Well, lots, actually, but they're all left-wing-bookstore meetings, so they don't count. And many of them have revolved around "if we don't carry [unsuitable publication] we are guilty of censorship!" I no longer attend meetings about what we should stock because I am incapable of being wily on this topic, using others as my catspaws and so on; I usually just make things worse.
I'm going to one today! This one will be exciting, though, because a little drama erupted over the fact that this meeting is at the exact same time as another meeting many of us might be interested in but we're not changing our meeting time and we'll just see who goes to which!
Also, these are always lunch meetings and, near the end of the past three, one particular attendee has adopted a habit of tearing off a piece of paper, folding it just so, and using it to pick her teeth.
When I first started working for my current company, our weekly department meetings were held standing, in the walkway between our cubes. It did wonders at keeping meetings short and to the point.
To quote a SMS from a friend: "Am at pre-pre-pre meeting. Send tequila."
This post makes me grateful all over again that my department holds only the minimum number of meetings necessary to get our collective business done.
3. Apparently that's why the British Privy Council meets standing up. Queen Victoria wanted to move business on.
Hey, belated happy birthday, Stanley (and Kim Jong Il). Sorry I couldn't save you any cake, but it all got snarfed up.
Thanks, JMcQ. No worries on the cake. I had delicious cheesecake..
This post features a dishearteningly common superfluous "e".
True fact. The verb is not the noun. (That one usually irks me, but I didn't spot it here.)
We used to have breakfast meetings at which we also didn't accomplish much beyond eating bagels and chatting. For some reason, those always seemed nice and created a "team" feeling totally absent from our lunch meetings.
I am never going to get tenure if it requires me to shut up when people senior to me ask my honest opinion and are pissed when they get it.
The verb is not the noun.
Nor is it the adjective.
Wait, 16 leaves some trace elements of humor left in 15. LB, could you be more thorough?
Sorry, I'm having an absolutely humorless day. Letting my inner wet-blanket run wild and free is the only way to go with this mood -- collateral damage is regrettable, but unavoidable.
Letting my inner wet-blanket run wild and free is the only way to go with this mood -- collateral damage is regrettable, but unavoidable.
How wet is this blanket? If you alert people you could reduce the collateral damage. "First five rows will get wet."
Don't they hand out rain slickers at Blue Man Group?
Person from Big Department: We are putting a little c in the gen ed box of the assessment forms for some of our courses. Do we need some standards for when to put that c in the box.
Person from Small, Often Disliked, Department: Does anyone actually pay attention to whether the c is there? Does it affect any decisions? Perhaps we can just get rid of the little c.
Person from Small, Well Connected Department: Don't get rid of the small c, that's the only thing we get to put in that box!
Person from Small, Often Disliked, Department: Maybe we can put the small c in the box above the gen ed box.
Division Head: That box is really devalued. If we put the c there, we are saying we don't really care about the little c.
Person from Small, Often Disliked, Department: We need to have a philosophical conversation about what does and doesn't belong in the gen ed box. I've been thinking about the nature of this box a lot, and I've reached the conclusion that it is just not a meaningful box.
To be continued
I can't believe there aren't more stupid meeting stories. Don't any of you people have a job?
ok, but not th businss mting
i rmmbr that i slpt through most of th ssions
and most popl thr did too
whn was attnding th aha mtng du to th jt lag
and thought that how stupid it was to wast all th mony to com to slp
grat! all my mistaks ar lik hiddn
Shouldn't that have been signed "rad"?
stupid meetings are boring, so it's hard to remember the stories.
Big department person: The representative of Small, Often Disliked, Department, is being circumspect. Really the issue is not putting the little C in the box; it is the big fight we had about putting the big E in the box for Big Department Courses 161 and 162.
Division Head: There are two major political forces that give the gen ed box meaning: The desire to take credit for having things in your box, and the desire to avoid the work that comes with having things in your box.
Person from Small, Often Disliked, Department: But that is just political. How can we determine the real proper shape for this box?
Division Head: Did you know they are talking about adding Cr to the little box? Some schools have already done it.
