The adventures of Spaceman Spiff

Last night I wowed a table when I remembered all 14 names after meeting 13 of them once a week before. This is a great victory for a guy like me. Someone remarked, "Tsk, I'm terrible at remembering names..." I just smiled and said, "Me too." I have a pretty good memory which should normally help, but strangely, unless I apply large amounts of effort, I can't even manage a simple exchange that most people can do with out thinking.
"I don't think I've met you, what's your name"
"Oh hi, I'm Rue"
"I'm so-and-so"
And this is the point at which I have immense amounts of difficulty: actually incorporating the name that they just said in a phrase such as, "Hi so-and-so, how are you?"

If there's one thing my oldest nephew inherited from me, it's the fact that he's a space trooper. And unless I'm most mistaken, he's a pretty smart space trooper. Paradox? The way I like to think of it, we are so focused on things transcendant to most people that it makes us seem to be a little bit dumb. Ever heard someone complain that you'd interrupted their train of thought? This doesn't normally happen to space troopers since they are always on the train when it leaves the station... unfortuanately, it's a different train from everyone else that happens to be in the station.

If there was one thing I noticed from the table to 14, my vague spacey expression seemed to make everyone even more interested in discovering from which planet I'd come. I think some of them thought I was serious when I said I learned my keen social skills at UW.

Concert season

Let choirs sing well or not at all. Otherwise we merely confirm the majority in their conviction that the world of business, which does with such efficiency so much that never really needed doing, is the real, the adult, and the practical world; and that all this culture and religion (horrid words both) are essentially marginal, amateurish, and rather effeminate activities.
--C.S. Lewis

Jared pulled out this quote last week to make a point about his picking at details during that rehearsal. Sometimes I wonder how he can find so much patience when sometimes it feels like he's leading a Teflon choir (nothing sticks) and I wonder at how he can direct something pleasant from a collection of people lacking high levels of musicality (myself included).
I don't know what I think about this quote. Certainly I have no doubt that the world view Lewis described is quite common, but can that really be attributed to constant exposure to poor quality as he implies?
And what does it mean to sing "well?" I've sat through some pretty painful performances in my day that most others thought were wonderful. Does that make me overly critical? I've also lived in fear playing the violin next to people who have perfect pitch and any incursions in intonation (most of which I wouldn't notice) sound like nails on a chalkboard to them. Maybe the definition of "singing well" depends entirely upon the listener's musicality.
At the risk of sounding pompous, when members of the choral were saying how well the concert came together tonight, I just smiled. Well, it wasn't so bad... For a dress rehearsal. Hopefully we'll be presentable by the time people are paying to see us.