Michille: Some (Hopefully) Post Pandemic Humor

Art work from North Wind Picture Archives / Alamy

I get the New Yorker’s Daily Humor email. I started getting this mid-pandemic and it provides a measure of comic relief every day. Plus a rabbit hole of other things to read. A recent email was a good example. It started with “A Lexicon for the Late Pandemic” with new vocab like (I suffer from these):

  • P.C.S.D. (post-covid stress disorder): The nightmare we will have for the rest of our lives: you’re walking down the street when you suddenly realize that you’re naked, but it’s just your face.
  • Covalgia: Nostalgia for certain aspects of the pandemic—e.g., reduced traffic, more birds, fewer mass shootings, no office birthday parties. Specifically for me – working from home – I love, love, loved it.

There are others, but we’re about writing. So at the bottom of this post under More Humor, I found a link to How Dating During a Pandemic Is Like Being in a Jane Austen Novel. Okay, not about writing, but most of us can appreciate this. So how is dating like being in a Jane Austen Novel? There are more than just these, but these are my favorites:

  • It’s a long, drawn-out affair, composed of public meetings.
  • The main characters lead quiet domestic lives.
  • You regularly inquire about the health of each other’s family members.
  • Strict manners and customs of the day, built around a moral duty to society, dictate your interactions and lead to amusing mishaps.
  • Includes many brisk walks.
  • Gossip helps edify listeners by determining what is and isn’t acceptable, and who has violated social conventions and decorum.
  • Romantic encounters are very weather-dependent.

The recent spate of Jane Austen fan fiction can now take a big step back to the future. If there were to be a Jane Austen fanfic piece now, you could just change their names, give them cell phones and computers, have a couple zoom dates instead of tea in the parlor, and done.

Has anyone heard of new pandemic romantic fiction hitting the shelves?

Elizabeth: Procrasti-humor

Happy Wednesday to all.  The day job is still keeping me busy and severely cramping my writing style, not to mention interrupting my sleep-patterns.  One of the hazards of attending virtual conferences that originate overseas is that a reasonable time “over there” is a very unreasonable time over here.  Ah well, such is the price of learning and information sharing.  Here’s hoping we’ll all be the better for it.

The image above popped up in my Facebook-memories feed today and it gave me a chuckle.  I may not be currently residing in Procrasti-nation, but I have traveled extensively to Napland and Surfside in the recent past.  I’m hoping to take a day-trip to Isle get it done later this week.  We’ll see how that goes.

In the meantime, I hope your March has been good so far and is continuing to look bright.

Happy Writing! (or napping)

Elizabeth: Brief bit of Humor

Happy Wednesday to all.  Having been working 12-hour days recently, I’m at a bit of a loss for deep writing thoughts to share, but there’s always time for a bit of humor.  I found this image in my Facebook feed the other day and it gave me a chuckle.  Honesty compels me to admit that I had to read the “proofreaders” bit multiple times before I got it.

I hope March is off to a wonderful start for you, with good health and lots of words on the page.

Jeanne: Demonic Party Games

My work-in-progress, The Demon Wore Stilettos, is coming along well, with a target date for a first draft at the end of this year. It opens with Sam and Lil giving a party in Hell, along about 8,000 BC. 

Samael, the Demon of Pride, walked Lucifer to the front door of his apartment in the First Ring of Hell. “Thanks for coming.”

Lucifer was a short, skinny figure with leathery skin the color of sour cherries. In the two thousand years since he’d founded Hell, he’d shriveled, losing all resemblance to the bright morning star he had once been. Beneath the little horns poking out of the top of his head, his narrow face did not look happy. Behind him, his arrow-tipped tail swished angrily.

“Hell of a party.” He looked back into the cave, where the party was still in full swing. .

Sam’s quarters, like every other apartment in Hell, consisted of a huge cave sculpted from hardened lava. Near the back wall, a quartet of demons yodeled disharmonies while the audience pelted them with rotten figs. In the middle of the room, at a bar constructed from stalagmites and a slab of granite, a bartender mixed pus with boiling water for an endless line of takers, who shuddered as they slugged back the concoction and then got in line for more.

Around the room a dozen smudge pots burned, filling the air with sulfurous smoke. Several demons roasted wild boar sausages over the open fires while others, drunk on pus cocktails, tried to pee on the sausages. Here and there fights broke out when one of them was successful.

You all were so helpful in suggesting things that might go on in Hell’s daycare that I’ve decided to tap the hive mind for party suggestions.

What other kinds of activities might go on at a demon party? (Remember: this takes place approximately 8000 BC.) Hell often has technology before it shows up on Earth (because most technology is create in Hell) but not thousands of years before, so please stay within that constraint.

Kay: It’s Time for the Bird!

This week we’ve been talking about what we’re grateful for, and one of the things I’m grateful for is that I can still laugh. As Elizabeth mentioned yesterday, humor can help us get through some dark times.

As a writer, the week’s theme had me think about POV. How would a turkey approach this fall festival feast? Of course, s/he’d be grateful if s/he had made it this far. But perhaps our bird would also be also proactive.

I had never thought of turkeys as being particularly bloodthirsty—that is, until news reports starting popping up about Gerald, the ferocious turkey that had taken over a park in the city where I live. I had a personal connection to this story because a good friend is a volunteer there, tending the roses, and one day she had to beat the bird off with a big stick when it attacked her. Other people did, too, because if you didn’t protect yourself, Gerald would draw blood. 

Sometimes though, maybe, if you’re a turkey, you have to.

In any event, this year I’m celebrating the holiday outdoors on a patio with three friends socially distanced. It won’t be terribly warm outside, but the day promises sunshine, and we’ve got a patio heater to keep us warm. The hostess is supplying her family tradition for the entree, which is crab cakes, and I ordered a more traditional meal (yes, sorry, turkeys) for myself on Friday. We’ll have a good time and, I hope, be reasonably safe.

I had so much fun looking up these cartoons that I’m adding two more that made me laugh out loud, even though they’re not related to the turkey theme. I love Maxine (so topical! Although I added an edit), and right now, I think we can all benefit from the wisdom of The Most Interesting Man in the World.

Wherever you live and however you’re marking the day—or not marking it at all—best wishes from the Eight Ladies!

Kay: That’s Entertainment!

In these days of pandemic and stay-at-home orders, lots of people seem to be reading more. Think you have to break the bank to get more books? Not so! Curbside Larry is here to tell you different. You may have seen him before; he’s getting a lot of coverage these days. But in the event you fear that a furloughed used-car salesman is running amok in the public library system, be assured that Curbside Larry is really library staffer John Schaffer.

For people who would rather watch TV than read, deciding which platforms to subscribe to—or even figuring out what platforms are out there—can be almost a fulltime job. But now there’s help for the curious, the desperate, and the Netflix-challenged.

Finally, here’s a 2016 episode of Black Jeopardy with Tom Hanks that is still remarkably relevant. Not to mention, funny.

That’s all for now, folks! Stay safe out there!

Elizabeth: A Bit of Humor

(c) Tom Gauld

I’m on vacation this week, but didn’t want to skip posting completely.  Fortunately, I came across this comic this morning and it made me laugh.  I’m hoping it will do the same for you, since we could surely use some laughter these days.

If you have anything amusing to share, the comment section awaits you.

Happy Wednesday to all!