Grateful

Well, the semester is winding down... finally. People are stressing, people are busy, and people don't like it when you forget to put your phone on silent while studying in the library basement (but that's a whole other story). Though we all may be running around like chickens with our heads cut off, it is a good idea to still make time for others. Luckily, Jeff and I were able to meet at the end of last week for our final get-together.

As it turns out, Jeff is going to be able to go home to Taiwan this summer, and he is incredibly excited. He hasn't been home for an entire year. As a Texas resident, it's hard for me to imagine that long of a time away from my family. Fort Worth is forty minutes away from my hometown, and I see my parents almost every other weekend to catch up, have dinner, and laugh about our lives. I love living close to where I grew up; it's comforting. 

Jeff doesn't seem to have a problem with living so far away from home. He likes Texas, and he likes the adventure of living in America. When I asked him what the hardest part was, however, he told me that it was difficult being away from his family for so long. Jeff acts mature about his situation, though, by focusing on the positives of living here and of the excitement he will feel to step back into his home country.

Learning about Jeff's situation has made me wonder how or if I would be different had I attended a college in a different state. I was incredibly close to committing to Vanderbilt for NCAA swimming in the SEC, but I instead chose to be born again as a horned frog on the TCU NCAA swim team. How would my life be different in Nashville? Would I be a more mature and responsible version of myself? It's interesting to think about. Not only are ESL students sent across the world to attend school, but they are immersed into a country which speaks a language unknown to them. My hypothesis is that ESL students are forced to become more mature, responsible, and adaptable than if they had stayed at home to receive university education. Even Jeff agreed that he thinks he has grown a lot as a person over the two year period he has spent in America.

I've learned quite a bit about Taiwan, Jeff, and cultural differences over the course of the semester by merely talking with Jeff seven times. This assignment was a great way to make a new friend and learn something new about a differing culture or country. Jeff loves to talk about his home country, and it was fun to listen to and learn from him. Though we may never see each other again, I'm grateful to have met such a confident and good-humored person as Jeff.

I wish I could grow a mustache half as impressive as Twain, alternatively called This post accidentally became really deep so I needed a funny title

Here he is - Mark Twain, the great American author who looks scaringly similar to Albert Einstein. I quite enjoyed the little book of Twain's quotes. He is a clever and sarcastic man, which is the kind of humor I enjoy. His wit reminds me a little of the wit Jane Austen's protagonists possess.

One of the quotes I liked goes like this: "There are no people who are quite so vulgar as the over-refined one." This quote is super interesting, and it immediately reminded me of the novel (and movie) American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. It's the story of a wealthy, young businessman/serial killer. The book centers around the elite society of New York, and all of the "high-class" and "over-refined" characters are some of the most vulgar ever envisioned. I do think this is also true in some regards in reality, however.

I also liked Twain's quotes about family: "Familiarity breeds contempt - and children." This one just made me laugh, because sooner or later most of us will face that point in our lives with children involved. Some people are eager for this time to come - others just go along its inevitability. "As long as you're in your right mind don't you ever pray for twins. Twins amount to a permanent riot. And there ain't any real difference between triplets and an insurrection." This quote also made me chuckle. The idea of twins or triplets is pretty exciting, but the reality is that you'll probably never sleep again in your life until they all leave for college.

I'll finish off by saying that two quotes also seemed pretty relevant to the recent tragedies in Boston and West, Texas. "Be good and you will be lonesome." Unfortunately, this seems to be true most of the time. There is much deception and manipulation in this world. However, these tragedies, though we all wish they never happen, do help remind us of the kindness we all have inside. People joined hands together to help heal and comfort, and it is good to see that love will always exist. "Yes, always avoid violence. In this age of charity and kindliness, the time has gone by for such things. Leave dynamite to the low and unrefined." Tragedies like these make one think about why good things happen to bad people. Does it serve purely as a reminder? Why does God allow this to happen? No one can know the answer for sure. Satan is a tricky beast, and he thrives off of the evil he puts on this earth. He inflicts pain and anger and hate. The good news? God and goodness and love always win in the end, and the response of humans everywhere on this planet have shown this to be true. 

Finally, here's a quote with which we can end on a good note: "There's a good spot tucked away somewhere in everybody. You'll be a long time finding it sometimes." I believe that we all have a purpose greater than ourselves in this world. When we find this purpose, whatever it may be, big or small, we have a new drive for living, and it shines through for all to see.

Take risks (but wear bug spray)

"We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it - and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again - and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore." - Mark Twain, Following the Equator

Mark Twain has many great quotes, but this was my favorite from the book. It is not one of his more humorous quotes, but it encompasses one of the themes by which I live my own life. It boils down to essentially this: one must take risks to fully enjoy life.

