Family Reunion Stories
Mar. 26th, 2006 02:57 pmI didn't talk much at the family reunion (of someone else's family), but I did hear some good stories.
One young woman majored in marine biology. She said a lot of people drop out of that major because they start out thinking they might get to swim with dolphins, but then find out it is a science degree. Horrors! This person likes, science, though.
So after she graduated she got a job, not in marine biology, but in structural biology. She was trying to tell her friend, a college sophomore, that the most useful course she had in college was (you'll never guess) organic chemistry. This subject matter comes up every week in her current job. And unlike some science classes, it's not about math or memorization, but just about understanding how molecules fit together. Her friend was not, however, convinced.
Now she's thinking of moving into another totally different field. This is because she doesn't feel her current job helps people enough. (This is actually a common concern of the latest adult generation.) Also, she doesn't get enough human interaction; she can spend the entire day in the lab. A lot of scientists like this, but she doesn't.
So now she is looking for a job in a nonprofit. She anticipates she might be overseas for several months at a time. Her friend was concerned that it would be difficult to have a family with this sort of job. But she explained that they let couples work together and that she didn't see herself ever having children, so that was okay.
Then her friend asked her about the income. (I had a guess. Do you?) She said she didn't really know, but she knew it wouldn't be much. When pressed, she finally guessed $35,000 to 40,000. I'm probably biased, but I still suspect she has overestimated that amount by quite a bit.
**
One woman was taking a vacation in New York City with a friend. She had been warned to never go down dark alleys and to never ride the subway. The first thing they decided to do is take one of those double-decker bus tours where you can get on and off whenever you want.
Now, since NYC is a port, they get a lot of name-brand stuff coming in. So, you can find these guys who can sell you all kinds of stuff at great prices. And right away they find one of these guys. Who leads them down an alley. And through a locked door, which he then locks behind him. And through another door that he again locks behind him. Then a third such door.
Despite what would have happened next in a D&D game, they got piles of fabulous bargains and then were let out. But by this time it was dark outside. And their double-decker bus was no longer running. A lady came up to them and offered to let them know how to get where they were going for $5. They tried to figure out on their own for a while, but then finally gave her the five bucks. She told them taxis don't come into that neighborhood at night; they're going to have to take the subway. (I'm imagining a bad children's cartoon with evil laughter right about now.)
They find someone to lead them to the nearest subway entrance and make it to their destination with no (further) mishaps. So, they got to check going down dark alleys and riding the subway off their list right at the beginning of the trip.
**
One older gentleman was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He did not want to go to the hospital but he got dragged there and had the surgery.
Afterwards, he decided that life without a sex drive was not worth living. (This was back around 1970. For a current view of this issue, see Living with Prostate Cancer.) So then he refused to eat. When people fed him, he would just spit it out. And this was the real cause of his death.
This man was in his nineties, but he was tall and lean and had been able to successfully lie about his age. In the hospital room, while our storyteller was sitting with the sleeping man, a forty-year-old woman burst into the room, wearing a tight shirt, hot pants, and go-go boots. The woman asked, "Are you the daughter?"
"No, the granddaughter." The storyteller was sure that the woman had burst into the wrong room and would realize it as soon as she actually looked at the guy in the bed.
She introduced herself and then started touching and kissing the man. And this is how this seemingly conservative religious man's family found out that he had been going out with a hot young babe.
**
I also met a little boy I decided I liked, looking for a drink. We went looking for cups, which he found. Then I showed him the ice and held the bag open while he stuck his cup in there to scoop some out. I explained that there was tea and water. He said he didn't like tea. I said I didn't either. So we walked into the kitchen and I asked if he could reach the faucet as I turned on the water. He could.
This little boy also ate some of my fruit salad with his home-made ice cream, so I admire his taste.
**
The party was in an old house out in the country. There's something charming about it, and I decided that I would look around and see if I could pinpoint what it was.
I could not. There was not one thing about the house that I really liked. Robin said he felt the same way. He said there was obviously no effort made to make anything match when things were replaced, but that somehow this made it charming.
After further thought, I think it was the space. There was a very big living room and a very big kitchen with a table. Between these two rooms was another large room, I guess a laundry room. And at the back were lots of cozy bedrooms. There were no hallways, just doors between the rooms, so you could go from the living room to the middle room to the kitchen to one bedroom to the next bedroom, etc. And there were doors between the bedrooms and the front rooms as well.
And on the side, there was a huge shaded screened-in porch. I think the house was well designed to be tolerable in very hot weather because you could get quite a breeze through there if you wanted to.
