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Andrew dances
Jun. 13th, 2005 12:44 pmSometimes Andrew starts talking to me about the Beach Boys, and though I sometimes ask questions (I've learned to stay away from the ones like "But if you know some things are good and some are bad, then why do you have the bad ones, too?"), mostly I just wait until he's done, or stops to catch his breath, and say this:
"Oh."
Or maybe "That's nice. Oh, isn't it? That's bad, then."
Sometimes Andrew starts talking to me about comics, and though I sometimes ask questions (I once asked "What's that Miracleman thing?" and he took such a deep breath that I immediately regretted it), mostly I just wait until he's done, or stops to catch his breath, and say this:
"Oh."
Or maybe "Yes, you told me that already."
Sometimes Andrew starts talking to me about Doctor Who, and though I sometimes ask questions ("But what's so great about Tom Baker anyway?"), mostly I just wait until he's done, or stops to catch his breath, and say this:
"Agh! Stop hitting me! Not everyone knows these things!"
I think he worried about me Friday evening, because his friend Andy, who was in Manchester to see Misty's Big Adventure with us, is a geek like he is, and on some of these same topics, so the two of them talked nonstop in a language foreign to me.
But he needn't have worried; I was not only not bored, I was cheerful. (Inexplicably so, considering that my feet hurt from already walking more than I'd planned, that the tram ticket machine had eaten all my money in the world--£2--without giving me a ticket, and that I'd had to find, on my own, a place I was entirely unfamiliar with.) I sat in the pub, drank my orange juice, listened to the music playing, and for the most part happily ignored those two.
When they faded into focus, they were occasionally interesting. I liked their thoughts on what Doctor Who is supposed to be like (I know Doctor Who is a very specific character in the minds of people like Andrew, but he's still rather a vague and slippery one to me, for obvious reasons, so I find these proclaimed absolutes on the subject interesting), and why they don't like the fans who think that it's a science fiction show. In fact, just look at this and you'll see the sort of conversations they had on that subject.
And there were other, even less comprehensible, bits that also managed to be interesting. Andy talked about what he thought the story of Smile really was--"I disagree with everybody else; I don't think the girl in 'Wonderful' got pregnant ..." he started, while I thought useless thoughts like There's an agreed-upon story? and eventually got to "I think 'Song for Children' is Van Dyke's love song to Brian." I was thinking What? but Andrew said "Yes!" and I just looked at him and said, " 'Yes'? Don't you mean 'what'?"
But I always felt stupid when I did things like that, figuring it was better not to attempt to look superior for my relative normalcy and instead to just enjoy the ride. (I didn't really interrupt them, as they knew enough to ignore me, of which I was glad.
When I did seem to come to their attention, things like this would happen: once Andy, without stopping the conversation, reached into his pocket for his wallet, looked through it, and tossed something at me. "Here, have one of these," he said. "You people like that sort of thing, don't you?" I grinned. It was a US dollar bill.) It was nice to see Andrew with someone to talk to who'd say something more than "Oh."
Because they certainly said a lot more than that to each other. I couldn't decide if I was seeing two people who simply delighted in introducing others to things they didn't know about that they might like, or if they were just competing to see who could know more about more esoteric nonsense. I concluded that it's got to be both.
I could tell they were having a good time; just being around them, I was too. That's why I could be happy when I'd previously been so irritated, and I think that's part of the reason I had a good night.
There were other factors involved in my happiness, though. One was that Andy was nice enough to buy me a Guinness; we, as usual, have no money. "A pint?" he asked.
"Yeah, might as well. Thanks," I smiled.
"Women drinking pints!" he called to Andrew as he went to the bar. "It'll be the end of the Empire!"
"What Empire?" I yelled after him.
"Jersey!" Andrew joined in. "The Falkland Islands!"
"Ooo, the Falkland Islands," I scoffed. "For strategic sheep purposes?"
The next factor was that I had to drink it very fast, as we decided we didn't like the support band, who was too loud, and wanted to leave for a bit. Someone so little as me should not drink so much after eating so little food all day.
The next factor was Misty's Big Adventure are really good. They reminded me more than anything of 3 Minute Hero, but that'll only make sense to a couple of you. For the rest, I'll offer you Andrew's explanation of "the Bonzos and Madness and some jazz-funk mixed in, and silly lyrics*." Well, looking at that, I guess it'll only work for British people. Hmph. Anyway, they were loud (but, crucially, not too loud) and good, and fun.
I'm going to interrupt and tell you something about Andrew. He's always talking about how he wants a TARDIS, and has been working on one since he was ten, but has yet to find any success. Same for the sonic screwdriver, I think. But it seems he does have this one thing in common with Doctor Who, which is that he suddenly seemed to go, "I just remembered! I can dance!" Nothing fancy; dancing in that way that mostly consists of jumping and flailing a bit, you know. He'd grab my hands and shake them, or grab me and start shaking me until I was a giggling wreck.
And this combination of happiness, alcohol consumption, good music, and some people dancing and my Andrew being among those people, must be what made me decide, uncharacteristically, that dancing was a good idea. I'd bounce on my knees a little, nothing so dramatic as actually letting my feet leave the floor. One of us would smile, which would make the other smile more, until we were in some horrible, cute feedback cycle of grinning at each other.
