Sunday, September 11, 2016

WHAT NOW? WRY NOT?

September, 2016
Presidio Sentinel San Diego
By Laura Walcher

Fen, our poodle-bichon who’s now maybe four or more, has, in his adulthood, acquired a wry way of looking at me.  I say “wry, ‘ because he knows I don’t always know all the answers.  I especially didn’t have all the answers one hot Sunday in 
the park, when we stopped to watch a small group – men, women, young, old, 
in a circle, and, directed by a cheerful leader, each person taking a turn at, ummmm:   laughing.  One guy kinda snorted; a little lady tee-hee’d.  A young man guffawed.  An old lady hiccupped. Etc. 

‘What the hey …?” proclaimed the wry dog.  Read the sign, I told him.  “ ‘ Laughter Yoga’ – see?”  Well, he didn’t see.  Nor did I.  I did think, tho, that these days, beset as we are by daily nation and world weariness, any reason to laugh – even if Fen and I didn’t actually see any Yoga going on – is a good thing.  

My office is beset, too.  Somewhere beneath the stacks are dozens of clips that I once imagined might lead to a laugh, or a semi-brilliant discourse, but now I realize––I’ve just got to get them  .. off my desk!  Samples:

Item 1:  Why I don’t make the Big Bucks:  the serious  - and probably well-paid advice from one paper’s “On the Job” section, called “10 Ways to be more active during the work day.” Get these: “Take the Stairs …”  “Move Around the Office …”  “Stand up and Stretch.”  “Fidget while you Work.”  Yawn. Thank me for not listing all 10.

Item 2:  From The Economist:  “Freudian Slip:   ‘ You Can’t Always Get What You Want, ’ Mr. Trump’s unfortunate choice of music by the ‘Stones, before introducing Mike Pence as his VP pick.”  

Item 3:  From Scott Adams’ “Dilbert” as the boss forgets to make a meeting agenda, and just goes for jargon:  “Let’s do a deep dive in the big data and drill down until we hyperlocalize some disruptive technologies.”  

Item 4:  Identify the following:  Bhumibol Adulyad.  Maha Vajiralongkorn.  Yingluck Shinawatra.  Prayuth Chan-ocha.  Thaksin Shinawatra.  
      Don’t despair:  these are the names of some of Thailand’s political leaders. D’you think  whether, in Thailand,  any correspond in simplicity to … John Doe?

Item 5:  From Bobby Jindal, former governor of Louisiana, re Mr. Trump:  “…you know why he hasn’t read the Bible?  Because he’s not in it.”  

Item 6:  The chair that  J. K. Rowling sat in while writing Harry Potter sold for $394,000 at auction.  (Dear Readers, you can have mine – it swivels! – for $8.95.  Cash.) 

Item:  7:  The Flip-Flopper:  Kenneth Star quoted about former president Bill Clinton, whom he tried hard to bury:  “Mr. Clinton is the most gifted politician of the baby boom generation.  His genuine empathy … is clean.. powerful .. palpable.. he genuinely cares.”  


In an anthropomorphic frenzy, I tried to tell Fen that, however odd it seems,  “Laughter Yoga” is a good thing – that I’d just google it and explain it to him.  That we need the laugh.  No, we need an ironic laugh.  That’s better these days.   ###