Jan 31 2008
things i have done while naked
Last night, I posted this photograph to Flickr:
It is (very appropriately) titled: “Standing on the Edge of the Bathtub, Leaning on an Umbrella” and the caption underneath the photo says “…and it’s still not the strangest thing that’s happened in my bathroom.”
(See how nice I am? Now you don’t even have to click on it, because I brought all the information to you!)
Anyway, someone asked what the strangest thing was, which inspired me to comment the following:
As for the strangest thing that has happened in my bathroom, it is a long story. I was working as a reporter, and I had 6:30 a.m. deadlines. I would often stay awake all night writing my stories to file them on time. If there were problems or I needed to follow up on something, one of my editors would call me before 9 a.m. and tell me what I needed to get, and if I didn’t hear from them by then, I figured I was in the clear. (The day’s paper had to go to press at 9:30.) That’s all background. So anyway, the story:I had stayed out until about 4 a.m. because a friend was in town visiting, but I finally went home and wrote a story about school budget cuts. I filed my story by 6:30 then went to bed for a little while, then got back up at 8. I waited for an editor to call, but I hadn’t heard anything by 9, so I thought I was safe and figured I could go ahead and take a shower. But something told me to have a phone handy. So I grabbed a cordless phone and set it on the sink. A few minutes elapsed and I had a head full of shampoo when the phone rang. I turned the water off and answered it. My boss wanted me to confirm some numbers for my story, so I had to call the school’s finance director. “No problem,” I told her, then hung up. So I was standing there in the shower, shampoo in my hair, thinking about how I had about 5 minutes to get some information and call my editor back. So I climbed out of the shower and called the school. As the phone was ringing, I realized I had nothing to take notes with. I searched frantically, finally finding some eyeliner. I learned that the finance director was out of the office, but I was helpfully transferred to the school’s superintendent. I interviewed her, took notes on my hand and arm with eyeliner, called my editor back, read my arm-notes to her, then got back in the shower and rinsed the shampoo out of my hair.
After I wrote all that, I’m not sure it’s the strangest thing or not, but in any case, that, my friends, is journalism.
It’s a good story, no? And totally true. Most people get hung up on the eyeliner part and miss the fact that I was completely naked while conducting the interview. (That is why phone interviews are the best, by the way. Not that I did a lot of interviewing while naked; in fact, that was the only time. Usually I did all my interviewing while I was still in my pajamas.)
Anyway, I guess I have a question. And that question is as follows:
Is interviewing the school superintendent while naked, and taking notes on one’s hand in eyeliner strange? I think I need a ruling from the judges on this.
See, I thought you were going to say you took notes on the bathroom mirror. That’s what I would’ve done. Makes sense either way to me.
Not strange, practical.
Drooling over the photograph, by the way.
i would have done the bathroom mirror too.
i think you were resourceful.
so, you know, not too strange.
now i am trying to think of all the strangest things that have ever happen in bathrooms of places i’ve lived. i’ve got the one that you and i shared down.
I agree, quite resourceful. Due to my lack of eyeliner, I would have ran to another room, still sopping wet to find a writing utensil. Of course I could have used toothpaste on the floor or soap on the wall, but I probably wouldn’t have thought of those under pressure.
i would say that for you, the activities are not at all strange.
if you had written the phone numbers on your eyelids in smokey style, it might have been more vogue, but still, and again, for you, it would not have been strange.
i’m afraid that strange would have to be stranger for me to label it so.
It would only be strange if you had used liquid eyeliner. Also, that is a great bathtub picture.
Nah. Now, had you been standing in his/her office, then maybe. Probably.
Form follows function.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Eyeliner’s completely logical given the circumstances - nail file and blood, now that would be stretching it.
I have to admit to wondering what a picture that would have made, eyeliner notes along various parts of the body. My mind is in the gutter.
Now see I thought you were going to say that you accidentally rinsed all the notes off your arm before calling your editor. Because that is something I would do.
Otherwise, not strange. Just incredibly resourceful. Though I have done job phone interviews naked in the bathroom while preparing for a shower. There’s nothing quite like “listing your weaknesses” while naked and silently laughing at yourself in the mirror.
The strangest thing that has happened in my bathroom is probably something best not shared.
Great story. Awesome photo.