I Crack Me Up

Over the holidays, during a family get together for SWMBO's side of our family, Cousin Jim was talking about something he does to amuse himself while traveling alone. He'll go into a restaurant and pretend he doesn't speak English. He'll hold the joke throughout the entire visit, pointing at pictures on the menu and using very broken English to communicate what he wants for dinner. Granted, it might not bring the house down at a stand-up comedy convention or make for a regular sit-com series, but what I found amusing is that he amused himself.

Thing is, I travel a fair amount by myself, though not overnight as much as in the past. However, I do spend hours in the car alone; for example, since the new year began I've probably clocked around forty hours or so of solitary drive time. During these drives I often do things to entertain myself: tell myself stories, get into running discussions with (not on) the radio, hold bottle-flipping world championships (extra points when meeting an eighteen wheeler on a bridge) with commentary from Michaels and Madden, and Swaney (not the girl) on the sidelines, and many, many others. Any of these can go on for a half-hour at a time.

I often end up laughing out loud--sometimes to tears--from this silly stuff. Doing so, I've often wondered how many other folks amuse themselves in such a manner. It's nice to see, from Cousin Jim's description, that I'm not alone with such imbecilic behavior. And I will be trying out the "no English" routine soon, though probably with an inadvertent deep-south accent. I expect it'll crack me up - and, after all, that's the point; it's for my own amusement.