What is the value of a laugh?

Posted on by writerchick

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I never met anyone who didnā€™t enjoy a good laugh. Even the snarkiest curmudgeon can get behind a deep-in-the belly chortle. Of course the snipe or insult has to be just right and at the perfect timeā€¦but the point is people enjoy a laugh. I know I like to laugh and if somebody can make me laugh consistently, then Iā€™m pretty much theirs forever.

So when people ask me what my blog is about or what its theme is or what value I bring. I basically go into that deer in the headlights pose and stutter, then mumble something unintelligible. Because mostly I write this blog to make people laugh. I canā€™t help myself; I just love to make people laugh. And I always have, even when I was a kid. From witty repartee to telling my version of family history my goal is to make you chuckle, giggle, pound-on-the-table howl and hopefully pee your pants a little.

Is this valuable? Is it worth your time?

I canā€™t speak for others although Iā€™ve seen stories of people who claim to have cured chronic illnesses by ensuring they laughed a lot and watched funny movies and did things that made them wellā€¦laugh. This article from the Mayo Clinic agrees there are health benefits to laughing including:

  • Stimulating your heart, lungs and muscles, and increasing the release of endorphins
  • Increasing your heart rate and blood pressure which can relax you
  • Stimulating your circulation and aid in muscle relaxation
  • Improving your immune system by releasing neuropeptides that help fight stress
  • Relieving pain
  • Increasing personal satisfaction
  • Improving your ability to cope
  • Helping you to connect with other human beings
  • Improving your mood
  • Lessening depression and anxiety

I mean, seriously, there must be a reason why silly videos of monkeys scrambling eggs go viral, right?

Is everything laughable?

Yeah, yeah, I know life is serious. I mean there is some pretty serious stuff going on in the world and we need to be concerned about it. But I believe that on some level pretty much everything is laughable. It may not be today or tomorrow, but even the worst thing that happened to you may be laughable years from now. I remember a friend asking me about a broken love affair that had really just ruined me. But as I told her the Readerā€™s Digest version of my journey we both started laughing and ended up, yes, peeing our pants a little. Because it the retelling it was just really stupidly, pathetically funny. I mean, come on, you just have to laugh at what a big doof you are sometimes, right? So I say, when in doubt laugh ā€“ it canā€™t hurt and it might help. You never know.

Life is a mess ā€“ make fun of it Ā file000792737528

What makes you laugh? Got any good jokes?

Writer Chick
Copyright 2015

Happy Earth Day, Week, Month, Year – from George Carlin

Posted on by writerchick

We lost quite the razor wit when George Carling decided to check out. Happily, many ofĀ his funniest and spot-on routines are immortalized on albums and videos. Here, George a well known liberal, gives us his surprising take on things like earth day. Be prepared to laugh your head off.

You can find the entire transcript here but below is a snippet:

Besides, there is nothing wrong with the planet. Nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine. The PEOPLE are fucked. Difference. Difference. The planet is fine. Compared to the people, the planet is doing great. Been here four and a half billion years. Did you ever think about the arithmetic? The planet has been here four and a half billion years. We’ve been here, what, a hundred thousand? Maybe two hundred thousand? And we’ve only been engaged in heavy industry for a little over two hundred years. Two hundred years versus four and a half billion. And we have the CONCEIT to think that somehow we’re a threat? That somehow we’re gonna put in jeopardy this beautiful little blue-green ball that’s just a-floatin’ around the sun?

The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through all kinds of things worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles…hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worlwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages…And we think some plastic bags, and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet…the planet…the planet isn’t going…

So, from me and George Happy Earth Day folks. šŸ˜‰ WC

Writer Chick Predicts 2010

Posted on by writerchick

Every year I take a stab at predicting the future with questionable results. Doris Day likes to croon, ā€œThe futureā€™s not ours to seeā€ ā€“ still it doesnā€™t stop us from trying.

Now that I have downed my double half-caf chai latte and have gotten in touch with the vibes of the universal future I predict:

1. Now that global warming has been discredited and the email scandal has been blown wide open, the term global warming will not be uttered. An obscure scientist from Boise, Iowa will start a new movement known as Global Manipulation, ironically this new movement will have the same characteristics of global warming though, without Algore and the social stigma attached to it. Which will give it new life and give chicken littles everywhere a chance to mass produce new tee shirts, mouse pads and bumper stickers.
2. An outbreak of horse flu will scare the nation into avoiding rodeos and dude ranches and fashionistas will finally have to stop wearing cowbody boots with evening gowns.
3. Tea parties will become the social media events of the day and require attendance in the real world and force people to actually do something.
4. A big-haired granny will be caught with a cherry bomb in her corsette while trying to board a plane and corsettes will be banned on all domestic and international flights. This will cause the bra industry to collapse and the return of the braless granola girl look to high fashion. Young stupid actresses everywhere will embrace this new look, relieved they no longer have to have boob jobs.
5. The 2010 mid-term elections will return a balance of power to Congress and democrats everywhere will teeter on the precipice.
6. When/if the mamoth healthcare (and we use the term loosely) bill manages to pass, a class action lawsuit will be filed by a vast group of conservative middle aged women from across the nation. They will ultimately also end up suing the ACLU for refusing to represent them in said suit and OJā€™s dream team will reassemble for the honor of suing the federal government and also the face time on front pages everywhere.
7. Now that Simon Cowell is leaving American Idol the tight tee shirt industry will collapse and throw even more illegal aliens out of work, forcing them to return to Mexico where they can at least get a decent taco.
8. Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer will all appear as character witnesses in the terrorist trials slated to take place in New York, in the hopes that the photo ops can be used in re-election bids later in the year. Additionally, CBS anchorperson, Katie Couric will be tapped to host a new reality show called, Terrorists are People Too, in an efffort to boost her evening newcast ratings.
9. And finally, President Obama will have a sugary, caffiene-heavy soda named after him called Bama-Pop. However, it will be pulled immediately from the market due to side effects which include trash talking and messiah complexes

How about you, what do you predict?

WC