a 3D entity to go with the point of view that the individual shared through her blogs. In some respect it is like meeting someone you know. Otherwise these events tend to be a bunch of lets get together sometime type of conversations. Also found out how the X's have found productive work outside of their earlier life of being a road warrior (nature of the job) to enjoying the Northern California lifestyle, with its horrid commutes or the public transit modes; its wine country and its great outdoors. It was a good evening spent exploring and interacting with a wide segment of smart population all in exchange for small talk.
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