Writer's Blog

Hello, all!

Once again, I apologize for the posting problems. I'm 99.9% sure I've gotten them straightened out. I appreciate all of the kind verbal response to my blog! Y'all rule. I'm constantly surprised at how much everyone enjoys the blog (and the titles). I'm also suprised at how fun it has been for me. Quite cathartic.

Anyway, I'm going to start a three-part blog, and we'll see how it goes. This is probably the most amazing story I've ever heard in my life, and it's all true. I thought I'd share with those of you who haven't heard it yet. It's quite long, which is the only reason I'm dividing it up.

How long should I wait to post the next part? A week? Five days? Whenever the fuck I get around to it? Let me know ...

Enjoy!

It was in the final weeks of my undergrad studies. I was sitting in the dark, meeting with my professor. The power wasn’t off or anything – Dr. Waite is a hardcore environmentalist and refuses to waste electricity for silly things like meetings. Or so he said. I noticed an attractive blonde leaving just as I arrived …

Anyway, we were meeting to discuss my future career. That part of the meeting, as you might guess, went nowhere. But we talked for hours, because Dr. Waite is
a) eager to learn about other people, like all true scientists and journalists and
b) a fascinating storyteller

If anyone has the notion that scientists spend their days sitting around in silly white lab coats making silly discoveries and spouting silly slang phrases like, “Eureka!” – you’re full of shit.

Stop by Dr. Waite’s office. Ask him to tell you about the time he got shot at while studying birds on a river in Thailand. Or the time his neighbors called the police because he turned his backyard into a wildlife habitat. Or how the most hardcore environmentalist I know (sorry Carney) ended up trapping wolves on an Alaskan trail, right next to a wildlife preserve.

He told us all of these fascinating tales in class, and it was this last one that piqued my journalist interest the most.

“So …” I said. “I have to know. How did you end up trapping wolves in Alaska?”

Dr. Waite allowed the perfect dramatic pause.

“I was with my friend Joe,” he said.

He leaned back in his chair, as if debating how best to tell the story.

“Tell you what. I’ll tell you Joe’s story, and maybe you’ll understand how I ended up trapping wolves with him.”

And then Dr. Waite promptly proceeded to tell me the greatest story I have ever heard.

To be continued …