Serenity Now!

When asked what my favorite hobbies are, the first thing that always comes to mind is: laughing. I don’t typically answer this way, but why not? I’m very good at it and have been doing it for years! People have described my laugh in various ways. I’ve been told I have a ‘machine-gun’ laugh, that I laugh like a witch (huh?), that I have a great laugh and that I have an infectious laugh. (I like that last one the best!)

“Laughter is the best medicine” they say. Yeah, yeah… whatever. My point isn’t that laughing is good for you, although it certainly is. What I’m saying is that I LOVE TO LAUGH. It’s honestly my favorite thing to do.

Now, I don’t go around laughing like an idiot. Some people do. Some people laugh as a kind of nervous tick. That’s just irritating. Some people will make a point of laughing when they think they say something funny and want another person to understand that they think it’s funny. Sort of like a verbal LOL. Well that’s just pathetic. It’s like having to explain a joke. The other person will either get it, or they won’t. If it needs explanation then, by definition, it’s not funny. Far too few people understand this concept. Sad… very sad…

Anyway, the other day I rented the movie “Phantasm” from Netflix. I was looking forward to it because I vaguely remember seeing it when I was very young and it scared the hell out of me. I couldn’t wait to revisit the horror of my youth. (at least this particular horror)

The day it arrived, I made popcorn, cracked open an icy, diet, carbonated beverage and slid the DVD into the player. About ten minutes into it, I realized that if my goal was to recapture the mood of one of the first horror movies I ever saw, I had indeed made a grave mistake. Then I realized I had found a whole new way to enjoy it, because it’s so damn funny!

I think that to try and explain what exactly I found so funny just wouldn’t work here. I called my brother, though, because he remembered seeing “Phantasm” as a kid, too, and when I told him it I had rented it, he got excited for the same reason I did at first. I was trying to explain to him certain scenes that just killed me, but I was laughing so hard he couldn’t understand me. If you don’t know the kind of laughter I’m talking about, I’ll try to explain.

For me, the best kind of laughing is an aerobic, if not life threatening activity. I’ll get laughing so hard that the only noise I’m making is a kind of, “hnuhhhhhh” sound from the back of my throat. My eyes will water, my stomach hurts like it’s going to split in two and when it’s all over I end up with a headache like I’ve been drinking straight tequila for days. Usually at this point, I need a nap. MAN!! Now that’s the way to laugh! It’s a pretty good hobby, if you think about it.

**Here are a couple of pictures I find hilarious. The second one is blurry, but you get the ’jits’ of it** 

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