Mark Twain Quotation

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“Whenever I am rested and feeling good I can’t help being frivolous.”

--“The Begum of Bengal,” speech, 1907

Initially, I think that this quote’s short length caught my eye. I always like the quotes that are short and simple because it makes them easy to remember. Although it may appear very simple, I think that this little wisdom is something that is relatable and applicable to the reader. Everyone has had a time when they have just felt really good. There wasn’t any specific reason you just kind of felt that way. I think that Twain’s making a point to recognize these moments; moments that could otherwise be easily passed by unrecognized.  He is able to capture that inexplicable feeling and remind the listener of this feeling in all it’s complexity in just a simple little passage. The tone of this quote is very casual, almost childish which helps bring the reader or listener into the moment that Twain is referring to. It is an honest and succinct message.

The vernacular in this passage also contributes a sort of complexity to an otherwise simply stated quote. Frivolous. This quote had a definite advantage in being chosen as my favorite because this has always been one of those words that I have just really liked for no particular reason.  In this passage, however, I think that it really adds to the carefree vibe. It makes the speaker sound light-hearted and you can tell that they really do feel good. Although Mark Twain’s life was full of both profound and simple truths, this one just really spoke to me personally-especially as summer approaches. This was just one of those quotes that I read a few times, thought about and immediately marked it with the intention of looking back to remember it. One of those things that you just would like to remember as you’re walking through TCU’s beautiful campus after you finish your last final exam as you look around at the blooming flowers and blue sky and feel like you could do anything you wanted. A feel good, memorable quote.

Humor 4

I know it’s a while past April 1^st but I successfully executed the best prank I can ever remember completing and I have to brag about it. Although this started off as something small and over a text message it turned out to be a pretty darn good joke with larger implications than I had foreseen.

Friday night I went to a birthday dinner with a group of good girl friends. We were all eating and talking and being plain old girly so, naturally, we got onto the topic of wedding rings and styles. One of my best friends always wears her grandma’s old ring on her right hand and so we started looking closely at her ring and examining the style. I’m not quite sure what turns the conversation took but all of a sudden she was wearing the ring on her left hand and joking about being engaged. The whole table was in play mode and giggling right along with her. 

Now, before I go on you should know a little more about this friend. I think every friend group has that one motherly figure that watches out for the group. That’s Julia. She is the one who likes cats, staying in, routine and anything that eschews adventure or unpredictability. This being said, she definitely isn’t out on the social scene. This implies that she also doesn’t know very many people, especially guys.

So, back to the glorious prank, I was also in play mode as this was going on and had what I would now like to label as a brilliant idea. I was texting a friend of mine who also knows Julia pretty well and we decided to send them a picture of the ring on her hand just to elicit a response. This is a harmless prank right? I mean who would believe that this girl, the girl who barely knows any guys at TCU, is randomly engaged?

Not the text recipient. Ironically, we also have another good friend named Julia who just so happened to also be at dinner that night. The text recipient knows a little less about that Julia than Grandma Julia and sent a response that reads, “Julia Peterson? Congrats! How exciting!” When I read this to the table they busted into hysterics. I think that the play mode of the table as well as the irony of the situation are what made the responses so intense. A simple joke we thought would be quickly shot down and seen through turned out to be even trickier than we anticipated.

So, what was going to be an innocent one-text joke soon to be forgotten turned into an elaborate prank via text message. We thought that this claim would be quickly dismissed but since our expectations were violated by the response we laughed, and then we decided the joke must go on. We made up a whole story about Julia’s high school sweetheart surprising her and proposing at the restaurant, the whole 9 yards. Then, on Saturday morning I went to breakfast with the victim of this prank and the topic was brought up again. I played it off like a champ.

Having forgotten about the whole situation, I was sitting at lunch with Grandma Julia in the BLUU today and cramming for a test. I looked and checked my phone and had a text from Julia Peterson and from the victim of the texts. Julia’s text reads “I am sorry” and the victim’s text read, “Just talked to Julia, you are so mean.” Again Julia and I burst out laughing. This time it was not the play mode that made us laugh but the sheer surprise that these messages presented.

This prank got to an unforeseen level of joking. I don’t normally assume the trickster role as our friend Juha does, but I have to admit watching this small seed of a prank bloom into something way bigger was gratifying. Apparently these friends encountered each other casually and the victim of the prank congratulated Julia on her engagement. Julia felt so awful (and was taken so off-guard) that she told the victim it was all a joke. I think that this is so funny partially because of the relief theory, I wasn’t the one who had to break it to the victim of the texts and I avoided their awkward confrontation.

There were definitely a lot of comic devices at play as this whole prank panned out over the course of four days. From the play mode initiating it to the element of surprise to end it, there are many reasons that one might laugh at this situation. I think that the drawn out course of the prank and nature of the different environments that it occurred in contribute to the humor diversity present in this joke, especially since text messages aren’t somewhere you would expect to be pranked. I know that some may feel pity for the victim of this prank, especially when I tell you that they had told some of their friends that happened to be at the same restaurant Friday about the engagement, but the victim took the joke gracefully overall. I should probably watch my back for some sort of revenge though just to be safe because the magnitude of embarrassment…in multiple friend groups. Needless to say I’m still laughing.

Humor 3

It’s 5:45 a.m. and my alarm goes off so I roll out of bed and groggily throw on my gym clothes. Unsuspecting, I jump at the sound of angry mumbles and grunts coming from the other corner of the room. I hastily run out of the room before I burst into hysterics in the otherwise silent room.

I know that people do weird things in their sleep but this particular morning is quite hilarious for anyone who knows my roommate. She’s the definition of an introvert. She’s pretty quiet unless we are in the midst of conversation, which only occurs in the middle of the day. I’m a morning person (as you may have guessed by the time of this event) and she is a night owl (we are talking about up until 3:00 a.m. type of night owl.)

A little over an hour and a half later I come back from my workout and creep back into my room unsuspecting once again and innocently getting ready for class after my shower. Out of nowhere my roommate begins to not only murmur strange things in her sleep but also furiously toss and turn. She would probably hate for me to mention this part but she also proceeded to throw her San Francisco Giants pillow pet across the room. Are you laughing yet? No? Don’t worry. There’s more. The pillow pet hit her lamp on her desk knocking it over. I wish I had this on video y’all. This woke her up, finally.  She was dazed and confused to say the least. She couldn’t resist but burst into pure unbridled laughter in disbelief about the crazy act. What a great start to the day.

