intelligently incompetant

I astonish myself sometimes when hear the things that come out of my mouth without my prior in-brain planning or consent.

I got a call just now from a man who I contacted via e-mail this morning for an article i'm writing about the CEO Roundtable discussions he organizes in the area. I didn't expect him to get back to me, so I didn't bother writing any questions out or really thouroughly researching the program online as I normally would. Well, he called, and from a blank piece of paper and a blank brain I concocted brilliantly worded questions on the spot, surprising myself at the words that popped into my mouth and out into the telephone. I think the best quality of a journalist is the ability to sound like an expert in any field, or simply the ability to ask stupid questions that are masked into sounding smart. Well, I think I sounded pretty stupid... but perhaps I used enough big words and concepts to trick him into sounding like I really know at least a little something about business in the area, or at least charmed him with my friendliness so it didn't matter. Of course, giving out my e-mail address as intern@newspaper.com I imagine really shatters whatever credibility I had and makes the person i'm speaking to wonder why the article about their super-important program is being handled by an intern.