A meeting-less work day, dinner @ Sushi Blues, and Salon XI @ Mitch’s Tavern…

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~Monday~  I parked at the Avent Ferry Food Lion Park & Ride, where both the #1 Avent Ferry Wolfline bus and the #9 Greek Village one were waiting. I asked the driver of the #1, “Which bus’ll be leaving first?”

“This one,” he replied, and I boarded it. Only five people boarded it along the way, and since it’s exam week at the university, I was surprised that not one of them was studying on the ride into campus.

I had no work meetings today. Glorious.

At lunch time, I walked next door to the FedEx/Kinko’s and laminated this word cloud for Kim, which represents the frequency of words as compiled from everything she has ever contributed in our Salon Entelechy Ning.


There were two occasions to celebrate tonight at Salon, the first being a farewell to Kim, who’s moving to Salt Lake City on Wednesday. The second was a recognition of Etta’s birthday, which was actually last Thursday.

We met at Sushi Blues Cafe for dinner, where since I don’t eat sushi, I enjoyed a Shrimp Stir-fry dish, which I was quite pleased with. Just a few sound bites, or “image” bites as it were, that quickly come to mind include:

  1. Passing around a card for Kim under the table to be signed by the others without her seeing it.
  2. A mild debate about whether pictures of “Janis Joplin” and “B.B. King” were sufficient and appropriate signs to be hanging on the restroom doors to indicate which room was whose—ladies or gentlemen respectively.
  3. Kim had a relative (a cousin?) who went on at least one date with Sammy Davis, Jr.
  4. Kim glamming it up with glitter given to her as a going away present from Sarah, and Anna getting in on it as well. Our glam girls.
  5. What Sarah did with her tongue and how she acquired such a skill.
  6. Gender issues explored in Ursula Le Guin books.
  7. Jury-rigged, spring-loaded chopsticks.


    Photo courtesy of Anna Thompson.

After dinner, we moved over to Mitch’s Tavern, where Salon XI commenced. Tonight’s agenda was as follows:

Salon XI
May 10, 2010
Dinner @ Sushi Blues: 5:30-7:00
Salon @ Mitch’s Tavern: 7:00 until

  1. Summary of John’s hosting of Xolani Sithole. (John)
  2. Regrets: Do you believe in, suffer from, or live with any? (Anna) ← This discussion led to “real” and poignant sharing—my favorite topic of the evening.
  3. First impressions of Salon Members. When/where did you first meet? (All) ← This discussion was very, very interesting.
  4. One-sentence definitions of love. (All)
  5. Graphic design portfolios: Could you include naughty but well-done instructional icons? And can we somehow cleverly tie this to Stick Figures in Peril? (Anna)
  6. List 2-3 very specific knowledge domains that you have that you would guess no one else in salon has. (All)
  7. How long are you comfortable being disconnected from your various electronically mediated networks? What does a person’s answer to this question say about how they experience their world and/or the value they derive from online connectivity? Do you consider it sad if someone prefers not to go without as long as you? (Anna)
  8. How will we refer to the award as its own entity? The following sentence gives an example of situations in which a name for the award is appropriate: “In order to keep the Salon close to my heart, I took ________ on vacation with me.” (Kim)

We had more items on the agenda, but these are the ones we got to, as a couple of them, particularly the first few that we tackled, got involved—in a good way.

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