Just Try to be Funny

It’s Harder Than You Think — with some channeling from Seth

Photo by Talahria Jensen on Unsplash

I’m just beginning this piece. I was over in my journal and said, “I can feel a story bubbling.” Then, I hesitated. I have gas. That’s what it feels like sometimes.

Barnyard humor. That’s me.

Anyway, I watched a video on YouTube yesterday. It was Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs fame and his mother, Peggy Rowe. I haven’t laughed that hard in ages. Peggy said she’s been writing for 60 years, and was first published in 2018 when she was 80 years old. Now, at 88, she has written four books, with a fifth in the works that she hopes will be published this year.

She said she had submitted a book for publication eons ago, waiting forever like we did back then, and finally received a rejection notice. I did the same thing with my own book, which I wrote back in 1992. I know what it’s like to have double-spaced a manuscript, with all the appropriate information on every single page, bundle it up in a box, trot it to the post office, and send it off with a bon voyage into the careful hands of the caring post office. I remember those days well.

The thing is, Peggy, does not try to be funny. Life, all around her, is funny without any help from her. I like that. I like being able to pick up on funny stuff. I aspire to that. However, I don’t know if I have succeeded well.

What’s wrong now?

I’m trying to be funny.

Keep talking.

Okay. You made me laugh. Why can’t I be funny like you are?

Me? Funny? I am a learned scholar. I am a teacher. I am your Spirit Guide.

See? That’s funny.

Whatever you say, Dear.

That’s funny too.

What can I say? I’m talented in that regard.

…

Cat got your tongue?

Well, yes. I can’t think of what to say next, and I certainly can’t think of anything funny to say.

Don’t worry about it. Can you think of something loving to say?

Yes, I could probably do that.

Okay, so say it.

I can’t think of it.

You are too tight right now.

I’ve got stage fright, I think.

Remember what you used to do when you had to give presentations? You pretended every person in the audience was really interested in what you had to say.

Yes, I suppose that might work.

Try it again.

Okay. Everybody, try this as an experiment. Pretend that everybody around you cares for you. Just pretend. Even though they are more concerned with what they want, their own aches and pains, all you have to do is just pretend that they really care about you. What would you say to them?

Okay, that’s a start.

Without saying anything to them, you can smile at them. That’s all. Not like you’ve got gas. Just an honest and heartfelt smile. It doesn’t have to radiate anything like, “I love you.” Just smile.

Now, go stand in front of your bathroom mirror and smile at your reflection. You care about yourself. That’s where love starts anyway. If you can care about yourself, you can care about others.

How’s that?

That’s pretty good.

Thanks for helping.

Not a problem.

Days Later: I never really got off the ground with this piece about being funny. It’s been sitting open on my desktop and has even survived a reboot in the middle of the night. Windows didn’t do that years ago. What was lost in the middle of the night stayed lost forever. So, I’ve got to think there might be hope for it yet.

So, an update. I’m still not funny. In the intervening time between me beginning this piece and now, I officially sold my car to a dear friend. I actually gave it to her, but for the purposes of the Department of Motor Vehicles, I sold it for $5. It is so old that it is as particular about things as I am. I’m 70 years old. The car is 22 years old. My friend has had to invest in repairs so it can handle her commute. It’s been shot twice and survived. Hey, I live in Oakland. Three different neighbors have used it while waiting for their own cars to be repaired. It’s had a good life. I know that my friend, who is also mechanically inclined, can squeeze a few years out of it. So, that ended well.

I decided to revisit my wish to learn Spanish again. I’ve been doing it for years. The problem was that it was boring. I mean, boring! So, I took one of my own articles, the one where I describe myself as a worrywart on Medium. It’s not that long, at 1,078 words long. Less if you don’t count the fluffy parts. I ran the manuscript through Microsoft CoPilot for a Spanish (Mexican) translation. I think I’ll ask my next-door neighbor to have a look at the translation to make sure it’s okay. Then, I’ll spend a week on each paragraph.

I’ll do this paragraph by paragraph.

I’m going to use Word to read the translated paragraph to me in Spanish. I didn’t know it could do that. As time goes by, I’ll hammer out a lesson plan for myself that will work with what I want.

Right now, the plan is to listen without reading anything. Then, to listen while reading the Spanish text, and last, to listen while reading the English text. I’ll get a list of vocabulary words. Maybe I’ll turn them into flash cards. It will help if I have a notebook to write everything. It’s how I’ve learned languages as a child. Once I’ve hammered out everything in that article, I’ll do it again with another one. It’s an experiment, so as time goes on, I’ll report back to let you know how it is going. My goal? I want to learn Spanish. We are a global community. I just thought of something. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could be funny in Spanish? Who knows? ¿Quien sabe?

Thanks for reading. Maybe I’ll get funnier as time goes by. I hope it happens soon. I’m already 70 years old.

🌺 Pauline Evanosky

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