Free Information

I got a book on sale.

The book advocates small talk, something I'd always disdained 

because it seemed boring (and I wasn't very good at it).  

Small talk is, apparently, the basis of all greater conversation,

and indicates a willingness to have conversation.  It helps determine what topics

you might have in common with someone else.  

It requires some imagination.  If you just state the obvious:

your conversation might not catch on.  

The book calls the imaginative part "free information."  

You give extra information based on what you're interested in talking about:

This is sort of a foreign concept to me.  Sometimes I have such fear of conversation that,

unless there is something immediate or emergent (like a house fire)

I don't have any idea what I would like to talk about.

Coming head-on into a conversation with someone I don't know

with this blank, empty feeling inside is a really bad idea.

So I've started trying to populate this empty space with simple things.

It's like Max leading cows back to his farm in Minecraft with wheat--

I try to lead some of the information about my life into this space 

so I can access it and grab it easily when needed.

Conversation is a lot like fishing--putting something out there and seeing what happens.

The goal is to not get your feelings hurt if no one takes your bait, 

but to "try again with someone else."

The book makes a lot of assumptions about its readers hardiness.