Bored

With no one but myself to blame, I am bored. More mentally than anything else. Sure I walk around the block. That is 30 minutes. I even doubled the distance, still not enough. What I am not doing is this. Avoiding? Possibly. I have been reading a book written by a woman I heard interviewed on NPR. She sounded so funny. Lori Notaro-esque. So I bought her first collection of short stories. Snobby? But I only was mildly entertained. Snobby because I am a reverse snob. She is thin, came from a wealthy family with mild dysfunctions. Her words were set to be funny but it wasn't. I was disappointed.

I know what the problem is. As a seasoned movie viewer I "pop" out of the viewer position and very often do I "pop" into the evaluative mode. I will look a the camera angles, notice props, wonder where they found certain locations, and wonder at dialogs. Unfortunately I don't enjoy the movies at times as I am going behind the scenes to deconstruct the creative process. The same has started to happen with books.

Years ago my sister & I thought about writing erotica. I don't know if it was a valid thought or direction but we did have a very long late night conversation brainstorming the various slang terms for genetalia & sexual acts. Cock is just an ugly word but realistically it suits the purpose and (forgive me) the thrust of the necessity of the word. I figured 1) I don't have enough sexual creativity to write erotica 2) I didn't want to consider anal sex and much erotica has those as scenarios 3) I would not be able to write as I was laughing too much (imagine how bad it would have been if my sister & I would have written together!) 4) I tend to count word usage and COCK would be overused within the first two pages.

I have recently turned towards humor in the books I purchase. And I am disappointed. I watch too much Food Network, but imagine if your life was encased in food. At some point Ho-Ho's and DIng Dongs must be repellant. I think I am there with humor books. Could be my own bitterness that I am not writing, but I have lost enjoyment. A friend gave me a book last year when I has surgery. Alot of the stories were off color. I really have no other word for it. I mean I did laugh at her explaining a teen story when she discovered masturbation and had to explain the ensuing carpal tunnel pain to her parents to avoid going to the doctor, but many of them were over the top. David Sedaris did that to me in some of his first stories. Hitch hiking with a paraplegic friend to gain money from strangers was an awkwardly funny piece. I still can't read his Christmas card story about the illeglegitimate Viet Namese daughter who showed up. Maybe that is Utah in me or maybe I do have limits. Fortunately for me, David has somewhat mellowed. I am still a difficult audience to please.

One of my struggles with my humor is it is mostly based around other people and their reactions. I can't have humor without daily ruminations on the world and those people who are brave/stupid enough to cross my paths.