25 yah, but i was afraid i'll loos my idntity
Me: Wait, are we talking about the little c, the big E or the Cr? And are we actually deciding anything here?
Division Head: don't worry about the Cr, that was just an example.
Me: Are we deciding anything here?
Division Head: We need to have a conversation about this issue.
Me: Now the Big Department people are opposed to putting the big E in the little box.
Big Department Person: We are willing to have the E in the box, if that is what the division wants, and we are able to determine that we can put it there.
Me: And Prof. T, you are in favor of putting the E in the box?
Person from Small, Often Disliked, Department: I'm saying it is an issue.
Division Head: Let's agree to have further conversations on this. Ok, moving on. ...
I am loving the dispatches. Also, getting a feeling for why the SODD is OD.
There are two major political forces that give the gen ed box meaning: The desire to take credit for having things in your box, and the desire to avoid the work that comes with having things in your box.
Division Head sounds like she knows what's up.
23: Yes, summed up well by the Adventures of Action Item.
I have an AWESOME stupid meeting story.
We have "faculty development" periods on Friday afternoons. They are idiotic and semi-mandatory.
I said to a colleague that the administration must be pressed for evidence that their faculty is continuing to grow, and she said that no, it has nothing to do with that. Brace yourself. (The reason that follows has been openly stated by the administration.)
We have two problems at my school: student retention and students going home en masse on the weekends, and it's understood that students going home en masse contributes to low student retention, because our school is not a fun party school.
SO. The logic goes: if faculty are around on Friday afternoons, students will be less likely to head home for the weekend.
The goddamn fucking faculty development periods on my FRIDAY AFTERNOONS are an attempt to keep students from packing up for the weekend. On my FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. Fuck you very much, admin people.
The dispatches are especially good if you imagine Labs looking like his Flickr photos.
33 is confusing. Will the students stick around because they want to party with you?
33 is confusing
Enragingly confusing. Exactly. How in hell does me listening to a talk on "Raising the Academic Bar" keep kids from packing up and heading home for the weekend?
No offense to heebie, but that seems more likely to accelerate kids going home for the weekend. If the problem is that it isn't a fun school, how does ruining the faculty's Fridays help?
The dispatches are especially good if you imagine Labs looking like his Flickr photos.
Also if you imagine that the dispatches are from Labs, even though their topic and the ostensible topic of Labs' meeting (which is departmental, while the dispatches are obviously interdepartmental) diverge wildly.
The dispatches also contain extensive use of the letter e.
Why do you think my meeting is departmental, Ben?
Do those dispatches even make a bit of sense to you academic types, or are they deliberately totally obfuscated details in an archetypical blathering-about-nothing meeting?
I'm really trying to rack my brain to think of anything on assessment forms that would have to deal with general education requirements, be important enough to argue about, and would involve more work on the departments' parts.
I was thinking that 'putting the letter in the box' would mean 'regarding a course as satisfying some institutional requirement', and so would both be prestige-enhancing but would require work to comply with.
to shut up when people senior to me ask my honest opinion and are pissed when they get it
This is the most common form of administrative torture—ask for a reasoned argument supported by evidence for your position specifically so it can be comprehensively ignored. I swear people do it on purpose.
Do those dispatches even make a bit of sense to you academic types
Oh yes, I fear they do.
if faculty are around on Friday afternoons, students will be less likely to head home for the weekend.
Happy hour at Heebie's office on Friday afternoon! Free drinks! She promises not to ask you any math questions!
c = cocksucking
E = enema given
Cr = crabs received
Labs, you can liveblog these meetings from your iPhone, you know.
Plus, Heebie, if you get them drunk enough *they won't be able to drive home for the weekend*.
Ah, so it's not actually about an assessment form? The discussion of "boxes" is referring to something like a visual representation of the curriculum and course requirements at the university/division?
That would make a lot more sense, though then I'd still be confused why they keep talking about assessment forms.
I suppose it's necessary stuff, and some people really like that sort of political arguing/positioning thing. It's just a shame the rest of us get dragged into the meetings where they're hashing it out.
The official name for the forms in question is "Course Description with Student Outcomes and Assessment"
I am not Labs.
Could be a departmental assessment form.