Twain is telling us that we should learn from our experiences. For most people this is inevitable and comes as second nature. We learn and move on as to not let history repeat itself, although sometimes we do take a few times to truly learn the lesson at hand, like learning to always wear bug spray in the warm Texas mosquito-filled nights. When we go shopping and spend all our money and realize we are broke, we learn to budget money. When we fall in love and experience heartbreak, we learn to be guarded. The list goes on and on.

We gain wisdom throughout our lives, and we learn from our mistakes. Twain goes on to advise us, however, that we cannot stop truly living because we become overly cautious due to our experiences. It is OK to be careful, for that is the nature of learning. Yet there is a fine line between being careful and being over-careful, and we must not cross this line. 

If we try something new and fail or get hurt, we as humans have a tendency to retract our actions and ignore the past as if it never happened. We refuse to accept what happened or move on. We hide behind our fear and stay far away from that something which led to our failure. We become blind to the idea of taking that risk again, because we are afraid of failing for a second time. 

I agree with Twain that this is not the way to live a full and happy life. We need to take risks, fall in love, and try new foods in order to keep learning and gaining invaluable wisdom. We all are inherently curious creatures, and this curiosity needs to be fed with novel adventures. We cannot live as Twain's cat, too afraid to take the risk. We must step out of our comfort zones to experience life!

Unexpectedly finding humor in pain

This past weekend has been so busy and unfortunately pretty stressful. I've been in training for my new job, a scribing position at Cook Children's hospital. Though the training is intense, there have been brief moments of humor that did not involve purely me laughing at random things happening.

Background: I tend to laugh at everything. It is both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing, because it lets me see the bright side of life and death and everything in between. It is a curse, because sometimes a situation presents itself in which it is hard for me to act completely serious. That is the nature of who I am, though, and I must live with the consequences of seeing the world in rose-colored, perpetually stylish Ray-Bans.

And we are back to this weekend: Essentially, we are watching video after video of scenarios in the emergency department that we will inevitably encounter and have to document. Obviously, professionalism is one of the qualities a scribe must possess, and we are to show this professionalism during our training. I know how to be professional while wearing my rose-colored Ray-Bans, but I was not sure how far I could stretch it this weekend. How intense was this training going to be? Would our trainer have a sense of humor? Would they fail me because I like to laugh? Would I even enjoy this job due to the traumatic nature of the ER and the subsequent lack of humor and infusion of sorrow?

Well, as it turns out, humor is rampant even in medical situations when trauma and death is an occurrence seen in higher proportion than your typical day. Though our trainers were pretty serious, the videos we watched were infused with unexpected humor. For example, the "doctors" in the videos had names like Dr. Timberlake and Dr. McConaughey, which made us chuckle whilst documenting the doctor-patient interactions. There was also one scenario of chronic pain back, in which it is pertinent to ask the patient whether he or she has, sorry for the bathroom humor, "pooped or peed on themselves." We actually phrase this as "bowel/urinary incontinence" to make it sound better. Anyway, both the "patient" and "doctor" in the video laughed at this! This just goes to show that we never truly grow out of that type of humor. We might not find it roll-on-the-ground funny, but we giggle, especially in this particular context.

It surprised me that I would see humor in these intense medical situations. I doubt that actually being in the hospital will prompt as many smiles as the videos did. Regardless, it is nice to see that a sense of humor is not a rare thing in this world. Though these medical scenarios are taken seriously by all parties involved, said parties still seem to find reasons to laugh and be cheerful. This is a perfect example of how humans find humor in sorrow and pain. It is a coping mechanism. And it must work, because we still do it, and I doubt we will stop any time soon. Cheers to humor for saving us, sometimes in just the same way as medicine.

Sunshine and cheese, or I could not think of a clever title, but I will try harder next time

Last week was my second to last meeting with Jeff, my cool conversation partner. Neither of us can believe that the semester has flown by so quickly. It seems like spring break was just last week, and these cold mornings we are still experiencing are not suggestive of the fact that summer is just out of reach. 

Jeff and I were talking about this strange weather pattern, and we decided that it would be wonderful if Texas would decide on one season to stick with, preferably summer. I don't mind the heat, especially since I have lived here my whole life. Jeff only likes it to an extent but would rather have the heat than these mornings of frost and coats, only to have to discard the coats after 10 am when the sun appears and makes us sweat. 

The topic of our conversation this week consisted of plans for summer. Jeff is hoping to go home to Taiwan, although he is not sure yet when he will be able to. Since his parents were not able to visit him in Texas this spring, he is pretty excited at the prospect of seeing his family soon. He is also looking forward to the authentic food he will eat at home. From our conversations throughout the semester, that's one of things that I have picked up on as being important to Jeff - food of his heritage. We have talked about food a lot, and I think Jeff really misses the authentic taste. Though he cooks here, he doesn't have the ingredients to make "real" tasting food from Taiwan. 

