I just met a very… interesting… guy yesterday. I'd never seen him before in my life…. I shook his hand and he started talking about Humvees. We (mostly he) talked for about half an hour, in a conversation that included:

• magnolia blossoms
• various pieces of art
• Floyd, Virginia
• the fact that he had done time
• horses
• John Prine
• lawnmowing
• his medication
• stereo systems
• anal sex
• peaches
• allegedly three-hundred-year-old cypress posts
• roof design and its implications for rainwater collecting and energy efficiency
• existentialism
• the optimum temperature for "making babies"
• a $25,000 vintage Gibson banjo
• marijuana and its merits relative to drinking

It was actually very cool, in an intimidating sort of way. I had the feeling of being completely out of my league as a conversationalist, helpless in the face of a never-ending torrent of information. TMI, in the sense of sheer volume (and, often in the more traditional meaning of the phrase). But he was a charming fellow, really, and I ended up enjoying the conversation quite a bit.

I love when this kind of things happen. There are a lot of real characters to be found in Virginia. I think most of them have connections to Floyd - there's some sort of quirkiness nexus there, something in the water, or perhaps a faintly glowing alien orb buried for centuries just under the bedrock. We're going out there to visit this summer, and I aim to find out what it is.