Make 'em laugh! Especially during a winter storm.

Life is about finding humor among all the tragedies.  The apple the snake gave Adam and Eve was nothing but the gift of humor in order to show the big man what he really was.  After eating the apple, I suspect that Eve took one look at Adam's penis and started laughing, and we men and women have been laughing ever since!

If not for humor, I would have drowned in my sorrows a long time ago.  We laugh about the misfortunes that come our way. We laugh thanking that bad luck, else there is no luck in our lives. We make mistakes in plenty and much later, when we have squared them away, laugh about those godawful mistakes.

We laugh about everyday existence.  Once when I was getting stuff over to the neighborhood Goodwill Store, a friend commented that I was a clean-freak getting rid of the junk. "Yep, that explains my divorce too" I said, which made her laugh.  I laughed as well. Later, when I was in India, and a similar context came up, I tried the same punchline and laughed. Turned out that nobody else found that funny.

I have no idea if students think I am funny in the classroom, but I feel like I am always laughing there. I think I am healthy only because I laugh, er, teach.  When I bugged the students with questions the other day, I said "you are probably feeling, "stop all those questions. I want to pull my hair out."  And then said, "that's what happened to me and I am bald now!"  I don't remember if they smiled or chuckled or laughed or rolled their eyes. I had a good laugh.

Thanks to a couple of tangential comments, we now open every class meeting with--no, not a prayer--atrocious puns. Yes, those awful groaners.  I love them all.

One student said, "did I tell you guys about my pencil that broke?"
Pause.
"That's ok. There's no point to it."
Muahahaha!

Another time, a student asked "why did the chicken cross the road?"
Now, I am tired of the chicken crossing the road humor. So, I hesitated. But then went along with it.
"Why?"
"To get to your home."
So, where is the groaner, you ask?  Wait.
"Knock, knock."
"Who's there?"
"The chicken that crossed the road. Duh!"
Muahahaha!

I miss my neighbor, Jim, who was a one-man-groaner-machine, who taught me about the word "exhaustipated."  I wish he were around for me to get a few puns from him and then impress the heck out of my students.

The latest was when the "pencil" student asked "what do you call a fake pasta?"
Pause.
"Impasta"
Muahahaha!

You read until here? Don't you have better things to do?  ;)