Still can't wrap my head around being invited to this birthday party. There isn't technically a C-suite, as we're a non-profit and everyone answers to the board, but there are executive operating officers, and the guest of honor at the party is top one. It is beyond me why anyone would think I'd be invited to this in the first place. I find it interesting that someone coming in from the outside looked at me in situ and came to that conclusion. The rest of them are shocked when I demonstrate knowledge of something they had an entire meeting about, four feet from the reception desk where I was working, in a totally empty lobby. I literally have nothing better to do than knit and eavesdrop. Have none of them ever read a Miss Marple book?
On va voir what will happen when I actually show up to the birthday party. Mr New York Producer-Person will probably be delighted; other people might be confused. The director will probably be mildly surprised. I seem to have inserted myself into a variety of things totally by accident, just by giving people the impression that those are the sorts of events where I might turn up.
Another notable place where this has happened is Ye Ballroom Instructor's projects. These involve a lot of crossover from his senior center classes, and for some reason the old Chinese ladies (and the one Armenian one) adore me. I know this because they say so. Old Chinese ladies will give you their unvarnished opinion on everything you're doing in life, whether you want it or not. I've been informed by some friends of Chinese decent that it's a cultural thing -- when you're young, you're supposed to listen to your elders, so when you're old you get to tell everyone what's what and they have to take it. It's more a lack of filter than any excuse to be mean. Old Chinese ladies will tell you in the same paragraph that you're smart, you're pretty, you can't cook worth a damn, you should be on TV, and you need to get married before you're too old, but not to your current boyfriend, because he's an idiot and you can do better. Casual meddling is a sign that they like you.
The Armenian lady is a retired ballet mistress. If you know any of those, you know they also Have Many Opinions. She thinks I am a fun meringue lead and is considering taking flamenco.
A lot of them seem to think I am Ye Ballroom Instructor's assistant or attachée or something of the sort. I have told many of them point blank that I am not, but it makes little difference. I'm accustomed to people thinking I'm a more advanced student. One of the most oft-repeated refrains in my pedagogical history, right after mumbledy-frotz about 'potential', is, "Why don't you walk around the room and help the other children?" I've had a few people ask, "How long have you been dancing with [Maestra]?" in a tone that suggested they thought the answer was going to be longer than, "Uh, about a year-ish?" (To be fair, the first one was last year, right before our first performance, asking me, "You learned all that in two weeks?" "Three," I corrected her sheepishly. And then Maestra put me on stage, because she liked my fan veils, which I think she thinks of as abanícos de cola.) Actually thinking I am the other instructor is a little farther than it normally goes.
I'm pretty sure the reason they think that is that he doesn't talk to me. There are some things in ballroom that you can't really demo without a partner. Ye Ballroom Instructor is implicitly teaching etiquette along with explicitly teaching technique and choreography, so normally he will interrupt himself to ask "May I?" if he wants to involve someone else. He just kind of walks in my direction with his hand out. Last time he did it, he was so busy talking to someone else that he stepped through the phrase twice -- with me leading -- and kept going with the choreography without a word to me. I didn't say anything at all. It's not that he never uses actual words to ask, just that he clearly assumes the answer is going to be yes unless I specifically say otherwise.
[I can't recall if I've told him that outright -- I know I've pointed out that he's allowed in my airspace, in the context of griping about someone who saw that and wrongly assumed they were cleared for it too. It might just be that I've never said no. Not a lot of people decline to dance with Ye Ballroom Instructor; I'm pretty sure that's the sole reason most of his senior students come to class. I might be the only one who's explicitly recognized that, enthusiastic puppy teaching persona aside, he's more comfortable overall when nobody makes him talk. I might also be the only one obnoxious enough to say that to his face. Who knows?]
I have wondered if he is aware of this, but I can't imagine he hasn't noticed. One of the other students took it upon herself to ask that he demo things specifically with me, implying she'd like to see what that looked like when neither partner was flailing cluelessly.
On va voir what will happen when I actually show up to the birthday party. Mr New York Producer-Person will probably be delighted; other people might be confused. The director will probably be mildly surprised. I seem to have inserted myself into a variety of things totally by accident, just by giving people the impression that those are the sorts of events where I might turn up.
Another notable place where this has happened is Ye Ballroom Instructor's projects. These involve a lot of crossover from his senior center classes, and for some reason the old Chinese ladies (and the one Armenian one) adore me. I know this because they say so. Old Chinese ladies will give you their unvarnished opinion on everything you're doing in life, whether you want it or not. I've been informed by some friends of Chinese decent that it's a cultural thing -- when you're young, you're supposed to listen to your elders, so when you're old you get to tell everyone what's what and they have to take it. It's more a lack of filter than any excuse to be mean. Old Chinese ladies will tell you in the same paragraph that you're smart, you're pretty, you can't cook worth a damn, you should be on TV, and you need to get married before you're too old, but not to your current boyfriend, because he's an idiot and you can do better. Casual meddling is a sign that they like you.
The Armenian lady is a retired ballet mistress. If you know any of those, you know they also Have Many Opinions. She thinks I am a fun meringue lead and is considering taking flamenco.
A lot of them seem to think I am Ye Ballroom Instructor's assistant or attachée or something of the sort. I have told many of them point blank that I am not, but it makes little difference. I'm accustomed to people thinking I'm a more advanced student. One of the most oft-repeated refrains in my pedagogical history, right after mumbledy-frotz about 'potential', is, "Why don't you walk around the room and help the other children?" I've had a few people ask, "How long have you been dancing with [Maestra]?" in a tone that suggested they thought the answer was going to be longer than, "Uh, about a year-ish?" (To be fair, the first one was last year, right before our first performance, asking me, "You learned all that in two weeks?" "Three," I corrected her sheepishly. And then Maestra put me on stage, because she liked my fan veils, which I think she thinks of as abanícos de cola.) Actually thinking I am the other instructor is a little farther than it normally goes.
I'm pretty sure the reason they think that is that he doesn't talk to me. There are some things in ballroom that you can't really demo without a partner. Ye Ballroom Instructor is implicitly teaching etiquette along with explicitly teaching technique and choreography, so normally he will interrupt himself to ask "May I?" if he wants to involve someone else. He just kind of walks in my direction with his hand out. Last time he did it, he was so busy talking to someone else that he stepped through the phrase twice -- with me leading -- and kept going with the choreography without a word to me. I didn't say anything at all. It's not that he never uses actual words to ask, just that he clearly assumes the answer is going to be yes unless I specifically say otherwise.
[I can't recall if I've told him that outright -- I know I've pointed out that he's allowed in my airspace, in the context of griping about someone who saw that and wrongly assumed they were cleared for it too. It might just be that I've never said no. Not a lot of people decline to dance with Ye Ballroom Instructor; I'm pretty sure that's the sole reason most of his senior students come to class. I might be the only one who's explicitly recognized that, enthusiastic puppy teaching persona aside, he's more comfortable overall when nobody makes him talk. I might also be the only one obnoxious enough to say that to his face. Who knows?]
I have wondered if he is aware of this, but I can't imagine he hasn't noticed. One of the other students took it upon herself to ask that he demo things specifically with me, implying she'd like to see what that looked like when neither partner was flailing cluelessly.
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