more survey stories

a few memorable events from recent surveying.

in chronological order:

3 am corner of brady and oakland, friday night. A man named Tyson with a pink feather boa dancing on the corner. I gave him the survey and he fought against every answer, repeatedly interrupting to accost passing women. by the time we were finished (took like, half an hour) he was calling me Perplexin Rex. We got into talking about communism, indie rock, etc. He rejects indie rock absolutely, insisting that Madonna is truely revolutionary. Then we discuss my theory that Madonna is the Nietzschian ubermensch. Finally, we get to OCCUPATION, and he's a special ed teacher. What an awesome guy. I left him to finish his ritual end-of-the-night dance and surveyed a lonely Argentinian linguist who is stuck in milwaukee for a couple months to make a film of some kind.

saturday night, the cactus club, ifihadahifi show. the hifi guys were ecstatic to see me with a survey. "old school!" it was fun Mike is a child taxidemist who's reason for being is to stuff children. Josh is a wageslave who lives for idle thoughts. their set was amazing for the first half, then the last two songs were like, kinda repetitive and almost minimalist, which doesn't look good on those guys.

saturday night, later on: the feminist mystique, before my eyes. So, i surveyed a young couple and, (i think, but i could be totally wrong) her parents. I'm assuming the husband, (lets call him dick) dragged his wife, (jane) and her parents (bob and martha) to the show. Bob didn't participate, he just sat back and laughed. He likes my dancing though, so he's a good guy. Dick was the only one who seemed to be enjoying himself, anyway. He answered opposite the rest of them on almost every question. When i got to the demographics section, things got fun. When Dick answered "atheist" Jane got pissed. "you know what that means, right? God, what is wrong with you?" Then she says xtian, but a different denomination than her mom. For occupation, Martha (the mom) said "housewife" Jane: "what did you say?" Martha: "housewife, that's what i am." Jane rolls her eyes. I ask Jane her occupation. "domestic engineer" full of forced pride. When i ask raison d'etre Jane is so bent out of shape i feel like the frown on her face will NEVER leave. her response: "none."

saturday night, later on. The singer/guitarist for The Dials (http://thedials.us/) made an argument for why love makes the world go round that was based on observable facts. i won't say i agree with her, but i have to admit i am intrigued. Too bad they're the touring band.