How to be less awkward in a conversation with 3 people?

I always get into those awkward 3-way conversations. There are three people standing around a group. And one person seems to only be talking to me and the third person is left out of the conversation. This makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable.

I picked up a neat fix to this problem. When someone starts to address and only talk to you, you just look at the person that is talking, then make eye contact with the third person (and maybe add a smile). The person talking usually notices and opens up the circle and begins to address both of you. Finally then, you get a proper 3-way conversation.

I was so thrilled to see Bain & Company Chairman, Orit Gadiesh mentioned this similar technique in her interview with Maire Claire. Different context but same idea.

How We Die

It was so nice to wind down with a damn good book. I read How We Die over my Xmas break. I found the title from a blog post named, "Have you ever fallen for someone's ...bookcase" from my favorite blog, Cup of Jo.

Its a beautifully written but insanely detailed account of how people die - heart disease, stroke, cancer, "old-age,", Alzheimer's, accidents, euthanasia...and more from the eyes of a doctor. He describes the disease in a both scientific but poetic way that you can visualize what's happening to the person. In class, I learn and memorize about different pathologies and treatments for patients. But it feels so foreign and distant. The book brings together all the knowledge that you have learned over the years in school, from the news, from your parents/grandparents, your friends and makes sense of it by putting the information in the context of individual stories.

My bro says I'm kinda morbid that I want to read a book about death over Xmas. I think the book demystifies death and I'm happy to have read it. And its a great adjunct to classes like pulmonary or cardiac PT.

Picture from Goodreads.