The official name for the forms in question is "Course Description with Student Outcomes and Assessment"
Oh, but naturally.
Course Description with Student Outcomes and Assessment
"I wanna kill. Kill.... I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill, KILL, KILL."
Gerald Graff made me sad in the most recent MLA newsletter by being enthusiastic about learning outcomes assessment. He comes at it with the best of motives, but really, blurgh.
I was thinking that 'putting the letter in the box' would mean
"It puts the letter in the box, or else it gets the hose again."
48 is a red herring. Ben knows about your meeting by the same way he knows your blood type and how long it takes you to shave in the morning.
We have "faculty development" periods on Friday afternoons. They are idiotic and semi-mandatory.
Yeah we had these too. Underemployed asst deans, endless powerpoint, and rounds of discussion that alternated between bitter complaints and paranoid anxiety. After the first one me and the spousal unit decided to have a lunch date at that time instead.
SO. The logic goes: if faculty are around on Friday afternoons, students will be less likely to head home for the weekend...because faculty are sleeping with the students.
59: So they have the faculty cooped up in meetings...because absense makes the heart grow fonder!
I don't think there's a sense specifically for detecting good abs, Ned. That's an urban legend.
Abstinence makes the heart go wander.
No, I meant, um, ab, the Latin prefix, you know, going away from sense leads to irrational behavior, such as, you know, love and whatnot.
That's for detecting Arabs, though—it's an abbreviated form.
You're all conspiring to encourage me to leave academia, aren't you.
Heebie; you're school doesn't need friday facutly meetings, it need cheap tequila happy hour on fridays. Of course, after the meetings the faculty could use the tequila, too.
That's for detecting Arabs
No, that's a turban legend.
67: what about you're need, soup? Ain't that always the way?
I had a not at all absurd qustion that I forgot to ask ystrday: what's th propr drink to clbrat Prsidnt's Day? My attmpts to find th answr with googl suggstd that Lincoln, whil h sold liquor arly in his lif, rarly drank any, and it was just champagn, to b civil, whn h did; two sits say Washington's favorit drink was Madira.
Clearly you should listen to the Flanders and Swan song about Madeira in honor of Washington, but drink bourbon. If you can get real shine, even better. This country was built on rotgut.
Jihad me laughing out loud with 73.
F. D. Roosevelt liked to make Martinis and put all kinds of extra stuff in them, like Pernod.
Isn't there something called an El Presidente? You can toast Castro too.
75: I was listening to this yesterday!
"Our nephew came to the show and told us that this song was his favourite. Turns out, he thinks it's about cake. Whispered: (And so does Swan.)"
F. D. Roosevelt liked to make Martinis and put all kinds of extra stuff in them, like Pernod.
This has a name, you know.
79: it's hard to follow Caliph she's on.
NB I don't endorse throwing away the vermouth.
The pun in 76 is a bit sheikhy.
You could have hadith worse, that's for shura.
87: Exactly. No need to mecca big deal over it.
Hee hee. I am Eid'ing this humor up!
Shi'a later guys, I'm outta here.
Eid'ing this humor up, huh? Not me, man; I'm off to eat Medina.
Most of my meetings are about interesting things; I've got one tomorrow afternoon on poison dart frogs. Frogs!! Cute, but poisonous. Exotic, but new world-ous. My main problem will be convincing the newly Ph.d-ed educator that everyone doesn't need to know every.little.detail. about poison dart frogs, their origins and reproductive habits (frog boinking!), their distribution and threatened habitats, etc. Plus, we only have wall space for two graphic panels, so prioritize, Mr. Newly Ph.d'ed.
The awful ones are staff meetings wherein everyone is encouraged to give us all updates on their ongoing projects (They call them "short reports." They are not. Also, I don't care what you're working on, I've got my own work to do, thanks.) and then they announce everyone's birthday this month. Like we're still in elementary school.
Allah these are quite funny except 92, which I don't understand.
My house Ismaili. I should Qutb some plants and make potpourri.
Washerdreyer is smoking hajj.
Fatwa was supposed to stand in for "far too," with far being pronounced as fah. It was a stretch.
wrenae, c'mon. Everyone needs to know about frog boinking.
