Cheers to the chatty old optometrist who gave me an eye exam last week-- when I told him I hadn't gotten new lenses in eight years, and that I had gotten the lenses in Damascus, he said, without missing a beat, "Did the son check your eyes?"-- which is a reference to the fact that Hafez Assad's son, Bashar, who took over the job of supreme honcho just as we arrived in Syria, was originally trained as an ophthalmologist; now perhaps I shouldn't be so impressed, because maybe all optometrists know this little tidbit, as Bashar Assad may be the only oppressive dictator who was first trained in optical medicine, but still, this guy delivered the line so effortlessly (and he was pretty damn old!) that it was almost as if he had been waiting all these years for someone to mention Syria and optometry in the same sentence (this can't be typical conversation, right?) and so I am giving him the coveted Sentence of Dave Off-Handed Quip by Someone You'd Never Expect to Make a Joke Award, which has previously been awarded to no one, because most of the stuff people say (myself included) is drivel.
3 comments:
I can never win this award because of the expectations I have created. When I say something serious, it takes people aback.
It's one of thousands of awards I have no shot of winning. Starting with Alfred Nobel's little trophy and going a lot of directions from there.
it's true-- it's hard for someone to take you seriously when you're sporting a dirty mustache.
start working som cancer statistics into your daily conversation and see how it goes.
If you remember, Dave, I made the same joke two years ago, and you hardly chuckled.
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