I can definitely sympathize with Jeff in this area. Living in Texas, Mexican food is a huge deal to me and my family and friends. Whenever I go to an area without  "real" Mexican food, I become sad and disappointed with the world (NOT a hyperbole...). Chips and queso make up their own food group in my life. I don't feel at home in a place lacking good chips and queso. 

OK, so maybe I AM exaggerating a bit. But, seriously, I do understand why Jeff misses the food of his home country. It cannot be substituted here, similar to how queso cannot be substituted for anything that Northerners think is just "melted cheese." How did we get on this subject again?

So, summer plans... Jeff hopes to go home, and I plan to remain in Fort Worth, working and researching and enjoying the sun. It has been a wonderful (albeit busy) semester, but it's time now for the Texas sun to emerge and start frying and fading everything it touches. Bring on the sun!

Cowboys and horses and cows, oh my!

Last week, Jeff and I got together for the first time in two weeks. We both were incredibly busy the week before but made time on Friday to catch up. Jeff told me that he was going to the Stockyards for the first time later that day, and I became awkwardly animated when he told me this. I love the Stockyards! I'm assuming it is because I am Texas born and bred. Anything Texas-related makes me smile and feel insanely proud of my heritage, and it's awesome when visitors and students not native to Texas get to experience that feeling, too. 

The Fort Worth Stockyards are great for many reasons. There is the Tarantula train, which goes from Grapevine (my hometown) right to the heart of the Stockyards, the giant wooden maze, the rodeo, museums, cowboys and horses galore, and, of course, Billy Bob's. I told Jeff that I have only been to Billy Bob's once but that it was so much fun learning how to two-step. I plan to attend plenty of dances and concerts there this fall. Jeff seemed skeptical about the two-stepping, but I assured him it was worth trying! He would at least have a good story to take back home to Taiwan!

Just out of curiosity, I asked Jeff if he had ever been to Dallas, and he said he had not. Fort Worth is a lot different from Dallas. The Fort has that Cowboy culture with the cows and the ten-gallon hats and the old time candy shops; Dallas is an urban city with confusing roads that have the same names but lead in different directions and make you lost even if you've been there fifteen times before (do I sound bitter?). Dallas has it's own type of fun, though. It just seems to be a lot more expensive than Fort Worth!

The great thing about Texas is that all the residents here share the same love of the Lone Star State. Jeff agreed with me when I told him that, and he definitely likes Texas better than California (fun place to visit, though). Texas is so great in so many ways! I could go on and on, but here's the gist of the Texan attitude: we are uniquely and primarily Texan and then also American... but still mostly Texan.

I hope Jeff gets a good taste of that Cowboy spirit of the Old West today and that he enjoys every second of it. Yeehaw!!!

Tales of not-so-humorous-Juha

The more stories I read about Juha, the more I get to know his character. Though he is a many-faced man with a myriad of different stories, some of his characteristics persist. From my perspective, I believe Juha to be selfish, cynical, and disrespectful. 

This might be purely a culture difference. Many of the stories which make him seem selfish and disrespectful center around women, the role of the wife, and marriage. In these "jokes," the woman, usually Juha's wife, is seen usually as ugly or unintelligent. For example: "Some people told Juha his wife had lost her brains. He thought for a few moments. 'She doesn't have any brains,' he said finally. 'Let me think now, what might she have lost?'" (page 45) There are a lot of stories like this one that are demeaning and disrespectful towards women. Again, this might just be attributed to the culture differences between the Eastern and Western worlds. Women in the Middle East barely exist in the eyes of men. Though women in the West are mocked by men to a certain degree, this humor is often harmless, and even girls laugh at "women should be in the kitchen" or "women are bad drivers" jokes. I laugh at them, because I know they are harmless. In contrast, women in the Middle East lack rights and are forced into submission, so the jokes in this context seem malicious. 

Juha also seems incredibly cynical. "Juha recounted: 'A friend ask me once: 'Why not marry, Juha?' 'I'd divorce my own self,' I told him, 'if only I could.''" (page 47) He is always assuming the worst of the world and the people in it. "'How long,' someone asked him, 'will people go on being born and dying?' 'Until hell's full,' Juha replied." (page 52) Juha holds a negative view of the universe. At first, I thought Juha to be more of a scholar and giver of wisdom, but these stories show him in a darker light. Juha has many stories which relate to different kinds of people, and these cynical views relate more to pessimists. 
 
Another characteristic that stands out to me is Juha's desire to always one-up everyone else. In these stories, he reminds me of Kristen Wiig's one-upper character named Penelope on SNL. Penelope always has to be better, smarter, dumber, faster, slower, richer, poorer... whatever one person says, she amplifies it. This is what Juha does in his stories. He is always trying to out-do people. 

Finally, most of Juha's stories make jokes or bring around humor at the expense of others. This is a common type of humor, but it isn't an innocent one. Many scholars have remarked that it is the only type of humor - and one would certainly think so after reading these tales. Even when Juha isn't mocking someone else, he is mocking himself. That being said, I don't find these tales funny or even relatable, in part due to the cultural differences and in part due to the type of humor portrayed.

