Humour

There are different types of humour. There is sophisticated and witty humour written by Stephen Leacock, Garrison Keillor and Stuart McLean (and dare I say Calvin and Hobbes?). There is quirky humour a la Monty Python. There is silly humour like puns (such as the ones I put on the top of Math reviews which make students' eyes roll: What do you get when you cross a dinosaur and a pig? Jurassic Pork!) and those knock-knock jokes we as parents hear from our six year old in the backseat on the way to town (Knock, knock. Who's there? Tank. Tank who? You're very welcome.).

There is something infectious about laughter. We laugh a lot as a family, especially when Papa gets mocked for being old:

FK: I wish I knew more history.
Mama: You know who to talk to about history? Papa. He knows a lot about history.
FK: That's because he lived way back then.
(hilarious laughter ensues)

My students like to laugh a lot, too. A lot of students were away Friday, so I took what small class I had to the computer lab to google and answer questions raised during the week during lessons and discussions. After the real work was done, I told my students to go to http://www.multiplication.com/ and play some interactive math games. Now you might think that 12-15 year olds would balk at playing these less than mature games in a Xbox, Wii and Nintendo world. No, not on Friday. They were giggling and laughing at the antics of plucky penguins and grizzly wheelchair-bound grannies all the while solving multiplication problems. Who knew?

Then there are those times you don't know whether to laugh or to be annoyed. Those of you who know us know we live an long hour's drive north of the nearest metropolis town. As I was wheezing and huffing my way up a hill this morning, all the while muttering under my breath "There are no hills in ____, there are no hills in ___", along comes a red Chevy van. The driver pulls the van up beside me, rolls down the window, and with a large grin, asks, "You runnin' all the way to town or do you wanna a ride?"

Ha-Ha.