2003-06-20 - 1:06 p.m.

On the internal soundtrack: "Don't Forget to Dance", The Kinks

Ok, as you may know, I grew up in the Philadelphia metro area (suburban central Jersey). I have always complained about the sense of humor of many people in this area, calling it "mean". It's sarcastic, and it often involves putting another person down. A specific person who is present. People say, "It's just a joke," and yes, it is -- there really is no offense meant by the person doing it. (Although if you want to mean some offense, you certainly could, and you could pass it off as a joke.)

So, I don't like this form of humor. If I do it at all, it's rarely -- I don't tend to think of people negatively enough in general to think up jokes like this. And frankly, I'm not real fond of people who overuse it.

As it happens, I had a real good example of it fall into my lap.

Poindexter has jury duty today. He wrote an e-mail to his department:

Subject: Jury Duty

I will be out tomorrow, June 19, fulfilling my civic duty. Hopefully I'll display enough intelligence to be dismissed.

- Poindexter

He got a reply from a smartass in his department:

Subject: Re: Jury Duty

POINDEXTER

I DON'T THINK THAT'S LIKELY.

[COWORKER]

Now, I admit, I laughed out loud when I read it. And then I went, "Hey, that's not nice." And then Poindexter said, "That's [coworker]'s sense of humor." And I said, "That's a PHILLY sense of humor. That's what I've been talking about all these years."

The odd thing is that people here -- especially people who have never lived anywhere else -- are almost completely unaware of it. I usually get called overly sensitive when I point it out. "Can't you take a joke?" and so on. But I guess I'm just not into putting other people down, even as a joke.

And the thing is, it's not really that I'm overly sensitive, I don't think. My FAVORITE way of being made fun of is when someone makes fun of me for things that are inescapably true. Poindexter has reduced me to a puddle of laughter on the floor simply by standing there and describing something weird that I do.

Poindexter thinks the joke is just dumb. "Low-brow", he called it.

Anyway, I was worried he'd get caught in a trial and it'd mess up our vacations, but I was delighted when he came home at noon. He was rejected because he was male and an engineer, he suspects. It was a civil trial, lemon-law related, so they packed the jury with women. Heh. The defense lawyer was all Ally McBeal (but healthier), with a short skirt and everything. I wish he coulda taken pictures.

Random notes:

The other day I was walking down the street and saw a really goofy car. It looked like a cross between a sedan and and SUV. Like a big, squarish, clunky sedan. No, wait. It was like a Honda Civic hatchback on steroids. It is the Infinity FX45. I couldn't decide if it was kinda nifty or just silly. I do know it's freakin' expensive, with a $44,000 MSRP base price. Good lord. I've bought two cars in my lifetime and the first cost $6000 (the V-dub, which I still have) and the second cost $2900 (the POS, for rainy/snowy days in Virginia, which was donated when we moved). The idea of spending a down payment for a house on a CAR is hard for me to imagine. There are so many other, better things to spend my money on.

---

So, Keebler makes these cookies that are like chocolate chip cookies, except instead of the chips they have peanut butter cups. My mother introduced me to them. I AM ADDICTED TO THESE COOKIES. I want to eat these cookies ALL DAY LONG. But they are 90 calories EACH (!!!) and full of trans fats that supposedly will take ten years off my life, so I thought perhaps this wasn't a good idea. I try to limit myself to two a day, about an hour or two after lunch. I always look forward to those cookies, and am very excited when COOKIE TIME! is here. Sometimes I cheat and eat three or even FOUR cookies. I love them so much. Except my current package, which is borderline burnt. :( Maybe I should return them and try to get a refund.

---

Yesterday I was walking down our alley with Poindexter to get dinner and telling him how hot he was. "I'd do you," I said. "You just did," he said. "I'd do you again," I said. "I've been doing you for--" and then around the corner comes a neighbor, his daughter, and her daughter, who is about three. "--like, 7 and a half -- Hi! How y'doin! Hi, [little kid's name]." We passed them and then when we were a safe distance away, "--years and I'm still not tired of you."

Remind me not to say suggestive things to my husband out in public near corners.

Here's a close-up Poindexter took. I don't like it, but Poindexter does, so I'll defer to his judgement.

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