Maximum Fun Forum

... Jessica Makinson.

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The bums will always lose.

Haven't listened yet, but I got immediately excited when I saw Jessica Makinson, because I loved Joe Schmo 2 (it's maybe the funniest thing ever broadcast), so anyone involved with that is golden in my books. Can't wait!

This episode reminds me of an 80s sitcom where the two male characters come up against their female dopplegangers and, while in the beginning they're competing for the spotlight, in the end they have mutual respect for each other.

Jordan/Jesse vs Janet/Jessica = Chimpmunks vs Chipettes

I too agree that Jordan/Jesse are the "boys of rock 'n roll."

JJGo was just what I needed for late Saturday/early Sunday. I always enjoy the "Jesse has random moment in life while out and about/walking dog, let's talk about it" segments of the show.

People in the service industry, people in lines or on planes, fellow poker players, and other random strangers tend to love me. Of course, that all changes once they get to know me better, but i very much enjoy the initial puppy love until our relationship grows stale after an hour or so.

It helps that i can recycle witticisms that will be new to them. Another factor in my favor is that i'm genuinely fascinated about the logistics or the design of things, so i'll ask them detailed questions that show interest in them or their job/studies.

As for Jordan's question, these encounters feed my self-esteem and i enjoy the opportunity to learn about something new that i wouldn't know otherwise. I get a charge out of the warm fuzzies of making someone laugh or smile. Moreover, i find talking to foreigners about their homelands to be much cheaper and more convenient than actually traveling.

Unfortunately, while i do very well in these kinds of forced interactions, i have more problems in a party situation where people have more options as to whom they talk to and i don't have an obvious introductory topic to riff on start the conversation. After i'm engaged with a larger group, i'll then have problems when i don't have more control over where the conversation's directed, so i'll get uncomfortable and bored listening to them talk about, say, the crazy shit that Lady Gaga is up to.

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p.s. Absolutely love Janet Varney. She's one of my very favorite NNF guests. I confess to having forgotten who Jessica Makinson was, but i very much enjoyed her on both Halfway Home and Joe Schmo 2. Great episode.

I tend to chit-chat with people in the service industry. It mainly comes out of this thing where I feel compelled to look folks in the eye, reply to the question "How are you?" with a "Fine, thanks and how are you? I think people feel better when you interact with them like they are actually people, and not just interfaces through which you get food or coffee or whatever. Anyway, often this turns into chit chat.

What I think what it does is make everyone's day better. What it does just for me, is that overtime, it makes the places I frequent really feel like my places. I feel more happy to be there.

Basically, I feel like part of what I'm paying for in any interaction with a service person is to not be bothered by them. I'm usually polite, but I have no interest in their lives, and I don't want them interested in mine. I'm there to get food or whatever, and I'm paying them to bring it to me. If they're talking to me in a friendly manner, they're either trying to get a bigger tip, or they're trying to get more enjoyment out of their job, and either way they're trying to get more out of me than I want to give.

There are a few places where I am a "regular," I guess, in that I go there a lot, and the way people get chummy or remember my drink order or whatever just makes going there awkward and unpleasant for me.

And man, if those interactions slow down the line, I get mad. When you're in a crowd of people, I feel like there's a social duty (on the part of both the customer and the worker) to be as efficient as possible, to serve as many people as quickly as you can, and social niceties be damned. I have actual friends to fulfill my social needs, I don't need strangers trying to fill that role.

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Twarts
McGill & Hughes Present: The ExpertCast
Necessary Information

Sir, I assure you, I am not a line-slower-downer.

Any of the Seattle people here, or people who have visited said Seattle, been to the Space Travel Supply Company? It's GREAT! A fantastic place to pick up some neat spacey stuff.

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Yeah, see.

This is my internet
These are my twits

Aw yeah, Janet Varney!

Yay for a new episode, too!

So after I returned this dog (real name: Hi-Hi) to its owners at the Dragon City Mall in Toronto Spadina Chinatown, I also accepted the one-hundred dollars that were offered. At the time, I just decided to shut my brain down and not think about it until later, but upon reflection I reasoned my way out of feeling bad:

-Don't lose your dog. If you do, what gives? Hi-Hi had not been neutered and was smell-crazy and energetic. Certainly he should not have been trusted to be off the leash.
-Since I fully accepted the likelihood that I would have to adopt and be the master to Hi-Hi aka Tetro, I gave him a bath because he was looking a bit rubbish. And an endless stream of walks. I even built him a little doggy elevator by putting him in a milk crate and using a pulley to raise him up the ladder to my roof so he could run around.
-the dog was chipped, but the chip number was unregistered!

Idiot tax plus dog grooming fees. They did really love the dog though- there were a few posters up with pictures of it dressed up all cutesy.
I hope this adds moral clarity.

Not that there's any hard feelings, but I think I exhibited a new-drumset level of momentous occasion creativity when I called in about chipping my front tooth and proceeded to attempt the "she sells seashells" tongue-twister.

I'm over it now, though. Promise.

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-Katie-
Proclaiming things daily at www.twitter.com/Sekelsky

I'm pretty behind on the calls - computer's busted at the moment.

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The bums will always lose.

AHHH!

I listened to the entire episode in the car yesterday, LOVED it... probably my favorite episode in awhile.

Not ONCE did I make the Joe Schmo 2 connection, even as I thought to myself "Jessica Makinson... that name sounds familiar" and I am a *huge* Joe Schmo fan, both seasons.

Now I have to relisten with this added context. I'm so glad you mentioned that connection.

You built him a DOGGY ELEVATOR! That is so great. That and the bath seem worth the money. I know I would be thrilled to pieces to have my pet back, the money wouldn't matter. I don't think the finder should ASK about a reward, but it doesn't sound like this gentleman did so, and he went above and beyond the call of duty by constructing a canine vertical delivery system.

Also on the topic of animals... I love the lamb in the hallway video! Best thing ever! Here's a link to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8uQ73jJvvA&feature=fvst

And the kitten riding a turtle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4v4TMqrbhE

Oh Jesus... I have to stop giggling now... I don't want to get fired...