3.11.08

Just like a breakfast: tasteful, yet energizing.

At the greenhouse today, my supervisor introduced a visitor to our group. She'd been tied up in meetings all day, so he was wondering if we could just keep an eye on her for half an hour, and have a little informal conversation.

No problem, said I. So, we sat down and had a little chat, trying to keep from talking about any of the reasons she was visiting the greenhouse. She mentioned where she was from, and that she was new to town, and I asked her what sort of hobbies she had, and so forth. And then she asked us what our hobbies were. MJ answered first -- mountain biking, primarily, and he discussed that for a bit. Then she looked at me, and repeated the question.

Well, if you ask someone in the middle of NaNoWriMo what their hobbies are, you risk a very long answer. So, rather than bore her, I mentioned my second-latest pursuit: Captain Shrovewreaker. But I didn't think explaining the whole Dr.Horrible/breakfast pirate thing was entirely necessary, so I shortened it.

"Well... it's just a hobby, but I have a lot of fun making short videos and putting them up on the Internet."

And then, I thought, maybe she likes acting. I could use actors for the next Shrovewreaker video.

"Say, what about you? You comfortable in front of a camera? microphone? Up on stage?"

No. No, she wasn't. Well, maybe I could enlist her for set design. Painting backgrounds and whatnot.

"Oh, well, that's too bad. Do you have any other artistic talents, though? You see, these films are pretty low-budget..."

...and it's only at this point that I notice MJ trying hard not to laugh, and finally realise what these "films" must sound like. And that, my friends, is the end of my diplomatic career.

Fun while it lasted.

1 comment:

Adam said...

Does your wife like photography? Wink wink nudge nudge. :-)