The World As My Private Joke

So this is a new endeavor for me. I've been wanting to start a blog for several weeks now and just haven't gotten around to it. However, I've started thinking about my daily experiences more and have developed the desire to share them with someone, even if it may just be random people in cyber space. I've even started formulating my entries in my head, which seems silly, but today I finally decided to make it a reality! (Well, that and I finally fixed the settings on my computer so that it's no longer in Japanese. How I ended up with YouTube and Google in Japanese, I'm not quite sure, but I have now happily fixed it and all by myself too! :) )

A few weeks ago, my roommates and I were having some friends over for breakfast and to watch General Conference. I love having people over, so of course I was delighted with this. A few minutes before something had happened which I was quite amused by, and I was still smiling about it. My roommate looked at me and said, "Tammy, I swear that sometimes the world is your private joke."

Perhaps in saying this she wanted me to share the reason for my happiness, but I just smiled cryptically, without offering explanation (which is sometimes a very amusing thing to do) and kept my thoughts to myself. I should explain that I'm kind of funny in a lot of ways. I tend to remember things that I am amused by, long after they happened, and I can still laugh about them hours, days, months, weeks and even years later! For example, I almost feel nerdy sharing this but be that as it may, here goes. I remember something funny that one of my classmates said back in junior high. We were doing a lesson on probability and had been presented with a list of story problems and had to come up with several options for how this could have occurred. I remember one of my classmates said something that was completely absurd, but very funny, and the whole class laughed. I'm sure 95 percent of the people in that class have long since forgotten this happened, but I haven't. A few months ago I was thinking about it and found myself laughing all over again. I know, I know, it's completely silly but it's just the way I am. Perhaps that's part of what helps me be so happy all the time. . .

I enjoy walking down the street, thinking about these funny things and just smiling to myself about them. Sometimes I wonder what people who see me do so think about these cryptic little smiles, but who really knows?! I am well aware, and that's all that matters, right?! Plus, life is hard enough, especially with the economy so crappy, so I'm glad that I can find things to be happy about.

Today I had another funny experience along these same lines. My co-worker was having a hard day, so in an effort to help her feel better, I went to theofficequotes.com and copied some quotes from a few of the very best Office episodes. We share a mutual interest in The Office and have even incorporated a few of the sayings into our vernacular. This had the desired effect, and I was pleased to hear her laugh at each of the quotes I sent. Later, the two of us were leaving the office and we got onto an elevator together. I started thinking about The Office (and let's be honest - there are quite a few episodes chock full of funny moments!) and an episode in particular that I found amusing. A couple floors down from our floor, a lady had joined us, so there were three of us in the elevator. As I thought about the particulars of this episode, I started laughing, suddenly and without explanation. Andrea (my colleague) is accustomed to my sudden outbursts of giggles, so she wasn't startled. (I am also very much a giggler, and I laugh easily, so this happens on a regular basis.) However, she said the lady turned around and gave me the weirdest look, like I was some kind of crazy person. She said something to the effect that nobody had even said anything. I told her that I don't need anybody to say anything because the pictures in my head entertain me most effectively. In thinking over the situation, perhaps I should have found a different way to say this, but oh well. She walked away very quickly after getting off the elevator. Andrea and I talked about it on our trek to the parking garage (which is a block and a half from the office - oh the joys of working in the middle of a construction zone, but that's a topic for another post). I thought it was the funniest thing ever and was still laughing about it once I got to my car.

I supposed the point of all this prattle is that I like to remember things that make me laugh and think about them later, after everyone else has long since forgotten about them. The world is my private joke, but only because I make it so.