<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML xmlns:v = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:x =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel" xmlns:p =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:powerpoint" xmlns:a =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:access" xmlns:dt =
"uuid:C2F41010-65B3-11d1-A29F-00AA00C14882" xmlns:s =
"uuid:BDC6E3F0-6DA3-11d1-A2A3-00AA00C14882" xmlns:rs =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset" xmlns:z = "#RowsetSchema" xmlns:b =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:publisher" xmlns:ss =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet" xmlns:c =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:component:spreadsheet" xmlns:odc =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:odc" xmlns:oa =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:activation" xmlns:html =
"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40" xmlns:q =
"http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:rtc =
"http://microsoft.com/officenet/conferencing" XMLNS:D = "DAV:" XMLNS:Repl =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/repl/" xmlns:mt =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/meetings/" xmlns:x2 =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/excel/2003/xml" xmlns:ppda =
"http://www.passport.com/NameSpace.xsd" xmlns:ois =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/ois/" xmlns:dir =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/directory/" xmlns:ds =
"http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#" xmlns:dsp =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/dsp" xmlns:udc =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc" xmlns:xsd =
"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:sub =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/2002/1/alerts/" xmlns:ec =
"http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#" xmlns:sp =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/" xmlns:sps =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/" xmlns:xsi =
"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:udcs =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc/soap" xmlns:udcxf =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc/xmlfile" xmlns:udcp2p =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/data/udc/parttopart" xmlns:wf =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/workflow/" xmlns:dsss =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/digsig-setup" xmlns:dssi =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/digsig" xmlns:mdssi =
"http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/digital-signature" xmlns:mver =
"http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" xmlns:m =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns:mrels =
"http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/package/2006/relationships" xmlns:spwp =
"http://microsoft.com/sharepoint/webpartpages" xmlns:ex12t =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types" xmlns:ex12m =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages" xmlns:pptsl =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/SlideLibrary/" xmlns:spsl =
"http://microsoft.com/webservices/SharePointPortalServer/PublishedLinksService"
XMLNS:Z = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:" xmlns:tax =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/taxonomy/soap/" xmlns:tns =
"http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/recordsrepository/" xmlns:spsup =
"http://microsoft.com/webservices/SharePointPortalServer/UserProfileService"
xmlns:mml = "http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:st = ""><HEAD>
<META content=text/html;charset=iso-8859-1 http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 11.00.9600.19463">
<STYLE><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY lang=EN-US id=MailContainerBody
style="PADDING-TOP: 15px; PADDING-LEFT: 10px; PADDING-RIGHT: 10px" leftMargin=0
link=blue topMargin=0 vLink=purple CanvasTabStop="true"
name="Compose message area">
<DIV><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">I am no good at critiques etc, so all I
can say is that I enjoyed the story and didn't see the denouement: mind
you! I wasn't looking for one.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">Referring to Ken or Bill's hair style
and his father's manner of making a buck: Would I be wrong in thinking
that K or B was his, "Daddy Dearest's"principal model?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman">An aside: I put Daddy Dearest in
quotes because of having read the book "Mummy Dearest" which was written by one
of the unfortunate adopted waifs and strays of the abominable movie
actress: Joan Crawford.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman">
Jewel</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4 face="Times New Roman"></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt Tahoma">
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #f5f5f5">
<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=stylist@nfbnet.org
href="mailto:stylist@nfbnet.org">Chris Kuell via Stylist</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, October 05, 2019 6:42 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=stylist@nfbnet.org
href="mailto:stylist@nfbnet.org">'Writers' Division Mailing List'</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Cc:</B> <A title=ckuell@comcast.net
href="mailto:ckuell@comcast.net">Chris Kuell</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> [Stylist] miscommunication</DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=WordSection1>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Here is my prompt response. All feedback is
welcomed.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Chris<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"'>Miscommunication<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>It was the late 80s and I was in grad school, synthesizing
novel antitumore drugs in hopes of making the world a better place and obtaining
my Ph.D. Typically, chemistry grad students work 12 hour days, but since I was
approaching the end of my fourth year, mine were closer to 14 hour days,
followed by a wind-down libation at my favorite pub, ‘The Other Place’, which
was a mere 58 steps away from our apartment building.<SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>On this particular night, I was mentally writing my thesis,
analyzing experiments, deciding what still needed to be done. I needed a break,
some down time or else I knew I’d lay in bed thinking, thinking, thinking. I’d
tried meditation without success, but <SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">discovered
fortuitously that </SPAN>a few cold ones usually did the trick. I stepped out of
the brisk Vermont night’s air into the warmth of the pub, laughter and
conversation washing over me like a warm blanket fresh out of the
