I’m really quite depressed

Who closes a library, except on National Holidays???? I mean, really, who closes a library for carpeting??? Lame. I really want to go the library, but obviously I can’t. Really, I’m more disappointed in the City of San Diego than usual. And I’m usually quite disappointed in them. So this is just nuts. *sigh*

Laugh like your marriage depends on it

 

Bringing a Daily Dose of Laughter into Your Marriage

Essayist and biographer Agnes Repplier, who was known for her common sense and good judgment, said, “We cannot really love anybody with whom we never laugh.” We couldn’t agree more. And we believe the implication of her statement is also true: The more you laugh together, the more you love your spouse. So, with this in mind, we offer the following tips on bringing a daily dose of laughter into your marriage.

Remember rule number 6.

Two prime ministers are sitting in a room discussing affairs of state. Suddenly a man bursts in shouting and stamping and banging his fist on the desk. The resident prime minister admonishes him. “Peter,” he says, “kindly remember rule number 6,” whereupon Peter is instantly restored to complete calm, apologizes, and withdraws. The politicians return to their conversation, only to be interrupted yet again twenty minutes later by a hysterical woman gesticulating wildly, her hair flying. Again the intruder is greeted with the words: “Marie, please remember rule number 6.” Complete calm descends once more, and she too withdraws with a bow and an apology.

When the scene is repeated a third time, the visiting prime minister addresses his colleague: “My dear friend, I’ve seen many things in my life, but never anything as remarkable as this. Would you be willing to share with me the secret of rule number 6?”

“Very simple,” replies the resident prime minister. “Rule number 6 is ‘Don’t take yourself so seriously.’”

“Ah,” says his visitor, “that is a fine rule.” After a moment of pondering, he inquires, “And what, may I ask, are the other rules?”

“There aren’t any.”

Rule number 6 is a good rule for every spouse who’s looking for a daily dose of laughter. If you’re like most people, you can take life and yourself a little too seriously, and that always stunts laughter. So lighten up. Relax. Remember what really matters. And remember rule number 6.

Poke fun at your spouse — carefully.

In college I (Leslie) shared a single bathroom with several other girls on the same floor of a residence hall. I enjoyed communal living during that time of my life. We all became good friends and learned so much about each other — especially each other’s little quirks. One of the girls, for example, was often irritated by the little globs of toothpaste that inevitably appeared in the bathroom sink each morning from so many users. Everyone knew Lisa would complain. We came to expect it and often joked with her about being a neat-freak.

When Lisa got married at the end of our school year, we were all at her wedding, and one of us (who shall remain nameless) warned her soon-to-be husband about her dislike of toothpaste in the sink. Apparently, he made a mental note of the comment, and when Lisa went into the bathroom on the first morning of their honeymoon, she found the following message written in the sink with a thick blue line of toothpaste: “I Love You, Lisa!”

This new husband understood the value of a good marital laugh right from the beginning. And while his first attempt at poking fun at his wife could have backfired, it didn’t To this day, years later, they both love telling the story.

Now, let’s be clear that poking fun at your spouse must b e done with caution. For example, you should steer clear of joking about sensitive issues, such as your partner’s weight, family, work, and so on. In other words, if you’re not sure if your partner will think it’s funny, you’d better refrain.

Laugh when you don’t feel like laughing.

A woman discovered a shelf of reduced-price items at a local bookstore. Among the gifts was a little figurine of a man and woman, their heads lovingly tilted toward one another. “Happy 10th Anniversary” read the inscription. It appeared to be in perfect condition, yet its tag indicated “damaged.” Examining it more closely, she found another tag underneath that read “Wife is coming unglued.”

