Friday, January 12, 2007

Overheard Conversations and other stuff

Yesterday I was hiding in the back of the coffee shop trying to get some writing done when one of the girls who works there (she can’t be more than a year or two out of high school), came into the back corner talking on her cell phone. I couldn’t help but be intrigued and drawn into the conversation.

Girl: “Grandma, I wanted to call and tell you that I’m doing something really exciting tonight.”

Me (thinking), “If she’s telling Grandma, this can’t be too exciting,”

Grandma: (conjecture something up here since I have no idea what she said)

Girl: I’m going with (insert name) and (insert name) to (insert city) tonight. We’re going to protest sending more troops over to Iraq.

Me (thinking): “You’re calling your grandma to tell her you’re going to a protest? Who’s your grandma, ‘Mother Jones’?”

Grandma: (you’ll have to conjecture something else up here)

Girl: “This is so exciting and important and I thought you’d want to know.”

Me (thinking): “My family about disowned me when they saw me on TV, directing the picketing at the North Carolina Republican Convention where James Watt (who makes Georgie Boy almost look like an environmentalist) was giving the keynote address. I’m pretty sure this girl wasn’t born then! Gee, I am an Old Fart.
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Ever since Bone told us about his new girlfriend Nan, I’ve been noticing how many other folks are also involved with her. This girl gets around! This is my Nan, clad in leather, getting a recharge. In an attempt to act younger than my age, I’ll let you into some of the secrets Nan and I share:

Audiobooks: David Maranis, They Marched into Sunlight: War and Peace in Vietnam and America, October 1967. I also still have Moby Dick and In the Heart of the Sea loaded, but have already listened to them (parts of them more than once)

Music: Bob Dylan, "Blood on the Tracks"
Brahms, "Requiem"
"The Best of Leonard Cohen"
Eric Clapton: "The Cream of Clapton"
Cowboy Junkies, "The Trinity Session"
Pink Floyd, "Wishing You Were Here"
Steely Dan, "Aja"
The Very Best of Sheryl Crow
(I need to update these, but since I seldom listen to music on Nan, it don’t matter)

Podcasts: BBC “All Things Considered”
“Grammar Girls Quick Guide and Dirty Tips for Better Writing”
Coffee Break Spanish
NPR Satire, “The Unger Report”
Renewing Your Mind with R.C. Sproul
Peachtree Presbyterian Church Sermons
The Philosophy Podcast
(now if I just had time to listen to them all)

Pictures: She has lots of pictures of the kids (since I don’t carry photos in my wallet, this comes in handy)

Calendar: I use to have Nan keep my calendar too, but I haven't been able to download it from Outlook since her recent update (have I ever said anything about how I’m always leery of updates and am no longer fooled by the “new and improved” slogan?)

25 comments:

  1. I'm still trying to get pictures loaded into my Christmas video iPod. What a neat trick to show off the kids!

    Sage you are just what I'd have to call "deep". Your music, your reading. I mean that as a compliment. I listed some of the book choices I made in my post today and on your link I had to say your recommendations are just too hard for me! I think you are probably smarter than me!

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  2. Like a true Puritan, you like your girl in black leather, eh? I knew it!

    The Cowboy Junkies one surprised me.

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  3. i love my Nano! Maybe I need to an outfit for it. Your's looks good.

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  4. Love your music! And Peachtree Pres? In Atlanta? That was my hubby's childhood church!

    Here from Michele's!

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  5. I can barely work the computer, Sage, so I won't even try one of those contraptions!

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  6. Um, what is a nan? Or is that just what you named your phone? We all know how you guys like to name stuff.

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  7. hey - I just figured out how to do playlists on my ipod while riding the exercycle at the gym tonight! And I have to say I think it is very cool that this young gal cared enough to want to protest, AND thought her grandmother would be proud of her for it

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  8. I think that young girl was very cool, too, to share that with her grandmother. Actually, I think young people now a days often are more willing to share more things with adults than I was at their age.

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  9. Deana, mine isn't a video one, it's the small Nano model and has 4 gigs as opposes to the much heavier ipods which have, I think, 25 gigs. I don't think I'm that deep.

