I am not able to see humor in politics without a little help from my imaginary boyfriends, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Usually, on my own, I am not watching BBC News and cracking up. On the contrary, usually it is a whole bucketful of somber, sobering stuff. I still keep up with the news, but it's not something that naturally lends itself to chuckles for me. Until today. Did you guys hear the one about the King of Spain and Hugo Chavez? Doesn't that sound like the start of a joke? Well it IS something hilarious, and it happened for reals. The King of Spain totally got all diva and and told Chavez to SHUT UP. He really did! I was hoping that Chavez would have come back with "You shut up!" but unfortunately, the shutting up commands stopped after only one round. Dang.
I went and had me some public speaking time today. I gave three presentations in two hours and now I am NEVER TALKING AGAIN. I am so tired of hearing my own voice I am not even kidding. I wonder how people who talk a lot, just as part of their personality, can stand it? I just heard myself talk for only two hours straight, which in the grand scheme of things really isn't that long, but SHIT. I needed the King of Spain there to tell me to zip the lip.
So after my three, count 'em, three presentations, I was leaving the venue, and a couple of people came over to tell me that they liked what I said and really got something out of it, and not only that, they were specific about what they got out of it. It was SO NICE. What nice, thoughtful people they were to do that. It made me think that I am totally doing that the next time I hear someone talk and it was relevant and helpful to me. Because really, I did my two hour tap dance in there, and then I shook hands with a bunch of people who said thanks and were polite, but then I just got my coat on and started to head for the door, and not having any idea if what I had just spent my afternoon doing was worth it to anyone at all or if my voice was just the background white noise for everyone's mid-afternoon open-eyed nap. So yeah. I guess I don't really have a point to make other than yay for those thoughtful people.
And on that note, I need to shut up, even typing-wise.
And hey, did I ever show you guys the awesome Christmas ornament that Bio-Girl made for me? It is to die for. And so useful.
I'm out,
Librarian Girl
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Shut It!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Librarianwonder.blogspot.com by Pop Culture Librarian is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
9 comments:
Yes, the King of Spain thing was huge over here! (I'm in Spain, remember.) I never thought it would make the news on the other side of the pond.
btw, I couldn't figure out how to friend you on the NaBloPoMo site. Really, I was tired of messing around with it, what with all the posting and all.
Just so you know, you aren't wasting your time...this blog is really funny. True, read along, chuckle out loud, with the occasional scare of almost spraying coffee all over the brand new laptop, funny. But I confess, the phrase "Nordic Boy" always makes me think of a guy with a cape that looks like a ski sweater. -shrug- Well, I'm a knitter. Cheers! (and thanks!)
Public speaking? Just the thought of it makes me want to cry. When I was in 8th grade I got the award for "Best Effort in Speech" because my teacher felt so damned sorry for me.
I forced myself to take a speech class in college to try to conquer the fear. It didn't work. My teacher gave me a greeting card at the end of the semester telling me he was proud of the improvement I had made. I guess that's something. But I still prefer to not do it.
That is an Awesome Ornament. And people who let you know you're doing something right are also awesome.
But about shutting up...
Last year (but not this year; we had conflicts) we attended the IgNobel Awards. The recipients are all usually scientists, and scientists who love their subjects are not necessarily gifted with the knowledge of when to stop talking. So the organizers of the event had a little girl, maybe 7 years old, whose job it was after exactly X number of minutes to walk across the stage and interrupt whoever was speaking by saying, "I'm BOOORED. Please stop." And then they speaker would have to stop.
And she was so cute. And she was just doing her job. And she made everybody laugh every time she did it. Who could be pissed at her?
It was ingenious.
BTW, apropos nothing at all, my verification word is "wtfppl." Gosh, I think I say that every day.
Shutting up now.
I think it would have been great if Chavez had come back with "oh no you di'in'!"
Colbert is mine, all mine, I tell ya!
Hugo Chavez must have skipped the Interrupting Is Rude lesson during president school. but who better than royalty to school him on etiquette?
way to rock the speeches, librarian girl.
Hey, what brings more holiday cheer than the phase "You shut up!"?
And being a biologist who often has to talk about my work and wonder if anyone cares, I think it's awesome that you got some positive and INFORMATIVE feedback LG! As for me, I think I might have to steal the idea mentioned in Sara's comment for my next scientific conference. It's not only IgNobel, it's InGenius!
I love that ornament, yo.
Post a Comment