Conversations at Night (With Whisky)

“I have a very romantic view of the city—sometimes I think we're just billiard balls, moving along our own paths, and once in a while we collide and there’s a spark, there’s a temporary push towards the same direction, but ultimately you hit a wall and separate and go your own way again.”

“...and sometimes you get hit so hard you fall into an abyss?”

“Well the idea is you get to restart the game I guess…”  

An infinite loop of pool playing, that’s really all there is to it. Exhausting, addicting and possibly meaningless—but you have to keep moving, keep colliding, because the alternative is inertia, is solitude, is lying alone at the bottom of the pool table. The alternative of something is nothing and I'd rather have ephemeral warmth than eternal coldness. 

“But don’t you want to believe that people can develop more than a temporary connection?”

“Not in this city, no. There are so many possibilities that you can’t help but want to experience all of them. And too much selfishness—everyone wants to follow their own path in the end.”

“You know, I think you’re imposing this view on relationships because you’re afraid of the alternative—of exposing yourself and making the commitment to understand and love someone. And I get why you prefer this idea of love, I’ve been to the other end before and I know what it’s like to be hurt in a big city, to realize that the city is perfectly capable of moving on without you. It's so much easier to just give up and live for the occasional spark.”

"I don't know...maybe you're right, maybe I've been brainwashed by too many bittersweet romantic movies. But I think it's comforting and beautiful that two people can find refuge in each other, regardless of whether it lasts a few hours or a lifetime. So I wouldn't say that I've given up..."