Exotic, but new world-ous
"but"?
Shi'a later guys, I'm outta here.
Yeah, I'll beheading out soon too.
(That counts, doesn't it?)
100, you shah'da thought of that sooner
c'mon people, don't stop now. Pick a pun to takfiri spin, see wahabbi. Not like you have hijab to do.
33: Academics are so numerous here that nobody snarks even slightly when someone complains that her employer is ruining her Friday afternoons by making her be at work.
I say: Get a real job, slacker !
Moderators or however one addresses those with power round here, I think there is a bit of a presidential identity poking out of the links to Geo. Washington's name above.
Like we're still in elementary school
very funny, but that means people care, no?
This has a name, you know.
I didn't see a reference to Pernod on that page, Ben. I did see a reference to Grange Hall, which I miss.
Did you see a reference to absinthe, slol?
I had an impromptu meeting today, as I often do while teaching at New College. I keep forgetting to close the door to my classroom while I teach and Professor In-My-Field keeps surreptitiously sneaking up to the door to listen in, though I don't see her there. Then she grabs me in the hallway after class and says, "I heard you saying the funniest thing to your students" and repeats some general statement that I take to be a given in our field. She doesn't say "Explain yourself" or "I thought so-and-so had refuted that"; she just says, "This is what I heard you say."
Now, for some reason, I am extremely paranoid that Prof. IMF thinks I am a fraud. I don't feel this around other people in my field at all, so I think it has something to do with the way she quotes me. What she apparently heard me saying was something like, "Oh, that's because there was no psychology in 1803." What I meant, of course, and went on to explain, was not that humans didn't have thoughts and ideas about the mind and how it works, but that psychology as an organized science was limited to sociological observations, which is why eighteenth-century novels tend to be socially realistic, and that attempts in the nineteenth century to be psychologically realistic often end up undermining social realism. Or whatever. Which I explained to Prof. IMF when confronted.
But what I keep finding out later is that she goes around telling people how smart I am and how I have all these cool ideas about stuff and explain it really well. So am I just being paranoid? Is it possible she actually cares about my lame thoughts about social realism? Or does she suspect that I'm a moron (being, as it is, a mere graduate student at the school where she got her PhD)?
Sociological and philosophical theories, but not, like, psychology as we recognize it.
So am I just being paranoid?
Sounds like it, yeah. Do you have any evidence that she thinks you're a fraud aside from these conversations?
It sounds to me like she's trying to show that she respects you, while being extremely awkward. But I don't know, of course.
Or does she suspect that I'm a moron (being, as it is, a mere graduate student at the school where she got her PhD)?
That can't be it. She suspects you're a moron because you're just like she was a few years ago?
Not really. One of the conversations, which had me in a cold sweat, was about how she'd heard there was a rumor going around my grad school about how New College "censors" its material. I stuttered, and began to explain that people had asked me about my interview, and I'd mentioned that one of the books was recommended to be removed, and that perhaps someone at Grad School overreacted and called that censorship, but I wouldn't have used that word, etc.
Turns out she knew the rumor had started with the person who didn't get the job, and wanted to make sure I felt comfortable, that I knew I had their support no matter what I wanted to teach. But the way she confronted me with it, I thought she was accusing me.
And the thing is, I like her! She's very nice and down-to-earth and everything! We laugh together! But whenever she says, "Hey, I'd like to talk to you for a moment," I get really nervous.
102: "but"?
Everybody knows "exotic" means something from the other side of the planet, Ben. Not just south of us where all the brown people live. But maybe I was reaching, in my lust for symmetrical construction.
105: Everyone needs to know about frog boinking.
True, that's probably the only part we'll keep. Boinking and poison. It's like a medieval romance novel, but with amphibians.
If only we could actually use the phrase "frog boinking." I'll probably learn tomorrow that "boinking" is in reality a scientific phrase that applies to the rhythmic stridulation of prehistoric fish fins (or something), and is therefore inaccurate and misleading to the general public.
Oops, I meant 101, not 105. Sorry soup.
Everybody knows "exotic" means something from the other side of the planet, Ben.