Construcing a life that makes sense

When I went home for Easter, I found many items in my room that were bought in gift shops. It was difficult to pick items with which to construct my life, but eventually I settled on three symbolic objects.

This deck of cards is imprinted with my college's emblem. Superficially, it represents my college career and never-ending Horned Frog pride. It also reminds me of my family, because we are all card players. Whenever we have family reunions (my mom has five brothers and sisters, so they get pretty rowdy), we sit around and play cards for hours and never tire of it. Those memories of my family will always last. Additionally, a deck of cards also represents my personality - I am organized and very type A. When things get hectic and the cards are scattered everywhere, I have to take the time to put them back in order.

This strange item is actually a pin I got in a gift shop in a small town called Hayward, Wisconsin. My family takes a trip to the North Woods of Wisconsin every summer to go fishing, hang out, grill out, relax, canoe, play with the baby cousins, etc. It is the highlight of my summer every year. This pin makes me reminisce on the memories I have already made on those vacations and the memories I know my family will continue to make. I think this pin also symbolizes my joy in the little things, my love for my family, my love of nature, and my drive for adventures. Some day I will have my own cabin in the North Woods. One should never cease going on adventures; they are the best way to learn about the world and about oneself.

Lastly, I have a key chain with the emblem of Harry Potter's house at Hogwarts, Gryffindor. This firstly represents my love of books, reading and imagination. Life would be dull without imagination. I often get lost in books and walk around in a daze for hours after I finish a great one. The house of Gryffindor itself represents bravery and loyalty, and I associate those characteristics with myself as well. If the Sorting Hat was placed on my head, I would want it to yell out, "GRYFFINDOR!" with great conviction. This key chain lastly represents my longing to stay young forever. Adults aren't "supposed" to have funny key chains or act as if Hogwarts is a real place. I yearn to keep that magic of youth alive throughout my years of getting older and growing up.

I forgot my false mustache

Laugh lurker (noun): one who lurks whilst observing others laugh and sets out with a purpose of discovering quantities and origins of such laughter.

In my head I had envisioned myself wearing a totally inconspicuous fishing hat, those funny glasses with the false nose and mustache attached, and camouflage pants. I was going to casually hide in the bushes as if no one could see a giant green and brown bottomed person doing an army crawl through the shrubbery. I planned to mentally record the when/where/why of laughter in conversations of innocent passerby on which I just happened to eavesdrop. The plan was nothing short of flawless.

 

Then came the realization that I owned neither a fishing hat nor camouflaged-patterned pants. And I had misplaced my false mustache.

So, I was forced to settle with Plan B, albeit its anticlimactic nature compared with Plan Mustache. Plan B was as follows: 
A) Participate in conversations.
B) Do nothing unusual.
C) Pretend to not be mentally taking note of every time someone laughs.

Success came at last! As I was pretending to be normal, I observed that in casual conversation, most laughter does not stem from truly "humorous" situations or contexts. Most of the laughter was rooted in pure friendliness. Without laughter, conversation seemed dull, uninteresting, and unfriendly. Laughter adds cheer and makes light of the darker sides of life, and it doesn't have to be a result of something considered humorous.

A lot of people laughed in response to feeling slightly awkward or uncomfortable, too. I know that I personally do this, especially when meeting someone for the first time. To me, this fits in with the Relief Theory of humor. Many of us let out nervous or pent-up energy through laughter, because subconsciously we know that laughter releases endorphins and makes us feel better. We aren't laughing due to experiencing something humorous, therefore. We laugh, essentially, to release emotions and keeps ourselves from exploding.

In daily conversation, most laughter represents friendliness and release of excess energy. We like to laugh, but we also like sharing our laughter, so we do it with others around and in response to things that are not necessarily hilarious. Someone wrote once that happiness is only real when shared, and I believe that is what humans do every day of their lives: find someone with which to share their happiness. This happiness is represented with laughter.

At least we're both rooting for Team Food

If I may, I'm going to go out on a limb and say this: Einstein's bagel/coffee combo is unbeatable and one of the best ways to start your day. So, what better place to meet with your conversation partner than the place with the freshly toasted and buttered bagels and vanilla hazelnut coffee (if you get there within two minutes after they put out a new batch before it's all gone)? Jeff and I met here instead of our usual Union Grounds rendezvous point on Saturday, and it was glorious.

I like meeting with Jeff, because our interactions are not awkward at all. We talk easily, and we are becoming more comfortable having casual conversations with each other. I look forward to speaking with him to see how his week is going; it provides a nice break from the hectic rush of classes and homework and tests.

