Do You Know What Made Me Laugh?|Laughing Out Loud
Posted: Sunday, September 25, 2011
by Suzi Gravenstuk
http://www.suzi-gravenstuk.blogspot.com
When I read, “Do you know what made me laugh?”—I laughed. I remember the many times I have been alone, perhaps in the dark of night—laughing out loud as I drive the highway. It is a scary time to realize you are laughing not only out loud, but loudly—while being alone. The stranger aspect of the issue was that I was alone laughing loudly about laughing in the past.
Sunday deadline in the classified section was like a big think tank. We had a large room of people talking at the same time while typing ads into our computers. Some of us had partial panels separating us, some sat in open cubicles. The remarkable aspect was the oddness of intense group focus. We were aware of each other, but it was as if each of us were in the room alone.
Towards the end of Sunday deadline I always experienced an adrenalin surge as I made that final push to try to get one more ad in before we were shut down. …Just one more ad.
To bring my past Sociology Instructor back—“people are really NOT unique. … Therefore, if I felt something or experienced something, chances are that someone else in the group was having the same experience.” If that is true, then, we may logically conclude that others had also experienced an adrenalin peak or “rush”.
So, imagine the production room loud with phones ringing, agents talking and typing (some more loudly than others) for several hours. Then, suddenly it all stops. Everyone shuts down. Quiet falls over the production room.
I look across at my desk mate, an intelligent, talented, spunky redhead named Sally. It just happened she had a blank look on her face. I started laughing. I laughed louder, and louder. Sally looked at me with a comical look on her face. She started laughing.
Then one of the suited outside sales guys looked at us with an incredibly stupid look on his face. (I am laughing now just recalling his expression). You guessed it. He also started laughing. But, the additional stupid look on his face was because he was laughing and had no idea why. How Undignified. Sheesh! It wasn’t long and almost everyone in the room was laughing. Several of us had tears rolling down our cheeks. It was mass hysteria!
The ironic thing was that when it came time for my review, the only thing I was dingged for was laughing too loudly. (...What???) To this day, I am sure we all remember the day we laughed one by one until we were all laughing as tears rolled down our cheeks. Each could point to the other as the cause of laughter that originated with me. I do not know why I laughed, other than the situations just seemed ludicrous, including the look on my desk mate’s face… This situation happened almost 20 years ago. I had laughing spells in recalling the day. I have my suspicions, but do you know what made me laugh?
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Oh, I loved that story. The blank look and the stupid look of "I am laughing for no reason". Ha. Yes. Wonderful. I can see it. I've been looked at askance for laughing too loud, too. And you know, that's ok. I'm not going to stifle my joy just because it might make someone else uncomfortable. Hmmm, do I know what made you laugh.... It may have been simply that, for the first time in what sounds like a long, stressful day, there was absolutely nothing to do ... and Sally out-pictured the reality of that. What do we do when we have nothing left to do? It is funny to realize that some of us find doing nothing to be almost impossible.Thank you for reading and commenting. This was a timeless gem given to me, I always laugh thinking about it.It's wonderful to have memories like that. I had a dream where I woke up laughing out loud and recalling that entertained me for weeks.
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