QOTD: "Perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart." - Edgar Allen Poe
Reading: Tim Severin, In Search of Robinson Crusoe
Listening to: Old Blind Dogs, The Gab of Mey
Decluttering accomplishments: There's a chance I'll get through household paperwork before I get to bed tonight
The title of this entry is from one of Willy Claflin's stories - or, I should say, one of Maynard Moose's. More on that below. I'm not particularly "angrified" over anything right now, but I still think the phrase is hysterically funny.
There were two angrifying things this week - the weather and traffic. I live near Washington, D.C., not Washington State. We have had about a day and a half of sunshine in the past month and, as I understand it, there wasn't any sunshine in the couple of weeks before that when I was in the Caucasus. Thursday and Friday had some particularly heavy downpours. I'd gone out for a short walk on Thursday night and got caught in one of those storms in which an umbrella is of no use whatsoever. It is now officially summer and I'm starting to think I should be using rustoleum instead of sunscreen.
As for the traffic, that was limited to Wednesday, when I had to drive out to Chantilly for a meeting with a high muckety-muck. The traffic report was busily telling me the status of every single bloody road in Maryland, while I-66 westbound in Virginia was down to a single lane due to a major accident. Had I but known, I could have used my special secret alternative route instead, but I'd already committed myself and ended up spending 25 minutes to drive the first two miles. I suspect that being late to a meeting with an agency director is a major faux pas. At least the other three people from our side who were involved made it there on time, though two of them got there with about 10 seconds to spare. Sigh.
In general, this week was just crazy busy, largely due to the quarterly meeting of all the big shots. This time, I actually got into the meeting, which is pretty surprising. I was in one of the cheap seats in the back corner and was there to be seen and not heard (and to take copious notes), but at least I got to hear it all first hand. The highlight of which was when one of the presidents of a major defense company (i.e. the sort of company that has about a dozen presidents) said, "we fucked up."
I also wanted to pass along this item, from my company's Washington Report on 28 May. I should explain that we have a daily news summary on our internal web site, that normally talks about things like appropriations bills and NASA investigations and the like. I have no idea who writes these things, but this one was pretty amusing:
TERRORISM ALERT:
At London's Heathrow Airport today, an individual, later discovered to be a
public school teacher, was arrested
trying to board a flight while in possession of a compass, a protractor, and
a graphical calculator.
Authorities believe he is a member of the notorious al-Gebra movement.
He is charged with carrying weapons of math instruction.
As for the weekend, I spent most of it in Sterling, at LAUGHS. That stands for Loudun's Annual Unforgettable Gigantic Hilarious Storyfest. Despite the somewhat soggy/muddy grounds at Claude Moore Park (which would, otherwise, be a nice place for a walk), the festival was very enjoyable. The featured storytellers were Bobby Norfolk, Eth-Noh-Tec, Sheila Kay Adams, Donald Davis, Bill Harley, and Willy Claflin. I have to admit that I find Bobby Norfolk hard to listen to, largely because he speaks rapid ebonics and I can't follow quickly enough. As for Eth-Noh-Tec, I understand why people like them, as they're very dramatic and theatrical. But their style doesn't particularly resonate with me. That's largely because I find the theatrical conventions feel cold to me, lacking in the intimacy I like with storytelling.
I'd never heard Sheila Kay Adams before and I enjoyed a bit more than half of her material. Her best line involved a couple of jokes one of her relatives told. "What's the difference between naked and nekkid? Naked is when you're not wearing any clothes. Nekkid is when you're not wearing any clothes and you're up to something." And, "what's the difference between a spinster and an old maid? A spinster is a woman who ain't never been married. An old maid is a woman who ain't never been married ... or nuthin'."
Donald Davis is an old favorite of mine. He told some stories I'd heard before and a few I hadn't. I enjoyed hearing him, for the most part, though I felt he was a bit preachy here and there. His particular strength is structural. That is, he puts together his personal stories piece by piece, so that nothing is extraneous. That isn't an easy thing to do.
Bill Harley is another long time favorite and was also very enjoyable. I was particularly pleased to hear him tell "Zanzibar," as I'd only heard it on tape before and the experience of hearing a story live is always better. Among other things, he also did a wonderful story about battling with his kids over the car radio.
Finally, there's Willy Claflin. I'd only seen him once or twice before and I found him absolutely delightful again. What I appreciate most is that his stories are never condescending. He has a high brow education and uses big words unapologetically. Throw in the creative use of rubber squeak toys (explaining why one can't use live lobsters in a vaudeville act and what happened when the frog jugglers came to town) and the always enthralling Maynard Moose (a puppet whose twisted fairy tales "preserve traditional moose values"), and I laughed so hard my face hurt. I bought two of his tapes, though I realized that I probably shouldn't listen to them while driving, lest I laugh so hard I lose control of the car. All in all, it was an excellent weekend and I'm already blocking off next year's festival dates on my calendar.
Copyright 2003 Miriam H. Nadel