"Gather round dockside mates and we'll have some laughs and I'll bend your ear with tales of the Stuttering high-seas from a shipwrecked Old Salty sea-dog here."
My Stuttering (c. 1979) ("click on the pic", 1 minute at 56K) An absolutely brilliant interview by Sidney Fields. (I know -- I've seen others) Thanks for capturing it so well Sidney. |
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OK, they actually DO spend $250,000 a year. John Ahlbach confirmed it for me (from what his budget was) at the last Holiday Party. It's "what it is". But they really *should* publish where it all goes.
Good luck Elaine. I hope she doesn't fizzle out on me.
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The 2006 NSA Conference
Overall a pretty good Conference. 500+ attendees.
Did most of the right things. Interesting and useful workshops.
I got to announce my website at their open mic -- what a
thrill! -- my "first
time" up there (and "first chosen" by emcee Vikesh
Anand). Met many new and fascinating people.
Like
Dr. Gerald Maguire -- thanks for the smile after
the Banquet too, I always like a psychiatrist who appreciates
"an update". It was fun to meet you.
And know I'm not the only one who struggles with that
"social anxiety" problem.
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"The NSPequod" What happened to all our money? (none of our former NSP Board members I've talked to are bothered by this question one bit) Hugo Gregory: "This has got to stop!" "Shredded"? - I heard the word 'shredded'.. We learned it from Watergate: "follow the money" Dear Tammy.. (2/8/06) (Keep up the good work..) "Hi Hi Hi!" (4/13/06) Sorry for the mistake, Tammy.. Dear NSA Board of Directors.. (6/7/06) |
"About Geoffrey" Self-esteem ("maybe I've got it wrong..")
Eleanor Lambidakis (self-esteem) (early editor of the ‘Council newsletter) Jürgen Bob Gathman ("It's so nice to hear your voice..") Nora O'Connor ("And yes, humor is welcome ... !") |
This is
my--(that's the personal pronoun for "me") own personal
Windjammer. And I'm launching it with a bottle of champagne named Nora
O'Connor ("humor is welcome ...
!")
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I remember how I was standing alone and wanted to introduce myself to Jane Fraser at the Washington NSP Convention and never did (that self-esteem thing). She had sent me the SFA VanRiper therapy tapes and was pleased with the "single tape" that I had dubbed all 5 of them back onto and returned all of them (she never asked me to, but I had my copies and didn’t need them). I was standing right there in front of her literature table as I found her all alone behind it for a minute or so as she had finished 'tidying' and setting up behind it. That passivity and self-esteem issue of mine, I so much wanted to meet her but never did. As I stood there right in front of her. I call self-esteem "the energy for pursuit". I remember the first ‘Council Convention I saw Joe Sheehan at. As he mingled socially with a large crowd of us having just arrived in the evening. And at a safe distance on the other side of the room I confided to this new woman I had just met about wanting to meet him. "You go up to him and you introduce yourself to him!" Vivian (his wife) demanded of me (I didn’t know who she was!). I really wanted to but never screwed up the courage to do so. I met him at the next Convention I saw him at. Sorry I was a bit slow there Vivian. Anyway, thanks for saying what I needed to hear. |
"Shredded"? - I heard the word 'shredded'..
This is for all you women
"Nice
to see you again, Richard"
Jürgen
Warning! .. watch out for that "fast draw" of Jane's ..
"I know how to spell it.."
New website offers hope for the fluent!
And tell Judy to "Watch Out!" too..
Michael Hartford saw I had some new ideas!
Charleen Bloom .. I'm sure she must remember me!!
Attention! .. all agents in the field..
