Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Kids Say the Darnedest Things, Vol. XIV

This was a long teaching day--a Marathon Wednesday in fact--so this post will be short. Actually, it's pretty much an expanded Quote of the Day, except it's a pair of them, and they came from the same kid. They may even be from the "you had to be there" department, but I thought they were really funny. This particular eighth-grader was not known for being hilarious in the past, but today he was in rare form:

KID (after having a lot of rhythmic trouble on a piece of music): I think I should start tapping my foot again.
ME: Yes, you really should; it's important.
KID: I thought it was just sort of a ritual...like sacrificing a pig.
(That one stopped me in my tracks; did he really say "sacrificing a pig?" Why yes he did...)
ME: Well, some people would refer to sacrificing a pig as "barbecue."

And one more:
ME: OK, let's play this all the way through one more time, and don't stop, no matter what.
KID: But what if I sneeze, or have a baby or something?

Maybe you had to be there, and maybe I was just "punchy" from a long day of teaching, but that one had me rolling. (Incidentally, this was the same kid who was quoted in the cat food post about a year and a half ago.)

As always, I invite participation; feel free to leave any funny kid quotes in the comments.

Pucker up: Today is International Kissing Day. Being girlfriend-less at the moment, I didn't get to participate, but I hope you did. And hey, there's always next year... (hat tip: InstaPundit)

15 comments:

Eric Grubbs said...

International Kissing Day? I think if I was in a relationship, I would be kissing my freedom away.

Anonymous said...

With an attitude like that, Eric, it's no wonder you're not in a relationship. In fact you'll probably Never be in/have a meaningful relationship! The best relationships allow for people to do things together AND do things separately (with other people, i.e. friends). If not, then one of said relationshippers has control issues and why would you want to be tied to them in the first place?

Anonymous said...

You heard anything about tonight's gig? Collin hasn't contacted me (though I doubt he would.. he know's I'll just show up anyway). If I don't hear anything I'm just gonna show up in all black around 6:30 with my music stand and all 4 of my Real Books.

Last night, those quotes would have had me on the floor dying of laughter. #2 is still darn funny this morning.

International Kissing Day.. hooray for another silly event that I didn't participate in due to being boyfriend-less!!!11!!1oneone!!111!!

Kev said...

G: The gig is 7:30-9:30 at the ArtCentre, setup at 7. Not sure about the attire yet; Collin forgot to check on that, and I haven't been able to reach him (what with him being the only person in Plano with no cell phone and all). I'll update on here later when I find out.

Here's the thing: we're playing indoors in a place called the "cage," which is not very big. We're going to have to rotate out our guitarists anyway. Feel free to show up, but I can't guarantee how much you'll be able to play on; I need to give priority to the combo members since it's their "class meeting" tonight. I may just have it to where people duck in and out to play their solo and don't play on all the heads or something like that.

Kev said...

1 of 5: Re your comment to Eric, it sounds as if, at the moment, he's happy not to be in a relationship, which is obviously his call. But, that being said, telling a single person that they'll never be in a relationship comes close to crossing the proverbial "line." You can say what you want to me (within reason) on this blog, but please treat the other guests with the utmost of courtesy.

All that aside, your advice is basically sound.

Anonymous said...

Well Kevin.. I don't understand why you have to give anyone priority because it is Collin's gig not yours. Collin said I could play with him on his gig so I am showing up and I am playing, unless he tells me that I can't play the whole evening because of the space issue.

Obviously from the tone of this comment I'm not happy. It would be in both our best interests if we did not speak this evening at the gig... unless of course I say "Hello" to you first.. meaning that I've gotten over it and am not incredibly offended anymore.

Anonymous said...

Re: "crossing the proverbial line"... I assume Eric can speak up for himself if he's offended by my comment, unless he's one of your young students. Seems like you're having a day of "control issues" yourself.....basically telling me how to comment here after assuming that Eric would even care what I said (yeah, yeah, I know it's YOUR BLOG) and then the thing about the gig with Jazzy G.

Kev said...

1 of 5: Sure, I was in teacher mode all day, but no control issues here beyond the usual: my blog, my rules. There's a great post over at the Volokh Conspiracy that compares blog comment threads to a party and discusses the responsibility of the host(s) to set the tone for said party, up to and including asking people to leave if they're getting out of hand (and I'm not by any means saying things are at that point yet). Read the post and maybe what I'm trying to do here will make sense.

