When I was 14 years I visited some Swedish friends of mine in Sweden. Their family actually just spent summers in Sweden and lived the rest of the year in England. They were school mates of mine in England. My father's work took us to England.
I flew to Gothemberg Sweden by my self, I met my friends (and their mom) at the airport and we drove about an hour into the Swedish country side to a small town on the sea. It was beatiful, lots of large trees, bike paths, few roads, no stop lights and no commercial buildings. It was truly a village.
One night the whole family (father, mother and my two friends) met several other families at a local resturant. It really was not like a restaurant, but someone's home who allowed groups to book the dining room and the food and service was provided. It felt more like a dinner party.
As we went around the table for some introductions, the attention came to me. At this time I was a 14 year old boy who had a crew cut, pretty skinney and very shy. As I was introduced by my friends and with all eyes on me, for some reason I made a muscle with my arm and said 'Jag komme from America' which translates to 'I come from America'. This brought the house down, everyone burst out laughing, I guess the site of a scrawny kid saying this in bad Swedish was very funny. I was actually trying to be funny (I was not serious when I had said it) but I was a little embarrassed at the amount of laughter, but the evening carried on and it was alot of fun.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Fake laugh?
So, why doesn't laughter seem to come naturally anymore? Honestly, I don't have time to dig into why. But, I do want to know how to get more laughter in my life.
A few things that come to mind
1. Hang out with people who make you laugh.
2. Laugh more, fake it if necessary.
3. Plan less, do more.
4. Stop worrying about what other people think. Who cares if you snort when you laugh?
5. Play games.
This could go on and on. But a few simple things can go a long way.
The real purpose of this blog is to practice writing simply and clearly. Explaining the rules of the game 'Nouns' was actually very challenging, not sure how effective I was. Next time, I descibe a time that I caused alot of laughter as a boy, again this was at a dinner party and this one was in Sweden.
A few things that come to mind
1. Hang out with people who make you laugh.
2. Laugh more, fake it if necessary.
3. Plan less, do more.
4. Stop worrying about what other people think. Who cares if you snort when you laugh?
5. Play games.
This could go on and on. But a few simple things can go a long way.
The real purpose of this blog is to practice writing simply and clearly. Explaining the rules of the game 'Nouns' was actually very challenging, not sure how effective I was. Next time, I descibe a time that I caused alot of laughter as a boy, again this was at a dinner party and this one was in Sweden.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Platypus
So, what does the game 'Nouns' have to do with laughing (see previous post for desciption of game). I wil try to explain.
It was the very last round of several games. My 7 year old son had not been playing with us, he was watching a movie in the next room. He came out toward the end of the final round. There was only one word left in the bowl after the minute was up. Everyone knew the word, it was 'platypus'.
My 7 year old asked if he could have a turn. We were all kind of tired and since everyone knew the final word, we decided to let him give it a try. We passed him the bowl. I assumed that he would try to read the word and ask what it meant or hesitate and stare blankly. He grabbed the final note with everyone looking at him. He glanced at the word and immediately stuck out both his hands in front of him like you may do to imitate a panthing dog and made a sound like a choking duck. It was that sound that comes from the back of the throat and seems to involve lots of phlegm . I know it is hard to understand, but most everyone in the place busted out laughing.
I also busted out laughing, so much so that it was actually painful. I struggled to let out the laugh, I was making strange sounds and then gasping in a silent laugh. I have not laughed so hard in a very long time. I actually could not fully express the laughter. Laugther was caught up inside me and I could not have a true laugh out loud belly laugh. Laugh is a strange word, it seems to be misspelled. It was wonderful to laugh so hard, but I was struck by the fact that it seemed very foreign and was not fully realized.
Why could I not laugh hard? Why has it been so long?
On the car ride home, my daughter said, 'My friends and I laugh like that everyday at school'. I believe her. I think I used to laugh like that everyday with my friends also. Why did I learn to stuff the laughter in a deep part of my soul? When did fear replace laughter?
It was the very last round of several games. My 7 year old son had not been playing with us, he was watching a movie in the next room. He came out toward the end of the final round. There was only one word left in the bowl after the minute was up. Everyone knew the word, it was 'platypus'.
