I had another one of those interesting generational gap conversations the other day. I visited the lovely and charming L and her handsome and charming man S over New Year's. Now, to give you the context of this conversation, you need to know that this fall, S was invited to play in a (and excuse me if I get the terminology wrong here) senior's baseball tournament in Arizona.
As an aside (I know! there's always an aside), L tells me about these accomplishments of S's and I think I get way more excited about them than she does. S pitches in a tournament in Arizona because Bill Lee has to drop out! S's regular baseball team that he plays with every summer wins the state championship for their division! A story S published before L knew him won a freakin' Pushcart Prize. I am apparently so much more incredibly impressed by these things than L is, it kind of cracks me up. I'm not sure if it's just because things like baseball and writing are so much more important to me than they are to L (we all know how I feel about baseball and writing, right, kids?) or if it's because L, bless her, is just so completely not a competitive person, that *winning* doesn't give her the same sense of thrill it does me. Not to suggest that she isn't proud of him, just that winning doesn't seem to dazzle her as it does me.
Anyway. As you can see, S is a man of many and varied talents--you should see him grab a check!--but he is also very kind and generous (you should see him grab a check!) and he *very* nicely volunteered to take me to Riverside on my way home the other night, to cut a leg off my journey. And in the car, our conversation turned to tech gadgets. Specifically, at first, GPS, because while S is a man of many talents (writing, pitching, getting the bill before anyone else can), he doesn't have a stellar sense of direction, and L had been a wee bit concerned that he'd drop me at Riverside and not be able to find his way home. But to get to the point here, then we started talking about iPods.
S said that when he was out playing in Arizona, the majority of the guys he was playing with were mid-30s. S is in his early 50s, so these guys were, he considered, a generation younger than he. And what astounded him was that a huge number of them were out on the field with their earbuds in, playing their own little soundtrack to the game, and it didn't distract them. They still were totally focused on where the ball was in play, etc. S said he's not capable of that sort of multitasking, and frankly, he doesn't want to be.
I dunno. I am capable of a certain amount multitasking, but yeah, I do think there's a generational difference there. I'd love to see some PET scans on this.
xoxo
7 comments:
Ive often wondered- well, at the times Ive been to the park and such- if the people who are jogging, walking, biking...whatever with their ears plugged with those little white buds actually realize the beauty around them. They cant hear the birds singing..do they even know theyre there? Do they care?
I used to be able to do my homework (when I would do it- I would ace tests so sometimes didnt feel the need to do so- till it started counting as 25% of my grade...lol) listen to the radio or a cassette on headphones, watch TV and keep up with the conversation in the livingroom all at the same time. Now if I try to watch TV and read at the same time, I get a headache and cant do either well. LOL
I will say there are certain non-patient-contact tasks that I have to do at work that are just *so* brainless and tedious that to do them without multitasking makes me want to stick a sharp object through my skull. So I try to save them up and do them in one whack with either music or a diverting phone call to use the other 80% of my brain. They need my visual attention so I can't read during them, but engaging my auditory system seems to work.
Maybe that's why the iPod wearing baseball players do okay: fielding is primarily visual/spatial so distracting the auditory portion of their brains doesn't negatively impact.
When I make my second billion I'm giving whatever is left of the first one to a research foundation dedicated to discovering what it is about certain women that makes them pathologically unable or unwilling to see anything positive about their mates, let alone credit them for it. Then I'm going to dedicate whatever is left of the second once I make my third and shower every single woman remaining who *does* see the positive in all those otherwise rejected men with jewelry and home decoration store gift certificates.
I think S should hire malevolent andrea as his press agent. Most people have to pay for that kind of publicity! You know, they say S himself seldom speaks of playing "Seniors" baseball. After the "Over-35" World Series out in AZ, he took pains to let everybody know that Manny Ramirez, for instance, is 36, and might well have played in that tournament had he wanted to. S kept insisting, "'Seniors' baseball is what those 90-year-old guys in Florida play!"
But the public soon wearied of his argument. Hence the need for a press agent, I guess...
By the way, fine writing here. I'm really impressed and surprised. benevolent L finds this a wonder too.
S speaks!!!! :-) :-)
I *knew* I had the "seniors" terminology wrong. Over 35, just like Manuel Aristides, that's the ticket! (And obviously Manny just didn't want to play because he was skeered of facing you.)
P.S. Are we gonna start calling her "Benevolent L"? Awesome!
Well, L came up with it. The other day she jokingly said something like, "If she's Malevolent Andrea then could I be Benevolent L-----?"
I vote yes. After all, where would Baroness Paula Von Gunther be without Wonder Woman?
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