Anonymous said...

OK Kev let's see how unbiased you are.....seems like this Steven that chimed in is also getting close to "crossing the line". You gonna slap his hands too or just let him be?

Eric Grubbs said...

1 of 5: no offense taken at all. I've heard that kind of response many times before. I choose to have sour grapes on the subject because of my frustration with all relationships. Using only my cynical/sarcastic voice gives a narrow view of how I truly feel. I don't regret saying what I said and don't fault you for saying what you said.

BTW: I'm not one of Kev's students. I report traffic and sometimes Kev hears me.

Anonymous said...

Steven.. I was merely trying to avoid any sort of situation where I would be a total jerk in a performance setting. I have no desire for Kevin to beg me for anything. Some people just need some alone time when they are upset. I am one of those people. Sometimes OTHER people do not get the hint, so I find that it is best to tell all parties involved to please leave me alone for a while until I can have a civil conversation. And frankly.. it worked out just fine. I didn't say a darn thing to him until I felt better, and no one was brought down or offended.

And as for the comments you said about 'play time'. I was approached by someone about a gig. The two of us THEN approached Kevin in search of a rhythm section. This didn't start out as me tagging along with Kev in the hopes of playing. It was a real gig.. and supposedly a paying gig too. Well none of that panned out.. and somewhere in there I guess the gig was handed over to Kevin, but I was never informed. Therefore when I read the comment posted about the gig information I was still under the impression that we were just getting a rhythm section and Kevin was not running the gig, so why should he be telling me that all of a sudden I'm not going to be playing the whole gig as if it were a normal small group set.

Now.. If I had known that the 'gig boss' job had changed hands I wouldn't have batted an eyelash at statements made in the comment. Because NOW they make perfect sense.

Steven I would truly appreciate it if you would get all the facts before bashing me.. and yes I realize that I did not have all the facts when I "screamed" at Kev on here. I will try to work on that issue in the future and I hope you do the same.

Kev said...

1 of 5: "OK Kev let's see how unbiased you are.....seems like this Steven that chimed in is also getting close to "crossing the line". You gonna slap his hands too or just let him be?"

Even though part of me feels like heeding that nugget of blogospheric wisdom known as "don't feed the troll," I'll see if I can clarify things here:

First of all, it's hard for you to comment knowledgeably on a subject when you (probably) don't know the principal characters involved. "This Steven" of whom you speak happens to be a bandmate and one of my closest friends, so yes, he gets more slack on here than a (probable) complete stranger who cloaks behind an alias.

Besides, if you reread the entire thread, you'll notice that I didn't comment on either side of the Steven/G exchange. They both know each other personally, so I was simply letting them possibly work out their differences on here without interruption (which basically happened). To me, that's different than the near-line-crossing that I mentioned when you made that comment to Eric, a complete stranger to you (even though I may not know you, if you thought Eric was one of my students, then you definitely don't know Eric).

So am I "unbiased"? Not at all! But if you follow the analogy proposed by Volokh (referenced in my previous comment) of comment-thread-as-party, then the way I'm dealing with these two very different situations makes perfect sense. I'm certainly going to be more strict with an unknown guest who shows up to my "party" wearing a mask (and without so much as a positive thing to say to any other guest, ever) than I would with a couple of my "regulars" who may just need to work out their situation on their own.

Again, I must reiterate: My blog, my rules. You seem to have trouble accepting that. The good thing, however, is that you can always go here, sign up for an account, and say whatever you want to say to the world, under your own rules. When you're not making snarky comments about me or my friends, you do seem to have a lot to say, so....kwit'cher gripin' over here and git'cher own dang blog already! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Eric,
Congrats on a GREAT attitude and response! I totally admire your dignified response to my comment. Everyone has their own opinions and are entitled to them! You are obviously a lot less defensive and more confident and mature than others around here.

Kev,
See, people can speak up for themselves with good results. Yeah, you let the friends work it out for themselves, but why didn't you afford the same courtesy to Eric and myself? Yes, I have difficulties with your "my blog my rules" because it's open to the public. Censorship at it's worst...ok to join it but you can only say what someone else thinks is ok. If you are concerned about what is posted here could "tarnish your image" why don't you have 2; one for the professional Kev and one for the real Kev?
And once again, this site seems more like a diary or newspaper most of the time and then I comment a bit and BAM you're getting posts like crazy!!!! Don't assume I don't have my own site...........

