Humor, Parental Concern, and Jogging: A Blog in Three Parts

Wow. Just, wow. Gabe just drew my attention to how imbecilic and assinine my sense of humor can be.

I was exceptionally diverted by this Harry Potter comic, in which Snape is a Snog-hunter, paid by parents to descry and prevent the illicit actions of their offspring attending Hogwarts. It is quite convivial, really.

Upon sharing this brilliant parody with the afore mentioned Mr. Golden (who laughed, even if he did not find it quite as jocular as I), he pointed out that, while I was easily amused, I was even more easily amused by the integration my various interests into forms that already tickle me. His example was as follows:

Take this comic (the very existence of which causes me to giggle),

Replace the first two pinatas with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, the third pinata with Dumbledore, and the children with Deatheaters.

I, predictably, died laughing. Although the IM use of "LOL" and "ROFL" has become so pedestrian that it is rarely meant literally anymore, I most certainly meant it for its intended purpose (although I tend to use "hahaha" or "bahaha" in place of the more ubiquitous abbreviations, in any case). I was having to deal with the escape of repressed laughter, in the form of snorts and titters, in a workplace environment. And thus, he lay his case to rest.

Shifting gears completely, my mother is adorably over-concerned about my GRE on Saturday, for which I have been (sort of) studying feverishly. For the past few weeks, everytime I talk to her, she has some new miracle cure to help me win. In fact, as of now, I believe she has my entire test-taking experience planned. It is the only time I can honestly say that she has encouraged my consumption of coffee. Besides that she has some essential oil blend I'm supposed to put on my hands to smell through-out, I must take my amino-acid supplement, and 8 hours of sleep the night before is essential.

I think she may be more concerned and nervous about it than I am.

Christian said something to me a while ago about going to graduate school, and I can relate a little more right now than I could when he told me. He said that after he applied, while he was waiting for his answers, actually goingbecame less important. And while my goal right now is to become a literature professor, if it doesn't happen, then I'll just do something else, and the discovery of it will only be another adventure. Having gone through the steps, at least I know I explored the options.

Finally, I am impressed with myself for keeping up with my jogging. I'm into my second week and my stamina has improved strikingly. When I started, I had a jog:walk ratio of about 1:3 blocks. I'm now at a 2:1 ratio, starting with a full 4 block jog. I don't know if I've been able to do that since I was a kid.

I can tell a difference in my mood the following day if I run or don't run. I'm just not as lively or happy or in love with life if I skipped my run. That is not to say that I actually like the process. Honestly, if I enjoyed it more and pushed myself just a little harder, my jog:walk ratio could be higher. I'm not generally winded when I stop my two block jogs. But my goal is to jog the full 15 minutes that I'm running, so I will have to push myself a little more, bit by bit. The 2:1 ratio is still new to me, so I'm still rather proud of it.