It turns out that she, unfortunately, doesn’t do these types of acts on a regular basis but attributes these events to NyQuil she had taken to help combat her 2 week cold. I can vouch for her on this account because I have also experienced terrifying and bizarre dreams when I have been sick and taken NyQuil. Nevertheless, this morning was a definite bonding moment for my roommate and I.

I whole-heartedly agree with the idea that laughter is an effective means for relating to others, especially in awkward moments like these. This is something that she and I still talk about, laugh about, and tell our friends about. Personally, I still wonder what she is secretly so angry about or what strange dreams the magic that is Nyquil unleashed from her subconscious. (That’s a bit Freudian I suppose.)

At the risk of beating a dead horse I think talking about the role of cognitive shift in this situation is fitting because, as always, it is applicable. When you are half-awake in a stupor looking for your left sock and right shoe to drag your tired self to the gym about the last thing I would ever expect would have been any sign of life from my resting roommate. Literally I would expect a hurricane (yes, I know that’s highly improbable in Fort Worth so please roll with the exaggeration) to hit my dorm room before I would expect for her to say anything at this time of the day. Boom, there’s the cognitive shift. I especially didn’t expect for this to happen more than once, and in the same day.

Although it was fun to think my roommate has these type of outbursts on a regular basis, our common bond in our bizarre NyQuil outcomes has become a bonding point for the two of us. It also enhances the humor factor for this situation because instead of thinking about it in a superiority theory manner I keep wondering what I am like in this state of mind/sleep. Although it’s fun to laugh at her, I don’t well superior at all but more bonded with her and curious. There are many humorous theories and forces at play in that morning’s events but as I look back on it all I really can do is kick myself for not having the state of mind to grab my phone and capture some of this glorious occurrence on tape.

Tales of Juha: Wit & Wisdom

Reading the reviews and preface of Tales of Juha made me feel like I was the one kid at recess in elementary school that hadn’t heard the latest rumor. After completing the first section, I definitely agree with the universal role and symbolism of Juha that was proclaimed in the preface and reviews, but I don’t feel so much like I have missed out on some well-kept secret to enlightenment. The morals of the anecdotes carry universal themes and are just represented in a different cultural context in this novel.

The format of Tales of Juha kept me intrigued. They were easy to read and flowed together pretty well. Although most people appreciate continuity and beautiful flowing novels, choppy and witty anecdotes all connected (and some even more disconnected) are fine with me, especially clever little tales about a clever little protagonist.

I expected Juha to be a pristine character, clearly defined and described by the author (after all, the book is his namesake.) This was not the case. While Juha is definitely esteemed and well regarded by his community he is not easily defined, classified, or put into just one category. The character goes from beggar to scholar and from foolish to cunning. This is one of the ways that Juha’s universality is manifested. This also kept my interest piqued after reading the first portion of the novel. You never can predict Juha’s reaction or advice, other than the fact that the outcome will be in his favor.

 Juha’s character continued to violate my expectations as his advice and wisdom went from traditional or customary to witty and offbeat. (The section’s title was definitely fitting.) For example, when asked why Juha was eating with five fingers, he replied, “I don’t have six!” This was one of the many moments when Juha violates your expectations (yes, cognitive shift) and you can’t help but giggle. This book, as with the others in this course, is definitely not a laugh out loud type of read but it provides some interesting cognitive shifts along with a few opportunities to appreciate Juha’s snarky comebacks. Juha’s ever-changing modalities and ceaseless success in any situation he encounters certainly is fun to follow along.

Another quote that I enjoyed that defied the stereotypic response that one may expect was when Juha was asked about the proper etiquette for walking in a funeral procession. Juha replied “as long as you are not in the coffin…you can walk wherever you like.” I appreciate these quotes because they keep the reader on their toes about what Juha will say next and integrate some light-hearted answers as alternatives for potentially boring or daunting rants about social norms.

As I mentioned earlier, I don’t think any of the truths offered by Juha are profound or unheard of by our culture. I feel as if every culture has their own Juha with the same tales and morals to share. It could be helpful to have more cultural context for some of the anecdotes, it’s a little hard for me to relate to a story about a stolen donkey, but the motifs global nonetheless.  

Eavesdropper

For Easter weekend I went to visit my family down in Spring Branch.  Not expecting to get much done in the realm of schoolwork I indulged in quality family time and good eating. Little did I know these things would eventually lead to the perfect eavesdropping situation. My aunt and I were in the kitchen cooking with the screen door to the patio open letting in cool spring air. My uncle, cousin and the neighbor were all having guy talk out on the patio and in just a few moments of quiet/alone in the kitchen I was able to eavesdrop on their conversation.

My findings? Guys are weird.

 The conversation was about 50% guns and airplanes talk and 50% random movie quoting. (You will not survive 5 minutes with my family if you don't have a huge repertoire of random knowledge and witty one-liners to throw out.) This bizarre family dynamic is even more amplified when the women aren't around to mediate (in other words dominate) the conversation or ruin the manly quoting banter with sheer confusion. I'm still not really sure what I eavesdropped on. Jason, the neighbor, went from talking about his golf game (laughing and making self deprecating remarks about his golf abilities) to talking about going to fly a plane this afternoon both randomly strung together making no sense. 

I was not the only one confused by this shift in topic. The rapid shift caught Jason's conversation partners off guard eliciting a chuckle. Laughing was interspersed throughout the conversation flowing from quote to random stories from the week. My cousin is the master of quoting any humorous movie in the last 3 decades and was just on fire, or at least my uncle and Jason thought so, for the few minutes I could hear. 

I don't know that this is a fair representation of what an average conversation is really like. My family considers Spring Branch a little slice of heaven with family, near perfect weather year round and great food. We are all so at ease on the weekends we get to spend together. The neighborhood that they live in is also extremely close-knit (Jason literally just walked through the front door and joined in on our afternoon.) I think these factors led to a very personable and laid back conversation where laughter is mostly expected and doesn't seem out of place, even to an eavesdropper. Other than the fact that guys talk about weird things, like pop-up backpacks and pawn shops they frequent, I wasn't surprised by my findings and the frequency of their laughter.

