"Oh no, not again"

My roommate's father--an accomplished pianist--recently met the father of one of his students. The gentleman, a businessman from Japan, promptly handed over a check for $5,000. "Thank you for teaching my daughter," he said.

Understandably, Alex's dad explained that he couldn't accept the gift; an anonymous donation to the orchestra he founded would be better. The two men got to chatting, and Alex's father mentioned in passing that he's from Coventry, England.

Three weeks ago, Alex's grandparents got a knock on the door. There was the Japanese businessman, who just so happens to be the president of Samsung. With him were several employees--and an enormous state-of-the-art plasma TV. They ripped out the existing TV, hooked up all the wires and installed the new plasma one.

The week before last, another gift arrived (this time sans Samsung president): a huge, incredibly expensive temperature-controlled wine cabinet. It's so large there's no room in the house, so it's currently sitting outside in their front yard, covered with a tarp and waiting for Alex's dad to come visit and rearrange the house.

"Please tell them not to come anymore," Alex's grandparents told his father.

Alex to his dad: "Next time mention that you have seven children!"

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4 May 05

A tie-in to the above post (which doesn't quite warrant its own) is that one of my old flatmates from London, Brenna, won a singing competition and will be performing at Carnegie Hall at the end of the month. We're referring to it as her "Carnegie debut." What a talented girl--and to think I never got the chance to see her perform in London!