Incidentally, Jeff told me that this past week he was present when one of his friends had his meeting with his conversation partner. He also explained to me how awkward it was, and that Jeff was actually trying to keep the conversation going! I think both of us are relieved that our conversations are not forced, although I do believe the awkwardness or lack thereof has everything to do with the participants' attitudes. Neither Jeff or I mind having these thirty minute conversations every week. Jeff especially is a really good sport about it, since he is supposed to be the one "learning" English (although his English is awesome!). So, it definitely makes a difference that both of us want to be there. Plus, meeting new people is always fun!

In addition to high-fiving ourselves about our lack of awkwardness, our conversation also centered largely around the topic of food. We both love food (I have sympathy for anyone who doesn't feel the same way) and probably could discuss it for hours. Jeff told me that his family teases him for not being as big a fan of seafood as the normal Taiwanese person, and I told him my family teases me for wanting to eat it all the time (especially sushi). We're pretty good at tag-teaming conversation. 

Since we share a love of good food, hopefully next week we will meet somewhere as delicious as Einstein's. One can only hope.

The gum effect

This weekend, I was fortunate to hear one of the funniest stories in the history of funny stories. I laughed so hard when I heard it that I turned into a giggling limp noodle and almost fell out of my chair. In a way, it is a type of schadenfreude story, so there was a small part of me that felt guilty for laughing the way I did. As you will see, though, this story belongs straight out of a movie. This is a story as told to me by my friend (in the interest of anonymity, let’s call him Tom). So here goes.

The Delts threw a highlighter bus party last Friday night. It was a huge shindig, complete with glow sticks and black lights and loud music and dancing. Tom, a Delt, was having a great time, dancing and fist-pumping like a frat star. All of a sudden, a girl catches his eye. She is beautiful and perfect, and he is instantly attracted to her. He asks her to dance. She says yes. Things are going swell as they are dancing in the midst of the fist-pumping crowd. Tom is ecstatic to have found this wonderful girl. And she is a great dancer. What could go wrong?

There they were, dancing the night away, when the girl brushes her hair to the side of her neck. Tom seizes this opportunity. Carpe diem! Matching the raunchiness of the rest of the dancing couples, Tom goes to kiss the girl’s neck. There are only two problems with this scenario: not all the girl’s hair has been pushed to the side, and Tom is chewing gum.

Gum, which, as he opened his mouth, became irreversibly stuck in this pretty girl’s hair.

At first, Tom tries not to panic. He can just pull the gum out, and she will never know. When that doesn’t work, Tom begins to panic. The gum is stuck. It isn’t coming out. He doesn’t know what to do, and he doesn’t want to tell the beautiful girl what has happened. He has only just met her, and there would be no recovery from a gum-in-hair incident.
The girl keeps dancing while Tom is panicking. Eventually, the girl tells him that she is going to go to the restroom but will be right back. “Don’t go anywhere,” she says. Tom knows that she will realize soon enough what has happened. Tom is super bummed, because he likes her. But Tom, knowing a recovery is not possible, slinks away into the darkness of the black lights and glow sticks and loud music and never sees the pretty girl again.

The end.

Author’s notes: I feel bad for my friend, but I couldn’t help laughing at this situation. It is something that belongs in a comedy film. I hope you enjoyed it hopefully as much as I did but definitely more than Tom did.

Just saying

One of the reasons I love spring break so much is that everyone returns with at least one slightly crazy and questionable story. Some people may return with many of these, but a successful break needs only one. In my meeting with Jeff today, we swapped our own spring break stories. Though both of us stayed in the area, we did have at least one good story each.

Jeff's stories involved his new apartment. Last week, he moved into a new place about ten minutes away from campus. His transition has been a continuous process ever since then. He has everything he needs in his new apartment... that is, everything except eating utensils! He may be able to cook food, but he cannot eat it. Thus lies the quite torturous paradox. He definitely needs to invest in some forks and knives and plates and cups. They are a pretty essential aspect of the kitchen in my opinion. Or he could just bake cookies, seeing as they need no forks. And they are delicious. Just saying.

My story centered around the fact that I was in a suite in the American Airlines Center for the Muse concert last Wednesday. I had no idea that I would be in a suite; my best friend's dad is a talent buyer, and he got us the tickets for free. It was such a random and fun experience. Free food and drinks all night? Check! Of course, many pictures were taken, and I will have those memories forever.

Alright, so our stories may not be particularly crazy or even the typical college spring break stories. But we still had good times and good memories made.

Jeff and I also talked for a while about food today. Food is great. Food is amazing. And Jeff agrees. We both cook for ourselves, so it was cool to talk about that. Jeff also told me that sometime throughout my lifetime I need to travel to Taiwan and try their cake. American cake is so sugary, but in Taiwan, it is that Goldilocks mixture: just the right amount. I would absolutely love to try that cake, because cake is one of the greatest joys in life. Just saying.

For some reason I keep coming back to food today. Am I hungry? Yes. Yes I am definitely hungry. I do believe it is lunch time.

I really like these talks with Jeff. We keep finding more in common, which is really cool.
Until next week! Peace.

