The Path of a Conversation

[jenepel]

It's 2:30 AM. I actually got home around 12:30 tonight, and I was planning on sorting a few things out and just generally cleaning up to get ready for tomorrow when I have people coming round for lunch. That is not what I did. Instead, I have been standing in the kitchen for almost two hours talking to my new flatmate (Shahid) about anything and everything. The conversation started with whether he liked his workmates (who he just been out with) and ended with a discussion of global warming causing flooding in Bangladesh. Riiiight. This is (mostly) how we got there:

Workmates (he's a solicitor)
Work do's and networking
difference b/w solicitors and barristers
difference b/w UK and US legal systems
difference b/w UK and US tax systems
US foreign policy
the US election
Clinton, Bush and their decisions
the fall of the dollar, rise of the euro and the reasons behind it
smaller regions' roles (including the Balkins RACH!)
9/11 and the underground bombings
targeting and media focus on Muslims in UK
targeting and media focus on Americans (and their foreign policy) in UK
role of Muslims in the UK (he's Muslim)
role of Muslims in the US
Muslim/Asian identity in the UK and US
difference b/w UK and US opinions on religion
difference b/w UK and US opinions on immigrants
difference b/w UK and US opinions on race
difference b/w UK and US opinions on accent
importance of accents to UK barristers
how you can "sound" Asian even if raised British
Bangladesh (he was born there)
global warming creating floods in Bangladesh

I am now seriously exhausted. This is why I mostly just talk about fandom! It's so much easier. But hey, this is by far the longest I have talked to him ever, and it was certainly a real conversation. That can only be positive for flatmate relations, right?

And now I need to put my laundry away so that Kathleen doesn't make horrified noises tomorrow when she (inevitably) inspects my bedroom.