Talking to strangers

I seem to have a penchant for attracting conversations with strangers. Not sleazy pick-ups at bars, mind you... In fact, they occur in the most boring of places.

==> Like the elderly gentleman I encountered in National Bookstore, this one during my college years... We were browsing side by side along the aisle and he asked me out of the blue what was good to read these days, and we had a brief but nice conversation about Harry Potter.

==> Or another guy I met just this year, in Powerbooks this time... He approached me and insisted we met at some industry launch party a few nights ago, and when he eventually found out that I work for a business magazine, he asked for my number because he was supposedly in the process of putting up a local cosmetics line that he would love for me to feature. When I gave him a fake cellphone number (he can reach me via the office trunkline, why should I give him my mobile number??), he said "Okay, I'll ring your phone now so that you can save my number too." I told him I left my cellphone at home and prayed he wouldn't be able to see or identify the telltale bulge of my cellphone in my jeans pocket.

It bothers the hell out of Eric when I have these "encounters" because he thinks everyone I talk to is either some scam artist or manyak out to take advantage of me. He was particularly annoyed when I told him about Powerbooks guy and even mock accusingly asked what I was wearing that day (answer: nothing attention-getting). He told me that I should've just curtly said "No" and walked away from the minute he asked if we had met at that party.

"I can't help it if I have an approachable vibe," I always tease him.

Besides, it's not as if all the strangers who talk to me are men. Last weekend, while walking along our parish church, I crossed paths with a nice old lady who smiled at mne and said, "Good morning. You're about the give birth soon, 'no?" And she explained it was because my tummy was already big and low, and she asked the usual stuff (Boy or girl? First child? Etc.) and when we parted ways, she said she would include me in her prayers for that day. How nice of her.

Now, when will I be approached by a hunky supermodel?