Let’s face it, no spouse is immune to stress. We all feel like we’re coming unglued at times. And wise experts agree that the best way for anyone to cope is with a good laugh. “Humor makes all things tolerable,” said preacher Henry Ward Beecher. “Laugh out loud,” says Chuck Swindoll. “It helps flush out the nervous system.” On another occasion Chuck said, “Laughter is the most beautiful and beneficial therapy God ever granted humanity.” Arnold Glasgow said, “Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects.” The point is that even when you’ve had a tough day, or should we say especially when you’ve had a tough day, you need to laugh. It will help wash away the stress and keep the two of you together when you’re coming unglued. So help each other to find something funny even when it’s not easy.

Look for the funny around you.

On a recent flight between Seattle and Oklahoma City, I (Leslie) had my head buried in a book and was oblivious to my husband’s boredom. He had nothing to read, and in his desperation, he began thumbing through in-flight magazines. Unbeknownst to me, Les was cutting various pictures out of these magazines with his handy Swiss Army pocket knife (this was before such a gizmo would be confiscated by airport security). He found a largo photo of a monkey head and placed it in the window next to his seat. He cut out the watch from a photo advertisement for Rolex and taped it to his wrist. And to top off his cutting spree, he found a red ball and taped it to his nose.

Knowing that timing is everything when it comes to humor, Les waited. We sat side by side in our cramped little seats, and he waited. I read. He waited. Les waited for me to look up from my book so he could see my reaction to a monkey looking in on us at thirty-five hundred feet. He waited for me to ask for the time so he could see me react to his “Rolex.” He waited to see the reaction I’d have to a clown nose taped to the somber face of my husband. Les waited so long — he fell asleep. But that didn’t spoil the fun.

When I finally looked up from my book, I saw his handiwork. But I muffled my laughter to let him enjoy his sleep. In fact, I decided to take a catnap too. Who knows how long we slept, but it was long enough for two flight attendants to don red noses and wake us up to tell us we were landing.

You never know where you can find a good laugh. So look for the funny around you and create it when you have to.

Study your spouse’s funny bone.

One of the reasons many couples never reach their “laughter potential” is because they have never taken humor seriously. Sounds strange, but to bring more laughter into your relationship, you need to know what makes your husband or wife laugh. After all, each of us has a unique sense of humor.

As public speakers, we’ve experienced occasions where someone will laugh out loud at something most everyone else would barely chuckle at. And, of course, some people never crack a smile at something almost everyone else thinks is hilarious. So your job is to find those things your partner thinks are most funny by paying attention to when he or she laughs.

“I never realized how much Susan laughs at a silly comic strip,” a participant at one of our seminars told us. “When you asked us to think about each other’s humor styles, it dawned on me that I hardly ever laugh at comics in the paper, but she seems to really enjoy them.” This enlightened husband went on to tell us how he was now learning to laugh at comic strips too. He now makes a habit out of reading them an d even cuts one out to show Susan from time to time.

Maybe your partner likes a sarcastic wit. Maybe it’s slapstick that makes him or her laugh. Or maybe it’s the old classic sitcoms like The Andy Griffith Show. Wherever his or her funny bone is located, find it and use it — at least once a day.

A Final Thought on Humor

The healing power of laughter was not taken seriously by a scientific world until the late Norman Cousins, former editor of Saturday Review and subsequently professor at UCLA’s School of Medicine, wrote about his life-changing experience with humor. As he reported in his book Anatomy of an Illness,laughter helped turn the tide of a serious collagen disease. “I made the joyous discovery,” Cousins reported, “that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep.” He surrounded himself with Marx Brothers films and Candid Camera videos. He also checked out of the hospital and moved into a hotel where, as he says, he could “laugh twice as hard at half the price.”

Cousins called laughter “inner jogging” because every system in our body gets a workout when we have a hearty laugh. Laboratory studies support Cousins’ hunches. Our cardiovascular and respiratory systems, for example, benefit more from twenty seconds of robust laughter than from three minutes of exercise on a rowing machine. Through laughter, muscles release tension and neurochemicals are released into the bloodstream, creating the same feelings the long-distance joggers experience as “runner’s high.”

