Tough Crowd

As I lay on my deathbed this weekend, waiting for either the slow relief of death or the lifting of my fever, Erin informed me of a couple of things. The first was that the yard was in need of mowing, and the second was that my blogging recently has been "uninspired."

I sputtered a cough with the lungs of a dying man, asked her to dab the sweat from my brow, and in a weak, raspy voice, politely told her where to go.

It has, indeed, been a taxing few weeks. I'm still not completely healthy; although, I did manage to cut the grass yesterday. My job has gone crazy. And as far as the blogging goes, I'll make every effort to get us back to our normal quality standards in the coming weeks.

In the mean time, it dawned on me as I considered how "uninspired" I've been recently that I am simply not funny around certain people. It has nothing to do with the listener or his response. It rests firmly on my shoulders as the unfunny individual. Now I make absolutely no claim to be a comedian of any sort, but I think I can generally hold my own in conversation, especially around my fellow engineers. (These are generally people who think EVERY Monty Python skit is HI-LARIOUS.) But there are certain people around whom my attempts at humor fall completely flat. Every. Single. Time.

For example, I was with a VP of the company last week having a brief discussion in his office. We were discussing where I would park for a football game that evening in downtown Indianapolis, and he commented that I should get a garage space so I wouldn't have to be "wandering around downtown alone in the dark."

My response? "It would be no more dangerous than in here."

What does THAT mean?

I chuckled nervously after I said it. I half-smiled with a look of "You get it, right?" All the while trying to convince myself that I'd just delivered a punch line. He obviously didn't get it (what's to get?) and finally relieved the tension with a laugh and a slap on the back. I'm sure he was thinking "Kids say the darndest things" as I left his office. Unfortunately this isn't the first time he's given me the "keep trying" slap on the back. We were initially introduced after I had stuffed approximately 50 M&M's in my mouth while returning from the vending machines. As he stuck his hand out to shake mine, I stammered with a mouth full of chocolate goo -- "Sawwy...Yew cawt me aftuh I swawowed a vending machine."

Again. What was that.

I don't know if it's nerves, self-confidence, or what, but every attempt I've ever made to be funny around this individual has been a train wreck. It pains me every time, because it just serves to remind me that I am an engineer. I can try to escape it for brief moments, but at the end of the day, I guess I'm as weird as all the others.