Wax Monkey
Yesterday was another amazingly full and fun day.
Started off with sleeping in (on a week day!) and then reviewing the raw content on LN’s project…but I did it at my neighborhood coffee shop. The place was packed and very loud for the hour or so I was there. It’s a fairly tiny place. Not a corporate coffee outpost but a true neighborhood coffee house.
As I sat there I realized I recognized and/or knew the names of almost everyone that was there. I’m usually not a hanging out sort of gal. Too much to do usually to just hang out at a coffee house (or a bar, for that matter.) I tend to reserve my sitting around for home, in front of the TV late at night. But as I looked around that room, I realized that if I wanted to broaden my circle of friends (not just nodding aquaintences) that this was a place (and a way) to do it.
But of course, I was on a schedule yesterday, so those were just observations; not things I actually did anything about.
So about 11:00 I was meeting with LN about these projects. I finally got to meet JW, a woman LN has told me about for a few years - since he hired her to work for him at the last corporate place he worked. (The place went belly-up, but for the life of me I can’t remember what it was called…)
Anway, at one point in our three person meeting I’m expressing my concern that I don’t have a lot of deep content for a particular section of the module.
LN: Well, that’s OK. Just put in place-holders and we’ll build a.. (he’s searching for the right words) a…(look of confusion crosses his face) a… wax monkey? (a look that says ‘is that what you call it?’)
Me: Bwwaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!! You mean a “straw man?”
LN: (laughing so hard I think he’s going to snort M&M’s out his nose) Yes, that’s what I meant. I couldn’t remember what it’s called.
JW and I used this the whole rest of the day. “Eh, that’s just a big wax monkey.” “Well, that could be part of our wax monkey.” “Whaddya got for the wax monkey?”
My dearest dream right now is that the term “wax monkey” would replace “straw man” in the lexicon of corporate buzz-words. I don’t dream big. I know we’d never conquer the mountain of academia, but couldn’t we make a dent in the mind-numbing boredom of the Board room? Ok. Probably not. A girl can still dream.
Even when I got home hours later, it made me laugh so hard I cried. At one point DS1 comes downstairs and starts laughing at me because I’m laughing so hard I’m crying. Of course, when he hears what I’m laughing about he has to work very hard not to laugh because his mom is so lame, but he thought it was funny too (I swear I caught him grinning about it.)
After supper it was off to the evening socializing. DS2 to SL’s house. DS1 (along with LB) over to some girls house for a party that ended up being six or eight girls and the two boys I delivered.
And I went to S&J’s house for the first Bach Cantata sing-a-long. I know. You’re bummed that you couldn’t be there. I’m a geek and freely admit it.
There were about a dozen people there. We had printed scores (that’s geek talk for “the music”) off a public domain site. S&J have a friend (I think heard is in the D.M.A. program at the U of MN) who sight-read the accompaniments. We all sight read the parts too. It was a blast. It sounded like crap most of the time and there was one bass Aria that we voted off the island because it was just too hard. But all in all a fun enough evening to do again. (I know. You wish you could be invited.)
Oh, one other important part of the evening was the “beer exchange.” As a German composer (and because J is a big German scholar) beer is (and was) a big part of the culture for J.S. So each person was to bring a bottle of beer and at the beginning of the sightreading we picked a beer… a different one than the one you brought. I had a Bell’s seasonal brew. It was pretty good. I brought a bottle of the Snow Storm and the person who got that really enjoyed it. Apparently, he’s missed English stout since he came back from his year abroad.
One weird part of the evening? I was the only person over 30. Yeeeaaaaah. So not a lot of dating potential in the group, yet. More and different people might be there next time.
We are going to do it again. If we sing 3 cantatas 9-10 times a year, it will take SEVEN years to sing them all.
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A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…
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A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…
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A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…
January 6th, 2007 at 11:52 am
Okay, so you were singing with a bunch of so-called youngsters. Can they carry a tune? The beer sounds interesting though. I have never heard of either kind you mentioned. I am allergic to alcohol, so it doesn’t surprise me. Well, it’s off to a great weekend. Hope you are having fun!
January 6th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Oh yes, they can carry a tune! S is a soloist with Vocal Essence (a semi-paid nationally know choir based here in Minneapolis…Philip Brunell’s group.) Most of the rest of the people there either were working on (or have finished) masters or doctorates in music, or church music, or theology or combinations thereof.
Yes, the variety of beers available in the US makes one wonder why you’d ever want to drink the mass market stuff.
There are some very good micro-non-alcoholic beers, too…I think…. But there’s always other pleasurable beverages to enjoy with friends. Which, of course you know only too well. Not to mention really good food…