dryer.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">I made my way around a few
tables and up to the bar. I ordered a beer from Noel the bartender and said hey
to Brad, a long-haired, long-bearded frequenter of this particular pub. He had
husky-blue eyes that were both captivating and a little creepy. I’d seen him
playing his beat-up acoustic guitar and singing on a street corner late on a
Friday night and thought if he wore a toga and sandals people might mistake him
for Jesus.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">I bobbed and weaved with my pint
and settled in at a small table to sit, sip, and eavesdrop. The atmosphere was
energetic and comradely, such a welcome change from the solitude of working late
by yourself in a research lab.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">A guy in his early 20’s,
carrying a pitcher of beer and an empty glass asked if I minded if he sat with
me. The pub was fairly crowded and I’m generally a fairly amiable guy so I said
sure. He filled is glass before he sat, then topped off my beer from his
pitcher.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">“Thanks,” I said, taking a sip
and assessing my new drinking buddy.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">His hair was bleached an
unnatural blonde, and consisted of maybe a hundred little tufts twisted loosely
into points, as if he’d made a hundred little pony tails, but got tired so he
did a half-assed job. He was Caucasian, had four or five little hoops in one ear
and a safety pin in the other. He wore a beat up leather jacket and a white tee
shirt decorated with lots of small knife slits. In short, he made me think of a
guy who was about 8 years late to the Ramone’s concert. Caught somewhere between
true punk and the alt goth of the late 80s.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">He said his name was Ken or Bill
or something, he was in his second year at UVM, a psychology major. He came from
New Jersey and his father had made a bundle of dough doing hair transplants. We
laughed about this and finished his pitcher. I went to the bar to get
another.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">We talked a bit about music,
naturally. I remember he was into the C bands of the time—The Cure, The Clash,
the Carnivores. I told him that a song or two of that head-banging music was
okay with me, but I certainly didn’t want a steady diet of it. We agreed that
U2, a relatively new rock band from Ireland, had a great sound and
probably would be around for many years to come.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">When we finished that pitcher,
Ken or Bill went up to the bar and got another.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">We talked about how cold
Northern Vermont winters were, and I regaled him with a story about the time my
brother came up and we went ice fishing on Lake Champlain. It was 27 below zero,
we weren’t catching anything, and I bet him if I spit it would freeze before it
hit the ground. I won and we left.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">He told me that he and some of
his dorm buddies had taken a pair of jeans last winter, soaked them in a
bathroom sink, wrung them out and brought them outside. Within 60 seconds they
were frozen solid enough to stand up on their own, as if a ghost or invisible
man was standing there in them.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">He bought us a couple of shots
of Jameson and I got us another pitcher. Our talk turned more philosophical as
it tends to do at this time of night with this kind of blood alcohol level.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">We talked about God, and he said
that he didn’t believe in the old man in a white beard pulling strings like a
puppet-master kind of God. God is energy, he said. There’s a positive kind of
energy, and a dark kind of energy, and humans are wired to tap into either one
or the other. You can change your frequency, but it’s not easy to do, so most
people don’t.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">I told him my happiness theory,
that happiness is a simple equation: Happiness equals reality minus expectations
(and here I mean personal expectations, not societal expectations). If you don’t
set your expectations too high, you’ll be happier more of the time. He argued,
correctly, that you shouldn’t set your expectations low, that was jackassery. We
agreed you needed to set them high sometimes, and not so high other times, and
disappointment was a necessary state when living on the spectrum of human
emotions.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">I finished my beer and announced
that it was time for me to go. Ken or Bill leaned over and quite unexpectedly
put a hand on my thigh.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">“Do you want to come home with
me tonight?”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">I have to be honest—I did not
see that coming, and since I’ve never been too good at hiding my emotions
through intentional manipulation of facial expressions, I assume I telegraphed
my shock.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">“Nope.” I said. “It’s late and
my girlfriend is at home waiting for me. Thanks for the beers,
though.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">We probably said something like
catch you later, but I can’t remember that. I just wanted to get out of there,
breathe in some fresh air and sober up as best I could during my 58 step walk
home.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">As I walked, I tried turning
things over in my mind. Had I done or said something to indicate that I might be
interested in Ken/Bill? I didn’t think so. I just talked to him like anybody
interesting I might chat with in a pub. Should I have picked up that he was gay?
Not sure what to say about that one. Some folks claim they have some sort of
gay-dar, but obviously I don’t. The truth is, I just don’t think about which
team people might play on or not. That’s their business, not mine, so I don’t
waste any time thinking about it. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f497d">As I fumbled to fit my apartment
key into the lock on the door, I just wrapped it up to a matter of
miscommunication. However well intentioned, it happens, and in this instance no
harm was done. Ken or Bill didn’t get lucky that night, and I’m sure he was a
little disappointed. Perhaps he should set his expectations
lower.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"'>
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P></DIV>
<P>
<HR>
<P></P>_______________________________________________<BR>Writers Division web
site<BR>http://writers.nfb.org/<BR>Stylist mailing
list<BR>Stylist@nfbnet.org<BR>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org<BR>To
unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
Stylist:<BR>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/jewelblanch%40kinect.co.nz<BR></BODY></HTML>