Cub Fans & Jokers
One of the things I enjoy trying to do is amuse people. My philosophy is “if you throw enough schtick out there something’s bound to stick.” So when I recently received from an overseas charity a “five kwacha” note from the Reserve Bank of Malawi (equivalent to a U.S. nickel), I giddily put it in my wallet thinking “let the fun begin!”.
I trotted it out first at the local McDonald’s and the sixteen-year old was mildly amused, emphasis on mildly. Then I tried it today at the cafeteria and the 50-something cashier was annoyed (again to put it mildly). So this particular “joke” seems to have worn out its welcome. I shan't try it again. My wife calls these “joke trees”, etymology unknown.
She can be a tough audience, having had to put up with lame jokes so many years. But when she smiles it is the most beautiful smile you’ve ever seen. I saw it yesterday at a family gathering at my sister-in-law's house for a birthday of a niece. Her brother asked his dad to sing Happy Birthday "solo" – i.e. "so low" that we couldn’t hear it! Now there’s a funny line, and my wife broke out in a laughter for which the world is better.
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I’m chagrined I like reading Andrew Greeley. A personal flaw? Can I like Ratzinger and Greeley? For a conservative Republican to read him seems an unbearable tension. I’m embarrassed and I ought get a brown wrapper. But his Christology is undeniably spot on. So what can I do? Appeal to my betters? To which he replied, "we all experience ambivalences. Despite knowing better I'm still a Cub fan!"
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