Monday, February 16, 2009

Two Things That Bring Me Joy

In church today we talked about Joy.  Actually, I'm not really sure what we talked about because it is incredibly hard to pay attention when you have two little ones demanding your attention, but I think it is a fairly safe bet that joy was in there somewhere.  Other safe bets include a discussion of the Superbowl, ancient American racing techniques, and jello molds."Help! I'm sliding down this wall!"

But I digress.  Tonight, I found great joy in a new television program that I discovered called "Top Gear," which is a British show.

Now anyone who knows anything about British television knows that they are rivaled only by the Japanese for insanity on film, and Top Gear certainly delivers a lot of insanity (though not quite as much as "Incredible Bonzuke").  The premise of the show is... um... I'm not totally sure exactly, except that the subjects have to include machine-powered locomotion in some form or another.  I've now seen three episodes and I can safely declare the hosts of the show legally insane.  It is a funny show, but not in the laugh-out-loud way you get from The Office or Whose Line Is It Anyway or anything involving Keanu Reeves attempting to play a dramatic role (especially a dramatic role involving an accent), but the guys on the show know no bounds in what they will attempt to do with vehicles.  I saw stunts involving seeing how much air they could get for a mini-cooper with the Lillehammer ski jump, a contest to see who could make the best boat out of a car, and a contest with semi trucks involving driving through mobile homes and brick walls.

In short, the kind of show that only a guy could love (though once I talked my wife into sitting down on the couch and watching, she got a few chuckles in as well).

Before I get onto my other joy, let me tell you about a few other TV programs that I have grown to enjoy: The Chaser's War on Everything (G4 on Wednesday evenings) is an Australian comedy-prank show that takes the whole concept of "what if" to a new level.  Speaking of pranks and what if scenarios, Howie Do It (some channel on some night) is a fairly garden-variety prank show that involves a little too much pimping of Howie Mandel, but nevertheless has some great scenarios.  Good for a little mindless entertainment is the food network show Chopped, which features four random chefs who have to make an appetizer including a bevy of "mystery ingredients" in 30 minutes.  At that point the chef with the weakest dish according to the standard three-judge panel is cut, leaving three to prepare a main entree and then two to prepare dessert.  Think of it as Mini Top Chef but without the cute hostess (unless Ted Allen happens to be your thing.  He's not mine).  I've also enjoyed the new TNT show Leverage, though admittedly I have four episodes piled up on my DVR.  It is kind of like Ocean's 11's little brother - not quite as good, but it makes the team because how can you turn down the star player's family member?  And in case you didn't know that I like American Idol, you will find out very well over the next couple of months as I share my humble opinions with you every week.

Anyway, now that I'm sick of typing, I come to the real joy.  TV is fun, but it can never replace the joy that my family brings to my life.  Watching these shows is fun, but would be nowhere near as fun if I didn't have my wife to watch them with me.  She is my best friend, and together we can pretty much turn any boring old TV show into our own mini Mystery Science Theatre 3000 with snarky comments flying at warp speed, and arguments about who should win really stupid competition shows like True Beauty (Seriously, have you seen True Beauty?  Why do we watch that juvenile, asinine, and ridiculous show?).  I'm blessed with a great marriage to a woman who appreciates my humor, tolerates my death farts (but just barely), gives me my space, but stays by my side, and, lest we forget, is totally hot.

Add to that my 22 month old, who is the most amazing source of laughter and happiness for me.  Every single day I am amazed by new things she has learned and new cute things that she does.  Tonight she was putting a blanket over her head and asking where she went.  Then, with the blanket still over her head, she said that she was "happy" and bouncing her head from side to side.  She is also a little jokester - more proof if I needed it that I'm the Daddy.  Granted, a one year old doesn't usually come up with screamingly funny humor, but she sure tries.  Tonight when I put her to bed I said "Goodnight" and she responded by saying "Goodnight Mommy," to which I always respond "I'm not Mommy."  Then she said, "Goodnight Gramma," seeing how far I would take it, so I blew her a kiss and left, only to hear as I closed the door, "I not Gramma!"  I think these stories probably fall in the "you'd have to be there" category, but just let this serve as your official warning that I'm breeding and infecting the world with more wannabe comedians.  But at least I'm infecting the world with dang cute wannabe comedians.

I love my youngest daughter, too, but she is still kind of in that eat drink cry poop phase and I don't have any particular stories that would make you go all melty.  Soon enough, though.

Anyway, there you have my life in a nutshell.  Work, sleep, family, TV, and baring my soul for you, faithful reader.

Who could ask for anything more?


2 comments:

Ker said...

Aww...

Humincat said...

Can I pretend your My husband? :)