Goodness, I just wanted to say I had a good day, and look how long it took me.
* My favorite was when they sang
"Oh."
Or maybe "That's nice. Oh, isn't it? That's bad, then."
Sometimes Andrew starts talking to me about comics, and though I sometimes ask questions (I once asked "What's that Miracleman thing?" and he took such a deep breath that I immediately regretted it), mostly I just wait until he's done, or stops to catch his breath, and say this:
"Oh."
Or maybe "Yes, you told me that already."
Sometimes Andrew starts talking to me about Doctor Who, and though I sometimes ask questions ("But what's so great about Tom Baker anyway?"), mostly I just wait until he's done, or stops to catch his breath, and say this:
"Agh! Stop hitting me! Not everyone knows these things!"
I think he worried about me Friday evening, because his friend Andy, who was in Manchester to see Misty's Big Adventure with us, is a geek like he is, and on some of these same topics, so the two of them talked nonstop in a language foreign to me.
But he needn't have worried; I was not only not bored, I was cheerful. (Inexplicably so, considering that my feet hurt from already walking more than I'd planned, that the tram ticket machine had eaten all my money in the world--£2--without giving me a ticket, and that I'd had to find, on my own, a place I was entirely unfamiliar with.) I sat in the pub, drank my orange juice, listened to the music playing, and for the most part happily ignored those two.
When they faded into focus, they were occasionally interesting. I liked their thoughts on what Doctor Who is supposed to be like (I know Doctor Who is a very specific character in the minds of people like Andrew, but he's still rather a vague and slippery one to me, for obvious reasons, so I find these proclaimed absolutes on the subject interesting), and why they don't like the fans who think that it's a science fiction show. In fact, just look at this and you'll see the sort of conversations they had on that subject.
And there were other, even less comprehensible, bits that also managed to be interesting. Andy talked about what he thought the story of Smile really was--"I disagree with everybody else; I don't think the girl in 'Wonderful' got pregnant ..." he started, while I thought useless thoughts like There's an agreed-upon story? and eventually got to "I think 'Song for Children' is Van Dyke's love song to Brian." I was thinking What? but Andrew said "Yes!" and I just looked at him and said, " 'Yes'? Don't you mean 'what'?"
But I always felt stupid when I did things like that, figuring it was better not to attempt to look superior for my relative normalcy and instead to just enjoy the ride. (I didn't really interrupt them, as they knew enough to ignore me, of which I was glad.
When I did seem to come to their attention, things like this would happen: once Andy, without stopping the conversation, reached into his pocket for his wallet, looked through it, and tossed something at me. "Here, have one of these," he said. "You people like that sort of thing, don't you?" I grinned. It was a US dollar bill.) It was nice to see Andrew with someone to talk to who'd say something more than "Oh."
Because they certainly said a lot more than that to each other. I couldn't decide if I was seeing two people who simply delighted in introducing others to things they didn't know about that they might like, or if they were just competing to see who could know more about more esoteric nonsense. I concluded that it's got to be both.
I could tell they were having a good time; just being around them, I was too. That's why I could be happy when I'd previously been so irritated, and I think that's part of the reason I had a good night.
There were other factors involved in my happiness, though. One was that Andy was nice enough to buy me a Guinness; we, as usual, have no money. "A pint?" he asked.
"Yeah, might as well. Thanks," I smiled.
"Women drinking pints!" he called to Andrew as he went to the bar. "It'll be the end of the Empire!"
"What Empire?" I yelled after him.
"Jersey!" Andrew joined in. "The Falkland Islands!"
"Ooo, the Falkland Islands," I scoffed. "For strategic sheep purposes?"
The next factor was that I had to drink it very fast, as we decided we didn't like the support band, who was too loud, and wanted to leave for a bit. Someone so little as me should not drink so much after eating so little food all day.
The next factor was Misty's Big Adventure are really good. They reminded me more than anything of 3 Minute Hero, but that'll only make sense to a couple of you. For the rest, I'll offer you Andrew's explanation of "the Bonzos and Madness and some jazz-funk mixed in, and silly lyrics*." Well, looking at that, I guess it'll only work for British people. Hmph. Anyway, they were loud (but, crucially, not too loud) and good, and fun.
I'm going to interrupt and tell you something about Andrew. He's always talking about how he wants a TARDIS, and has been working on one since he was ten, but has yet to find any success. Same for the sonic screwdriver, I think. But it seems he does have this one thing in common with Doctor Who, which is that he suddenly seemed to go, "I just remembered! I can dance!" Nothing fancy; dancing in that way that mostly consists of jumping and flailing a bit, you know. He'd grab my hands and shake them, or grab me and start shaking me until I was a giggling wreck.
And this combination of happiness, alcohol consumption, good music, and some people dancing and my Andrew being among those people, must be what made me decide, uncharacteristically, that dancing was a good idea. I'd bounce on my knees a little, nothing so dramatic as actually letting my feet leave the floor. One of us would smile, which would make the other smile more, until we were in some horrible, cute feedback cycle of grinning at each other.
Goodness, I just wanted to say I had a good day, and look how long it took me.
* My favorite was when they sang
All things bright and beautifulIt had other verses, better ones, along those lines, but I can't remember them. You get the idea anyway. That song had extra cheering at the end, if I remember correctly.
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
George Bush will nuke them all.