IOW, "new world" and "exotic" go together.
114: Somehow, I think someone who's going to grad school where you went is far more likely to appear as a mentee than a colleague, as compared to someone attending a different grad school. And even if so, great! I like that she's so involved! She really knows the subject quite well, and, in fact, maybe I'm paranoid because she knows the book I'm teaching a lot better than I do!
Yeah, I should chill out about it.
Pubmed search for "Boink" returns 33 results, almost all cowritten by the illustrious and now-retired Dr. A.B.T.J. Boink of the National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection, Bilthoven.
The most recent two are by Gerard J.J. Boink, seen here in a photo presumably taken in 1981.
Unless he was born in 1981 rather than, as the parentheses after his name seem to indicate, graduated from college in 1981.
I think there's something naturally disconcerting about having an unexpected audience. I would probably second guess what she meant by the comments, too, in your position, but from a more objective post, it seems like she just likes you.
Yeah. My guess is that you're getting weird and paranoid as a reasonable response to the fact that she's acting weird, but that she's acting weird because she's trying to make friends in a professional-colleagues kind of way, and is just sort of socially awkward about it.
Did you see a reference to absinthe
Pernod is not absinthe anymore than Campari is a cake ingredient, w-lfs-n.
Pernod is much closer to absinthe than campari is to being a cake ingredient, and is often used to replace it in cocktails. As you probably know full well, Knecht.
It depends on your definition of "cake".
I'm late to the game, but this thread sure did Mecca me laugh.
OT: When knocking a saucepan lid out of the dish rack, it's best to avoid having the thing land edge-first on your big toe.
Now, for some reason, I am extremely paranoid that Prof. IMF thinks I am a fraud. ... But what I keep finding out later is that she goes around telling people how smart I am and how I have all these cool ideas about stuff and explain it really well. So am I just being paranoid?
The evidence points toward paranoia in its self-indulgent form. Exactly how much evidence of the "I keep finding out later is that she goes around telling people how smart I am" sort do you feel you need here?
I'd always assumed Pernod was closer to anisette than anything else (which FDR is also alleged to have put in his martinis). But I confess to near-total ignorance of absinthe.
And of course there was no psychology as we know it in 1803, ffs. There wasn't any sociology, either, and barely any economics.
and barely any economics
Nonsense! Wealth of Nations was 1776, and that's all the economics we have ever needed.
I'd always assumed Pernod was closer to anisette than anything else
Pernod:Absinthe::Methadone:Heroin. Or something like that.
Pernod used to be Absinthe, until it was reformulated to comply with the ban.
My econ major college roommate tried to get me to throw that book away when we were moving out of our apartment around graduation. He asked, "Would you study neuroscience using a 300 year old textbook?"
I've now carted it to about 5 different domiciles, even though I am in fact unlikely to look at it again.
130: Well, I guess it doesn't seem very sincere to me. It's the sort of place where everyone says blandly positive things a lot.
132: No, but observations of human nature tended to focus on social relationships rather than mental health. It's not sociology per se, but humans in society were objects of organized study in a way that the health of the mind itself was not.
Now we just need someone with rosy toes to weigh in on 134.
Also, the Hawaii caucuses, supposedly "today," are in fact tomorrow as far as eastern standard time is concerned. I demand that Hawaiians caucus in the middle of the day on a Tuesday for my result-hearing convenience.
Also, I still feel the right to be paranoid about people listening in and quoting me out of context. Hell, I get paranoid about it when people do it here, too.
I heard AWB saying that people do it here, and let others listen in.
I want to see Knecht and Ben throw down over whether Pernod is absinthe. Two men enter! One man leaves! Two men enter! One man leaves!
I'm afraid I have no good meeting stories other than meetings to discuss how meetings will be run in future, which nearly made me take my own life in the middle of the conference table as an act of protest. The closest I've got to a good meeting story is:
Once when I was the on-call a particularly bothersome client called into our helpdesk early on a Sunday morning and asked that I be awakened so she could speak with me. I got her on the line and learned:
1) she had called in to let me know that
2) she had put in a ticket online to let us know that
3) she would be calling in the following Thursday afternoon to let us know that
4) she would be putting in a ticket online on that same Thursday afternoon.
