3-Point Shots and Laughter

I’m not a difficult person to make smile or laugh, but when I laugh I don’t usually laugh loudly or for a long time. My friends have the ability to make me laugh though. Recently, I went with my friends to a basketball game. Two of my friends were supposed to be playing in the intermural game, but only one was. They were playing on the “D-Team” for their fraternity, and this is a team that you can truly tell only plays because they enjoy the game. One of my friend’s main goals is basically to entertain the crowd when he isn’t actively playing basketball.

The silly antics of some of the team members, and how much fun they have playing often makes me laugh. My friend once tried and succeeded in getting his fraternity brothers to rush the court DURING the game. That cost them a time out, but was pretty funny.

The event that really made my friends and I bust out laughing was when my friend shot a 3 pointer, and actually made it in the basket. We weren’t expecting him to make the shot, since he hadn’t really made any of his shots before. We were really excited and surprised by the fact that he made the 3-point shot, that my friends and I busted out into laughter. He laughed about it too, and was really surprised that he made the basket. I wish I had that moment on film! We were all so shocked, because what happened wasn’t what we were expecting. I think that this is one of the primary reasons that we were laughing so hard. It wasn’t because we didn’t think he would ever make a shot, but we weren’t expecting him to get a 3-point shot, that he was just trying to toss into the hoop. I think that this is a perfect example of the incongruity theory because we all were expecting the shot to be an air ball or bounce off the rim, and instead it sailed in perfectly and he got 3 points.

His reaction to the shot, which was a combination of pure excitement and shock, helped make the situation even funnier to my friends and I, because even he didn’t expect the ball to go in the basket. The fact that he was smiling and shocked about the shot helped to let us laugh about the shot because we were excited and shocked too.

In addition to the incongruity theory, I think that this moment really showcases how laughter can be a community inspired event. He was shocked and excited by his basket, and the rest of the community wasn’t expecting it either. As a way of sharing our joy and shock, we were laughing. I can’t speak for the rest of my friends who watched the game, but laughing really helped me enjoy the basketball game and made it fun. It was a game where we didn’t expect my friend’s team to win (they didn’t), but he made a surprising and good shot and we were able to laugh and relax. Even though we were laughing at the fact that he made a basket, I don’t think that this qualifies as an account of negative humor because we were laughing in shock and excitement, and were simply sharing our joy with my friend who made the basket. To me, the laughter in this event had more to do with community than with actually finding something humorous. The words and actions of this story may not be humorous on its own, but the reaction and the community surrounding my friends and I made the situation funny, and we were able to laugh.

Rock Climbing: Conversation Partner Recap #2

This week during my meeting with my conversation partner, we went rock climbing. It was my conversation partner’s first time rock climbing ever, so it was a completely new experience that I was able to share with her. I’m not an experienced rock climber myself, and I happen to suffer from a fear of heights, but I was excited to go and meet her other friends and try rock climbing. We met at the BLUU so that we could walk over to the Rec Center. Walking over to the Rec Center, we talked about our weeks and our homework. While this wasn’t a particularly deep conversation, it was still fun because it felt like catching up with a friend. We didn’t seem to have any problems holding a conversation.

Once we got to the rock wall, we had to sign waivers so that we could climb. That was an extremely interesting experience because I had to explain the waiver. It was a moment that reminded me that my conversation partner’s first language wasn’t English. After we signed the waivers we were good to go rock climbing. We put on our harnesses and shoes, and she approached the wall before I did. Rock climbing didn’t leave much time for talking, but it was still fun to cheer on each other as we attempted to climb the walls.

My conversation partner actually made it to the top of the rock wall on her first try climbing. Unfortunately, I never quite made it to the top of the rock wall, and actually ended up smacking my head against the rock wall (one of the great reasons never to look down while rock climbing). Rock climbing takes a lot of strength and focus, and was fun to share with my conversation partner.    Between climbs, while we were waiting for the next turn, I got a chance to hang out with my conversation partner and cheer on her friends and the other people that were rock climbing. We talked about our homes and the great distances it takes to travel Texas. She even showed me a video that one of her friends sent to her from Albania. While I didn’t understand what was going on in the video, it was interesting to see how other cultures interact between friends. Even though the language was foreign to me, the act of singing and sharing a video with your friend is the same in any language. It was a great reminder of how similar we are.

Throughout rock climbing I met some of my conversation partner’s friends. It was interesting because I was hanging out in a group where many of us didn't speak English as a first language. They all practiced their English and I spoke with them, but it wasn’t their first language. Still it felt like I was meeting a new group of friends. Even though I sometimes have to consider what words I want to use, it still feels like I am hanging out with friends, no matter what their first language is.

Even though I never made it to the top of the rock wall, I had a blast hanging out with my conversation partner. It was fun to share a sport that was the same no matter the language. It even made hitting my head on the rock wall worth it. If the weather warms up, I’ll soon be showing her one of my favorite sports: tennis. I can’t wait to introduce her to tennis. I’m sure it will be as much fun as rock climbing was!

