Tuesday, September 20, 2011

England, 30 Years Ago

I laughed out loud just now, remembering the following from 30 years ago - while I was an exchange student in England and my mother and younger sister were visiting - on a stage somewhere in Great Britain, with a comic magician who had pulled me from the audience:

Magician: What's your name?

Me: Beth. [Not Elizabeth, btw. "Just Beth," is what I say often when filling out forms.]

Magician: And who is that in the audience? Your sister? What's her name?

Me: Becky.

Magician: Beth and Becky. Beth and Becky. (laughter) What's your last name?

Me: Um... Bollinger.

Magician: Beth and Becky Bollinger! (repeated) (laughter)

He then proceeded to stuff scarves down the neck of my very-cute teal dress (I remember that dress!) for the "magic trick" - and then pulled out the scarves and - voila! - there was the bra of a very large woman (clearly not my bra) tied in between the scarves! As everyone laughed at his "magic" trick of taking off my bra, my sister Becky (see above) apparently whispered to my mom next to her, "But she's not wearing a bra."

She was right - I wasn't. But I played along with his joke by pulling my dress collar forward and peering down to see what was going on down there. The audience roared. As the magician grabbed my arm to help me down the steps, back to my seat, he whispered in my ear that I should come see him after the show. I decided we'd interacted enough by then.

Anyway, one thing led to another this morning, and I remembered that whole "Beth and Becky, Beth and Becky" part of his act... and thought I'd write it down.

Monday, September 12, 2011

The Eagles

I can't help it. I love the Philadelphia Eagles.

It's a love-hate relationship, really. And one-sided, I'll bet. (Do they really care what I think?)

But it must come out on the side of love, since I am willing to break my current silence on this blog and post something.

It helps that they won yesterday. Yes, in their season opener, after fits and starts and after really showing the world just how young their offensive line is... they won. Egads, and it looks from the score that they won big, doesn't it? 31-13, against the Rams in St. Louis. Looks solid, don't you think? But it came only after awhile.

My sister called at the beginning of the third quarter. I had to walk away from the television, so distracted I was by the ineffective Eagle play. I complained to her that I had forgotten how much stress there was in enjoying an Eagles' football game.

Michael Vick is definitely amazing. He did have that one fumble - you need to watch your back, man! (and assume that nobody else is, right now)... But it was a blip on an otherwise strong radar screen. You can tell he's not just the man of yesteryear but the strong(er) man of today - he does watch those game films now, doesn't he?

Nearly as satisfying as the Eagles' win was the Cowboys' loss. Oh, say it is not so, poor Tony Romo - say that you did not just fumble on the one yard line... I apologize to all Cowboy fans for taking delight in your lament. But let's be honest - you'd return the favor in a second, wouldn't you? Ah, what it means to be division rivals....

Commercial break is now over. I am now removing the battery from the scrivener part of my brain and returning you to your previously-scheduled silence. Why? you may ask. Well, let's hope not. But it's important to be realistic too. Too much practice of law (as I now am doing) gets in the way of creative juices. My brain is too focused on information that is not fit for print, if only because of its confidential nature...