    Murf, I always enjoy surprising you

    Peri, the outfit makes it easier to clip it on a pocket, etc, and provides some protection

    Wordnerd, yes, Atlanta

    Kenju, you'd enjoy it!

    Moogirl, sorry to upset your theory, but Nan refers to Nano, the name of the small ipod

    Diane, the scary thing, her grandmother might be just a few years older than me, having protested in the sixties and early seventies

    Tim, I thnk you're right, you don't hear as much about the "generation gap" today.

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  10. Good morning, Sage! Love the post...especially the info about "Nan." Mine is MUCH older than that and is just a regular "i". Does that mean it's an "older woman"?

    Michele sent me today. Hi from Wisconsin.

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  11. Wow, you really do a lot of different things with yours, Sage.

    My Nan and I have pretty much just been straightforward music thusfar. You know, same old same old.

    I guess that will all come with experience.

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  12. I am envious that your Nan is still "putting out" for you. Her big sister atrophied on my kitchen counter again.

    Useless hussy.

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  13. Prego, my old girl is still going. I guess some just get better with age.

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  14. lol I'm still working on that calendar thing. Loving the podcast deal. Our church podcasts and it is great when you have to miss.

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  15. I am SO behind the times, I don't even own an ipod. much less a nano.

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  16. Karen, there's value in older women too!

    Bone, I got it primarily for listening to books, then discovered the other stuff on it

    Prego, sorry to hear about your hussy

    Murf, since you've become a part of the gym crowd, are you listening to your ipod there, and do tell of what you are listening? Will I have ever heard of it?

    Kontan, where can you download their podcast?

    Moogirl, if you're blogging, you're not that far behind the times

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  17. Dang.. I just wrote a long comment and Blogger ate it!

    Anyway, I have lots of the same stuff on my iPod that you do... enjoy your girlfriend "Nan"!

    Here via michele...

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  18. How come I leave comments and those don't show up?

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  19. If I remember to charge the iPod, it is what I listen to while I work out and I have a variety of playlists to choose from. Lately, it has been the one for 1980's music. I wonder how familiar you would be of those songs since that era coincides with your very hectic dating schedule. :)

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  20. ipods are great. My husband bought me one last year. It's been great. I'll have to check out some of the songs you listed.

    Take Care! :o)

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  21. How does get an increased heartrate when working out to the Cowboy Junkies? At least that album is pretty mellow.

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  22. Panther and Guatami: Don't know what's going on, maybe it's because I'm sticking to the old blogger

    Murf, yes, the 80s, hectic dating, graduate school, no TV, I remember listening to a lot of Steely Dan

    Trailday, I suppose many of my choices are considered "oldies"

    Murf #2: I don't think I've ever listened to "cowboy junkies" in the gym, it's normally a book. I listen to them at home, background music while reading, etc. The music isn't what increases your heart rate, for most of us our heart rate is increased when we work our muscles, but maybe you haven't got to that part of the gym experience yet (as I duck low and run)

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  23. Your birthday's tomorrow. I'll let you get your jabs in until 12 a.m. Wednesday with no repercussions. :-) I think there is a correlation between the tempo of the music and the speed at which one moves the muscles. Listening to the Cowboy Junkies won't speed the workout up as quickly as Rob Zombie. Go and download some Rob Zombie and see what a REAL workout feels like. :-)

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  24. I just purchased the extended warranty for my Nan after a bang up sales pitch from an Apple telemarketer... and that is so not me b/c I NEVER buy things from telemarketers. But he was talking about how the battery in my sweet, sweet Nan might one day die, unable to be recharged, and I would be left without her, unable to change the battery myself. However, with the warranty, I'd be able to send her to them, the battery changing experts, and she would hence return to me, revitalized and ready to damage my eardrums a little more.

    I love my Nan more than words can express.

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  25. This is my first time to your blog, and I laughed out loud with this post which means...I'm going to come back! I'm just being upfront with you so I hope you understand.

    I think Nan is definitely a hottie, but I decided to date Nan's wingman, Molly Parker The Third, known on the streets as "a playah". I was intrigued when she told me she was "a third" because I hadn't thought women could be thirds, but she told me it was a family tradition. Who knew?

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