Excussse me or how to get out of a conversation?

This is an excellent question. Oh, wait, I need to catch a train...

but I want to stick around and talk to guy who sculpts giant mushrooms, or the woman who just back from Mongolia...

I always use the line, "My, my... time for my anal cream application."

(Slappy taught me that one)

"Hey I gotta run to the bathroom," then walk away.

Mutter loudly, "what a lame bastard."

(crossing both Gus and Slappy off my party guest list)

Oh, c'mon, Green Witch! Hey, I was in Mongolia not too terribly long ago. Can I please come to your party?

Well, you can't very well say, "You're a crashing bore, and I don't want to talk to you any more". You might want to say something about seeing someone on the other side of the room that to whom you must speak.
Or, if you are into complete unvarnished honesty, you could say, "I really have to go now", and just walk away.

Personally, I vote for the bathroom ploy if the person is of the opposite sex. If it is another woman, you might just have her tagging along!

Ewww, I hate being stuck in conversations like this. I wish I had the answer for ya, it just seems I make a crappy excuse and run like hell, and try not to make eye contact later on.

lol

That actually happened to me once at a club.

I should say that not all these people are boring to start, some are very nice and interesting. It's more that we just met so the conversation can get thin and awkward.

You could always do what some chick did to me on a date.

Start tearing up, show the person the back of your wrist, and solemnly say, "I tried killing myself once."

Raiding with Attila does not qualify you as a Mongolian tourist.

It's worse when they pull that on your wedding day.

Hey, isn't that (insert famous name here while pointing)....

Then move very quickly and duck.

They get the hint.

I remember my first college mixer. Oh, god. I hid in the bathroom, yep.

I've changed. Now I say, I'd like to talk with more people, excuse me.

Bald I am. Might come from a combined six years of art gallery mode, as owner, and a bunch more as visitor. Thus, "I need to mix, talk with you later." Which was literally true, but I didn't use that very much. Later just might not happen. Or, as guest, I'm going to mix, talk to you later."


Harder, of course, at a small gathering.

A version of this could work. " Excuse me. I need to go talk to the hot looking guy who makes giant mushrooms out of wire, we'll talk again later"
I like that.

Part of my problem is that I worked in sales for years, plenty of cold calls, and I too did the galley thing. I'm real good at the starting the chatter, but often feel helpless to end it.

I'm ok at the gallery, we really did need to roam the scene and not stick in one place - there were often just two of us on the floor with another at the food/drink table, and sometime masses and sometime dwindlers. Plus there's the leave people alone thing, and be friendly thing. Very complicated.

Harder for me is the smaller party with yourself on the sofa stuck with the talkative guy who does the mushroom thing, in whatever way or form, and the person with the two hour lecture on Ulan Bator, which I'd ordinarily be interested in, but not at that length at that time. Lesson, don't sit on the sofa.

On my earlier post, I'd like to erase my second line. That's not what I say. But I do say, I'm going to go mix... or the equivalent. No apology like phrases, except perhaps excuse me.

There's always, "I need to feed the turtles"...

Did I kill this? Watches people all walk toward the bathroom...