#447 Walking into a crowded party and locking eyes with someone you know across the room

Neil Pasricha

Ding-dong.

The door opens to you on the porch in your just-washed jeans and crispy clean shirt staring into a sweaty sea of strange faces. You walk in and stumble past a pile of shoes and a kissing couple while awkwardly scanning the room for some friendly faces. Stepping a bit deeper into the anonymous bass-thumping scene you move past empty bowls of chips, slippery wet countertops, and loud laughs … wondering for a second if you’re in the right place.

Then it happens.

You make laserbeam eye contact with a close friend smiling across the crowded room.

Suddenly it’s all confirmed.

You belong here.

AWESOME!

Photo from: here

29 thoughts to “#447 Walking into a crowded party and locking eyes with someone you know across the room”

  1. Also applies to crowded lunchrooms and awkward meetings. A friendly face can definitely go a long way :).

  2. Definitely awesome.

    However, trying to find your book in a book shop today, and them not having it, definitely not awesome.

    It’s on their site…

  4. i just opened this blog for the first time and this was the first thing i read. and it was so lame.

  5. Awesome #446. Negative people who don’t come back.

    Such a relief when you are invited to a party and people you know are there, relieves the awkwardness until you are able to mingle a bit more.

  8. also applies to huge lecture halls and you are coming in a bit later than the rest of the class. awesome!

  9. having been an Erasmus student last year this happened quite often. But at Erasmus parties all you see is friendly faces anyway :)

  10. I listed that as one of top 10 favorite things… when you’re out in public or in a crowd and you meet the glance of a friend. The look in their eyes and the feeling of comfort it instantly brings… good stuff.

  11. I love when you go to a party with your significant other, splitting up so he can talk to his friends and you can talk to yours, then catching each other’s eye from across the room. It’s like saying, “I may be talking to this person, but I’m thinking about you.”

  12. This is not a comment I would like to make for the sake of this specific text. It is a comment on your overall writing and its subject:
    It’s delightful and soulful. A truly rare pleasure to read all you write.

  15. It’s funny, I used to feel that same comfort and relief when seeing someone I know at a party. But when I became self-employed about six years ago, because all of my clients are word-of-mouth and random people I meet via activities [improv, guitar, volunteering, etc.] and social functions, I decided to start “The Solo Life,” where I do one thing a week by myself and where I purposefully don’t attend events with friends. You end up standing in the corner with people you know, instead of exiting your comfort zone and meeting new people. Now I inwardly groan when I recognize someone!

    That’s also the reason I started Mac ‘n Cheese Minglers, unique, fun events I throw out of my home as a way for people to expand their networks – social, romantic, professional. The one Mingler rule is that everyone comes solo. This way, everyone is the new kid and there’s no need to stress about not knowing anyone. The Minglers have become uber-successful as people appear to be hungry for vehicles other than bars, sports leagues, computer screens and stuffy networking events to meet others.

    I’d recommend everyone try The Solo Life for a bit, a lot of great things have come out of the experiment! A blog entry of mine about it: http://macncheeseproductions.wordpress.com/2009/09/06/doing-things-solo/

    Mac ‘n Cheese Minglers – http://www.macncheeseproductions.com/

  16. How about-
    sitting at a table with friends. Conversation is light. Having another friend arrive at the table- covered in mud (Army) with his friend – also covered in mud- in tow.
    Lock eyes with the stranger- beautiful sparkling blue-in the haze of a German guesthouse smoke
    Go for a ride on his motorcycle
    Get engaged six days days later
    Marry in six months (because of the laws of my church- or it would have been two months)

    Ahhh- locking eyes- it is still wonderful. His still melt me! Married 28 years in June.

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  23. Great post and straight to the point. I am not sure if this is actually the best place to ask but do you people have any ideea where to employ some professional writers? Thanks :)

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