Puncture Wounds.

Watching Jada, (the youngest of my three dogs and voted most likely to commit a heinous canine crime), gnash into her new "Jolly Ball", reminded me of how tough our exterior selves can be. Or fragile, as the case may be. In the past 18 months, give or take, since I started this blog, it's amazing to me how many ways there are to describe mental and physical toughness. And also our collective frailties.

Life takes a lot of bites out of us. It can eat away at you. Sometimes they're nibbles, and sometimes it involves big hunks of flesh. I'm not sure if I'm talking about physical or emotional damage here; I guess how we heal, or whether we heal at all, is the bigger question I'm getting at.

When you've gone through a major life trauma like I have recently, it gives you a new perspective on the world; on people, on situations and events; on all things great and small. I don't think you ever see the world through the same eyes again. And that's not necessarily a bad thing at all. The bad thing is most likely the way you got to your new destination; taken for a ride you didn't want and thrown out onto curb at 60 miles an hour; if you were maybe lucky enough life slowed down to 30 before you got the heave ho.

There's a lot of real, legitimate things to gripe about; don't get me wrong. Serious, serious shit. But there's just so much stupid bullshit that people complain and worry about. Let it go people, let it go. The best humor, I think, comes from real, everyday life. You just can't make that crap up. I mean you can, but why bother when there's a dust trail of bitchin' and moanin' orbiting around us like some crazy comedic moon just ripe for the mining. Recently, I watched a friend (who shall remain nameless) eat pop rocks for the very first time, and while somewhat inebriated. It was one of the funniest things I've witnessed in the last couple of years. Seeing them shooting out of her mouth at alarming rates of speed was a joyous pyrotechnical display (she didn't realize that to keep them contained she had to keep her mouth closed). They were bouncing off the walls, the table- it was an indoor meteor shower.

What I do when bored by a bad presenation.

Laughter is surely one of the best medicine's around; a spoonful of hahahas beats any meds by a long shot, plus laughing is free and does not require a trip to the doc. At times these last couple of years I felt like I could've/should've been carted off to the "funny farm" (not PC I know, thus the quotes). Now I'm trying hard to keep and tend to my own funny farm, keep it going and sustain it, nourishing it with a sense of humor and eyes crying not from sadness, but from laughing. Yesterday, I watched two mourning doves, sitting on a telephone wire, having an argument, or at least some sort of avian disagreement. Were they discussing that one of them was being a back-seat flyer? "Why didn't you clean up the millet seeds last night?" Or "Did you pay the mortgage on the nest like I asked you to?" "I saw you checking out that other bird"? I dunno. But it was funny- to me anyway. So maybe lets leave the "drama" to the professionals- that's why there are actors who are trained to perform them and emote anguish and pain and loathing- real or self-inflicted.

It's so hard for me now to see and watch the dramas that envelope people's lives - you want real drama? Go hang out in the hospital for awhile; better yet, the ICU. Or the back of an ambulance. Or a rehab center. Then go home and think. And see if your drama really warrants all the attention you're giving it. It's easy to go see/find drama- good comedy is harder to find- just ask a stand-up, or look at the movies- how many GOOD comedies actually come out in a year? I remember a long time ago, I had a Jewish funeral home for a client - (hey, we all have to eat). And the two gentlemen who ran it were very nice, and had good senses of humor. They said it was important for them personally to help get them through their daily jobs, which obviously was no walk in the cemetery. Anyway, when I presented new logos and taglines, I slipped in among the real options "We put the fun in funerals". It took about a second too long, but they both looked at each other and then burst out laughing. They thought it was great, and one of them hung it up in his home office- obviously not for public consumption. Then about 10 years ago, I was watching an episode of the Simpsons, and there's Homer and family driving through downtown Springfield, and as they pass the local funeral home, the sign says, yes- "We put the fun in funerals". Made my day. Remember, a yuck a minute folks.

Love to you all- and stay funny out there.