All I could do to keep from cussing her was thank her and hang up.
AWB, you have a crush on this professor. Until the two of you consummate your charged interactions, you'll continue to be "paranoid".
Also, the Hawaii caucuses, supposedly "today," are in fact tomorrow as far as eastern standard time is concerned. I demand that Hawaiians caucus in the middle of the day on a Tuesday for my result-hearing convenience.
This will happen about the same time that Monday Night Football is moved to 11 pm Eastern for the convenience of Hawaii football fans. Also, the caucuses aren't limited to Hawaiians. We're enlightened enough that all ethnic groups are allowed to vote.
142: "Are you gushing over the brilliance of my ideas, or are you just glad to see me?"
I want to see Knecht and Ben throw down over whether Pernod is absinthe.
What's to throw down about? It isn't. (Actually, Pernod now makes absinthe again, but what you buy as "Pernod" is not absinthe.)
So wait, does this mean you're withdrawing your scoffing at me, Ben?
142: Actually, I just started wondering if this might, in fact, be true. She's very pretty, and I feel a bit schlumpy next to her. She calls me out on some mediocre, unbrilliant thing I said, and my heart pounds because... she has such a beautiful smile! And I am a dork!
No, I'm still scoffing at you, for reason of the relation Knecht himself pointed out. Pernod isn't absinthe, but is used in place of absinthe in cocktails. Generally you only use very small quantities, anyway.
How do you know what quantities of Pernod slol uses?
In lieu of a throwdown, a delicious recipe using Pernod: Gambas au pastis
The same way I know Labs' blood type.
Bertie W. made martinis with a touch of absinthe, and that's just what he called them: martinis with a touch of absinthe. He tried to feed the stuff to Uncle George's barmaid, but she would have none of it. It's bad for the lining of your stomach.
I'm still scoffing at you
But at the time Roosevelt was using Pernod, it wasn't absinthe.
150: Oysters Rockefeller are also good.
I know, slol. What's your point?
I am never going to get tenure if it requires me to shut up when people senior to me ask my honest opinion and are pissed when they get it.
Oh, that's not the problem. The problem is that you give your honest opinion, and then the *clever* senior people will say "that's a great idea; why don't we put you in charge of it?"
That teaches you to shut up right quick.
Also, AWB is being paranoid; said professor is obviously impressed by you, AWB. The thing you should really be being paranoid about is what her standing is in the department, and why she's trying to curry favor with a lowly grad student.
but is used in place of absinthe in cocktails.
White people don't do that Ben, it's inauthentic.
||
If you meet someone at a bar and chat a bit and sense at least superficial interest, but the social dynamics of the situation (nothing sinister) prevent much more, is it too stalkeriffic to send them an email saying "hey, i didn't get your number so didn't know how to get in touch with you, but figured how many people called <unusual first name> work at <newsworthy small organization<. wanna get drinks sometime?"
|>
I know, slol. What's your point?
I know I'm easily confused, but my point is,
(1) I said FDR made martinis with Pernod;
(2) You said this drink has a specific name and linked to a page x;
(3) I said where on x does it give a name for martinis with Pernod;
(4) You said x gives the name for martinis with absinthe;
(5) I said I didn't know Pernod is absinthe;
(6) You said it isn't.
So you're wrong, aren't you, Ben: there isn't a specific name for martinis with Pernod, or at least not one given on page x.
158: Ask ogged how well it worked with the crinkly-eyed surfer chick. Actually, ogged, you called her, right? Email is maybe less invasive.
158: It's not as stalkeriffic as Ogged's surferchick move from the plane, and we condoned that in the name of potentially getting laid. Generally, I'd say there isn't much commenters would condemn as "too stalkery."
159: Wasn't FDR famous for terrifically awful martinis that his guests could barely choke down?
I was pro-Ogged calling the surfer chick; a plane ride is a lot longer (probably) than a bar conversation, and having met Ogged, I feel sure that he is incapable of seeming stalkery. I don't know if the same is true of Water Moccasin or not, but in thinking about getting an email like that from someone I'd been "superficially interested" in at a bar, my primary reaction was "uh oh."
