Laughter Really Is A Good Medicine.

I like Ellen Degeneres's sense of humor. It's a "make dry, witty comments comments in the face of utterly hideous circumstances" sort of funny that always strikes me as absolutely hilarious; probably because I'm a big fan of dry humor. Imagine my delight when I discovered that she'd managed to combine that desert witticism with my other big favorite: animals. In an ad no less. And, look at that! It's available on YouTube!



Well one thing led to another, and pretty soon I'd compiled a list of funny video snippets for the sole purpose of making me laugh, or at least chuckle when the depression had me at the bottom of the basement. Which, since it's the holidays AND the last week of my cycle, is pretty much every day now.

So for all those other sufferers out there, here's a few to get you started. Only a few though because if you're anything like me, you have to cling to something to look forward to....even if it is a clip from YouTube.

Ellen's AmEx Ad Outtakes: Bathing Elephants


Ellen's AmEx Ad Outtakes: Giraffes and Lightbulbs



Enjoy.

RFC

I work with computers. Servers, to be specific. There is something comforting about dealing with logical machines when my mental state is anything but.

Which it hasn't been as of late. Holidays are tough and this one is shaping up to be tougher than the last few. I've already had two meltdowns and although I'm hoping that's the last of it, I doubt that will be the case.

The problem with a meltdown, other than the crying, the stuffy nose from the crying, the intense emotional pain, the headache from the crying, is that picking up the pieces afterwards resembles playing detective. Why does this lamp not have a lightbulb in it? Track down lightbulbs, which are not in the cabinet where they should be. Search for lightbulbs which are...on the counter...partially open....oh right! I was opening the package to get a lightbulb to replace the one I'd just taken out of the lamp when I broke down for the first time that day.

Which brings me to the title: RFC stands for Requests For Comments, a brilliantly simple method of introducing new ideas to the technical community. RFCs brought us DNS (what keeps the Internet humming), WINS (what lets you find the server at work, among other things) and a slew of other nifty technologies. My thought? Wouldn't it be great if someone introduced an RFC for a method for automatically 'tagging' your life at the moment before a breakdown occurs, and for retrieving the 'tagged' information once the breakdown had past. You'd be able to, literally, pick up where you'd left off without the hassle of figuring out, say, why your phone is in the bathroom instead of out on the counter charging like it should be.

I was even going to write one up, but since it would contain technology that doesn't even exist yet (emotional fluctuation detector, flash memory brain implants, holographic bookmarks) I'm not sure the IETF would approve.

Layers

Part of my coping routines involve working out to TNT's continuous showing of Angel. The other day this leaped out from "Underneath" and hit me in the gut.

FRED: (kisses his neck from behind him) Whose fault is that? (walks around to kneel in front of him) Tell me a joke.

WESLEY: (softly) Two men walk into a bar. The first man orders a scotch and soda. The second man remembers something he'd forgotten, and it doubles him over with pain. He falls to the floor shaking.... and then through the floor and into the Earth. He looks back up at the first man, but he doesn't call out to him. (looks down at Fred) They're not that close.