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easily amused

I've decided that I'm easily amused.

Actually, I've known this for years but I remembered it today.

I mean, check this guy out! He's mean, he's green. (See the sidebar, I don't want to get sued. Thanks.) A salesman came in today to sell us some hand cleaner stuff. He had a flyer with this little guy on it. He's so cute! It looks like he's saying, "Grr!"

So all day while I was at work, I kept seeing this flyer sitting on the Maintenance Manager's desk, and I kept thinking, "Grr!" Then I would start laughing. You know, those laughs that make your sides hurt and makes you gasp for air.

Of course, everyone thought I was positively insane. I grabbed the flyer and showed it to them again and said, "He's saying GRR! Look!"

And they would just look at me with sad eyes, probably thinking, "Poor dear. She's gone over the edge."

When I was in high school, one of my most favorite things was to stand on the bridge downtown over the railroad tracks, waiting for a train to come by. When one finally did come around the corner, I would line myself directly over the tracks and wait for the train to go whooooooooooshing under me. For a moment, with the wind in my face, it felt like I was flying.

Grr! Look! He's saying "Grr!" Check out that nose! It's so cute!

I also really like those light globes they sell at specialty stores. There's a glass globe around a central pole, and the pole sends beams of light or something out to "splatter" on the glass. If you touch the glass, all the beams collect under your hands. I love going into those stores and rubbing my hands all over one of those globes. I'll chuckle under my breath, "I'll get you, my pretty... And your little dog, too!"

There are even some simple toys that capture my imagination. Like those Jacob's Ladder blocks. It's a row of blocks held together by two strips of fabric on either side of the blocks, so that it's a long line of blocks. You hold the top block and rock it back and forth, and it looks like the blocks are falling down the line.

I love that face. And look how his brows are furrowed, like he's really mean. Grr!

Things that make sound also draw me in. There's a store in a nearby mall called "Wind Up Express" or something. I would go absolutely insane working in this store. They sell wind up toys. Everything moves, everything makes noise, and there are displays everywhere. When I first walked into the store, there was a little army guy crawling out of the store. He was on this belly, like he was crawling out of a foxhole. A string was attached to his ankle, like a leash, but the other end wasn't attached to anything.

A clerk came running out of the store and stomped on the string, stopping the army guy's forward movement. "Oh no you don't!" he exclaimed. The clerk picked up the army guy and grinned at me. "He keeps trying to escape."

Of course. It looked like everything in the store was trying to escape. I must have spent over an hour in that store, playing with all the wind up gizmos. Every time I tried to leave, something else flapping or jumping or rolling or flying or squawking would catch my eye, and I had to go over and play with it.

It's a mean guy made out of bubbles. Bubbles! What's he gonna do, bubble me to death? And look, he's saying grr! "GRR!"

Over the years I've realized that when I get old I'm going to be sent to the Home for the Easily Amused. It will be a home full of gadgets and trinkets, and everyone is laid back. There will be no "problem" patients because we're all Easily Amused. Just give us some origami frogs to jumps across the table and we'll be fine.

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