So, lighten up. Learning to laugh a little more just may save your life, not to mention your marriage. To paraphrase Henry Ward Beecher, “A marriage without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs — jolted by every pebble in the road.”

From The Love List, copyright © 2002 by Les and Leslie Parrott. Published by Zondervan. Used with permission.

Go see Fireproof

Like, really. It’s amazing. It’ll change your life. No, it’s not Oscar-worthy. It’s not supposed to be. It was made by a little church in Georgia on the budget most movies set aside for catering. No lie; half the movie was filmed for free and none of the actors are paid. But really I can’t say much more. Other than the fact that you should totally go see it. 

I’m starting to get the feeling

That I am not cut out for this. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking.

September, October, November, December

Best months of the year! Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas! I’m so excited! And yes, I’m Christmas shopping already! And yes, I’m going to delve into the adventures of Holiday Cooking (eek!). And I’m totally depressed; I live in a stinking apartment building with a bunch of college kids, so I’m not going to get to give out candy… (booo).

To heck with suffrage!

Don’t YOU want to end women’s suffrage?!?!?

Of course I’m pro-choice

I’m totally and one hundred percent “pro-choice.” Duh. Who isn’t?

Pro-choice describes the political and ethical view that a woman should have complete control over her fertility and pregnancy. 

Well, obviously you should have the freedom to decide whether or not someone gets to camp out in your stomach for 9 months; trust me when I tell you, it’s not exactly an event to be taken lightly.

But unless you get raped, you DO have a choice.

You do have the choice to date that guy who obviously wants to get into your pants. You do have a choice to get drunk at that party with all those guys leering at everything with boobs. You do have the choice to live with your boyfriend. And you definitely have the choice to strip naked and hop in bed. And I’m sorry sweetheart, but with or without that little white pill you pop in your mouth every day, sex = babies. Get over it. So it’s not like pregnancy is the great injustice between the sexes. You know, “babies are like periods; every-once-in-a-while, one just pops up!” Not. You deliberately engaged in behavior that is scientifically proven to result in the undesired effect.

So basically, you’re not into freedom of choice; you’re into freedom from consequences. Which is not the way life works. You spend the money, you pay the bills; no one’s going to pass a law saying the credit company can’t take you to court for the balance. So where the heck do you get off demanding that we sacrifice innocent children just because you don’t want put on your big girl panties and deal with it?

So I’m totally pro-choice. I absolutely believe that a woman should have the right to control what goes on with her body. So please, control yourself. Keep your pants on.

Get Smart. Feed People.

So, everyone should definitely check out freerice.com and get smart! Basically they give you a word and you have to chose the definition from a list. For every correct answer, they donate 20 grains of rice through the UN Food Program to end world hunger. I mean, seriously, you can look the words up to answer them, and you get to have fun expanding yourvocabulary while someone else gets lunch. It’s a win-win!

I stole this from Bethy

Heeheehee… yes, I’m obsessed lately.

How… mature…

Ms. Braun stands behind her platform, speaking to her mass communications class and typing into a projected powerpoint. 

The phone rings.

She smiles sarcastically at her class, and says, “I wonder who it could be this time?”

She puts the phone on speaker and answers, “hello?”

“Hi, is this extension 3309?”

“No, this is extension 2298.”

“Is this City College?”

“No this is the Mesa campus.”

“Oh, well, can you transfer my call?”

Ms. Braun makes a face and rolls her eyes.

“Uh, no.” She hangs up abruptly.

The class laughs nervously, but the lecture is resumed. A couple of minutes later, the phone rings again. Ms. Braun lets out an exasperated breath and grabs the phone. 

“Um, do you realize that you’re on speaker in front of a class? You have the wrong number!”

“I’m sorry, you don’t have to be so…”

Ms Braun slams the phone down and the class gasps collectively and some laugh nervously.

“What an idiot!” 

Lets just say I’m not exactly looking forward to her class on Monday…