Ps yummmmmm lunch.

The innocence in laughter

My spring break was planned a long time in advance. Carefully thought out, anxiously anticipated. Unfortunately, it wasn't a glamorous trip to the beach or even a trip to grandma's. My fabulous spring break would consist of catching up on all my MCAT studying.

It wouldn't be so bad, I told myself. I'll get caught up on my work, and then I'll feel much less stressed! Being the type A that I am, I even came up with a study schedule for each day. Needless to say, people who have ambition to study over spring break hardly ever get everything done that they intend to. Thus, by the end of the week, I was overwhelmed, stressed, and giving up hope. So much for my carefully constructed study schedule.

I did have one fun activity planned, though. Two months prior, I had purchased my sister and myself tickets to see one of our favorite musicians, Andrew McMahon, in concert on the final Saturday of break. The event was highly anticipated by both of us, and Saturday seemed to come at a snail pace. When we finally arrived at the concert hall in Dallas, we were bursting with restless energy and excitement.

Often, when we build something up in our heads, we end up feeling disappointment. Our expectations are too high to reach, and we fall short of the happiness we deem appropriate. This concert, however, turned out to be everything I wanted and more. It was, in full honesty, the best music experience I have ever had. If I could choose five moments in which to live over and over for the rest of my life, this one would be in the rotation, hands down.

I chose this moment to share, because I feel that it exemplifies the presence of innocent laughter. In class, we have discussed both sides of the argument that laughter is menacing, that it is evil at its roots, that it leads to arrogance, that we laugh at the pain of others. To all those who say laughter is evil, I say this: go see your favorite artist perform live. It doesn't matter which form of art you prefer;  when you see and feel the passion of these artists, you will smile and you will laugh and you will feel a happiness not connected with your own sense of worth. You are happy purely because you feel the passion and the joy the artist feels. You do not laugh to mock, and you do not laugh to feel superior. You laugh because you feel honestly and innocently happy. And you are humbled at the artist's abilities to make you feel this way.

The laughter that arises is not connected necessarily with humor, but it is laughter all the same, and it is innocent. That, in essence, is my argument to all who claim that there is ill feeling in laughter.

Sunshine > snow

As scheduled, I met Jeff for the second week in a row at Union Grounds. The more we talk, the more I realize we have in common. Jeff does his own cooking, loves Texas, and enjoys science. We have a good time conversing together. 

This week our conversation steered towards the subject of spring break. Jeff isn't vacationing anywhere, but he is moving into a new apartment near campus, and he is very excited about that. His mom is also coming to visit him in March. This sparked the topic of parents. Jeff told me that whenever his mom visits, she spends the entire time cleaning! This made me laugh, because my mom is the exact same way. It seems that, although culture differences can be quite large, moms tend to always be moms, no matter what. Gotta love 'em.

Jeff's brother went to college in Michigan, and that got us talking about snow and how fun it is for a maximum of 48 hours. Two days in the snow is enough to last someone an entire winter, in my opinion. Also, that is why I go to college in Texas. Jeff doesn't like snow either. We talked about skiing, and I do actually enjoy to ski, because I love being outdoors. Jeff never has been skiing. I've always wanted to try snowboarding, too... mostly because of the PlayStation2 snowboarding game SSX (best video game ever, in case you were wondering). Alas, I digress.

In contrast to places where the snow is overwhelming, we also discussed places we've been that we loved to explore. My favorite thus far has been Alaska (I know that I just said I don't like snow... but this was on a cruise... so it's OK). Jeff told me that I need to go to Japan if I ever get a chance. He explained that Tokyo is chaos-filled and crowded, but outlaying cities are really fun to experience. I would love to see Japan. I have never been to Europe or Asia, only the Americas. I have a strong desire to travel, though, and I plan to backpack through Europe before medical school. Traveling is one of the best ways to learn.

One of Jeff's friends saw him and stopped to say hi while we were talking. He introduced himself to me and was quite nice, and he was wearing cool shoes. It's fun to meet new people. I think we can learn so much more about the world and about ourselves if we stop hesitating to reach out to others.

Anyway, that is my philosophical thought for the day. I do enjoy these talks with Jeff. He's a laid-back individual, and it is nice to hear him speak about his home in Taiwan. I am looking forward to whatever conversation next week's meeting brings!

If men are from mars, women are not even in the milky way

Hands down, my favorite reading for today was "Tips for Women: How to Have a Relationship with a Guy" by Dave Barry. In fact, this might top the list for the most fun reading yet. The essence of what I will say about this passage is that it is entirely based on truth. And that is exactly what makes it so hilarious.

Barry writes in such a way to emphasize the heart of the matter: men and women live not only on different planets but in different solar systems. There is just no way that a man and a woman can ever share a common mindset. Though Barry employs a fanatical use of hyperbole, every person reading this story is thinking the same thing: THIS IS SO TRUE! 

