Blog #1

What should I write about for this momentous first blog? I've always found it important to have a sense of humour, even when times get strange. Or especially when times get strange.

My laughter is often triggered by bad writing. When I was a fresh young thing, just out of university, I took a job in a coffee shop in a mall. A memo from mall management was circulated to all the businesses requiring that boxes in the storerooms must be stacked to within six feet of the emergency sprinklers. That made no sense to me so the next time that I saw the mall manager, I asked him to clarify as certainly my store didn't have enough boxes to get within six feet of the sprinkler and besides, wouldn't you want a clear zone so that the water could spread and not restricted? He looked down his nose at me and insisted that what he had written clearly indicated the creation of that zone. The man standing next to him cleared his throat and said, "Well actually, Jim, she's right."

For me, it was a hilarious moment. This was in 1981 when women still were not considered the equals of men (and I don't think we've gotten there yet), and especially not young women. I was impressed by the courage of the second man to speak up and agree with the "lesser than". It was delightful to see the pompous ass have the wind taken out of his sails.

What it did though was teach me to really read what was before me. I have gotten more laughs out of bad writing than I have out of purportedly funny writing.

There is another side of me.

As a good Anglican church lady it is often thought that I wouldn't say s*** if my mouth was full of it and I do go with that image. It makes it that much more funny when I pull out a joke about sheep and certain kilt-wearing men.

But what was funny today? Not too much. Remembrance Day doesn't often lead to hilarity. Today was a day for solemn thoughts and hopes for peace. Tomorrow will be a laughing day.