Finding Your Inner Laugh

It is better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring, at least that is my philosophy when it comes to dancing. Sometimes you just need to own your own ability to entertain. I have read that the average pre-school child in the United States laughs about 400 times a day. By the time you are an adult, the average laughs-per-diem has shrunk to less than 15. We have gotten so caught up in the seriousness and heaviness of our own problems that we have lost the ability to find humor in every day life.

When was the last time you laughed so hard that your ab workout was done for the day? If you can’t remember, I recommend reevaluating your laugh quotient. As a society, we are way too serious. We take everything so seriously, especially ourselves. But don’t worry The Bistro By the Sea staff is happy to provide a solution to all this ridiculous seriousness by “finding your inner laugh” for free at our after hours power outage special.

As customers trickled out of the restaurant on Tuesday evening our staff waited for the power to come back on after a storm in order to process the credit card payments and wash the dishes. As we all sat around the restaurant strange things began to happen.

I have often wondered what makes this restaurant so very different than others, until this week I was never able to put my finger on it. Our inner laugh session made it crystal clear to me. It is truly a unique feeling to sit in a room filled entirely with people who work together and still enjoy each others company. From ages 53 to 15, it’s amazing that we are all able to get along so well.

Out of the corner of my eye I notice Natalie, the most rambunctious of the bussers, seemingly start to tackle some of the other bus kids. “What is going on?, I thought. Soon half of the staff is on the floor laughing. They claim they are “finding their inner laugh”. The instructions are to cross your arms and lye flat on the floor. Loudly say ha, ha. Ha, ha repeatedly as someone presses your arms into your sternum. Progressively the victim beings laughing uncontrollably and the rest of the crowd follows. I really don’t know what they are teaching kids in High School these days but apparently finding your inner laugh is one of them. Soon almost all of the staff has taken a turn on the floor when all of a sudden some customers who have been sitting in the back room emerge. At first there are some strange looks given as they walk through the now mine field of laughing bodies strewn on the floor.

This is when the unexpected happens, one of the costumers wants to join in. Duane, owner, laugh master, and comedian, jokingly exclaims, “Wait at minute! Let me call me insurance company.” Somewhat reluctantly Devynne, bus girl, volleyball all-star, and sweetest girl you will ever meet, finds this strangers “inner laugh”. Before I know it Devynne is on the floor in an elaborate straddle with the customer above her exclaiming, “who’s laughing now, who’s laughing now?!” And what is the outcome of all of this? Naturally, the entire bistro staff will now be participating in group yoga with this crazy customer.

After this night I realized that I could not love my friends at the Bistro any more than I already do. Just as they remind me to laugh everyday, I would like to remind you. Who wants to go through life grim, sour and unhappy, anyway? Some of the excellent reasons to add laughter to your life are the following; it reduces stress, boosts heart health, relives pain naturally, strengthens the immune system, controls blood sugar, improves emotional health, increases creativity, improves problem solving capabilities, improves sleep and it just feels good!

Where did our inner laugh go? Where can it be found? Whatever the answers to those questions are, don’t forget that practice makes perfect. Stop taking yourself so seriously, see a funny movie, read the comics, laugh at yourself, or you can just come visit us as the Bistro by the Sea!

Speculations on Sass

It may come as a shock to you but working in the service industry means that you must deal with customers who are not always so considerate. Perhaps you have a customer who has melodramatic hissy fits because they did not get a seat by the window, or perhaps they snap their fingers at you, command you like a dog, or worst of all, perhaps they leer at you or even touch you like the kind of superbly disgusting sex predator that avoids arrest by dressing as an innocent old man. While at the restaurant and most of the time in my life I am able to keep calm and carry on because of my extreme patience and go with the flow mentality. But sometimes, every now and then, steam shoots out of my ears and on the verge of tears, I’ll contemplate punching someone in the face.

Karleen, boss, owner of the restaurant, and role model, is as tough as nails while somehow still maintaining a sweet and charming personality. Most recently Karleen declared that she thought I needed more spunk in order to achieve my life goals. In almost every aspect of my life I have decided that she is probably right, but how do I walk that fine line between being sassy and being a bitch? What is the difference between bold and inappropriately forward?

