Trying to find an old AskMeFi question

May 16, 2016 9:40 AM

At least a couple of years ago, but maybe more than a couple, there was a question in which the poster had been asked by a friend to learn to play the violin so that the poster could perform at the friend's wedding.

I remember that the friend had a very specific and sort of alarmingly over-the-top vision for the wedding and had gone as far as buying an expensive violin for the poster to use. Commenters then suggested that the friend might be experiencing a manic episode. Does anyone else remember this?

posted by miskatonic to MetaFilter-Related at 9:40 AM (27 comments total)

Could it be this question on reddit?
posted by slmorri at 11:19 AM on May 16, 2016 [3 favorites]

Oh, maybe! I don't read that subreddit but it's possible someone sent me a link. I spend a lot of time on Ask and almost none on Reddit so I'm probably just misremembering the source.
posted by miskatonic at 11:35 AM on May 16, 2016

The Internet Archive copy of the original question matches OP's recollection exactly.
posted by dfan at 11:37 AM on May 16, 2016 [3 favorites]

Yup, this is absolutely it. Thanks to both of you!
posted by miskatonic at 11:39 AM on May 16, 2016

"Non-Romantic"

Oh, indeed. /Omar
posted by Sebmojo at 3:35 PM on May 16, 2016 [2 favorites]

Heavens ta Betsy..... glad I haven't had to deal with something like that. Learn violin from scratch in a year? 'Wow' the audience, write a dang concerto?!?
posted by easily confused at 5:17 PM on May 16, 2016

In her defence she was almost certainly mentally ill.

The reddit OP actually tells the story very nicely, it's quite vivid.
posted by Sebmojo at 6:16 PM on May 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

For those of you desperate to know what happened next:
link
posted by Jacqueline at 8:32 PM on May 16, 2016 [2 favorites]

I msged the OP on Reddit to find out what happened next and they broke off the engagement. Crazy violin-buying friend then met a new guy on Match.com, married him, and they're still together.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh... I can sleep tonight now that I have closure.
posted by Jacqueline at 9:26 PM on May 16, 2016 [34 favorites]

Wait, no! What happened to the violin?!
posted by Too-Ticky at 12:23 AM on May 17, 2016 [11 favorites]

Thank you for asking and sharing!

What a story.
posted by samthemander at 1:17 AM on May 17, 2016

At least it wasn't a banjo.
posted by Johnny Assay at 7:39 AM on May 17, 2016 [10 favorites]

Crazy violin-buying friend then met a new guy on Match.com, married him, and they're still together.

Just goes to show you: Violins is never the answer.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:54 AM on May 17, 2016 [53 favorites]

Just goes to show you: Violins is never the answer.

horrified golfclap
posted by Sebmojo at 2:06 PM on May 17, 2016 [20 favorites]

Violins is never the answer.

Unless you have sax appeal to go with it.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:44 PM on May 17, 2016 [4 favorites]

Not that I want to horn in on your puns, but you've chosen to piccolo fruit there....
posted by easily confused at 8:11 PM on May 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

Take a bow.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane (staff) at 3:45 AM on May 19, 2016 [3 favorites]

Violins is never the answer.

It's a nice sentiment but sometimes you've got to fight lyre with lyre.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 4:02 AM on May 19, 2016 [4 favorites]

I never recieved my banjo. :( but a friend of mine is taking custody of a sousaphone soon. I don't know if she needs it to listen to head cheese or a habitual drunkard, but at least it's lighter than her usual tuber.
posted by b33j at 4:14 AM on May 19, 2016

I know this is MeTa, but you guys should stop fiddling around.
posted by Room 641-A at 5:17 AM on May 19, 2016 [2 favorites]

Seriously, stop harping on this.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:06 AM on May 19, 2016 [7 favorites]

No wonder she was fretting - it takes a lot of pluck to string someone along like that.
posted by Mchelly at 1:15 PM on May 19, 2016

Why are mandolin players smarter?

Two courses for each string.

*rimshot*
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:57 PM on May 19, 2016

Why are mandolin players smarter?
Two courses for each string.

Yo! Yo ma is so dumb she failed her mandolin string courses.
posted by Room 641-A at 5:26 PM on May 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

Harpists are like physicists: they know a lot about string theory.
posted by easily confused at 6:03 PM on May 19, 2016

Hey, thanks for posting this. Because I read the linked Reddit post, I had the idea of a manic episode fresh in my mind when a good friend of mine started exhibiting increasingly erratic behavior out of the blue about three days after you posted. Because I realized what was happening, I was able to call her family members before things got scary, and she was able to get into the hospital before the situation got truly dire. I mean it was still bad, but nobody got hurt or lost their job or anything.

So, uh, thanks. You may have literally saved a life, albeit inadvertently.
posted by KathrynT at 10:07 PM on May 24, 2016 [7 favorites]

KathrynT, that's amazing. I'm glad for you and your friend!
posted by spelunkingplato at 12:26 AM on May 25, 2016