We have said humor is very contextual and social. My cousin's use of movie quoting made me think about these aspects of humor. Quoting things by nature takes something out of its original context and into a whole new element. Sticking these well-know witticisms into a new light is often funny and I think that this is for 1 of 2 reasons. (1) the quote actually fits into the current situation and the irony just makes you laugh or (2) it just reminds you of it's original context and you laugh thinking back about whatever the quote's source is. 

In my eavesdropping both forms of "quote humor" were exhibited. For the latter, my cousin randomly threw out a completely irrelevant Talladega Nights quote in a brief lull in conversation that led to a 30 second back and forth quote-a-thon with the 3 conversationalists.

Like I said, turns out guys are weird.

Reading 3

Vonnegut’s Slaughter-house Five is filled to the brim with instances of cruel irony and dark humor. After completing the novel, I still don’t really feel a sense of closure or an inclination to label the book as one thing or another. Vonnegut switches from war novel to allegory to science fiction and back again far too many times and in such and intermingled and delicate way for the book to be given one simple label. Although this makes the book a bit hard to follow and completely digest, Vonnegut really does employ some effective literary tools.

Perhaps the greatest example of irony is the passage when the Englishman is speaking to the Americans before they leave their camp about Dresden and proclaims, “You needn’t worry about bombs, by the way. Dresden is an open city….” This is very tragic and really made me cringe as I read on about the rambling of the elated Englishman. Going into the book almost every reader knows the fate of Dresden and there are many small instances when the reader and Billy Pilgrim alike are tortured by this foresight.

Another device that Vonnegut employs to help keep the readers cringing is simply his diction. There are many passages in Slaughter-house Five that are so saturated with description and vivid imagery that even though they may be immensely morbid or grotesque you can’t help but read them twice to really appreciate them. Descriptions like, “Next to Lazzarro was the poor old high school teacher, Edgar Derby, mournfully pregnant with patriotism and middle age and imaginary wisdom.” Pregnant with patriotism, both the alliteration coupled with just bizarre and not often associated terms made me really appreciate this passage. This type of passage is not in poor company. There are many grotesque war descriptions or other bizarre perspectives on the people around Billy to keep the reader enticed. One of my other favorite descriptions that Vonnegut used was the description of Dresden after the bombing as the moon. This image is utilized throughout the second half of the book and ties in the reality of what happened with the delusions of Billy’s extraterrestrial life. I think that although Vonnegut’s writing is undeniably scattered there are certainly passages and even whole parts of the novel that deserve recognition for skilled diction and imagery.

In my last post I talked about the effectiveness of the use of repetition in this novel and the last half and end of the book certainly upheld my belief that this is one of the devices that Vonnegut frequently and effectively employs. I noticed that there are two times in the second part of the novel (at least) where passive Billy talks about everything being all right. This repetition really drives the point home. On page 200 when Billy is being taken down the mountain from the accident and is looking at the chairlifts his delusional thoughts are narrated as this, “He supposed that they were a part of an amazing new phase of World War Two. It was all right with him. Everything was pretty much all right with Billy.” This shows both his passiveness in an extreme situation as well as his declining mental state. Later Billy tells Rumfoord in the hospital “Everything is all right, and everybody has to do exactly what he does, I learned that of Talfamadore.” He again is referencing the war. There is such tragic understatement in both of these instances, but I think that Billy simply feels that he is powerless to do or be anything but passive after his life experiences. As the story is winding down Vonnegut also uses the repetition of soot and chalk, which build some of the closing images, especially of Montana Wildhack. These images are a part of what I would call the final unveiling of Billy’s declined mental state which occurs predominately in the final detailing of his trip to New York.

You find out where a lot of the bizarre elements of Billy’s delusions, like Montana Wildhack and Kilgore Trout’s novels, in such a subtle yet not-so-subtle manner. Billy’s trip to New York therefore is really symbolic of the last of Billy’s sanity and dignity really being taken away from him. Dark is this book indeed. There are glimmers of humor but this novel is not something I would choose for a light and laughable read. I’m not sure that I am much of a fan of dark humor although I can appreciate the instances of irony that are used for such means.

My thoughts on Slaughter-house Five are still a bit disheveled, perhaps because of the book’s format itself. The ending with the repetition of ‘Po-tee-weet?’ was simple and honest and one of the things that sticks out to me in retrospect.  I think that this simple ending is just what the book needed. Vonnegut couldn’t have had an elaborate ending with the glory of the war’s end detailed. That would have been generic and mainstream. Instead, the use of the bird reference and repetition of ‘Po-tee-weet?’ end the book engaging the reader to keep thinking even though the novel has ended.

Conversation 7

Guilherme and I met for our last time yesterday and neither of us could believe it. Seven meetings have already passed by? This semester is moving by way too fast!

We used the majority of our last meeting discussing stories from break and catching up since it had been almost ten days since we last met. Guilherme is all moved into his new apartment and loves being able to be more independent now. His break consisted of far more than just moving into his apartment as he had originally suspected. He and his girlfriend’s 3 day trip turned into a tour of many stops in Texas including Abilene, New Braunfels and a few other smaller cities.  Guilherme was relieved that his girlfriend’s mother gave a couch and table to him for his apartment, saving him some money. He laughed as he detailed he and his girlfriend attempting to move the couch and table upstairs—needless to say it was not a successful event.

Guilherme is pretty much settled into his apartment at this point and was excited because yesterday the cable and Internet company was finally coming to install his cable and Wifi. Guilherme and I laughed about how hard it is for people our age to get by without these things and he told me about how he has been occupying his time with reading. He then proceeded to ask me about my Spring Break and laughed in his usual polite manner at all of my stories from Destin. He seemed to be shocked that I survived a road trip for 26 hours in a car with six girls, I can’t say that I blame him much because I was pretty surprised, too.

We both agreed that Spring Fever is in full force (after I explained to him what I meant by this) and got into talking about our plans for the summer. Guilherme bragged about his girlfriend’s internship that she got for this summer in Atlanta. She was one of five student picked for the program so I guess his bragging was within reason. Guilherme plans to volunteer more with Destination Imagination this Spring and Summer for the state competitions. He was not sure how long into summer IEP goes or if he even gets a break from the classes since he has to maintain the criteria for a student visa. This was mind blowing news to me- a student who isn’t counting down the days until summer...what kind of person is this?? I told Guilherme about my summer plans and he was delighted to hear that I was also going to be doing some volunteer work this summer in my free time.

