Easter Laughter

As this holiday weekend is coming to an end, I felt it would be a good time to reflect on all the good times I've had, along with the laughs.  I condensed my weekend into the top 3 laugh worthy moments with my family.  

3. On Friday night, my family went to the Sweet Sixteen Regional Tournament in Arlington. During the Florida vs. FGCU game, a twenty something woman was standing in the front row while everyone else around her was sitting down.  My family was about 3 rows behind her, and could not see a any of the action.  It was when my 9 year old cousin complained that my aunt decided to take action.  My typically quiet aunt walked up and politely asked the woman to sit down (she did have one of the best seats in our section anyway).  The woman replied with a sassy "No" and an eye roll.  The conversation proceeded to turn down a not so nice path, and finally ended with the woman taking her seat.  This type of action was not like my aunt at all, however; I guess the momma bear in her came out.  When she victoriously returned to the family, we couldn't help but let out a chuckle.  This moment led me back to the relief theory. Our family had so much built up pressure and anticipation watching my aunt and this woman's encounter, that we just had to release it through laughter. In addition, a cognitive shift was displayed through my aunt's actions.  I would not have expected my aunt to get so bold and feisty.

2. Throughout the weekend my younger cousin was the originator of much laughter. This little nine year old fireball is a lot to handle.  Not only is she sassy, but she is also a major tomboy.  Ultimately, she is the queen of one liners that make you laugh out loud instantly, and that is what we did much of this weekend. With children, you can never predict what they are going to say or do next.  They contain no filter in their speech, nor do they think about the consequences of their words.  My cousin Grace is not an exception.  While I can't recall one particular moment in which she had the whole family laughing, there were several throughout our time together.  These instances made me think about the play mode as a whole.  Children are rarely ever serious. Their lives consist of remaining in the play mode, in all different situations.  Grace showed me to appreciate play mode this weekend through all the conversations we had. As they all say, kids say the darnedest things.

1. My family topped the weekend off with a big Easter dinner.  We all sat around a long dining table to share a meal, as well as our lives.  My favorite part of the meal consisted of watching my dad and his brother share their college stories.  Being a college student myself, I found it interesting to hear all about the mistakes they made during the time period I am experiencing.  My dad told us story after story about pranks is Fraternity would make.  One such prank involved them stealing a huge ceramic statue from a local burger place, and putting it right in the middle of the school's commons. Watching my father and uncle crack up at their shared experiences filled my heart with happiness. 

Family is such a joyful blessing that it is hard not to smile and laugh when you are around them.  While mine might be slightly wacky, I am grateful for their presence in my life and the laughter that they bring.

Slaughterhouse- 5

I don’t even know where to begin discussing this story.  The chaotic mixture of stories and time travel left me confused, yet somewhat satisfied as I finished the book.  The novel, written in true Tralfamadorian fashion, illustrated a mixture of moments, as it followed the life of Billy Pilgrim. Billy Pilgrim’s life is described through flashbacks (time travel) that Billy experiences, including his childhood, time at war, marriage and family, time in Tralfamadore, and even his death.  With the various different stories flying at you, and changing at any times moment, it was hard to keep track.  It wasn’t until I got about half way through the novel that I started to comprehend the some of the story; however, an unsettled atmosphere reigned throughout my reading. With the confusing story line, I appreciated how Kurt Vonnegut wrote in simple and understandable language.  The simple language helped compensate for the constantly changing, and uniquely structured novel.

Personally, black humor is not my favorite.  This book was saturated with gory, depressing, and heartbreaking events, all stated in a matter-of-fact way.  For example, the phrase “so it goes” was used several times throughout the book in response to someone, or something’s death.  This same phrased is used after the death of a human, animal, bacteria, and even in description of the dead champagne.  I found it a little unsettling how Vonnegut paid each of those things the same respect.  I would have hoped that a human death or the death of thousands would receive a more sympathetic response than that of a beverage.   In addition, I found it interesting that at one point Vonnegut describes people as merely human beings (Page 90).  The position he took towards death seems to resemble the same view of death that is taken during war, and in this case towards the Dresden Bombing.  Individuals are not people any longer. They do not have feelings, dreams, and futures.  Humans are simply human beings. Billy Pilgrim offers a good example of this lack of individualism.  He simply let the world take control of his future.  I pity Billy in this story with the life that he lived.  He was not treated well during the war and even after the war by his family, but he just let it happen.  This book brought to a light a few concepts I learned about in one of my psychology class, one being Learned Helplessness as described above. 

The last part of the book offered some closure and completed somewhat of a full circle in discussion of the Dresden Bombing. I thought it was interesting how there were two different point of views implied.  The over tone of the book suggested the Kurt Vonnegut didn’t agree with the bombing; however, Vonnegut offered another view of the bombing through the character Professor Rumfoord. In all, this read was not that bad.  While the structure left me feeling uncomfortable throughout, Slaughter House 5 was an easy read and offered some great insight.

Pardon My French: Part 3

Yesterday, I met with JP for the third time.  I must say, I  enjoyed this past meeting the most.  Since we have gotten past all the small talk, JP and I were able to talk about more complex concepts.  We were also able to get to know each other on a deeper level.

Because JP and I met for lunch, we began our conversation talking about food, one of my favorite subjects.  We talked about our likes and dislikes, along with the differences between common foods for our respective countries.  We then progressed to sharing some of our high school experiences.  He explained what he liked to do for fun, which includes going to the beach, attending music festivals, and hanging out with his friends. He showed me some pictures of his favorite festival and shared some of his cherished high school memories.  We then got on the topic of music, and he let me listen to a few songs he loves. While we had different names for the various types of music, we shared a common taste in songs.  Towards the end, I was finally able to ask JP about humor in New Caledonia.  He explained to me that people in New Caledonia typically make fun of the French.  In their jokes and actions, people from his country like to show the French was unintelligent and uptight.  For example, whenever JP and his New Caledonian friends were in group with people from France, they would throw some common native words into the conversation.  While his friends would know what he was saying, the French person would not understand.  Chuckling to himself, JP explained that their reaction was priceless.  Apparently, people in New Caledonia maintain a relaxed view on life and enjoy laughing, at others and themselves.  JP and I ended our conversation with talking about the TV shows we just can not miss.  JP enjoys watching comedies such as Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother.  He even confessed some of his guilty pleasures were Grey's Anatomy and Gossip Girl..... don't tell him I told!

In all, I appreciated how JP opened up to me during this meeting time.  I enjoyed getting to hear all about his family and the relationship he has with each member.  I felt we related to each other in some of our experiences, such as romantic relationships gone bad and television shows.  I particularly enjoyed getting to know what makes him LOL.  Through this class I learned that you can tell a lot about a person from what they find funny.  Learning about JP's humor preferences allowed me to get a closer view of JP as a whole.

Happy blogging and I hope everyone has an amazing spring break!