It’s important to be open to learning new things. If it’s not actually learning to do something, the desire for knowledge about a topic can simply fill that void. Mudding is one thing, for example.

Want to see my truck? The guy in a purple shirt said to the woman. He leaned back, slouched into a lean (or is it leaned into a slouch?) — regardless, he played his lack of posture off cool, as if it was on purpose — on the hightop chair. His left foot rested on the bottom rung of an adjacent chair, propping his body so it didn’t slide off his respective chair.

Yeah! She replied with excitement.

He proceeded to talk about his truck, how it was soup-ed up to the nth degree for the sake of driving it around in the mud. The come-to-find-out 40-something-year-old woman was intrigued by the concept.

Cue the third individual, who will be referred to as The Other. It was proof that maybe conversations should be left alone and not tampered with. It was meta, as if the narrator of a story begins to interact with the characters. It’s similar to Sam Elliott’s narrator talk bar-side with Jeff Bridges’ Lebowski.

While looking at her, The Other inquired if this tactic purple shirted guy was using to hit on her was actually working. Her smile said: Yes. It also said to leave them the hell alone.

Before this point this tactic (to me) was almost mythical. The late-20-something really asked her if she wanted to see his truck. The guy shot a glare at The Other, gave a half smile and stared at his female friend while saying, Yup.

[Side note: Purple is said to be a color to signify royalty. He was definitely royal in some regard. A few days later when I found myself at the same establishment, he was with another (but much younger) woman.]

Why are you surprised? She asked.

[For a brief moment, I was unsure why she was questioning the questioning. The situation almost felt like a piece of dating faux pas trivia. However, I figured, if a person was to ever get beat up, Fate must have designated this moment for at least one black eye.]

The Other blurted out, Well, the joke is — in movies, television and other entertainment media — when a guy brags about his truck, the presumption is that he’s compensating for something.

The truck owner didn’t budge. Her mouth fell partially open. Both of my eyes blinked and sighed with relief for the third party.

So, what’s this whole mudding thing? The Other asked in an attempt to lessen the  heaviness of the conversation. Great: Divert the conversation back to the other’s hobby. It was then the mudder explained that the activity, which there are organized groups for, involves driving a truck around in the mud.

Oh. That’s it?