Same old, same old – the art of communications

Courtesy of aperfectworld.org

Courtesy of aperfectworld.org

Same old same old — Colloquial phrase used to denote status quo; phrase used when you don’t want to communicate what’s really going on in your life

There are some people that you don’t see very often but you can immediately catch up on life and feel the connection. It’s just how it is.

Then there are those people that you are somehow connected to but you don’t feel the love. It’s always polite and cordial but very superficial. The somewhat awkward conversation goes like this:

Her: Hi! How are you? 

Me: Same old, same old. How about you? 

Her: Same old, same old. Have you seen Sue lately? 

Me: Saw her about a year ago. 

Her: How was she? I haven’t seen her in years. 

Me: Same old, same old. 

Essentially no information was exchanged except that this mutual friend was alive about a year ago. Now if the connection was at a deeper level, the conversation would be more intense, more animated and filled with information.

Yes, most of the information would be useless drivel but isn’t that what life is composed of? Lots of useless drivel that connects and sustains us.

Here is a conversation I would have with a dear friend:

Me: Hi! How are you? 

Her: Ok now but my daughter just got out of rehab. She stopped dating the drug dealer so I am hopeful things will go better this time. 

Me: Can’t you take her back to the pound and trade her for a puppy? 

Her: Sure wish I could but at this point she’s less work than a puppy. Speaking of which, Jake still peeing outside the box? 

Me: Yeah but it’s on a piddle pad so no carpeting is getting doused. We got a new cat. 

Her: Another cat? What were you thinking? They will call you the crazy cat lady for sure. 

Me: Yeah, I need you to come check my house and tell me if it smells catty. You’ll give me an honest answer won’t you? 

Her: Probably. I have two so I may not be the best one to do that. We can have some wine before we do the smell test though. That would make it fun. 

Me: Have you seen Sue lately? 

Her: Yeahhhhh! She is not aging well. OMG! Big wrinkles and big tushy. Must be bad genes. 

Me: Is the jeans with a j or genes with a g? 

Her: *giggles* Probably both! 

Now here’s what we know:

  • My friend’s daughter is doing much better, lousy boyfriend is gone, gone, gone
  • She prefers kids to puppies (I can never figure this one out!)
  • I have too many cats and worry about my house getting catty
  • Jake’s incontinence is managed
  • Our friend Sue needs a face and butt lift
  • We’re going to have wine

Now this is true friendship!

24 thoughts on “Same old, same old – the art of communications

  1. Now, that’s my idea of a conversation. The other? Meh! You get more information from a fire hydrant (or, at least, the dogs do as they treat the hydrant like Facebook to determine who was there recently, etc.) Thanks for the chuckle, Kate.

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  2. Do I have to like cats and kids on the same day? Maybe one or the other, or every so often.

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  3. It’s so true – there’s nothing like cutting to the chase with a good friend. There’s no such thing as ‘same old, same old’, ’cause a good friend wouldn’t settle for that!

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  4. You just described a very good friend! Don’t you love the ones who can dish a bit without it getting mean, be honest enough to question our decisions without criticizing, and can understand that wine makes everything better…even snooping around for cat smells! 🙂 You have a good friend!

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    • We are so not crazy cat ladies. First you have to be really old and a little nuts (ok let’s go with really old). Then you need body odor. Then you have to have feces laying around. My cats would call cat protective services if that ever happened.

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