Today I stumbled upon a recipe book called “100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know: Engagement Chicken and 99 Other Fabulous Dishes to Get You Everything You Want in Life.” I am not quite in need of an engagement chicken yet but what I want in life is to get what I want in life and first on my list is a permanent fulltime career. Of course the discovery of this recipe book started the speculation wheels turning; maybe what I need is a recipe for a Sassy Sauté or a Spunky Stromboli. It's clear that whatever kind of gumption I am able to cook up in this pressure cooker of life defiantly needs to taste a little tart!

Homemade Sass

1 cup of childlike enthusiasm

3 tablespoons of confidence

1 tablespoon of contact sport (to build aggression)

The bushel of lemons life handed you

½ cup of wit

¼ cup of not giving a damn

1 jar of moderation and proper timing

1 pinch of Gumption

I hope this recipe can cook up a much needed attitude adjustment for fellow my doormat friends. It’s all about the attitude and like those tee shirts my soccer coach made in high school said, "I refuse to loose". After 3 months of free labor I demand an interview! After two years in a relationship I refuse to be broken up with in a text message! After 3 interviews I deserve a call back! Because I respect you I deserve your respect! We’ve all had moments where we’ve failed to speak up for ourselves, said yes when we really wanted to say no, or allowed someone to walk all over our feelings without making a peep. Well no more! I am having an attitude adjustment and I am not putting up with this crap anymore!

Speculations on Crazy Cat Ladies

Of the questions that perplex humanity some will go unanswered and plague us forever, while still others are mundane, yet persistent. What is the meaning of life? Where is Osama bin Laden? Why doesn’t McDonald’s sell hotdogs? How fast exactly do hotcakes sell? And who is more annoying cat people or dog people?

After a number of restaurant staff agree that I was a cat person I set out to explore our crazy cat lady stigma and found that as you may know, these arguments are particularly boring. Through no choice of your own, you have heard them far too many times. They crop up around a dinner table or at a cocktail party, and then the evening goes into a precipitous decline.

Cat people heap contempt on dog people for thinking a dog's devotion counts for much. A dog's love for its owner is, cat people say, is entirely instinctual and indiscriminate; you are not loved for yourself -- anyone else would do as well. However, this argument does not amuse me; I feel the real question at hand is what is the difference between cat and dog people? What makes Cat Ladies crazy and am I really a crazy cat lady? All signs point to yes but the crazy to cat ratio is about 99 to 1.

Both cats and dogs have brought us great joy in our culture; cats cradle, hotdogs, Garfield, Lassie, the expression ‘its raining cats and dogs’. When did everything start going downhill? It’s just a fact that cats are much easier to hate. In one study I found via Google (which may or may not be factual) it is said that “Fifteen percent of the adults questioned said they disliked cats a lot while the number who said they disliked dogs a lot was only two percent.” Personally I find it very easy to hate cats. They are mean, plain and simple! And why do they always look like they are plotting to kill you?

Someone, somewhere, summarized their results by saying, "There is a widely held cultural belief that the pet species -- dog or cat -- with which a person has the strongest affinity says something about the individual's personality. Just on the basis of the nature of dogs being more sociable than cats, one might expect that the personalities of dog lovers would also reflect higher sociability.”

In comparison cat people were generally about 12 percent more neurotic. It was also said that cat owners were one third more likely to live alone than dog owners and twice as likely to live in an apartment or flat. Being married, living in a house, and having children living in the home, are all factors that are more likely for dog owners than cat owners. A single woman was the most likely individual to have a cat!

So what makes a crazy cat lady and how do I avoid this? Even the Simpsons have a reoccurring Crazy Cat Lady with the appearance and behavior of a stereotypical mentally ill person. No one wants to end up like Eddie on Grey gardens. However, reflecting on it now apparently everyone thinks I am a cat lady. My grandmother always bought me Christmas ornaments of girls holding cats, I have been given a “crazy cat lady” action figure not once but twice, and now as I glance around my room I can see a birthday card from my Aunt with a cat wrapped In Mardi Gras beads; written inside “Ok, had to do the cat! Couldn’t resist” Perhaps its my neuroticism, or perhaps no one has faith that I can find a significant other that will put up with me. But whatever it is, cat lovers, I am afraid you cannot reclaim the term cat lady; I recommend you give up!