Before we knew it the meeting was coming to an end so that I could make it to class on time. We left Union Grounds and walked together through the commons as Guilherme insisted that we become Facebook friends so that we can somehow stay in contact without our weekly meetings. I don’t know why neither of us thought of this earlier but he now has a friend request from me awaiting him once he logs in on his newly installed Wifi.

The conversation partner experience was an enjoyable component of this class for me. I was lucky to have a partner who was skilled in English as my partner, and who I feel probably taught me more than I was able to teach him. I normally love to use travel as a means to connect with a different culture but the opportunity to learn about the people of a different culture right on campus proved to be worthwhile and quite interesting.

Reading 2

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Not really knowing what to expect I opened up Slaughterhouse-Five on the beach over Spring Break feeling pretty indifferent about the assignment. After reading the first section of the book I closed it not feeling much different. Vonnegut’s narrative both of his own struggle to write the book as well as the struggle of Billy Pilgrim are captivating and easy to read. However, it took me a while to really get into the style of Vonnegut and to really enjoy the story. The more that I learn about Tralfamadore and Billy’s struggle, however, the more I have enjoyed the novel.

 “It is so short and jumbled and jangled, Sam, because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre.”

I know that critics of Slaughterhouse-five frequently bicker back and forth about if the book is anti-war or not, and I certainly am not really sure what I think at this point. Regardless of their opinions on the matter I think that this quote is very telling of the author’s opinion on war. I also think that Vonnegut uses the style of writing and jumbled thoughts of Pilgrim to portray the chaos that is war, and he obviously uses Pilgrim as the very embodiment of the chaos caused by war. I feel that there are intriguing arguments both ways as far as the books stance on war up to this point, and I look forward to seeing what side I take in the end.

Vonnegut is also skilled at enticing the reader with strange perspectives on time and life as offered by Billy, those he encounters, and especially the Tralfamadorians. These are the concepts that are most interesting to me. The whole Tralfmadorian view of time as a series of moments viewed similarly to a mountain range and these moments coexisting, and never changing or able to be changed is strange but entertaining to say the least. Vonnegut’s use of both the bizarre and unfamiliar through Tralfamadore in unison with the grotesque reality of war and the hardships of life are cleverly juxtaposed. There is never a moment that is allowed to continue for too long before Pilgrim is suddenly whisked back on to Tralfamadore on back into the war.

One of the gleaning examples of juxtaposition in the book thus far is the passage about Billy’s serenity prayer. “…It went like this: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom always to tell the difference." Among the things Billy Pilgrim could not change: were the past, the present, and the future.” For a second you think “oh how nice” or “hey, I’ve heard that quote before” but then the optimism in the quote is quickly mitigated by Billy’s perspective. I think that this is especially interesting because this shows how the Tralfamadorians have influenced Billy, and it portrays an interesting intermingling of fantastical ideals with reality.

Vonnegut again shows this intertwining of Tralfamadorian ideals with Billy’s reality in his repetition of the phrase “so it goes” throughout the book. Billy utilizes this phrase after explaining that this is what Tralfamadorians say whenever something dies. I have always thought that repetition is an effective tool in literature. I also think that since death is such a huge component of this story that this repetition of “so it goes” really ties together all of the bizarre elements of Slaughterhouse-five well. While things can get far-fetched and jumbled in the story of war, having this recurring element is effective to ensure some consistency for the reader.

So far I have had a hard time identifying the comedic presence in Slaughterhouse-five; the book is well written and in many instances very ironic, but never extremely comedic. (Just perhaps a chuckle here or there at a minor anecdote.) My strongest reactions to the novel have been in disgust or in empathy for Billy. I have not gotten to the point of laughter in a superiority theory type of way because I just feel downright bad for the guy. I really hope there is something good ahead for Billy, although things don’t look great so far.

Conversation 6

Guilherme has really discovered some cool things to do in his time in the US. He has done anything from weekend trips to various volunteer endeavors with his girlfriend around Texas.  This week we talked even more about his weekend adventures.

Guilherme and his girlfriend attended a comic convention a few weeks back. We were talking today, for some odd reason, about people being stingy and conic convention is where our conversation ended up. The story behind this odd sequence of conversation was Guilherme’s experience at said comic convention. After waiting in line for an hour to get a comic book signed by one of the authors attending the convention, Guilherme and his girlfriend were disheartened to learn that the author was charging every person for a signature. Outrageous, right? I couldn’t help but wonder to myself if perhaps the guy was joking and Guilherme just misunderstood the joke because this seemed like such a strange thing for him to do. Guilherme must have read this on my face because he quickly whipped his phone out of his pocket two seconds later to show me proof of his bizarre encounter. He handed me his phone and on the screen I saw a picture of an absurdly small sign denoting that the author will charge a variable amount for his signature depending on the item on which it is signed.

This story perpetuated into some discourse about our shared surprise about this convention, and me barraging Guilherme will a plethora of questions about the comic convention (quite a foreign idea to me.) I thought that this story was interesting because we shared such disbelief over the stingy author. I also noticed that as we talked about the comic convention Guilherme definitely exhibited moments of self-deprecating humor, which I have started to notice everywhere since we have heard so much about it in class presentations. Guilherme kept joking about how weird he was for liking things like a comic convention and being “nerdy.”

We also talked today about Guilherme’s apartment situation. He was really excited to report that Friday-if all of his information is approved-he will be moving into an apartment on Hulen. He was telling me all about all of the amenities of the complex, a pool, gym, small library, and a tennis…tennis…he didn’t know what to call it. This stood out to me because this was one of the few times that he hasn’t been able to think of the word he wanted to use, or didn’t know it. “Court,” I filled in. He smiled and accepted the help graciously—I always get nervous correcting people or helping out in moments like this, but Guilherme was in no way offended.

Also while on the topic of his apartment, Guilherme brought up that the apartment comes unfurnished.  This part of our conversation also started off kind of funny because he pronounced Ikea in a bizarre fashion (I wish I could convey it in the blog.) But after he said it a second time and due to context, I knew exactly what he was referring to. We connected about this topic because my duplex that I am living in next year is similarly unfurnished. We both intend to fully furnish our new homes with the help of Ikea. We told each other funny stories about Ikea-mine about my envy of my younger sister’s room being completely decked out in Ikea-and giggled about it. Guilherme also found it funny how my sisters and I were always obsessed with decorating our rooms.