Humor Home
A warm welcome to our new members
"I wouldn't worry about it, Gina"
>..nervous as hell about giving presentations.. >It'll be interesting if I feel more comfortable >or more self-conscious at this meeting you've invited me to. >..more self-conscious.. Here "let me help you..", Gina. First, we'll all be perfectly fluent. They're all a bunch of wimps terrified of letting any of us find out they stutter. It's like pulling teeth trying to get any voluntary stuttering out of any of them. So remember, you won't even know it's a group of stutterers when you walk in. You'll be pretty scared. It's your first meeting. Maybe you've gotten the wrong room or something. So you'll have to ask. Don't stutter!--on second thought, maybe you shouldn't ask.. Anyway, before this, when you arrive early at the parking lot (so you can be the first at the meeting before it becomes really packed), start worrying. Maybe we've ALL shown up early. You'll have plenty of time to work up a real sweat. Pace around a bit near your car. In about an hour, after you've finally screwed up enough courage to walk into the meeting, your hands should be sufficiently trembling and knees buckling to finally walk into the room. With a full blown panic attack. Remember, don't stutter! (hopefully, we won't have to pull out the gurney again this time like we have to for all those other "first timers" and rush you off to the Emergency Room at the Hospital there). Actually, by this time, (if you make it this far) I'd be pretty steamed about what all these fluent ingrates had just put me through. And tell us all to rot in hell and stomp out. As you speed home, make sure you didn't enter the wrong meeting room. There's lots of different groups that meet in all those rooms at Kaiser's "Bldg. K". You could start your own. Then you'd have to deal with all those new people constantly walking in and telling you to rot in hell just before they stomp out. We never have a chance to find out if they've gotten the right group. Unless they pass out and we have to pull out the gurney again.. "I wouldn't worry about it..", Geoffrey |
12/5/04 Rich Wells is always fun. Teasing me about my fluency. Complaining about how I've become a "bad example" for the others. .. "bringing down the neighborhood" or something I suppose. Telling me to "shape up", "get with the program". I think he's gonna have me committed or something if I don't "get it together" quick. He thinks I've completely lost it. He knows the Jury will agree with him. I already know they're gonna "throw the book at me" .. 'cause I used to be on it. Before my Therapy. And it's a "hanging Jury". There's nothing you can say to them after you’ve "committed the crime". They already know if you try to make any attempt at some redemptive stuttering that you're just lying through you're teeth. yeah, I remember it: driving up from NYC to my first Albany ‘Council meeting at the College of St. Rose back around '75 .. walking into that huge group in a circle in that classroom. As Dr. Brown stood up at the beginning and gave us all a short speech. Fluently: without a single block! .. "what's his problem?" -- boy was I steamed! Now I have to deal with these little snots myself. "Nice to see you again, Richard" |
Jürgen (from Germany! -- of course, "what did you expect?") took the picture of me you see at the top of this website with his digital camera in his backyard one day last summer. No one gets me there like Jürgen can. He wouldn't accept my compliment over the phone after I downloaded it and saw how good it was: ..the glasses need straightening .. hair's not combed perfectly .. (et. al.) He's a riot. 3/13/04: Reservations for two at O'Mei in Santa
Cruz (off
the Pacific Ocean).
Just me and Jürgen that Saturday night.
But I had forgotten to make the reservations. So we had almost an hour to kill after we got there. We walked around
the area a bit outside, got some exercise. Lotsa laughs! In that summer coastal night air. Winding up at this
funky organic supermarket just across the street from O'Mei that I
wanted to show him. We look around at it all inside. As we
continue our quips and laughter with each other about life et.
al. BTW, in Germany, you're expected to pay for it after you
'tap
off' the granola from one of those bins. Which Jürgen did
from one. "The cash system's still working?" And
glance back to her for the smile but only see her bending silently over the cash
drawer from behind and finishing: after all, she has another customer
waiting. Anyway,
I didn't even have to see her face to know "it was already a
smile". |
6/27/04
Watch out for Jane there.. I've never seen anyone read it that fast before. I couldn't believe how fast that response came back. Virtually instantly: Re: help from Graybears for overwhelmed seniors The next time I'm gonna duck! |
6/2/04
Jane's faster than I thought. She just bought www.stuttersfa.*** from under me. I'm gonna be more careful the next time knowing about that "fast draw" of hers. hmm.. who else can I get into trouble with here? .. let's see.. I see www.stutteringhomepage.ORG and www.stutteringhomepage.NET are still available. hmm.. Judy hasn't written to me since I first met her in '97 at the IFA Conference here in San Francisco. I saw her again at the NSA Convention in Anaheim a couple of years ago. But she never wrote. Did you know she likes deadpan humor? I didn't, .. as she walked into one of the workshops at that NSA Convention and told me "it was for women only!". Then, as she closed the door, she told me she likes 'deadpan'. It took me a few seconds to figure it out, so I walked into her "women's only" workshop and told her I love deadpan and to "Watch Out!" Fred Murray called me a few months ago. But Judy's "not paying attention". Probably "daydreaming in class" again. Someone should wake her up.. Before I buy it. And tell her to "Watch Out!" Geoffrey |
7/11/04
www.payattentionjudy.com:
it's available, Judy.