**
My favorite new East-Texas-accented word is boy, pronounced "bow-oy."
One young woman majored in marine biology. She said a lot of people drop out of that major because they start out thinking they might get to swim with dolphins, but then find out it is a science degree. Horrors! This person likes, science, though.
So after she graduated she got a job, not in marine biology, but in structural biology. She was trying to tell her friend, a college sophomore, that the most useful course she had in college was (you'll never guess) organic chemistry. This subject matter comes up every week in her current job. And unlike some science classes, it's not about math or memorization, but just about understanding how molecules fit together. Her friend was not, however, convinced.
Now she's thinking of moving into another totally different field. This is because she doesn't feel her current job helps people enough. (This is actually a common concern of the latest adult generation.) Also, she doesn't get enough human interaction; she can spend the entire day in the lab. A lot of scientists like this, but she doesn't.
So now she is looking for a job in a nonprofit. She anticipates she might be overseas for several months at a time. Her friend was concerned that it would be difficult to have a family with this sort of job. But she explained that they let couples work together and that she didn't see herself ever having children, so that was okay.
Then her friend asked her about the income. (I had a guess. Do you?) She said she didn't really know, but she knew it wouldn't be much. When pressed, she finally guessed $35,000 to 40,000. I'm probably biased, but I still suspect she has overestimated that amount by quite a bit.
**
One woman was taking a vacation in New York City with a friend. She had been warned to never go down dark alleys and to never ride the subway. The first thing they decided to do is take one of those double-decker bus tours where you can get on and off whenever you want.
Now, since NYC is a port, they get a lot of name-brand stuff coming in. So, you can find these guys who can sell you all kinds of stuff at great prices. And right away they find one of these guys. Who leads them down an alley. And through a locked door, which he then locks behind him. And through another door that he again locks behind him. Then a third such door.
Despite what would have happened next in a D&D game, they got piles of fabulous bargains and then were let out. But by this time it was dark outside. And their double-decker bus was no longer running. A lady came up to them and offered to let them know how to get where they were going for $5. They tried to figure out on their own for a while, but then finally gave her the five bucks. She told them taxis don't come into that neighborhood at night; they're going to have to take the subway. (I'm imagining a bad children's cartoon with evil laughter right about now.)
They find someone to lead them to the nearest subway entrance and make it to their destination with no (further) mishaps. So, they got to check going down dark alleys and riding the subway off their list right at the beginning of the trip.
**
One older gentleman was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He did not want to go to the hospital but he got dragged there and had the surgery.
Afterwards, he decided that life without a sex drive was not worth living. (This was back around 1970. For a current view of this issue, see Living with Prostate Cancer.) So then he refused to eat. When people fed him, he would just spit it out. And this was the real cause of his death.
This man was in his nineties, but he was tall and lean and had been able to successfully lie about his age. In the hospital room, while our storyteller was sitting with the sleeping man, a forty-year-old woman burst into the room, wearing a tight shirt, hot pants, and go-go boots. The woman asked, "Are you the daughter?"
"No, the granddaughter." The storyteller was sure that the woman had burst into the wrong room and would realize it as soon as she actually looked at the guy in the bed.
She introduced herself and then started touching and kissing the man. And this is how this seemingly conservative religious man's family found out that he had been going out with a hot young babe.
**
I also met a little boy I decided I liked, looking for a drink. We went looking for cups, which he found. Then I showed him the ice and held the bag open while he stuck his cup in there to scoop some out. I explained that there was tea and water. He said he didn't like tea. I said I didn't either. So we walked into the kitchen and I asked if he could reach the faucet as I turned on the water. He could.
This little boy also ate some of my fruit salad with his home-made ice cream, so I admire his taste.
**
The party was in an old house out in the country. There's something charming about it, and I decided that I would look around and see if I could pinpoint what it was.
I could not. There was not one thing about the house that I really liked. Robin said he felt the same way. He said there was obviously no effort made to make anything match when things were replaced, but that somehow this made it charming.
After further thought, I think it was the space. There was a very big living room and a very big kitchen with a table. Between these two rooms was another large room, I guess a laundry room. And at the back were lots of cozy bedrooms. There were no hallways, just doors between the rooms, so you could go from the living room to the middle room to the kitchen to one bedroom to the next bedroom, etc. And there were doors between the bedrooms and the front rooms as well.
And on the side, there was a huge shaded screened-in porch. I think the house was well designed to be tolerable in very hot weather because you could get quite a breeze through there if you wanted to.
**
My favorite new East-Texas-accented word is boy, pronounced "bow-oy."