Naturally Spring Break also came up again today. Guilherme and I are both anxious for the upcoming break and both luckily only have one more day of class left after today. Although Guilherme’s class is supposed to go bowling this Friday for their field trip, he doesn’t consider this school. Although he may have to miss this outing to move into his apartment, Guilherme was telling me about how much he likes to bowl and that they also have it in Brazil. He also got a kick out of my stories about learning how to bowl in “gym” in high school. He especially enjoyed hearing about my mix up with which fingers you use to bowl.

To end our conversation today we reminded one another of our respective plans for the break. Guilherme is going to Abilene with his girlfriend to see her family and also to New Braunfels for a few days to a house that her family owns there. Guilherme is an extremely polite conversationalist and once again giggled as I told him a story about my uncle’s confusion by the New Braunfels High Scholl mascot—the unicorn. He literally laughed for about three minutes when I told him this story, ending our conversation in a similar state of disbelief as we started it—and he even Googled it to make sure I was right.

Our meeting today was light-hearted and amusing per usual. We met on Wednesday to accommodate for our schedules with the upcoming break. I honestly think that my coming straight from my speech therapy session for the day made me more attentive to Guilherme’s pronunciation differences and mistakes, which made this session especially interesting to me. I look forward to hearing about Guilherme’s apartment and trip to the land of unicorns when we return and have our last meeting.

Humor 2

“Well this just got awkward.”

This statement often applies to my life in many situations, and this week it definitely was right on par. Thomas and I were studying with two of our friends in my sorority house chapter room on Tuesday night. We had finished preparing for our presentation on Wednesday and were all just doing our own homework and casually chatting intermittently. Then 11:30 comes around and I am ready for bed (for those of you who know me well you know that this is actually uncharacteristically late for me to study, lame I know.) I had completed my to do list for the day and began to pack up my backpack so that I could go upstairs and go to bed.

This is where things started to get awkward. I had mentioned to Thomas like “hey I think I am done studying” before I began to pack up, but he didn’t pick up on this hint. Thinking that he might not have heard me-because this often occurs with us- I repeated myself again, “so yeah, I think I am going to go to bed.” He acknowledged me and then kept just chatting with our friends across the table. Growing impatient, I finally just blatantly blurted out, “are you going to pack up or what?”

(1) In my defense, this seemed like the natural thing for him to do since I was done studying. Normally when I am done studying at like 9:30 (don’t judge me), he will pack and go back to study on his own until the wee hours of the morning. Not this night though. And (2) What’s about to happen is even more comedic because just a few hours earlier when we had finished preparing for our presentation Thomas had started to pack up. I was under the impression we were studying together for the night, while he thought that I was probably going to bed.

“What, can’t Thomas stay and hang out with us?” my friend Kiley asked inquisitively. This definitely took me by surprise. Why would he want to hang out in our stuffy, girly chapter room for longer than necessary? Looking back I guess it wouldn’t have been weird for him to stay and chat and study with our mutual friends downstairs, but in the moment this caught me completely off guard. I’m pretty sure I gave him a look like he just had ripped the head off of a teddy bear or something completely terrifying because he immediately started packing up. “Well this is awkward” Kiley pointed out-she always makes a point of reminding me about how awkward I make situations or am as a person.

This awkward assumption that I made perpetuated to what is now a series of inside jokes about Thomas being in the house. “Thank goodness I got that dangerous man out!” I joked with Kiley as I walked upstairs after Thomas left. To which she responded something like, “phew, yeah I knew you couldn’t trust him down here alone.”

These funny moments of miscommunication and assumptions, plague my everyday life. They make for funny stories, but when they are with unfamiliar people things can get really uncomfortable. Thankfully, Tuesday was in the company of good friends and nobody got too offended or was too surprised, as I mentioned miscommunication tends to happen a lot for me somehow. This situation was funny to me because I was the one person out of four who didn’t think about the situation similarly, creating a definite (you guessed it) cognitive shift.

Conversation 5

I woke up Thursday morning to an email from Guilherme. My first instinct after seeing the subject “meeting today” was that something had come up so that our meeting for the day was to be cancelled. Oh contrary. Guilherme had emailed me two video links to one of his favorite funny YouTube hits. Since my day was so packed I didn’t get a chance to watch the clips before we met, so we started our meeting in Union Grounds this way this week.

These clips instantly reminded me of “Whose line is it anyway?” Guilherme explained to me that this a skit group out of Brazil that does live performances that are not actually aired on TV, but instead are only put online. This forces their faithful followers to go and watch the show live. Similar to “Whose line is it anyway?” “Os Barbixas” (the show) has the stage with color paneling and even four chairs for each of the four comedians in the back. Guilherme defined “Os Barbixas” roughly as “the moustache men—or something along those lines!”

Unlike German humor that we learned about this week, the Portuguese jokes translated pretty well into English. We both giggled as we watched these clips, I proceeded to show Guilherme clips from “Whose line is it anyway?” because of the strong association that I had developed in my head. He was bummed to hear that this, too, would have to be purely a YouTube entertainment source since “Whose Line” isn’t on TV anymore.

After we watched the clips Guilherme gave me more background about the show. Watching them again, there are a lot of things in “Os Barbixas” that the comedians referenced that were either in English or were straight from our culture. One of the things I noticed watching these clips a second time is that in one video when the prompt is “a conversation between cereals” two references that we can understand are made. 1. Frosted Flakes: “How about some milk, tiger?” and 2. One comedian shoots at the three others and proceeds to say “cereal killer.” Something that Guilherme and I both laughed about. We did discuss at our meeting the references to Santa and the North Pole and Danny Devito that I caught the first time watching these clips.

Guilherme also explained to me the “funk” referenced in one of the skits. (The context of this was that one of the prompts was something like “things not to do at a Funk.”) A funk in Brazil is the equivalent to a rave in the US. Guilherme struggled to describe to me the wardrobe of the “funk” population and became visibly uncomfortable—we were both able to laugh about it though. This led us to talk about how neither of us really likes the rap music scene. Not surprising. Watching these clips a second time, the part about the funk was hilarious.

