Awesome things

So a couple of years ago a guy called Neil Pasricha decided to start documenting positive things and create a blog about 1000 of them, one per day. A couple of years later he is just publishing a book including some of them, he has received two "Webby" awards (apparently the equivalent of online Oscars)and has thousands of followers on his website. It seems that with the recession, grim news, skyrocketing crime rates and societal breakdowns everywhere, people really are looking for a bit of "Pollyanna-ness" to lift them out of the doldrums of life.

So my awesome thing for today: Starting up conversations with random strangers.

Sometimes you overhear a couple of people having a really interesting conversation, and you might think about joining in, but that could turn really bad. They might not like to be disturbed by someone they don't know.

I was on the bus going home tonight, and i overheard this couple next to me talking about needing 6 months validity on a passport to go overseas. I figured they must be going to one of the islands, and i didn't want to interrupt, but i felt uniquely positioned to provide information, since i took some time at work recently looking at passport, visa and documentation requirements for kiwis going to most of the countries around the pacific, asia and america.

So I thought about it for a bit, then there was a lull in their discussion, so I jumped in, "Excuse me, but where are you going?"
"Oh just to australia."
"Oh, well then you don't need 6 months on your passport, it just needs to be valid the day you travel."

Then that led to a further discussion about their planned family trip in June, 8 of them, all trying to sort out tickets and passports so that everything goes smoothly on the day. By the time they got off the bus a few minutes later, all of us smiling amiably at each other, wishing each other well. I had connected with 2 complete strangers and we had temporarily entered into each others spheres of existence, if only for a few minutes. It was a good feeling.