A couple of things stand out from today.
I was introduced to a man this afternoon and when I tried to shake his hand, he told me that he doesn’t shake hands with ladies. I quickly put the offending hand out of sight within my pocket but didn’t mind so much because it was cold outside and my pocket was warm.
But I still wondered why he doesn’t shake hands with ladies.
And I still think the word ladies is a funny one.
It always, without fail, makes me think of the time when I was in the Nutcracker with two of my best friends in the world, Erin and Christine. I was maybe thirteen years old, had finished the performance, and was standing in the lobby when a man wandered up to all three of us. He took a good long look at us as if to confirm to himself that we were indeed three of the hundred or so dancers he had just seen on stage, and said, Interesting performance…ladies…We did our best to thank him with a straight face, but as soon as he walked away we just lost it.
Because first: ladies. He said it. And goodness, but we were girls. We STILL feel like girls. And if given the choice between being called ladies or girls, I’ll choose the latter, I think. But also, who goes up to some little ballerina bunhead kids and tells them that their performance is interesting?
Interesting.
The stock market dipping on most Wednesdays, that’s interesting. Or the fact that Martin guitars are built in Pennsylvania–interesting, again.
But girls, dancing in tutus in a classic Christmas ballet?
How about beautiful?
Or moving?
Or lovely?
Oh well, at least it made for a funny quote.
And okay, so maybe that was just one thing that stood out from today…Now, wait–there’s two more that I will mention really quick:
- a spider crawled out from inside the butter dish after I had already used the butter. I don’t particularly want to think of the ramifications that could mean for me. I hope I didn’t eat any spider eggs. I hope I don’t style my hair into a beehive and then a nest of black widow spiders moves in, as the urban legend goes. Fingers crossed.
- I played a game called Farkle for the first time tonight. It involved six dice and some really fun people. The best part of the game is that there were these little bears that were on one side of the dice. It made me happy every time I saw one. But I couldn’t quite understand the game. Apparently the bears were good, but you didn’t want to take all the bears if you could roll again. This went against my natural instinct to just gather up every good thing that presents itself to you and keep it close. Although, if the bears were real, I would not have been trying to gather them up, so there’s that. But like I said, I didn’t really get the game, not even by the time we finished and unbelievably, I won. Yep, I won at the game of Farkle. Next up? Winning at the game of life…
Jess I remember that weird man like it was yesterday! I actually heard him say that to you and we all had a good laugh about it afterwards. He said it in kind of a high pitched nasal voice and held out the ladies like laaaadies. It was so ridiculous. But we’ve used that quote many times over the years to describe different shows and performances.
Jess if you can win at Farkle, you can win at anything. Or do you think they let you win cause they pity you
?
Interesting post…
Interesting comment…
Jonathan-hahahahahahahaha of course you were there, too!! You probably were IN the Nutcracker that year, huh?!?!? And yes, it was totally Laaaaaaaaadies…and I can hear him saying it, too–in that weird nasally voice of his. Ugh. And you remember he had some sort of whispy beard that was trying to cover a lot of acne too??
And nope, I know for certain that they were trying their hardest to win at Farkle, lol!!
That is it, Jess, if we ever eat toast together it will most definitely have to be at my house with my butter…I might as well throw in the bread, too…I’m not taking any chances!!!
hahaha, nicely played, Kathie!!!
Maybe it’s about time you kept the butter in the fridge. Really.
I played a game called Farkle for the first time tonight.
No!!!! Commence traumatic memory!!!!
I didn’t really get the game
Oh, good, nothing to worry about then.
And by the way, I know all of this is a lie, because according to whenever I try to text you, all you do is DRIVE.
jase, I’m a working girl now–logging miles for money, you know how it is…:)
And why is the Farkle memory so trumatic???
Oh I just remembered that I confused Farkle with Nertz. Nertz is what is really upsetting to me.
yes, Nertz is the game that you have a deep and intense hatred for…
btw, what in the world is trumatic?
I knew Jase was going to freak out about the farkle. HAHAHA!
Yes jess, I was IN the Nutcracker that year. But
I did not receive an “interesting” from the weirdo.! Guess you were just that special.
well, I am nothing if not “interesting” AND one of the “laaaaaaaadies…”
Anyone remember Mr. Spock from the old Star Trek TV series? Not the movies, but the Gene Rodenberry TV show. Anyway, Spock would often say “Interesting”, and sometimes “Fascinating”, at something someone would say to him. It depended on whether he was interested, or fascinated by the experience.
Well, I swear he once said “Interesting…but not fascinating”. I Googled it to make sure, but couldn’t prove it, so you’ll have to take my word.
And the handshake thing? OK, guys listen up!
This is how this goes: If a woman (or lady!) you meet for the first time puts out her hand, you shake it firmly but politely, just like you would a man’s hand. No killer death grip, but no limp fish either. Women (I mean….ladies) hate that!
If the woman does NOT offer her hand, you politely introduce yourself. But let her take the lead. Some women shake hands, some don’t. Let them decide. That’s the rule – you can look it up if you want, or you could just take my word for it.
Jess – sorry you met an inferior species of man. He obviously didn’t know the rule.
Why is it that no one seems to know how to shake hands properly anymore? I agree with you about the limp fish thing…if you’re going to let your hand lay like a lox in mine I would rather you didn’t bother shaking it in the first place.
yeah, limp fish hand shake=why bother?
And actually–about the man who wouldn’t shake my hand–my friend explained to me that it is because he is a certain sect of Muslim that doesn’t believe in touching women. So, that makes sense to me now.