In class and in my discussion with Guilherme it has been interesting to both compare and contrast humor on a global scale. I think that the bonding aspect of humor that we discussed when reading Morreall definitely came into play in Guilherme and I’s conversation today. It is cool to be able to sit down and enjoy something like that with someone of a completely different cultural background.

We mostly enjoyed talking about humor this week and laughing at the one liners in the clips we watched. At the end of out meeting Guilherme did get the chance to tell me about his long-anticipated weekend of volunteering for the Destination Imagination competition. Guilherme had a blast judging the project of 1^st to 3^rd graders in this competition, and retelling the story. We got into a very interesting conversation about how this was a great English learning opportunity for him to see children’s written English and really interact.

I have attached the clips we discussed, enjoy and be sure to put on the English subtitles!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAu1mIFoZSw


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_G870dZ31k

Conversation 4

Yesterday, Guilherme and I met and decided to mix up our routine a little and grab lunch during our meeting. What exotic location did we choose to dine at? The BLUU.

As much as this is not my first choice for any meal, it sparked interesting conversation about food, something we both enjoy quite a lot, and its differences in America and Brazil.

Guilherme definitely enjoys American food. Pizza (although it’s Italian) and French fries were his lunch of choice as we sat outside of Market Square. Our conversation started of talking about the crazy weather yesterday (as cliché as this sounds we both agree that Texas’ weather is conversation-worthy.) Guilherme was also excited to share with me that he found an apartment to move into within the next two weeks so that he will be closer to campus, and more independent. We also discussed our respective Spring Break plans. Guilherme is planning on moving into his apartment and going to Abilene with his girlfriend to hang out with her and her family. These conversation topics and the natural flow that we have between topics lead me to almost forget the age difference between Guilherme and I since much of what he deals with is similar to any other college student.

However, these commonplace topics barely scratch the surface of all the funny things we talked about yesterday. Since Guilherme’s girlfriend has become a common area of conversation, I decided to ask Guilherme about Valentine’s Day since we had not met last Thursday. He simply responded that his girlfriend had insisted that he not make a special trip up to see her for the holiday because this would have required that he rent a car to drive up to Waco for a few hours and come back that night to return the car (since Guilherme has class on Fridays.) I responded that he was lucky, most girls have high expectations for this day and he just kind of laughed. Being the excellent conversationalist that he is, Guilherme asked about my Valentine’s Day in return. I responded that since I was home for the weekend my boyfriend and I “celebrated” with a low key dinner and hanging out with friends on Saturday night instead, explaining that this was fine with me since I am not a huge fan of Valentine’s Day myself.  I even went on to joke that my boyfriend was more upset about missing the Hallmark Holiday than I was.

 I can’t even describe the look of confusion/awe/humor-struck (if that’s a word?) that came across Guilherme’s face when I said this. He responded, “Ah! He and I are much the same then!” Turns out what I labeled as a “lucky break” he was too polite to correct as “disappointment.” This conversation was probably the most advanced that Guilherme and I have had. We went on to talk about the premise behind Valentine’s day, he was explaining things like how commercialized the holiday is but how he still loves the meaning and significance. This topic required advanced English, and yet he was able to convey his thoughts almost completely fluently.  Guilherme also explained how there is a similar holiday to Valentine’s day celebrated in Brazil but it is celebrated in June—so I guess he has a chance to redeem the romantic holiday in just a few months.

Being a self-proclaimed “foodie” I decided that this lunch was the perfect context to ask Guilherme about food in Brazil.  He explained to me that the cooking is pretty similar in both countries or “at least to [him] because it all tastes so good.” We were definitely able to relate on this note, we both love to travel (as previously discussed) and one of our mutually favorite parts of travel is exploring the world’s different foods. Guilherme did specify, however, that breakfast is different in America than it is in Brazil. Breakfasts in America are huge, consisting of bacon, eggs, toast, and the works. Breakfast is Brazil is a lot lighter, and lunch is normally (at least for Guilherme) the biggest meal of the day. We then got on a 5-minute tangent about how this is unfortunate because we both really enjoy breakfast food. We went on to discuss our respective cooking skills and experiences with cooking, Guilherme had some funny stories to share.

Yesterday’s conversation revealed not only more about Guilherme’s superior pragmatic skills in English and use of an extremely diverse vocabulary, but it was also interesting to learn more about his culture and background. We have often gotten so caught up in what’s going on here and now at TCU—as it is so easy to do—that this conversation and cultural comparison was rather refreshing. We were both shocked to realize that we only have 3 more meetings left after yesterday, and plan to talk a lot about humor next time we meet. This had been mentioned before, but Guilherme is determined to find YouTube clips to show me that he thinks are funny—but can only find his favorite shows in Portuguese. I am excited to be able to compare cultures even more with Guilherme over our next meeting, and think that such a modern and international thing as Youtube and the entertainment industry as a whole will serve as a great premise to do so.

Reading 1

When I went to read the texts to prepare for Monday’s class I was surprised (but definitely pleasantly so) to find that these were not tales about playing Indian in the woods or about pranks pulled by irritating little boys, but the stories of girls. Most of the time it seems like successful and renowned comedians are men. (However, I will admit that most of the time I favor a stand up male comedian’s act or role in a movie over that of a woman,) so these stories definitely took me by surprise. I kept giggling and thinking to myself “it’s funny cause it’s true.”

I think that both Ephron and Parker utilized comic techniques effectively in their tales on the trials of womanhood. To me, these stories were much more humorous and relatable to me than those of O’Henry and Thurber. There were ageless themes in both of the texts that I think translate better to the modern era than some of the other stories.

Similar to “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, there were components of Parker’s “The Waltz” that seemed more tragic than comic to me. The whole premise of being stuck in a marriage described with such agony is downright depressing, but Parker’s comedic merit arises from the delivery of this dark message. She employs really interesting structure throughout the passage with the interspersing of the real remarks and conversation she has with her dance partner that are contrasted with her actual thoughts. I have always really enjoyed writing that is stream of consciousness and that includes many witty remarks—like those of Parker. And of course there is the infamous cognitive shift present in this story. After four and a half pages of detail about the misery the dancer feels as inspired by her partner and the burning hatred that she has for him she admits, “Ah I couldn’t bare to have anything happen to him. I love him.”  Now I will admit that woman are extremely hot and cold in all matters of their life, especially when it comes to love and relationships, but Parker’s tale surprised me. Especially when you find out that the incompetent dance partner is in fact her life partner.

