Car-induced laughter and Boston Legal
Something went increasingly wrong with my car during my hour and a half drive to work yesterday morning, so I made for the car dealership instead and did my best to time the lights so I didn't have to stop for long (not really possible in morning traffic), since when I did the car would vibrate dramatically and be reluctant to go again. No warning lights were showing and the temperature was normal, so I decided it wasn't a roadside assistance or tow truck case, but I had unpleasant visions of how embarrassing it was going to be when the car gave out at a major intersection in peak hour. I was pretty relieved to make it to the dealership and had the beginnings of a tension headache, which I remember vaguely from the days when my life was more tense!
When I eventually got to work, I found an email from the manager of the company's Swedish operations, explaining that they couldn't meet their reporting deadlines this month. His English is not the best and it included "We have much of problem with our new bank which already has given us many days extra work and on that we have on going a very strong flue which demands to be in your bed...I hope because we do not know yet if we have been able to pay our invoices." I'm pretty sure that normally I'd find that only mildly amusing at best (and my boss wasn't amused at all), but in my somewhat stressed condition I found it so funny that I was laughing too hard to get the words out as I tried to read it to someone, and then had to disappear into the photocopier room rather than sit at my desk crying with laughter. Cheap, harmless stress relief (to offset a $1,350 bill for the car).
I've just watched and loved the last three and a half minutes of Boston Legal. It pains me to learn that this show has just finished a five-season run and I haven't been watching. I need to pay more attention to what's going on in the world! From there I went straight to YouTube for more clips and found this Alan-Denny vid with some dialogue, and then looked for fanfic, and found a good story from last year's Yuletide. Obviously I need to see a lot more of this show.
After a few dry years, I've felt really fannish again this year, in that core way where you carry your current fandom with you in your mind all the time, frequently revisit old favourites, and also are susceptible to falling for new things at the drop of a hat. It's a really pleasant state to be in!
When I eventually got to work, I found an email from the manager of the company's Swedish operations, explaining that they couldn't meet their reporting deadlines this month. His English is not the best and it included "We have much of problem with our new bank which already has given us many days extra work and on that we have on going a very strong flue which demands to be in your bed...I hope because we do not know yet if we have been able to pay our invoices." I'm pretty sure that normally I'd find that only mildly amusing at best (and my boss wasn't amused at all), but in my somewhat stressed condition I found it so funny that I was laughing too hard to get the words out as I tried to read it to someone, and then had to disappear into the photocopier room rather than sit at my desk crying with laughter. Cheap, harmless stress relief (to offset a $1,350 bill for the car).
I've just watched and loved the last three and a half minutes of Boston Legal. It pains me to learn that this show has just finished a five-season run and I haven't been watching. I need to pay more attention to what's going on in the world! From there I went straight to YouTube for more clips and found this Alan-Denny vid with some dialogue, and then looked for fanfic, and found a good story from last year's Yuletide. Obviously I need to see a lot more of this show.
After a few dry years, I've felt really fannish again this year, in that core way where you carry your current fandom with you in your mind all the time, frequently revisit old favourites, and also are susceptible to falling for new things at the drop of a hat. It's a really pleasant state to be in!