Anonymous said...

Yeah sorry about starting that little negative exchange there and being a jerk to you for all the world to see. The last two "real gigs" I've gotten, my tolerance and usually laid-back attitude has been severely taken advantage of.

First one: got called to play a gig.. I drive aaaaall the way to Keller and the gentleman who called me says, "Oh well we decided we don't need you on this anymore."

Second one: Playing with an ensemble of two.. one individual takes it upon himself to bring another player because said player will play for free and "is a darn good professional". Well.. this rhythm section person did not know any songs out of the Real Book, and could not even once play the form to Blue Bossa correctly. I dealt with wrong chords and dropped beats for 3 hours.

From then on I decided that I should probably be a little bit more assertive on gigs so I don't come off as uninterested or easy to mess with. I know I am and will be 'payin my dues' for a long time but I think it's reasonable to be able to stand up for myself in these kinds of situations, and also keep things from crashing on a gig that was given to me and I was told "okay this is YOUR gig.. you make this come together".

It was a knee-jerk reaction and over assertiveness that really exploded in my face. I felt so stupid when I saw the big flyer on the window of the Art Centre, saw that I was left out of the loop on a major change in plans, and just hoped that I would still get to play. It all came back to bite me in the butt when my horn got trashed by a dancing (well, by then she was running and shoving) toddler near the end of the night.

And that's the last I'll say anything about the incident.. unless of course I end up being the one to beg for something... a tenor sax. And for that I'd rather do it in person so I can really lay on the Jewish/Catholic guilt trip. ;-P

Kev your use of the word 'snarky' made me laugh and feel a teenie bit better this morning. Never thought I'd see that word on here. Plus it's just a funny word to begin with.

Guess I should begin my quest for some extremely good and fast (most likely incredibly expensive, too) saxophone repair.

Kev said...

OK, I think there's at least one more good troll-feeding left in this thread, if for no other reason than the fact that it's so entertaining:

"Yeah, you let the friends work it out for themselves, but why didn't you afford the same courtesy to Eric and myself?"

Funny, I just explained that in my last comment: I expect a higher level of courtesy in exchanges between strangers than I do for those between acquaintances. What part of that do you not understand?

"If you are concerned about what is posted here could "tarnish your image" why don't you have 2; one for the professional Kev and one for the real Kev?"

It see no reason to do that; professional Kev and real Kev are one and the same. Both of "us" would run this website the same way. When you get down to it, there really aren't that many "rules" here; I guess one would be "no obscenities," because I know that some students read this site, but otherwise, since I do choose to blog under my own name, there's nothing written by me on this site that I wouldn't own up to in person.

"Don't assume I don't have my own site..........."

So why don't you link it then? Do you have something to hide? Are you trying to separate "professional 1 of 5" from "real 1 of 5," or is that site done anonymously as well? I'm not denying your right to cloak, but I think that you lose some credibility in the process. It's really easy to sit here and gripe about my site, but it's hard to take you seriously when you won't allow anyone here to respond in kind on your own site.

And, in reference to the real-vs.-professional thing, how do you know that I don't have another secret site somewhere? Do you really think I'd link to "myself" if I did? ;-)

"Yes, I have difficulties with your "my blog my rules" because it's open to the public. Censorship at it's worst..."

I got the biggest laugh out of this statement. So you think that anything that's open to the public can't have rules? The first thing that popped into my head when I read that was a shopping center (who knows why; maybe because one is being built just up the street). Foley's, for example, is open to the public, but it also has rules; if you walked in there and started insulting their employees or knocking things off the shelf, you would be asked to leave. Think about it--have I ever deleted any of your posts? Nope; that would be censorship. But, while I'm not objecting to you speaking your piece on here, I also have the right to upbraid you if you're not acting in accordance with what I consider the rules of this site.

" And once again, this site seems more like a diary or newspaper most of the time"

That's right; I'm not trying to be InstaPundit here. I've said since the beginning that this is my daily "column" of sorts; my biggest inspiration is probably James Lileks' The Bleat. It is what it is.

"then I comment a bit and BAM you're getting posts like crazy!!!!"

Yeah man, it's all about you. ;-)

This thread may have run its course, but it could never be said that it wasn't entertaining...