158: That's fine. Explaining how you found her (like you did) helps -- it'd be a little spooky if you emailed and she didn't know how you knew how to find her -- as well as letting you explain yourself if two women named Grisela happen to work there.
Let that be a lesson to always exchange phone numbers if there's interest and extenuating circumstances are tearing you apart. If there were no such pressing circumstances, she probably doesn't want to hear from you.
Oh, and truthfully, if I had actually liked talking to you in the bar, I would be totally charmed to get such an email. But I also liked the idea of finding myself in "Missed Connections." My vanity: Let me show you it.
Wasn't FDR famous for terrifically awful martinis that his guests could barely choke down?
Yes. "Horrendous," I think was the usual term.
165: "superficial" was meant to modify interest, not appearance of interest, and I only said it because it was a brief encounter so no one knew anything about the other, so any interest would have to be superficial.
I'm also very not prone to "oh, she was totally checking me out" behavior. Very not prone.
If you do this all the time with pleasant acquaintances, it won't seem like such a big step to do this with cute pleasant acquaintances. Once it feels normal, it is called "being friendly".
Oh, and truthfully, if I had actually liked talking to you in the bar, I would be totally charmed to get such an email.
And if she wasn't totally charmed, watermoccasin, she just won't respond! What do you have to lose?
(unless you expect to see her again the next time you go to a social affair)
171: Yeah, I think B. is being overly conservative. It's very easy to ignore or blow off an email, so sending one isn't too intrusive. And if you were reading the situation right, she'll be happy to hear from you. Also, what Megan said, although I don't know much about that one first hand because I'm fundamentally unfriendly.
168: Two very-close-knit groups of friends with one person in common who then left early, both groups talking pretty much exclusively about their respective work? Finding myself coincidentally chatted up in line for the bathroom the one time I went the whole night? Being the only recipient of cross-group friendly goodbyes? I'm socially retarded and get tongue-tied around attractive strangers - I don't know how these things work.
Nothing to lose but my dignity and pride, neither of which were particularly large in the first place! Email sent.
175: You should send the email, but only if the subject line is "I think you fit me like a flesh tuxedo."
Since sending a polite email isn't very intrusive, the only relevant advice here is: don't be a pussy.
Email sent.
Bravo!
Fors iuvat audentes!
OT
There is a non-zero possibility I will be asked some question by CNN this evening about Clinton-Obama. (CNN is allegedly coming to tonight's Austin Drinking Liberally in anticipation of next week's debate at UT.) What's the most ludicrous thing I can say that still has a chance of being aired?
You had a lesbian love affair with Hillary.
Say something about the Obamanible Snowman. Tie it in to Texas being hot and snowballs melting in hell and some crap like that, they love nonsense and clichés.
With enthusiasm!
Cryptic Ned is psychotically brilliant.
181:
"Clinton's VP should be Dick Morris."
Run off a string of blandly positive things about Obama that fit squarely within the media's prevailing narrative (Hope! Change!). Say all this with enthusiasm and a smile. Consistently call him "Osama."
You had a lesbian love affair with Hillary.
Claiming to have had a lesbian love affair with Obama would be even more ludicrous, though maybe less likely to be aired.
Say you're voting for Obama because Paul Krugman prefers his health plan.
Fors iuvat audentes!
Positive response received! w00t!
194: No need. Anybody that finds romantic success that easily will find better things to do on his own.
B needs to learn that this is the 21st century and women aren't fragile flowers who must be treated delicately.
Plus: Yay wm !
183: Ned, that's really amazingly perfect, and - as with ogged's 182 - reveals the error at the heart of Sir Kraab's question, which would be properly phrased thus: What's the most least ludicrous thing I can say that still has a chance of being aired?
dating success on Unfogged? First teo. Now water moccassin? Ogged has a serious gf?
Where am I?
Dating success is the first step toward divorce, will. It'll all work out in the end.
