Not All Almas Mat(t)er

I got a call from my undergrad university last night and answered the phone with zero intention of giving. While I had heaps of fun there, I never learned much. (Note: Not pointing fingers at them, Lord knows.) Grad school was, thankfully, a completely different story.

The girl on the phone said to me, "We're really appreciative of any small amount that you can give and we're still grateful for the $10 you gave in 1990."

Holy crap! How embarrassing, right? A mere $10 over 20 years ago? What a cheapskate!

Oddly enough, I remember giving that year -- including exactly where I took the call. (I was standing at my kitchen sink in a red farmhouse that house I rented on Jefferson Road. Weird to remember that, right?) The guy who called told me that any amount would help offset the costs of great student events and cited a free Psychedelic Furs concert that I had attended. Ka-ching! We actually chatted about bands for awhile: for me, a winning strategy. In his case, it paid to do his homework (albeit a pittance).

Every telemarketing campaign should play off people's interests (e.g., music) or weaknesses (e.g., shame, lack of honor) this successfully. In my case, providing hard data and a timeline to show precisely how long it had been since my hard heart opened roughly one tenth of one percent and abruptly closed again.

I'm a rotter.

I just hope that overwhelmingly generous $50 given last night goes far over the next four score and twenty years . . .

Yeah for me!

You're a Mean One

This lazy blog thing is fun. Well, for me at least. Today's selection is an old remake of an even older classic from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Not sure if the Whirling Dervishes had any other hits but I love hearing them on the radio throughout this time of year.

Speaking of Christmas classics, I went to my friend Pam's CAbi sale over the weekend where she was selling a black wool vest with green and red crosshatched lines running through it. Without thinking, I commented, "Wow, I could channel Burl Ives in this!" and she responded, "I love that. I wear it all the time with jeans and a white blouse." I didn't quite know how to recover so I just left it alone. She's beautiful and can get away with it, I'm sure.



Anyhoo, enjoy!