Drunken public speaking

We're down here in Colombia, living in a hotel until we can find an
apartment. Living in a hotel always sounds so cool, like being a rich
writer living in a hotel in New York, where the doorman tips his hat
before going up to your four room suite. But living in an actual hotel
room sucks pretty bad, especially when the bed here is nothing like
my memory-foam mattress. (E.T. Voice on/ home, oooouuuch, E.T.
Voice off/)

Work progresses, I've tried not to screw up too many things my first
week, but since the whole job has been 100% in spanish, I think most
people here think I'm a babbling idiot. At the farewell dinner for the guy
I'm replacing I had to stand up and say a few words...unfortunately, with
the altitude my alchohol tolerance is zero here, after two beers and two
glasses of wine over two hours I was halfway to Dean-Martinized. I stood
up, said something in bad spanish and sat down again.

I sat down and immediately panicked and asked my wife, "what did I just say?"
Since no butterknives came sailing back across the table and I wasn't immediately
runoft, I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought, but no more beer in public here.

Comments

Sharon said…
I'd love to know what it was you really said. :)

That you can speak Spanish at all is very cool. I can only count.
3:54 AM
Anonymous said…
Public speaking while inebriated is alway fun, and interesting.
11:28 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The other side of Porkbusters, the people who need pork

Here in Alaska the governor is discussing a PR campaign would attempt to tell the rest of the US that Alaska is not just a consumer of Federal money, and it would "tell Alaska's story": (from a column by Beth Bragg) The governor wants to "tell Alaska's story" to the Lower 48 so folks down there have a better idea of what it's like up here. The goal is to end the ridicule we've been so good at inspiring lately, what with our bridges to you-know-where and our desire to drill for oil in a wildlife refuge. The thinking goes like this: If we can educate the critics with pictures of a desolate ANWR and defuse the comedians with pictures of a serene and congenial Ted Stevens, then we can move on to our ultimate goal, which is building bridges to you-know-where and drilling for oil in a wildlife refuge. Or as the Governor actually said: "Alaska does not just take. We give, and we have the capacity to give much, much more -- if permitted to do so,&
Read more

Haditha slant in the press

Image
There's not much actual information out in the press about what really happened in Haditha, but most of what has come out is highly slanted against the marines. The only data point I've seen is an interview with the lance corporal who survived the initial IED explosion. Here's a summary of the interview here: (RHCP) (video here ) Again, here's a summary of the salient facts that Crossan related: 1) The Marines knew there was going to be an attack on the command outpost, which would explain the high degree of suspicion about the Iraqi's in a taxi that first refused to stop, then ran away from them. 2) There was an IED attack on his humvee, and a squad was sent in 3) Insurgents began firing on the Marines almost immediately. 4) He's not claiming to have witnessed anything. The first slant that has already been pointed out in several places (hotair), is in the times online from london, where they grabbed one quote from Corporal Crossan , “were blinded by ha
Read more

Offshore blogging again

Image
I had to zip offshore yesterday at the last minute, changing my tranquil sunday at home to a mad dash to the dock, then a four hour crew boat ride to the rig. Not too bad of a ride, I only reached the nasty salivating feeling before we arrived at the rig, it sucks when the high point of the evening is not puking. I stayed out on the back deck most of the time since I won't get sick if I can see the horizon and not smell that boat smell of lysol/oldpuke/diesel fuel that inhabits the inside of the boat. It was a pretty clear night, and the only lights were the lights of rigs and production platform as we cruised past, so I had a clear view of the big dipper and the north star and I willed those two pointer stars to move faster around and speed up time. Apparently there is a meteor shower for this part of the month, because I saw one fall, but it didn't look real, more like a reflection off of metal into my eyes. The next meteorite was more emphatic, maybe even a fireball, b
Read more