As you may have ascertained by now, I am a person that tends to take life, work, my personal life and relationships quite seriously, and lean towards an intensively reflective type of existence. But I am also a person that has a hopeless, lifelong addiction to laughing. I love the sound of laughter more than anything else in this world. Unfortunately, I was not gifted with the fine talent of humor, and am incapable of even telling or remembering a joke. Because I know this, I have always tried to surround myself with people who do have this marvelous ability and talent, who have the gift of allowing me to be able to laugh about the absurdities of life and also, perhaps more importantly, to laugh at myself.

This weekend, I immersed myself in conversations with hysterically funny people, reading hilarious blogs and tweets, and spent some time watching movies and shows that make me laugh out loud. I am fortunate to be surrounded in my everyday life by friends and family who possess either witty sarcasm, or physical skills that allow them to produce killer impressions, or interesting quirks that result in a wonderfully charming eccentricity. As I slowly venture into the online social realm, I have also encountered numerous warm and clever souls who, whether they realize it or not, enrich my life daily with their perceptive commentary and droll observations.

Laughing non-stop over the past few days has rejuvenated and re-energized me like nothing else can. It has filled me with immeasurable joy and gratitude. I am very lucky to be surrounded by people both in the real world and online who give me the gift of laughter, because they give me something that I would not have without them - and for that, I thank them.

Translated from Spanish:

“So, how was your trip to Norway?”

“Oh, it was incredible - you know, I tried some whale meat, a delicacy there.”

“Really?”

“Oh yes, although it was a little tricky getting them to serve it to me, because I don’t speak a single word of English.”

“How did you order it at the restaurant, then?”

“Well first I sketched a stupid drawing of a whale on a napkin, with little swirls of what was supposed to be air coming out of its blowhole - but they didn’t get it.”

“Hmmm…so how did you finally get through?”

“Oh it was easy - I just kept screaming ‘Moby Dick! Moby Dick!’ until they understood.”

As a child, my fantasy was to have a pet like this … I’m so not kidding.

Me: So what kind of sound do you want to produce in this phrase? What kind of image do you have inside of you as you play it?

Student: Umm…. It’s like I’m playing with a ball, bouncing it up in the air….

Me: Ok, good - do you think that’s coming across?

Student: ……<long pause>….no…..<another long pause>

Me: Why do you think that is?

Student: ….well, right now I guess it sounds more like I’m throwing the ball up into the air and it comes down and instead of being able to nicely catch it, it’s whacking me in the eye.