Thursday 27 June 2013

An Addiction to Nutella

On my way home today I saw not one, but two bra-less wonders strolling happily on seperate sidewalks going in different directions. As were their swinging breasts. I chuckled. What are the chances? And it was funny.

It seems like a bit of a cheat, but today I am borrowing from another blog that I read and accepting his challenge.

In James Altucher's recent post, "Everything is Funny All the Time", he says "being born was the only serious thing I ever did. After that, we’re on our own, trying to survive. Trying to get the joke."  I tend to agree.

"Survival" for us human beings goes beyond food, water, reproduction. We have this mind to deal with too. And it complicates everything - from intuition to expectations. I like to think of myself as analytically challenged or is it gifted? He goes on to say:

"Some people list the things they are grateful for. This is a good list to do. But I try to also list the things around me that are funny. The things that are more than funny. The things that are ludicrous. This is a more fun list. This is the list that lights my brain on fire. It takes practice but it’s worth it. Because if you can’t find the humor in everything around you, then eventually you find out too late that the joke is on you".

Brilliant. In a way, David Letterman, or his writers, did it everyday in the top ten list. Seinfeld created a show "about nothing" and I watch re-runs to this day, because they are still funny. Speaking of Letterman and Seinfeld, my friend, let's call her Emily, sent me this clip the other day from Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwBVHZxHXj4 and in the subject line she wrote: "If someone video-taped us talking this is what it would sound like..."

While it's true that David and Jerry are wealthy, successful comedians, and they ought to be laughing all the way to the bank; it is also true that she and I have conversations like this all the time. On a daily basis we somehow manage to find at least one thing that makes us literally laugh out loud and ridicule the things that happen to us and our group of friends at home and at work. My regular response to most of it is - "another one for the book". And I suspect we all have a book we could write if we could find the humour in everything around us.

So here is today's attempt to make a list of 6 things that are funny (mostly about me - hmmmmmm).

1. My addiction to Nutella. On a daily basis I run out of spoons because I don't want to "double dip" (hot on the Seinfeld today). The fact that I don't want to double dip is in itself ludicrous. My friend Emily also has this addiction. When she gets married we are going to tie ribbons around Nutella jars and give them away as wedding favours.

2.  That at the age of 41 I am still trying to please my parents. I wanted to paint an accent wall in my bedroom red, because as the children's book says "Red is Best". They said bedrooms are supposed to be restful - you can't do that. So I picked a navy blue. They helped me paint. I was grateful. I hated it. I painted over it yesterday. For those of you with little children, get this book. It's wonderful. I need to read it often to help me with my parent issues.

3. That since being unemployed I have gotten more manis and pedis than in the entire time I was employed full-time. That is ratio of 5 months to 15 years.

4. That my sister and I can say one thing that no-one else will think is funny and we will laugh until tears are streaming down our faces and we can't even form a sentence that makes sense because we are laughing so hard. And that even after we leave each other's company, we will still be laughing and crying about the same silly thing for the whole week to come and at inopportune moments. People on the bus look at me and think - is she crazy? And they move seats. People are scared of happy moments in public, I guess.

5. One time I was so hungover, that when I went to the grocery store with my friend she had to push me around in the cart because I couldn't walk. I looked like death warmed over and I was 36 years old. She told people I was not feeling well, but not to worry. She had to say something - they were staring at me. At us.

6. That even during my wallowing, leave me alone, "I am being dramatic on purpose" times, I can still laugh silently while pondering my miserable self, because I have the power to re-live moments 1 to 5.

I could keep going but I do have to save some for the book :)

Try your own list!

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