Spring Break Blogging Challenge: Day 1

That beast called procrastination has reared its ugly head.  Here I sit, wondering where half the semester has gone, and why I don’t have more blogs done (shouldn't they be writing themselves or something?).  Thus, I have challenged myself to write a blog a day over the course of Spring Break, seven blogs in total.  Some will be reflections on my sense of humor and humorous experiences, others will be about meetings with Alan that I have neglected to write about, and at least one will be a reflection on my readings for class.  Here goes nothing.

I've noticed, over the years, that I tend to have a more dry, sarcastic, and biting sense of humor than many of my peers.  I find myself constantly having to do a mental double-check on my jokes to ensure that they won't be taken too seriously.  Many of (what I think are) the funniest things I say tend to be delivered straight-faced.  Soon after I first befriend people, I try to make a point of warning them that anything that I say that sounds harsh is probably sarcasm, and that if I become harsher in my jokes, it means that I'm growing more comfortable around them, not that I've stopped liking them.

It’s this sense of humor and this tendency to use sarcasm as a means of showing that I enjoy someone's company that led me to spend the entire first month or two of my time with my roommate flatly saying “No.” to nearly every question she would ask me.

“Would you like to head to dinner with me?”

“No.”

“Hey, can I borrow a-”

“Nope.”

“Do you need anything from the store?”

“No.  Wait!  Crap.”

Fortunately, she caught on within a couple days that I would wait a couple seconds after my initial (sarcastic) “No” to provide my actual response, usually in the form of handing her what it was she asked for or getting ready to go somewhere without any verbal confirmation.  I was amused, and I like to believe that she was too, once she understood what was going on.  Regardless, we're still friends, so I don't think she minded too much.

My other TCU friends, however, don't spend as much time with me, and are still working on understanding my humor.  Recently, when another of our friends was in the room, my roommate and I had a mock-argument over something silly (I believe it was who is more bothered by the clicking noise that our thermostat makes), and the non-roommate friend became uncomfortable and asked us to stop fighting and yelling at each other.  It was an interesting perception, as neither I nor my roommate had the slightest idea that our conversation could ever be taken seriously.  I suppose that it was the tone of our voices that led to that impression, but I'm still not quite sure.

Despite the strangeness of my sense of humor, I've been lucky enough to find some other people who share my enjoyment of sarcasm, dry wit, and fake arguments.  I still have to watch myself around most people, but it's good to know that there are those I can have a laugh with in my own way.