When it comes to relationships, women over think and over analyze literally every tiny detail they can remember to tell their girl friends, and men hardly think at all. And they certainly don't discuss it with their friends. I think most of us college-aged students are old enough to realize the complexities of relationships with the opposite gender by now. One of my longest relationships ended two days after the guy was still insisting that everything was fine. (Clearly it wasn't, but who was I to know??)

I love how Barry is obviously completely unashamed about this perpetual situation, because it is one that simply cannot be helped. Men say, "Huh?", while women wonder what is running through their minds. I do not believe that all men are like this, but I do believe that every guy has been through or will go through this unknowing, unwilling, non-ready, in-denial-of-reality happenstance whilst in a relationship with a woman. It made me laugh a lot when Barry said, "Do not expect the guy to make a hasty commitment. By 'hasty,' I mean, 'within your lifetime.'"

Also, the "Basic Guy Logic" that Barry described is both incredibly funny and true. Guys in relationships are always jealous of their single friends, because there is NO WAY that being in love with the same woman for the rest of your life will ever be as fun as frequent and unemotional flings. There's just no way. They will miss out on all the nights alone... with the cat and the TV and the potato chips. Who would be OK with missing that? No one.

Barry is a hoot, and he knows what he is talking about when it comes to the interaction between men and women. His sarcasm and vivid metaphors are extremely funny, and he gets his point across with ease. I would love to read more of his writing in the future.

It's not official until it's on facebook, right?

I expected it to be awkward, and I expected it to be forced. But what I didn't expect was that the first meeting with my conversation partner would be neither of these things, nor did I expect an immediate friend request on the ever-so-omnipotent headwater of social media, Facebook. Jeff was super nice, had a sense of humor, and kept the conversation going when I ran out of things to ask him. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, neither of us had any trouble understanding the other.

Jeff is from Taiwan, and he is 21 years old, exactly like me. Though he lived most of his childhood in Taiwan, he went to high school in Austin. This fact sparked a ten-minute conversation consisting of many comparisons between Austin and the DFW. Both of us agreed that Fort Worth was better - less traffic, less people, and less division between the rich and poor areas. Austin is exciting for short period of time, but it is also extremely wild, hence the perfectly apt "Keep Austin Weird" motto.

An interesting aspect of our conversation was the similarities between our families. Jeff's parents and older brother live in Taiwan, but they visit him in Texas every year around springtime. My perception of most Asian cultures is strict competition and drive by the parents for success, and I found this to be true in Jeff's family. His parents own a business that makes security cameras. Both his father and brother have engineering degrees. When Jeff expressed his interest to go into engineering as well, his father encouraged him to pursue a different field. I can definitely relate to this. I have an older sister in medical school, and I am also pre-med. Throughout our lives, our parents have compared us to one another. I've found that it's often difficult to live up to expectations that someone else sets for you, because his or her ideas of success are almost always different from your own. Jeff decided to major in computer science at TCU. He plans (eventually) to go back to Taiwan and work in the computer programming branch of his father's company.

Another fascinating conversation we had was initiated when Jeff told me he that is actually a transfer student. He went to USC for a year and did not enjoy California... because they are "racist." This statement got my attention. Jeff remarked that the customs at LA always gave him trouble, and he became frustrated with this. In comparison, DFW is a complete one-eighty. Customs are easy here. The people are nicer. TCU is pretty.

I'm glad Jeff likes Texas. I'm Texas born and bred, and, though I might stray away for medical school, I'm planning to live here for the rest of my life. Most Texans are the same way, I think. It's a wonderful place, and TCU is truly a beautiful campus. It makes me happy that Jeff has found a home here.

Jeff and I finished off our conversation by making plans to meet again next Tuesday. We exchanged phone numbers, and Jeff suggested we exchange Facebook information, too. Once we became friends on Facebook, I remarked, "Now it's official!" This made him laugh nod in agreement. A couple of genuine smiles later, we said goodbye and each continued on with our Tuesday in a more cheerful mood than one hour earlier.

Girls are crazy...

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Let me start out by confessing something most females seem reluctant to say: I LOVE being a girl. And I absolutely, positively, and undeniably wouldn't have it any other way.

As complex and high maintenance as we are, girls definitely run the world (credit to Beyonce on that one). Now, this might not be true from the standpoint of politics or business, but women are the givers in the circle of life. And that, I believe, is a pretty important job. Some people will retort, "Well, the woman might bear children, but men provide the 'life source' in the equation: the sperm." True, an egg must be fertilized in order to develop into a living embryo. However, science also proves that the sperm literally provides nothing to development except one set of genetic material. The egg, in all its glory, provides the nutrients, the growth signals, the living space, and, of course, another set of chromosomes. 

Thus, it seems women do all the work in maintaining society. And, as rough as it may be sometimes, that is something every woman should be proud of. We are extremely complex beings, much more so than our male counterparts (who surprisingly only genetically differ from us with one small region of one small chromosome). 