 The most outstanding technique that both Parker and Ephron effectively use is, in my opinion, exaggeration.  From the Parker’s rant on every possible downfall of her counterpart’s existence to Ephron’s tragic life without breasts I couldn’t help but be reminded of Morreall’s discourse on the positive ethics of humor. I think that both of these pieces could arguably be the character’s “coping” with their trials through venting that at least we perceive as humorous. The exaggeration of both of these characters is very relatable for women and men alike. Woman because we similarly act as if 5 days of menstruation is the apocalypse; Men because they often fall victim to these exaggerated rants. In a piece of literature on the follies of womanhood I think exaggeration is definitely an effective and necessary technique.

Ephron’s “A few words about breasts” captures the awkward struggle of adolescents and women everywhere. Again, the exaggerations well as the stream of conscious narration were effective. The betrayal that the narrator felt as her friend “continued on without her” to puberty was especially comic and relatable to me. I remember being in elementary and middle school and insisting on doing literally everything with my best friend, Jordan. I laughed at this part because I totally can see myself feeling the same as the author about this situation. I also related to this story because my family could definitely have inspired the Raksob family’s outrageous description. Not with the fancy living accommodations perhaps, but my mother has literally been nicknamed the ‘queen of extreme’ by all of my friends. Our was was infamous for the snack cart (yes, a giant cart) that she keeps constantly overflowing with all things junk food and her overachieving culinary exploits. However, the “competitive remarks about breast size” discourse was definitely my favorite part of this week’s reading assignments because we all know how competitive women can be, especially about body and self-image.  To top it off, I think that the narrator’s rejection of her friend’s consolation as being “full of shit” was funny because I think at one point everyone has felt as dejected as the narrator, and totally called out those expressing empathy with a similar jab.

Conversation 3

“Monkeys riding dogs!” Guilherme laughed with tears (yes people, literally small, glistening tears) trickling out of his eyes. Last Friday the IEP program had their long-awaited visit to the Rodeo—Guilherme’s first ever—which made for some good laughs this week. Not only did he enjoy the monkeys and dogs but we both had a good laugh when talking about the children who try to wrestle a calf. (This event may have a specific name, but what do two non-Texans know about Rodeo?)

This week Guilherme and I met on Tuesday because the schedule for the week was busy. Since less time had passed since our last visit, this week we got to talk about a lot more than just the happenings of the past week. I can’t quite recall what led us to the topic, but Guilherme and I ended up spending much of our time on Tuesday talking about travel—something else that we definitely have in common.

Talking about travel was probably evoked by the topic of spring break. This week I learned that Guilherme not only has travelled a lot since he has been in the states, but he is also quite the world traveller! He’s been to Spain, Italy Switzerland—among many other European spots—as well as Australia and New Zealand. I literally was gawking at him by the time he was done listing all of the dream vacation destinations that he had crossed off his bucket list. Guilherme found my jealousy quite amusing, but I have literally always wanted to travel to Australia. Per Guilherme’s recommendation, I now am longing to travel there even more than before, as well as to New Zealand.

When talking about a park that Guilherme visited in Waco last week we learned that we both enjoy hiking and other outdoorsy activities. Our common passion for such activities, especially in the context of travel, made the stories that both of us had to share rather enjoyable. Guilherme told me all about the first time he ever snowboarded (which was in New Zealand, amazing right?) and how sore he was the next day. Being a native Coloradan, and snowboarder myself this was relatable on many levels and led into my classic story of how I learned to ski/board. I don’t know how much you know about these sports or the learning process that they entail—but such experiences are the root of many a great story.

But that wasn’t all.

Guilherme doesn’t only snowboard, kayak, hike, raft, etc. (you get the point) he just so happens to also find some of the coolest, quirky little things to integrate into his trips. When I asked him what his favorite trip was, Guilherme detailed all about his trip to New Zealand. It wasn’t just the amazing snowboarding experience, but the tour that he went on while there: a Lord of the Rings Tour. Now, I can’t sit through an hour and a half romantic comedy without taking a 45-minute nap, so I am definitely not a Lord of the Rings 5-hour movie kind of girl-but this tour still sounded pretty amazing. You get to be taken to some of the spots where the movie was filmed. Guilherme is now determined to go back one day for another tour that includes a helicopter ride up into the mountains to the places where more of the scenes were filmed.

Although the places that Guilherme has visited were much more exotic than many of mine, he claims that Colorado is on his list of places that he would like to visit. Naturally I gave him some local tips about skiing and eating (two essential components to Colorado living.) I’m not sure that he actually wanted to go but I did intersperse a comment along the lines of “oh you like hiking? Colorado has beautiful trails!” or “of you like to eat? Colorado has food!” whenever I could fit it in. What can I say? I have a little state pride. (Which is hard to keep kindled in such a proud state as Texas.) But this is all beside the point.

There’s a saying that the world is a book and if you never travel you only read one page…or chapter? Or something to that effect—but whatever the saying is I think that travel really is the best way to learn. I also think that it was a great way to learn more about Guilherme. I now long to travel the world more than ever—I’m sure my dad will love that this already immense desired has been intensified. It was especially interesting to compare what our experiences were at places that we had commonly visited, and to see the experiences that people with very different cultural backgrounds have had there. However, it was also fun to compare similarities, especially stories about kayaking  or white water rafting. The stories about travel did lead to funny stories about cultural discrepancies and awkward misunderstandings while abroad, but I’m glad to say that Guilherme and I’s interactions have continued to keep such moments to a minimum.

Conversation 2

On Thursday afternoon Guilherme and I met again. This time we sat outside of 1873 to enjoy the beautiful southeast breeze and 70 degree weather. We caught up about the past weekend and learned a little more about each other.  Guilherme told me more about his visit to Waco, and his girlfriend there.

This week it felt like we were catching up as old friends, even though we have only met twice. I feel like I already know a lot about Guilherme and it is cool to follow up on all of the things that we have already talked about, as well as learning even more.

Last week Guilherme had told me briefly about a girlfriend that he met while in America. This week I learned more about what brought him here and their “how we met” story.

