The Good Life... a weblog about life, technology, and the Opera Web browser

I'm leaving tomorrow for a week long InterVarsity Leadership Conference, so I obviously won't be around to keep ya'll updated. I might post some more before I leave, but Blogger's going down tonight and I don't want to chance it. :) I hope everyone has a great week, cya next Tuesday!

A list of God Speaks billboards from Florida:

Let's meet at my house Sunday before the game.

-God

C'mon over and bring the kids.

-God

What part of Thou Shalt Not.. didn't you understand?

-God

We need to talk.

-God

Keep using my name in vain, I'll make rush hour longer.

-God

Loved the wedding, invite me to the marriage.

-God

That Love Thy Neighbor thing... I meant it.

-God

I love you and you and you and you and...

-God

Will the road you're on get you to my place?

-God

Follow me.

-God

Big bang theory, you've got to be kidding.

-God

My way is the highway.

-God

Need directions?

-God

You think it's hot here?

-God

Have you read my #1 best seller? There will be a test.

-God

Do you have any idea where you're going?

-God

Don't make me come down there.

-God

When I lived in Illinois, I had a neighbor that had just moved from somewhere in Ohio (Cincinnatti, Cleveland, Columbus?). Instead of saying Excuse me? when he didn't understand what someone said, he would say Please? It caught me off guard the first time I heard it, but when I thought about it, it was incredibly cool. It's a polite way of telling someone that you didn't understand them. Politeness rocks.

Woohoo! I found a penny (I'm gonna stop worrying about the face down, face up stuff) in the garage today!

Apparently, I need look no farther than the Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary to find the definition for shpeel, or as it is spelled correctly, spiel.

For those interested:

spiel (verb)

1 : to play music

2 : to talk volubly or extravagantly

spiel (noun)

a voluble line of often extravagant talk : pitch

Thanks for pointing this out, Helen.

Over the past couple of years, my sense of humor has undergone drastic changes. I've always enjoyed puns, to the point that I've been called a punny person. However, much of the humor I see these days focuses on tearing people down. There are Blonde jokes, Pollack jokes, racial jokes, and just mean things you can do to people you know (the you've got something on your shirt kind of thing). I'm guilty of doing these things, so I damn myself with these statements just as much as any other person, if not more. That's right, that means that I think these types of humor are damaging and we need to think twice before using them.

Well, now that I'm condemning much of the humor that's used these days, I find myself asking what's left? I don't know! I mean, puns are fine for me, but I know not everyone in the world is going to embrace these beauties. :) Are there types of humor that don't tear people down that are adequate for our laughter needs?

Then again, maybe it's just me. Recently, I've been called prude and up-tight. Maybe it's just me that sees a problem with this stuff. So, how did my sense of humor change? I've never really liked seeing others being put down because it's just a reminder of my childhood. I used to enjoy sexual humor, but, while I'm still a virgin, I think I have a better understand of sex now than I did before. I understand it's power and beauty, and frankly, I don't find it to be something to joke about. Besides, most of that humor is talking about promiscuity, if it isn't just blatantly vulgar. It often hurts me to hear about such promiscuity and perhaps that's why I'm so turned off by such jokes. I don't know. Perhaps I am prude and up-tight. Is it so wrong not to like that kind of humor and does it really mean that I don't / can't have fun? Naw, I don't think so.

I remember one instance when I played a joke on a person. I took something that was taped to the wall and put it on there back. It was funny, but then I began to think how hurt they'd be when they found out that I had done that. Indeed, they were hurt and the trust in our friendship was damaged. That, my friends, is not a consequence worthy of a good laugh.

Well, this isn't as coherent as I had hoped that it would be, but I guess I'm just asking you to think twice before you pick on someone or tell a joke that isn't edifying. Love them instead, k?

On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami.

Found in a humor essay.