On Sundays, I teach a comedy workshop for older adults over zoom. It’s been the same group more or less for over 4 years now, and I try to prepare exercises that’ll get people thinking on their feet. I admit, some exercises are real duds, but every so often I come up with a juicy one, like: Say a sentence and then we’ll guess whether you’re talking about your boyfriend or a horse. For example, “He’s athletic” (horse) or “I ride him” (horse) or “I shot him and turned his feet into glue” (boyfriend). Go on, give it a try, it’s kinda fun.
Passions this week include: salad dressing, feeling grateful to be alive, and lowering your confidence.
My air conditioner is broken and I’ve been looking for ways to cook dinner without the cooking part. Enter: salad dressing. Putting salad dressing on stuff makes it a salad, and salads are part of a healthy lifestyle. I’m not trying to rile anyone up but these are facts. Number one dressing right now is Trader Joes Toasted Sesame.
In California, you’re either driving up a mountain or down a mountain, and either way it’s scary as fuck. Every time I put my car in park and step out of the vehicle, I’m grateful to be alive.
It is important to never have confidence in your work. I firmly believe this. I know this reads as bad and negative, but hear me out. Let’s say you never believe in yourself in the first place. Then when you go to re-read your work, you’re not utterly devastated by how goddamn awful it is. You’ve built in bad expectations along the way and nestled your fall, which is responsible. I’m re-reading something now that I worked on a couple years ago, and this piece of crap is damn terrible. I’m a little sick thinking this was something I put on the page and encouraged loved ones to read. Next time, I’m putting reminders in there, like “you fuckin loser” in the footnotes.
And now a few from the readers…
Jess: “A recent passion of mine is Aldi’s Dark Chocolate & Sea Salt Super Foods Granola Gluten Free Oats with Amaranth and Millet with Chia Seeds (or Aldi’s Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt Granola, for short.) It’s every bit as tasty as the fancy expensive $7-$15 bags of granola (who pays $15 for a bag of granola?!) Aldi-beit priced for commoners with discerning tastebuds, at around $4 per sack. I eat gluten, but the fact that it’s gluten free is just a sweet bonus for people who don’t.”
Brett: “I’m passionate about transgressing bad drivers. Let me explain. I have a walk signal and you ran a red light? Tough luck, buckaroo. I get to saunter now. Enjoy everyone honking at you. I’m quietly hoping I don’t get raged upon, and that’s half the thrill.”
Clayton: “Positive self-talk! It's a great way to motivate yourself without having to rely on external sources (a coach, a video, an upbeat song). It also helps to rewire your brain and help you have a more positive attitude.”
okay Clayton, drag me.
If you have a passion you’d like to share, you can reply to this email with 1-2 sentences about it.
-Jo