Ted, The Giddy Goon

It's kind of strange to say that meeting a new friend (whereby ‘meeting’ and ‘new’ I mean ‘in person after a long time as blog acquaintances’) put me in the mindset of some kind of old school week, but that's exactly how it went down. Ted Gideonse of The Gideonse Bible came up to San Francisco last weekend and we hung out quite a bit. Never running out of things to say, having real conversations about real things, using words I know without having to second-guess my audience. Generally a refreshing and enormously enjoyable time for me, in a time when it was badly needed.

To give you a the smallest part of an idea about Ted, here's a bit from his website, admonitions to his potential audience:

Qualification: Do not read this site of you are:

• a small child
• easily offended
• confused by big words
• litigious
• prone to psychotic splits

In other words, my kinda guy. Sharp wit, off-the-charts smart, well-spoken, and perhaps most importantly, a warm and decent man.

Why does life have to be any more political or obfuscated than that? Even the Golden Rule holds hostage: do unto others as you would have them do unto you? There are a lot of self-esteemless people out there who actually want to be treated badly, beaten up, insulted, denigrated, etc. I prefer this one: be nice. Period. And the worthwhile people will show up in your life.

Please, just take that small chance.

But back to last weekend. It was as terrific a few days as I've had in a long time. Parts of my brain were exercised that had gone to flab a long time ago, pale and shutdown for lack of opportunity around others.

I hope he comes back soon. And I hope he brings his partner Rob with him next time.

So thanks for a great weekend, Ted.