"Bra sizes"

I am ranting about the fantastical role of women in our world, because both of today's readings were written by women from extremely honest and accurate points of view. Dorothy Parker’s “The Waltz” had me laughing the whole way through due to its uncanny, realistic stream of a woman’s consciousness. I’m pretty sure this is exactly how any girl would react (internally!) to being asked to dance by a man she doesn’t want to dance with, and I’m pretty sure many of us girls have gone through this exact situation (for me, it was prom). I think this story exemplifies the brains of women everywhere. We say things we don’t mean and we over-analyze everything we can. Though this story is intended to be hyperbole, it is strangely accurate. Boys, if you think women are complex from the outside, you haven’t a clue to what goes on inside.
 

The second story, “A Few Words about Breasts” by Nora Ephron, was also hilarious, especially from a woman’s perspective. I happen to be a huge fan of breasts (is it OK for me to say boobs?). Men love them, women love them, babies love them… and, really, what’s not to love? Women should be proud of them, in my opinion, as they have many a function in this world. The author’s perspective, however, was that she was scarred for life due to the curse of having small breasts. To be quite honest, I can relate to this. My body shape isn’t one for big boobs, though both my mom and my sister have normal sized ones. Sometimes I lament not having at least a B cup. I mean, that’s Barely even a Boob (get it? B cup? B?). On the other hand, there are quite a few things large busted women have a harder time of doing than those with small chests, and the author mentions this at the end of her story. The author doesn’t like that argument, but I do, and I believe it to be extremely relevant to today’s society in which women are capable of doing anything.

Whatever the size of the breasts, they do matter, especially in the development of a girl’s self esteem. In modern times, though, girls are more confident and open about their womanly issues, leading to higher levels of self esteem. Though the author might not agree, I think boobs are awesome.

 
I also think being a woman is fantastic. Once we stop being so dramatic (alas, not every girl is capable of doing this), we can see the humor in our wildly complex lives. Both of these authors definitely nailed the whole “you’re acting like such a girl” stereotype. And what is the outcome? Hilarity.

If I were a rich man

My best friend, Haley, and I have known each other since we were three years old, and we have had the best of luck to not have been separated the past in 17 years. She attends college at Dallas Baptist University, so we are able to spend time together quite frequently, much to our pleasure. Not much longer than a day has gone by when Haley and I are not swapping stories or pictures or texts. One of the greater aspects of our relationship is that we share the same sense of humor. Almost everything that I find amusing also makes her laugh and vice versa. Though I am a biology major and she is majoring in songwriting, our similar sense of humor always brings us together. 

This past weekend I journeyed to Dallas to see DBU's rendition of Fiddler on the Roof with Haley. DBU has a fantastic music program, and I had never seen Fiddler, so I was excited. However, all I knew about the musical was that it centered around a village of traditional Jewish culture in Russia during the early 1900s. To me, it sounded like a drama. To me, it sounded serious. To me, it sounded, well, boring. I knew, obviously, that it was a highly acclaimed, long-running Broadway musical, but I did not know why. How entertaining can the story be? All I can say is that I'm glad I was wrong.

Fiddler made me laugh. A lot. A couple times I even had to suppress my ensuing giggle fits to retain my reputation as a courteous audience member. The humor we encountered was not usually physical and was not the main focus of the play, though. Most everything humorous that happened stemmed from the protagonist's character, who has the ability to make light of all kinds of serious, sad, and infuriating situations. The Jewish people pray often, and the protagonist would make us laugh during his conversation with God. His village was forced out of their homes by the Russian army, and he would give us a witty one-liner ("Maybe this is why we always wear our hats"). His wife would argue with him, and he would make us laugh at his exaggeration of her nagging.

I found it interesting how much the play made me laugh. I certainly didn't expect it at all, and maybe that was why it was so amusing. This ties into the Incongruity theory of humor that we have been discussing so much in class. Nothing goes in favor of the Jewish people in this story, so one does not expect any part of the situation to be funny. Then, when the mood is suddenly lifted, one laughs easily. There were many cognitive shifts to produce laughter in the play as well. One of my favorite was when a crowd is gathered around a newlywed couple exclaiming, "They have a new arrival!" When the crowd disperses, there is new sewing machine on the table. Thirty seconds later, someone asks offhandedly, "How's the baby?"

I think the humor used by the protagonist was his defense mechanism against the many troubles of his people. "Humor helps people with difficult situations..." wrote Morreall. (Ch. 3, page 66) His consistent ability to make the audience laugh provides a sharp contrast with the seriousness of the problems that come his way. He even has an entire song dedicated to fantasies of wealth and riches, all the while waving his arms in the air in a traditional Jewish dance. (Well, an incredibly silly version of it, in this case.)

Fiddler was awesome, entertaining, and quite funny. I highly recommend it for everyone.
Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum.