I went on an expedition yesterday, a quest in search of beef gravy to make poutine. That meant heading to Stop & Shop a few miles away. On the way I finished my facemask survey. After observing 247 people the results are 62.4% of men wore masks and 61.2% of the women. We can reject the hypotheses that I saw posted on FB that only men don’t wear masks or that far fewer men wear masks. This doesn’t come close to showing that more men wear masks. I based this on my three most recent trips, the percentage of people wearing masks went up each time. That’s contrary to what I expected. I thought people will get more careless in time. These were made over a short period and that was wasn’t the effect I was testing so I will come to no conclusions. I will start the next study, seeing how the mask wearing percentage changes with time, if at all.
While at the store I scored the beef gravy and ice cream. I don’t believe I missed anything on my list, but I should have bought English Muffins. I went to eat one today and found one in the pack was bright green. As it’s not St. Patrick’s Day, I figured the best plan was to throw them all out. I miss bagels.
In addition to the gravy I bought potatoes. I had some in the house, but they are rather small and when I’m having poutine it’s my main course. Poutine is still magic. It’s unreasonable that fried potatoes, beef gravy, and cheddar curds can taste so good when they are all thrown together. It looks like someone with a terrible disease threw up into a bowl, but it tastes amazing. I treated myself to an ice cream soda for dessert. It doesn’t take a lot to make me happy.
Who did I watch streaming? Carla Ulbrich and Rachael Price & Taylor Ashton. Putting on an entertaining streaming show is not the same as performing in front of a live audience. The most important thing in making it work is connecting directly to the audience. I watched a short video today about the creation of Romper Room and the original host said that it worked because she broadcast it with six kids in the audience and treated the camera like it was a seventh. She treated the kids at home as if they were there and parents told her that the kids at home would answer out loud when she asked questions. Treat your audience like Miss Nancy treated preschoolers. Slickness is out, owning your goofs becomes charming. Rachael & Taylor were performing the songs from the Lucinda Williams album, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. They played for a larger audience than most shows I watch but still managed to keep it personal. They didn’t just play the songs but talked to each other and by proxy the audience about each one. Even with hundreds of people watching they said hi to people commenting as if they were using the magic mirror. Carla’s shows are always highly interactive. We always play mad libs. She requests topics to write about. Her husband Joe comes on and acts goofy. Carla plays a character, Sandy, a camp counselor in a Falcon Ridge t-shirt. Scott Wolfson essentially does a TV variety show with virtual backgrounds and comedy skits. He invites the audience to heckle. He doesn’t have to ask me twice. I heckled Abbie Gardner today.
Good thing my apartment stays relatively cool as it was air conditioning weather. When I went out I wore shorts , a wicking fabric shirt, and sandals, my summer outfit. I thought it might make the mask uncomfortable but after walking a few blocks I forgot all about it. I don’t even tear it off when I get home. I put my things down, go into the bathroom, and then take the mask off and put it in the sink as I wash my hands. Then I wash the mask. I got another mask in the mail yesterday. Let me show it off.
I love how long my hair has gotten. It’s haven’t cut it in years. I suspect it’s getting long because I’m staying in and not wearing hats which sometimes pull my hair out. More importantly I’m washing my hair less often. I feel like a proper hippy, I feel like myself.
Wise Madness 