Seth,
I'm the "best friend of the cousin"! But that's not exactly correct. I'm the
"brother of the best friend of the cousin", I think. Remember I was looking
for you last year? Well, because I didn't ride this year, I tasked my sister
(one of the pink flamingos) and all her friends to find you. The message you
were supposed to get was a greeting from me. I guess it got lost in the
passing along. Anyway, I'm glad they found you. My sister already told me
about it.
Regards,
Scott
Saturday, August 5, 2006
[... SNIP ...]
The Weirdest Thing
One of the most memorable — and certainly the funniest and weirdest — parts
of the whole weekend happened right after my massage. I was standing in line
to get a beer (they are free, but there are a lot of us, and they can only
pour so fast...) when I heard a woman's voice say, "Seth?"
I looked right, I looked left. Didn't see anyone I recognized, and nobody
seemed to be trying to get my attention.
Again: "Seth?"
Definitely to my right. I looked more carefully, scanning every face in
the area. I was very tired, but really didn't recognize anyone (and with
the ride over, most were in street clothes, so the "everybody's dressed
the same" problem was gone).
Finally, as I was scanning faces, the lady I was currently looking
at said again, "Seth?"
"Yes..." I replied.
"Really?!" she asked.
No, I'm not kidding. She really asked, "really?" My first thought was,
"What the heck?" Then I thought, "Why did she keep saying my name if she
didn't know it was me?! Does she just say 'Seth' to everyone around
her, until someone responds? This is weird!"
"I'm sorry, I know this is very strange..."
She and her husband explained that her sister's husband's cousin's best
friend (seriously, it was something like that, I'm not exaggerating) reads
my site and had told them that I'd be the tallest guy there. So all through
dinner on Friday, they'd been saying, "Seth?" around any tall man who walked
by, but didn't get any bites. They'd been trying again today, and couldn't
believe it when I actually responded to my name.
(As I write this, it's been three days and this still gives me a chuckle. So
bizarre. And silly.)
Oh, and after getting no "bites" on Friday night at dinner, they had decided
that I was actually really short and just claimed to be tall for reasons of
"stature." (ahem) They were quite amused with themselves when they learned I
really was the tallest. (Actually, I was tied for first. There was another
6' 9" rider, as I've already mentioned.)
If you happen to be the "best friend of the cousin" of this woman's sister,
please let me know who you are! I'm wondering if it isn't Chris from the
road crew... but who knows?
