oh terr

terry writes in an email just now:

"so jarrett was labeling tubes and for the life of him couldn't get as much information on the tubes as i was able to. so he askes me how i am able to write so small. do i tell him years of practice? of course not. instead i tell him that i learned from a chinese man who writes little notes on rice. you know, the ones who have those booths in the middle of malls. i told him that i went on a date once and we took lessons from one of those guys. of course, i go into all sorts of detail about how you need something with a really fine point, a magnifying glass, and of course, a really steady hand to be able to do it. but since we don't have anything like that in the lab, it's not going to be as small as i could normally get it. am i going to tell him otherwise. nah. some day, it'll come up again and i'll get a good laugh out of it."

he once told me that he played guitar in a rock band in high school. and then, like 8 months later, i referred to him playing guitar. and he goes, "what? i never played in a rock band." it's this kind of comedy--the kind that takes a year to play out--that's the most brilliant.