My 7 year old asked if he could have a turn. We were all kind of tired and since everyone knew the final word, we decided to let him give it a try. We passed him the bowl. I assumed that he would try to read the word and ask what it meant or hesitate and stare blankly. He grabbed the final note with everyone looking at him. He glanced at the word and immediately stuck out both his hands in front of him like you may do to imitate a panthing dog and made a sound like a choking duck. It was that sound that comes from the back of the throat and seems to involve lots of phlegm . I know it is hard to understand, but most everyone in the place busted out laughing.
I also busted out laughing, so much so that it was actually painful. I struggled to let out the laugh, I was making strange sounds and then gasping in a silent laugh. I have not laughed so hard in a very long time. I actually could not fully express the laughter. Laugther was caught up inside me and I could not have a true laugh out loud belly laugh. Laugh is a strange word, it seems to be misspelled. It was wonderful to laugh so hard, but I was struck by the fact that it seemed very foreign and was not fully realized.
Why could I not laugh hard? Why has it been so long?
On the car ride home, my daughter said, 'My friends and I laugh like that everyday at school'. I believe her. I think I used to laugh like that everyday with my friends also. Why did I learn to stuff the laughter in a deep part of my soul? When did fear replace laughter?
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Where is my laugh?
I realized last night that I no longer know how to laugh hard.
Before I get to the laughing, I need to describe a game for context and just in case you want to play it.
We were at a dinner party and after dinner we played a game called 'Nouns'. Each person thinks of two nouns and writes each noun on a separate note. The notes are folded and placed in a bowl. The group is divided into two teams. We had two teams of six. We had 24 nouns in the bowl.
The first team to go selects a member to be an 'actor' . The actor picks a word out of the bowl and tries to get their teammates to say the word on the note. Once someone on the team yells out the word, the actor drops the note on the floor and picks a new word out of the bowl and continues. The team has one minute to get as many words as possible. Once the one minute is up, it's the other team's turn. The other team selects an actor and tries to get as many words as they can in the one minute time limit. The bowl goes back and forth between the teams, actors are rotated, until all the words in the bowl have been completed. The teams count their notes. All the notes are then put back in the bowl. That is one round. The group proceeds to the next round. There are three rounds total. The winner is the team with the most total points at the end of round three.
Each round has the same concept but the rules change:
Round 1: The actor can use any words (except the word itself) or hand motions to describe the noun.
Round 2: The actor can use a single word only (not the word itself) and can not use hand motions or pointing.
Round 3: The actor can use no words, only hand motions (i.e. charades).
Since you recyle the words each round, everyone knows which words they are dealing with for the 2nd and 3rd rounds. This adds a bit of memory to the game and makes it possible to move quickly through the words.
One final rule that contibutes to the story: an actor can skip any word. They can pick a word, read it and then decide to place it back in the bowl and choose another note. This usually leads to the more difficult words being left in the bowl towards the end of the round.
Next time, I will show how this game exposed that I have forgotten how to laugh hard.
Before I get to the laughing, I need to describe a game for context and just in case you want to play it.
We were at a dinner party and after dinner we played a game called 'Nouns'. Each person thinks of two nouns and writes each noun on a separate note. The notes are folded and placed in a bowl. The group is divided into two teams. We had two teams of six. We had 24 nouns in the bowl.
The first team to go selects a member to be an 'actor' . The actor picks a word out of the bowl and tries to get their teammates to say the word on the note. Once someone on the team yells out the word, the actor drops the note on the floor and picks a new word out of the bowl and continues. The team has one minute to get as many words as possible. Once the one minute is up, it's the other team's turn. The other team selects an actor and tries to get as many words as they can in the one minute time limit. The bowl goes back and forth between the teams, actors are rotated, until all the words in the bowl have been completed. The teams count their notes. All the notes are then put back in the bowl. That is one round. The group proceeds to the next round. There are three rounds total. The winner is the team with the most total points at the end of round three.
Each round has the same concept but the rules change:
Round 1: The actor can use any words (except the word itself) or hand motions to describe the noun.
Round 2: The actor can use a single word only (not the word itself) and can not use hand motions or pointing.
Round 3: The actor can use no words, only hand motions (i.e. charades).
Since you recyle the words each round, everyone knows which words they are dealing with for the 2nd and 3rd rounds. This adds a bit of memory to the game and makes it possible to move quickly through the words.
One final rule that contibutes to the story: an actor can skip any word. They can pick a word, read it and then decide to place it back in the bowl and choose another note. This usually leads to the more difficult words being left in the bowl towards the end of the round.
Next time, I will show how this game exposed that I have forgotten how to laugh hard.
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