It's Too Bad I Can't Get JibJabs Into the Jpeg I Just Created. I'd Be Really Impish Then

I'm the world's worst audience. Several times as an undergraduate my inner demons had me yell out loud what I was thinking silently in my head, only to be asked by an instructor to chill out a little. In professional development in Kentucky, I knew my clownish ways, so I was always first to sit up front and to give my undivided attention to any presenter. This was so I could be away from Alice and her one liners that always got me giggling out of control, which was totally offensive to whoever was training us. As a teacher, too, I was at my silliest when I had my students do their presentations, simply because my humor is what it is, and when I have time to sit still and silent, my brain goes totally bonkers with jokes.

Well, it's not that bad. I'm self-aware enough to know how inappropriate it is and, from a young age, I learned to be better behaved from funerals. At those times, my sister Casey made me laugh. She would chuckle through the wiggling of her nose, while my eyes teared up, my body would begin to shake, and then I eventually burst out with some awkward noise.

I've learned to cope, though, with the art of multitasking. On several committees, I request to be the recorder because I type fast and it helps me to focus on content being delivered. I feel like I'm contributing productively.

When I'm not given this task, however, I tend to find ways to occupy my spastic brain so that I can listen, control the dork within, and look serious while in the presence of others. I've found success with Photo Booth, because it allows me to be silly without others knowing what I'm doing (pacifying my whacky mind). It looks like I'm in serious production mode and I become a much more active listener. I don't laugh out loud or make bizarre noises, because the comedy occurs on the screen for my eyes alone (and Erica's, who had to sit next to me).

Perhaps I shouldn't confess this, but I am more attentive when I'm playing. If I can't be the instructor or the recorder, I have to find a way to keep my fast mind from getting so fast that I make an error and blurt out something highly inappropriate.

We're back at meeting season again which means I can spend five hours a day hearing information that I'm responsible for and where I must passively sit still. I'm bordering on 43 years old and I've never been able to sit still. Yet, I've found therapy in Photo Booth. Okay. Okay. I admit, too, that when someone's cellphone went off in a blues theme I also sang a blues song about being in yet another meeting. Sitting here in a meeting, I have my laptop taking notes. I am thinking of work to do, and keeping my mind from where it floats. I've got the faculty meeting blues. Oh, the faculty meeting blues. That was wrong, but I was really, really good for most of the time, I swear.

And the funnier way I was able to stay focused came from a series of JibJab videos that I made, but they didn't work in the jpeg mode above. I will cherish those in my own spaces and for another day.