Outdoor Gig and Peon Appreciation

Yesterday I skipped out of work early to play at our annual gig at the Mount Horeb Farmers’ Market. This is a gig that pays in tips, and we don’t always have an actively engaged audience since people are just wandering around shopping, but once in a while someone stops to actually listen to us, and sometimes children will even dance. One adorable girl who looked about three was a HUGE fan. No violins exploded this year, but it does get a little warm under the tent where we play. Still, I got to be outside on a beautiful day AND play music in public, so that is a win. Maybe because my day job is counting money, the band asked me to divide up the tips, and we each got $7.81 – how convenient that it was divisible by four. If our third fiddler and accordion player had been able to make it, then I would have had to figure out how to divide it by six.

Today our college had a Peon Appreciation Reception, which was lunch and then the Dean talking about how great we all are. To my surprise, he mentioned my name because I am on that committee that he chairs, and then afterwards he came to talk to the people at my table because a number of us are on that committee. He asked if he pronounced my last name right, and I said he did, but it’s Travalon’s family name and would have been pronounced totally differently back in Hungary. Since my family name is the same as a well-known magazine, it doesn’t usually get mispronounced, but you’d be surprised what people can butcher when they put their minds to it. This dean is a professor of Economics, but he said he is not allowed to talk about his economic positions in his current job, and when he becomes Provost, then he won’t be able to talk about how much he loves our college because in theory he will have to love the whole university equally. I think I was a little nervous around him, because I feel like I was talking too fast and maybe a little too much. Man, if I can get star struck around a university Provost, it’s a good thing I’ve never met an actual celebrity! I would make a total fool of myself if I ever had the chance to meet Stephen Colbert, I just know it. Fortunately that is unlikely to ever happen.

Famous Hat