Laughter as Prozac

You know, sometimes, life can really suck. I don't necessarily mean that in the "big picture" sense of the phrase either. Sometimes, you oversleep, get a flat tire on the way home from work and get home only to find that your heat is broken -- that kind of sucking.
Although there is something to be said for the existential sucking of life as well. We've all had our moments of "Why me, God? What did I do to deserve this," and I'm sure we've all met those complete strangers in waiting rooms, lines and work situations who feel the need to unburden wildly personal information about just how much their lives suck onto us, the unsuspecting public who can't escape.
Anyway, this leads me to my new philosophy in life. Embrace humor. With all that can truly be a downer in the world, I've adopted a "Hakuna Matada" perspective on things. I've struggled with depression for about seven years off and on, and I realized, other than getting the hell out of a dead-end job I think Satan wanted me to keep and leaving Mississippi, that the way for me to combat my semi-depressive personality is, as cheesy as it sounds, is to find the humor and good in the world and let that be my partial salvation.
Which leads me to what makes me laugh:
1. Funny voices. I will be 80 years old, and if I hear someone do a Yoda voice, I will cough out my false teeth to guffaw. I don't know why, but funny voices are simply the basest way to make me snort. (yeah, sometimes I do, and it feels awesome)
2. Steve Martin. What an incredible comic genius this man is. I was watching Parenthood the other night, and even in a "wholesome" family movie, he's still the funniest man in the cast, and don't even get me started on The Jerk, Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Three Amigos. Those are all in my top funniest movies ever. The singing bush scene alone in Three Amigos is enough to cause me to pull a muscle.
3. When people fall down. I am not a mean person; in fact, I fall down a lot. (refer to earlier broken ankle post) I would never laugh at someone that hurt themselves when they fell, but when someone falls down, the part of me that I probably wish didn't exist simply can't take it. I'm reminded of my friend, who I'll call "E," who, while we were bowling one night, fell back directly on her ass. I was laughing so hard that I had to get other friends to see if she was okay, because I felt that choking out,"Are you alright," through peals of laughter wouldn't be all that appreciated.
4. When my friend Simon sings Billy Joel's "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant." I'll explain. Simon is an awesome singer, really, and he does a great job with the song. However, Simon is Australian, so the first time he sang it, when he got to the part that goes, "Brenda and Eddie...," he said Brender, and my friend Brian leans over, very deadpan to me, and says, "Did he just say Brender," and that was it. Now, whenever there is any karaoke situation, I beg and beg Simon to sing it, because it literally fills me with glee. God love my friends for indulging my behavior.
5. Anything my niece says or does. Seriously, I know I'm a tad bit biased, but the child is funny. She told her mom that she needed to write a check to Santa Claus for her Dora the Explorer dollhouse. She's 3! Whenever you make her mad, basically by telling her no, she says, "You hurt me and my peelings (feelings)." I've actually stolen that one and passed it along to friends, since it comes in handy. On Christmas Eve, she was convinced that everyone that called was Santa Claus, so every time I got a call on my cell phone, she thought I was talking to Santa and had to talk to them. At one point, she was on the phone with my friend, who asked her what Aunt Emily wanted for Christmas, and she said, "Umm...panties." My friend nearly lost it as well.
So anyway, this is just a very, very short account of what keeps me sane, relatively speaking, of course.
I just think that it's so much better to focus on the positive things in the world, because the negatives will literally drive you crazy, and you can't change them anyway.
With my method, you get to quote movies in funny voices and crack yourself up, even if no one else is amused. If you can enjoy yourself, you'll never get lonely.