Can I get a witness? No?

Ok - so I am not going to rant about the training. It is as ridiculous as everyone else says - and frustrating too. 'nough said

S - cool hanging out with you in between things tonight. Thanks for being available.

Sooo the improv class. It is great! We started with the name with and action game - Jim's old favorite. It had a newer twist though. It was actually fun again. then we played some quick on your toes word association games, an emotion icebreaker and then I learned my first lesson: In Improv - Things are not right or wrong, they just are. and so it is with life ... now for those of you who know me even a little bit, this is BIG. I am a rule person, a procedure person, an order person (really, you? Yes it is true)So this concept was interesting and life-changing too. I am sure I will do more processing with that one, but for tonight, it was freeing.

So we played a saying yes game ... interesting twist since there is so much talking about saying no in my day job... TAT and all, ya know. Very fun to say yes!

So who is in my class you are wondering? Are they socially inept, or normal, or strange people? Well, yes. There is one guy and the rest are women - except the instructor who is also a guy. So, apparently telling the instructor that I am a youth minister and work with MS and HS kids made me a target to go first at most games and exercises tonight. That was a bit out of my comfort zone as those who know me know well. I like to hear how something is done, watch it be done, then do it. Tonight was just do it.

Anyway, I came into the circle at the beginning of the night and sat across from the guy - not the instructor, but the other guy. He had this arrogant look about him and I wondered what his story was ... was he a theatre guy and thinking "what am I doing with these amateurs?" "i can't believe I am the only guy" what gave him that look? Well apparently it was nerves because he is the sweetest, strangest guy I have ever met. I would probably be afraid of him if I met him in a bar, but in this setting he is sooooooooooooo funny - partly because he does not know he is funny and partly because he has this amazing comedic timing. Maybe he is playing us all and he is really play-acting, but holy cow I need a witness.

So here is a part of his story, let me set the scene. One of our games at the beginning was "name 7" where the person to our right gave us a topic and we had to list 7 things related to that topic. I got "things you had when you were little", I gave "common pet names", there was "languages", "green vegetables", "favorite foods" so when it was his turn he got "TV shows" He said - oh can you pick something else, I don't watch tv" ok then he got some other benign thing that did not apply, can't remember what it was ... so then he got "articles of clothes" and he did it. So I go the sense that he was sheltered or at the very least, a little different. No problem - that gives you a sense though of who he is - not the arrogant guy he came off as, but rather an insecure little lamb. SO later on we had to pair up and one pair at a time we had to hold a conversation on a topic that the "audience" (the rest of us) came up with. Topics were things like shopping, restaurants, travel - really run of the mill stuff. If you knew nothing about the topic, you could begin by saying something like, so - what is you opinion on __________. When it was his turn, he was paired up with the quietest girl in the group. Our instructor, sensing disaster, quickly shot out a very benign topic hoping the ball would roll rather quickly for them... animals. Here is the conversation s-she h=he
s: So, what is you opinion on animals
h: Well, I didn't really know you could have an opinion on animals. Animals are animals. Do you have an opinion on animals?
s: Yes, I don't care very much for them.
h: Oh that is too bad, why?
s: I think it stems from trauma as a child.
h: oh really? What happened?
s: Well when I was around 5, I went into a pet store and a goldfish jumped out of a tank and landed on me.
(room erupts in laughter)
h: Wow - it just jumped out? How strange!
s: ya - so pretty much I just stayed away from animals after that. What about you, did you have any pets growing up?
h: No. well - when I was little I had a puppy for a little while ... like a couple of months …until one day my parents took him away.
s: oh no! Why did they do that?
h: they said he was eating up the house, I don't really know. And well, I had a cat once too until my parents threw him out on the highway ... well it just kept having kittens ... it had like 11 litters and those cats had a bunch of kittens too ... it was bad ... there were lots of cats being born retarded and stuff …
(nervous laughter still filling room)
h continues: and I had a bunch of bunnies too, but my parents just like let them go in like cemeteries and stuff. so, ya I don't know what about you, do you have any pets now?
(total eruption of laughter again)
s: no, I have really stayed away since the goldfish incident. But I do work in a lab and do testing on mice.
h: REALLY!! I read an article in the paper about how rats can have totally different personalities - like one can be evil and the other not even if they have the same parents.
s: Well, I don't really know anything about that... but the mice I work with definitely seem to have feelings.
h: really, how so?
s: well sometimes I have to anesthetize one or even put them down and the others nearby get all nervous
h: wow, how can you tell they are nervous?
s: well, they like run around in their cages and stuff, you can just tell – so I guess I can see how you could have one evil rat and one not within the same family
Instructor: and scene.
(insight into my mind … holy shit, what just happened here? I want to laugh, but I want to cry. That was the most bazaar conversation I think I have ever witnessed … too bad this guy has no idea how funny he is, he could make millions)
Instructor: Ok, next time someone else give the topic. I am done.
(pent up nervousness released in total eruption of laughter)


Yes – I think this class will be quite fun! What do you think? If he were under 18, I think I would have to file a 51A – true?

Until later…