The Best Part of Today #95:
Having an experience exceed your expectations.
In my case, I was finally getting to interview someone for my next news story. He had been very hard to get a hold of, finally got back to me in email, telling me to call him the next day at a certain time and set up an appointment, he was in a meeting when i called, and he finally got back to me an hour and a half later. At this point I was feeling rather beleaguered and not very optimistic for the interview. I thought maybe I should make up more interview questions in case he turned out to be as tight-lipped as he seemed a didn't give me enough to work with.
When I got there, he was the total opposite. He was playing ambient bird sounds in his sunny, plant-strewn office. We chatted about our mutual penchant for sound machines (mine is a gurgling stream), organic food and good ol' fashioned paper books. What was my story about? The recyclability of a dining hall's new salt and pepper grinders. I barely had to say a word before he launched into more of a lengthy anecdote than an explanation of my query, spouting colorful quote and quote and funny details sure to give my story a kick. It was the easiest interview I'd ever done, except that I could barely manage to keep with him. I scribbled nonstop trying to capture everything just as he said it over several full sheet of (academic, not journalist-sized) notebook paper. Erasing was out of the question, mistakes were either scribbled or just let to stand. Listening was for the moment, deciphering will come later.
All in all I was exceedingly pleased, and my hand didn't even ached 45-or-so minutes later.
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