Guilherme laughed when I asked if his friend in Waco that I had heard so much about went to Baylor (the only thing I know that exists there…). This friend is 80 years old. Guilherme’s family helped host a missionary years ago, Guilherme’s nameless friend. Since his parents spoke English, they served as interpreters for the missionary. The family’s relationship has stayed strong for many years and now Guilherme visits Waco most weekends. I thought that this was a very interesting story, and couldn’t help but think of the cognitive shift as the friend that I picture as an 18-year-old college student is quickly transformed into an 80-year-old man. Guilherme even went on to joke about how I shouldn’t feel too bad, most people think that his friend is younger because he works out so much and looks more like 60-years-old. I just sat there thinking about that cliché saying about assumptions.

As soon as Guilherme mentioned a girlfriend last week I-in typical girl form-asked all about her. Guilherme met his girlfriend (who is also currently nameless in my head) at Church one weekend with the missionary friend. Guilherme was lost in the large Baptist Church and ran into his now girlfriend who hospitably showed him to the bible study room and later asked him to sit with her at the service. Now Guilherme frequently visits her, and has travelled around Texas with her family.

When talking about the visits to Waco, Guilherme and I had this sarcastic little back-and-forth Waco. It was a typical Horned Frog ragging on Waco, Baylor, and how little there is to do there-type of conversation. It came out pretty naturally, but I thought that in regards to the topic of humor that this was interesting. This type of discourse is very specific to TCU and our rivalry with Baylor, and perhaps may extend to being a Texas joke as a whole. I just think that it is cool how humor can bring even someone outside of a culture inside of it. This was definitely a moment that reflects the social and bonding nature of humor.

Guilherme also shared with me that he tested to be at level 5 in English for the IEP program. He was really excited about this because 5 is the highest level that you can get for these tests. I feel fortunate to have a partner who is so advanced already in his English and so easy to understand. There were moments in our conversation where he would struggle to find the right word for what he wanted to say-similar to last week-but I am continually impressed by the wide range of English vocabulary he already has. I am curious to see how much English was used in his home now that I know the missionary story, perhaps he had a bit of a head start.

Although our conversation didn’t get much past the past week’s happenings, Guilherme and I shared yet another laugh when I told him about the week that I had been having. I explained to him the ironic (only funny when looking back on it) Tuesday that I had had. (This included a computer crashing just in time for two tests and projects last week, getting lost going to get the computer fixed and almost missing a test, barely escaping a speeding ticket while rushing back for the test, and not at all escaping a parking ticket when I made it back just in time for the test.—thankfully the computer was at least able to recover.) Similar to how I felt when Dylann tumbled over her Christmas present (see humor blog 1), Guilherme first laughed, then felt terrible after hearing the story. Fortunately for him I had cooled off by this time (Tuesday I was an emotional wreck about the whole thing), and we were able to laugh and joke about it.

The joking and witty banter between Guilherme and I made the conversation time fly by this week, but I did mention to him to be thinking about humor specifically just to see what he comes up with. I hope that this will lead us to more interesting conversation next week. I also look forward to hearing about the Rodeo field trip that Guilherme was buzzing about, he couldn’t wait to “basically have Friday off!” I think this will also serve as a good point of cultural comparison next week.

Conversation 1

A tall and lanky man approaches the table and introduces himself with one of the biggest smiles that I’ve ever seen. Although I had thought of a 1,000 possible ways that this meeting could have gone I never would have expected it to go so well. The time flew by, and there were a lot fewer awkward moments than I had anticipated. (I have a knack for making first encounters excruciatingly awkward.)

Guilherme has an intriguing story and was more than willing to share it with me. There were some times when his excitement would get him talking so fast I could barely keep up, but overall I think that we communicated fairly well and really understood each other. Guilherme has trouble with some of the irregular verb forms and other weird quirks of English, but I could always tell what he was saying.

Being a Speech-Language Pathology major made talking with an individual with such a strong accent an even more interesting experience. In my major classes we have been learning about dialectal differences and sounds that a person learning English as a second language might have difficulty with. I actually picked up on a lot of these things in our conversation. I think that since I have studied these things our conversation benefitted.

Guilherme is from Brazil, just outside of San Paolo and Rio de Janeiro along the coast. He grew up as an only child. We had a goodtime comparing our upbringings (there is quite a bit to contrast considering I grew up one of three daughters.) A big part of our conversation was also about travel and all the places that Guilherme has lived. (This was also easy to contrast to a girl who had never lived anywhere except for one house until she went to college.) This really got me thinking about how neat it is for two people who grew up in their own little worlds and niches to have ended up meeting like this. That may sound a bit cliché…well I guess it kind of is. We talked about New York and Guilherme’s summer visit there to see a friend from Brazil. We finally found some common ground, we both love to travel, have been to a lot of the same places, and share a lukewarm attitude towards New York.

The more questions that I asked Guilherme, the more interesting his story became to me. The IEP program at TCU was something I knew virtually nothing about before this meeting, and I think that it offers students like Guilherme a very cool opportunity. Guilherme is very intelligent-he has a law degree in Brazil. We talked about the book that they are reading in the IEP Literature class, To Kill a Mockingbird. I was truly impressed by this. I remember thinking that my Spanish teacher was insane for trying to make me read children’s level novels in a foreign language, and there Guilherme is reading full novels in English after living in America for practically no time at all.

One of my favorite parts of our conversation was talking about our experiences in being assimilated into the culture of Texas. We both laughed when talking about Rodeo (the IEP class has a field trip next week) and our first experiences with Whataburger.  (Can I just say that I am feeling seriously nostalgic about field trips after learning about the IEP program’s outings?) Guilherme lives with a host family. Their family consists of a mother, a father who works out of town all week, a daughter that attends A&M and a son in high school. His host family isn’t very close-knit, but he likes living with them. Comparing our experiences and talking about things associated with TCU in general made our conversation really flow and allowed us to relate to each other a lot more.

This week we didn’t touch on the subject of humor directly. Upon reflecting, there were many times when we would both giggle or politely laugh at little things that seemed socially acceptable or expected. There were also some awkward laughs. I’m sure this is something that we will be talking about a lot more (and experiencing a lot more) in the future for Guilherme is a wonderful storyteller and conversationalist.