Just Josh-ing

What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul. ~ Yiddish Proverb

Our families love to laugh — with each other and at each other. One of the things my husband and I will treat ourselves with is going to see a good comedian. We have had opportunities to see many gifted ones in action — Jerry Seinfeld, George Carlin, and Lewis Black, to name a few. For several years, we lived across the street from one of the local comedy clubs and frequented the shows on a regular basis. There we had the chance to see performers such as Kevin Pollack and Tom Wilson, along with a host of rising young comics out on the circuit honing their skills.

My husband and I first encountered Josh Blue when he was competing (and won) on Last Comic Standing. Truly funny and sarcastic, we both immediately gravitated both to his style and his topics. We also had the chance to see Josh Blue perform in person – several times. Each was a treat, and we could always count on laughing out loud in a much needed break from lives and routines. Some of his funniest sets revolve around his having cerebral palsy and his stories about his family. Several of his performances are on youtube, so if you are in the mood for a laugh, I recommend him — but he occasionally is not safe to watch at work!

Enjoy a break, take a moment to laugh.

Go Josh around…….

[This post is #10 of 26 of the April A-to-Z Challenge. Please click on the button on the right side of the page for more information about the challenge or to locate others participating — there are more than 1600!]

Previous A-to-Z posts
2012: Jezebel Doing the Town
2011: Jabberwocky

Birthday Blues

I filled out a survey today, something trivial, online, in the effort to win something I probably don’t need anyway.  But the worst part?  I had to check the age box for a new age-range!  Now, I could have checked a different box, I mean really, who would ever know?  But, I didn’t.  Reminding myself that at least I was the bottom of that age range, I checked it bravely and moved on.  Obviously, it didn’t bother me a bit.  See??  Not a bit….

It was a fabulous weekend for a birthday!  A perfect, golden autumn, that was neither too hot, nor too cold.  The sun was shining, we had family in for the weekend, and fun things to do.  The celebrations kicked off on with my first present on Thursday – a large Magic-8 ball, from a good friend who knows that no matter how old I get, I still believe in certain kinds of magic.  On Friday, my colleagues at work threw me a party in the middle of our regular First-Friday staff meeting, complete with cake!

Friday night, with family around our new dining room table, we indulged in a marvelous cabbage roll dinner, with the cabbage rolls homemade by women over at St. Stephen’s Hungarian Catholic Church.  Yum…. there is nothing like fresh-made Hungarian church-lady food!  Saturday was my actual birthday, and my darling husband made sure it was full of fun!  As you might have noticed from the title, the theme this year was birthday blues – but not in the sense that you might be thinking!  Blue is my favorite color, especially in the sapphire variety, so he played on the theme.  He bought tickets to see the Blue Man Group, which was performing to kick off the fall theater season here in town.  We had not seen the group before, and it was something to behold.  It was fun, loud, rowdy, and an all-around good time.  The show ran more than 90 minutes, with no intermission, and included good percussion music from a variety of sources, some comical audience interaction, and a few really funny alien-in-a-strange-land kind of skits.   But for me, the ending was the best part.  The BMG started out on stage, using these large, pearlesque balls as drums, and they were lit from the inside, so that they shimmered and glowed when struck.  As they transitioned to different instruments, they got the audience up dancing and kicked out these balls into the audience, so that it was much like a rock concert!  They fired toilet paper rolls, engaged large air-filled tubes out over the stage and audience — all in all, not your normal theater-type experience for the matinee crowd!  It ROCKED!    Literally!  But what fun was had.    And the fun continued Saturday night as the blue theme rolled on.  We all headed over to our usual table at the FunnyBone (and yes, we have a usual table… we love to laugh!) to see comedian Josh Blue!  See?  Blue Birthday! I also got a gorgeous necklace and earring set, with…you guessed it…. blue flowers!

On Sunday, we went out for brunch, meeting up with other family, at a new independent buffet nearby.  Our first experience there, but we love trying out new places, and this was worth a little drive to get there!  It had everything from fresh sushi and excellent Chinese food, to all-American meatloaf, ham loaf, and all the fixings, to an amazing salad bar.  And the desserts were excellent, especially their mini apple dumplings.  Which I will of course now have to figure out how to recreate at home!!  They were that good!!   And, family being family and not folks to let a good thing pass them by, they blabbed that it was my birthday, so I got the whole wait staff singing and piece of cake thing, too.  I haven’t blushed that much in… well… forever!  I suppose it did me good…. LOL   (especially since I can’t make it disappear, eh?).  I am thanking my lucky stars that it happened so quickly that no one had time to whip out their phone and capture the moment for posterity.  One wish came true there!

So here I am, post-blue birthday.  Back at it.  Catching up on writing, blogging, reading, cooking and other fun things.  The things I enjoy doing.  My final present to myself was two days off work this week and two days off next week, too, to get some serious writing done.  Which I have.  And will.  I know what I wished for as I blew out the candles (alas not blue candles, though) this year, and I know it’s up to me to make it come true.  Just me.  It’s a journey I  long for and want, and –here’s hoping– will have success in completing.

It’s going to be a great year.  I just know it.