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Laughter

 On to a more amusing topic...*chuckle-chuckle*

Isn't it always the case, or rather, shouldn't it always be the case, that the cruddiest places are also the funniest? I work in a cruddy school, where cruddy things happen on a daily basis. However, I often find myself, along with my colleagues, laughing merrily in spite of - nay, because of all the crud that surrounds us.

I want to take a moment to document the laughter. Not the reasons for laughing, but the laughs themselves that I hear daily...

A male colleague: he speaks with a very deep masculine voice, but his laugh contains a periodic high pitched gasp. It's marvelous.

A female colleague: laughs a lot, loudly, with what I call the "my life is better than yours and I want you to know it" laugh.

The Headmaster: Always laughing, almost never about anything funny, or at least not as funny as you'd expect from the level of laughter being emitted. Like an amused schoolboy laughing at something beyond his maturity level.

My brother: I don't see my brother, what with living on different continents, but just the thought of his laugh can still brighten my day. It sounds like a machine gun loaded with giggles instead of bullets. Love it.


My husband: When he suddenly laughed during our first date, I remember thinking "this is not going to work" because his laugh is ridiculous, like a cross between that dastardly dog and a chipmunk. But now I love it. Strangely, a colleague (the one with the high pitched gasp laugh) described Hadi's laugh as "like a silver bell". The mind boggles.

My students: This term I am teaching four groups of students, 3 of them 1st graders. There's nothing better than the sound of 20 six year olds laughing, right? Well, of course that all depends on what they're laughing at. When I'm trying to teach them a routine to get them in "ready learning positions" and all they do is laugh hysterically at my actions and jump around the room, for example...perhaps my lack of patience is a sign that I am not destined to be a first grade teacher. When they're actually supposed to be goofing around, though, that's a whole different matter; I could listen to them giggling for hours. :)

How about you? Heard any good laughs recently?

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