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Humor Home
I know how to spell it.
6/28/04
'Mauritania': I thought it looked wrong on the page but I wasn't going to bother looking it up! So you were on the "Mauretania" too, eh? Miss Perfect with her "Mauretania" with an "e" there.. .."puffing off the gunsmoke from her pistol" there.. "Mauretania II 1939 - 1965 The Mauretania's final voyage was a Mediterranean cruise which left New York on 15 September 1965. .. On 23 November it arrived at Ward's shipbreaking yard in Inverkeithing, .." Bet you didn't know that, did you? Miss "Know It All" with her "e" there.. Jane's faster than I thought. She just bought www.stuttersfa.*** from under me. No she didn't, I just said she did. "Mauretania", eh Geoffrey |
(Alas, the last time I saw Michael was at our 1993 NSP Convention in Wash. D.C. and I wish he could have stayed longer than the brief couple of hours or so he seemed to vanish into the crowd there that I saw him that evening during speeches. I introduced him to Gail Wilson Lew which she appreciated .. I don't think they had ever met before)
p.s: in fact Charleen Bloom "gave me the award personally". It
wasn't easy, believe me! It took years of hard dedicated work at all those
Albany Weekend Workshops I attended. And I think it was my "sea-story" that finally convinced her.. It was back around '78 or so in the Fall. After that long journey up the Hudson River from my dock in Brooklyn. I remember that Friday night as I drew into port at the College of St. Rose for their Weekend Workshop on Stuttering. Sister Charleen handed me a story about the care and husbandry of horses to read under the bright lights of a TV camera she had set up for me. I was already a celebrity. Though I was as nervous as hell, I didn't let her know that because I really wanted to impress her. I read it fluently and projected a nonchalant confidence. But I never said the word "horses". No one said a word. Awestruck, no doubt. As were those 2 student therapists I accidentally walked past behind the next day who never saw me. They were eagerly playing back my videotape. A story about the care and husbandry of Jellyfish. And they couldn't contain themselves. People remember me. p.p.s: Eugene Cooper headed the '97 IFA Conference in San Francisco. I was really excited about the possibility of meeting Charleen again and hoped she might be there, so I asked him if she was attending. He said she was. I tried to find her, but never did. |
Jeff Shames would always preface his emails to me with this statement. It drove me nuts because I could never figure out a response to it. BTW, I had one of the most fun times of my life breakfasting with him one morning at the Anaheim 2002 NSA Convention. It was nice to see him again at the 'Friends' event recently. Anyway, one day it finally came to me: "Yes, I am not un-well .. I hope you are too." |
5/28/04 >Hi Geoff, >What Kaiser are the meetings at and what day? >Talk to you later, Cheryl OK, Cheryl. I put up this website just for you! -- www.nsanorcal.org Now, pay attention! Or I'm gonna put up a new one named Pay-Attention-Cheryl.com It's available, by the way. Howard Delman was elected as our Chapter Leader at the meeting you missed last summer. In fact you've missed all of our meetings since the last one you held at your house. Eons ago. In fact, I think it's a miracle you even showed up at your own meetings. We got this in on the newswire from Howard last year: "All SJ meetings will be at 7:30PM on the second Wednesday of each month at the Kaiser Hospital in Santa Clara, in Building K". You'll find the rest on www.nsanorcal.org >What Kaiser are the meetings at and what day? If we don't see you at the next meeting, I'll process serve you with the answer. Geoffrey |
8/20/04 |
Comments
(from real living people) are
always welcome.
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