10/04/03 goes down in the record books as a strange one for ol’ Hometownboy. This morning I and my wife were visiting the Hatfiled Marine Science Center at Yaquina Bay on the Oregon coast. One of the technicians lets several of us touch a live octopus’ tentacle.
For the record, it is far more jellylike and less firm than I would have guessed, seeing its muscularity. But they also are able to squeeze their boneless bodies into incredibly small spaces, so the squishiness makes sense.
Twelve hours later and a couple hundred miles inland, we attend a concert by Emmylou Harris at Maryhill Winery Amphitheatre (a huge, dynamite show, by the way) and afterwards, I am given the opportunity to shake Ms. Harris’ hand and thank her for all the pleasure her music’s given us over the years. (For the record, it was dainty and cool.) Clearly tired after a long concert, she graciously thanks me and avers that the pleasure has been hers.
From “shaking the hand” of an octopus to shaking the hand of Emmylou Harris. It’s been a fun, strange day.
But somehow, I know that it makes me a piker in the strangeness department, given the extraordinary lives some Dopers live. Anyone care to chime in?