WELL THIS MAY BE TEXAS AND HE MAY BE THE OBAMANIBLE SNOWMAN, BUT I THINK HILLARY IS THE ONE WHO'S GONNA MELT, HAR HAR! IT'S A COLD DAY IN HELL, ONLY IN AMERICA!
198: I'm still here for you, buddy. Keep the faith.
good point ned!
Thanks Di. I know I can count on you. for now.
Oh, come on, Will. You don't get to brag about having the world's awesomest girlfriend and then also get to shake your ass at the pity party.
Speaking of my recent success in dating, I just confirmed the date tomorrow.
I remain unsuccessful; I value constancy in a not-girlfriend.
Me too, eb. I'm going to go not-fuck my not-boyfriend.
Oh, wait! Maybe this is finally an idea for a female masturbation euphemism that I can stand!
Wait, don't you two live in the same city?
Possibly the same neighborhood, actually. For a few more days: I'm almost certainly moving elsewhere (and am becoming somewhat stressed about the lack of replies to my replies to sublet ads).
Oh, come on, Will. You don't get to brag about having the world's awesomest girlfriend and then also get to shake your ass at the pity party.
I'll shake my ass where I please, thank you very little. It isnt my fault that you swore off masturbation. (not that I believe you.)
For a few more days
Time to make hay while the sun shines, then.
208: And we were going to hang out at the Calameetup, right? *shakes fist* eb, I hardly knew never met ye.
Fucking tags.
I don't understand the euphemism.
211: Yes. I'm staying in the city until at least some of April, or longer. I just have to be out of this apartment by the end of the month and am replying to any place within reasonable price and commuting range. It would be easier for me to stay in Brooklyn, near or not too far from here, but the ads aren't cooperating.
Aren't you full of salt tonight, Teo? Get a few kisses in you, and you turn into a bawd in an Italian opera.
215: What's your price range? I'll keep my eye on stuff around here for you, if you like.
Aren't you full of salt tonight, Teo? Get a few kisses in you, and you turn into a bawd in an Italian opera.
It seems to have brought out a new side of me, yes. Hopefully that side will be even more evident after tomorrow night.
"full of salt"? I would've gone with "full of piss and vinegar."
Teo might get a blowjob soon, though, and, as a woman, the salt image is slightly more palatable.
Given the tone of the recent comments in this thread, I keep seeing the post title and thinking that the missing vowel is an a.
Thanks. Ideally it would be less than $800-$900/month, but that seems to restrict things too much, so I'm looking at anything $1000 or less if I have to. Queens seems to have more listings in the lower ranges. I'm trying to find places with good access to the 2/3, B/D/F, or N/Q/R.
221:
Woa!!!!!! AWB!! That is our Teo you are talking about. Shame on you.
And I'm not really that obsessive about the subway lines; just conscious of them.
168, 189: Woohoo! I clearly know nothing!
Have you looked in Bave's neighborhood, eb, like between Park Slope and Gowanus? On the north side, you're close to all the Atlantic Avenue lines (BQNR2345), and on the south side, you're near the F and R. Like 3-4Aves? And you could easily find great places well within your range if you're open to roommates, but even without roommates, a 1K place in that area would at least be a nice studio.
EB, if you email me, I'll pass on your contact info to a friend of mine who has access to the NYT listserv. Plus I have a couple of friends in Park Slope (besides AWB) who might know of something.
159, which I just read: Pernod is understood to be absinthe for the purposes of cocktails, especially during such periods when and in such places where absinthe is illegal. Only a fool would insist that a drink made with 3/4oz each lemon juice, gin, Cointreau, and Lillet, with a few drops Pernod, was not a Corpse Reviver, for instance, even though the CR recipe calls for absinthe.
We must be flexible, slolernr.
228: I've replied to places in both the north and south ranges. Part of the problem is commitment: I can't guarantee more than two months, and people tend to go with who can pay rent the longest.
(I think my favorite ad so far is the one that's offering a "temporal" rent.)
Pernod:Absinthe::Methadone:Heroin. Or something like that.
having consumed all of these I pronounce the analogy relatively sound. you can still get fucked up on methadone, contra some impressions, but you can also get drunk on pernod as well, so it's a wash. needless to say, the latter member of each pair is far superior.