Negative Humor: Religion Jokes.

Negative Humor: Religion Jokes. 

It was a decent day to be outside, considering the recent weather changes. I had just stopped to talk to one of my friends on the steps outside my dorm while he was talking to another student. After being introduced to this student, I sat down and began talking with them. It’s Ash Wednesday and I’m talking about fasting and going to get ashes and the other things that happen during Ash Wednesday. Out of nowhere, my new acquaintance makes a joke that was something about not being friends with me or that he wasn't supposed to like me, because he is a different religion. For a minute I didn’t know how to take it. Considering that we had been nice to each other up to that point, and he smiled at me and acted like it was a joke when he said it, I decided to take this as a joke. I quickly responded that I didn’t make judgements based on religion and tried to move on in the conversation. 

For me, this moment was really awkward and I wasn’t sure how to handle the joke that the student made. I realized that it was a negative joke that immediately stipulated that two people couldn’t be friends based on religion. While I’m not sure if anyone was put down during this joke, it still seemed negative to me because it created a standard that someone couldn’t be friends with someone else based on the fact that I’m Catholic. I don’t think that he intended the joke to be offensive to me, but was instead playing off of some tension that he perceived the two religions to have with each other. However, I wasn’t aware of a tension between the two religions so the joke just seemed to be strange, unexpected and negative to me.

My friend that was in the conversation with me is also Catholic. Most of my attention was focused on the person who was making the joke, so I don’t remember if he laughed or had a reaction to the joke. As far as I could tell, we just moved on past the joke.

When I thought about it later, I realized that this wasn’t the first time I had heard or even made a joke that was similar to that one. While this joke wasn’t really offensive to me, I think that because I was actively looking for negative humor I finally recognized it for being a joke that could potentially offend someone, especially since I didn’t understand the joking hostility in the first place. I think that if I learned one thing about this experience it would be that I won’t be making any more religion jokes. Just because it makes sense to you, or you don’t think it would offend anyone, religion is generally a topic that probably should not be joked about.

"Classically Trained Musician"

I am a classically trained musician. I am a learned it exactly from the book, spent forever memorizing it, and played it exactly as I learned it kind of musician. I don’t deviate, and I definitely don’t improvise. That’s how I’ve always learned it. I am a the read the notes, play it that way kind of girl. And I’ve always been that way on my instruments. Church choir? Sing it exactly from the book, anything else would be a mistake. Bam! High school violin? Play your part from the sheet music and fit in with the rest of the orchestra. Bam! Piano? Prepare for recitals and contests. Play exactly what is in your music. Memorize it. And then toss your books far away from you and play exactly what you know how to. Bam! That is the way it has always been. Until I joined my college church choir.

Since the beginning, this choir has been a learning experience for me. I originally joined as a singer. At the start, that was pretty basic and followed my old routine. Sing what’s on the page and only what’s on the page. But singing in my church choir, also changed the way I sung. I was given solos (even if I didn't always want them), and I was told to try new vocal arrangements and they would let me know if it didn't sound right. I was entered into a whole new area of music, where it wasn't about constantly playing the music perfectly, it was about having fun and singing at your best. It was an area that I was completely unexperienced in, and I didn't think it could get any harder. Things really started changing when I started to play violin for the choir.

I am the only violinist the choir has. There is no violin music. There are no set standards that I have to play. I function as part melody, part harmony, and sometimes bass. Every song has a different approach. Do I play chords? Can I change up a vocal harmony? Does the melody sound really good on the violin? Every time I approach a song on violin in this choir, I learn and use my “classically trained” musician skills to learn a different song. To become more comfortable in finding my own way to make music. And I am constantly learning, constantly trying new things and seeing what works. I am learning to make mistakes in practice, and that making mistakes on instruments are okay. I'm learning to play my own part and to be confident in what I play. It makes me more confident to work at something that I already thought I was comfortable with and find new ways to express music. But it is still an instrument I know, and in that way it is still safe.

Recently, I was asked by my choir director to pick up a new instrument. Thankfully, just for one song (for now). For the first time since elementary school percussion, I was going to try and play drums. Whenever, you pick up anything new, it immediately becomes a learning process. How do I hold the sticks? What is the count? HOW DO I DO THIS? All things that flashed through my mind as I was learning one song in the 10 minutes before mass started.

Picking up the drums was good for me. It placed me out of my comfort zone, and helped me develop confidence, and focus, and I got to experience a new part of the music. I may have only played one song, but I learned something entirely new and something old about myself. I have the confidence to try out new instruments and play them in mass (new), and I have the dedication and will to try and see if I would be any good at it (old). For now, I may only be hitting the drums when no one else wants to, but I’m using those opportunities to learn something new and to grow in confidence. I may be a “classically trained musician” by education, but in the end I’m just a musician at heart.

Basketball update #1

Loose Cannon (Basketball update #1)

In one of my previous blog posts, I talked about learning to play basketball and how it was a new experience for me. Last night, I played in my second game, and thought that maybe it was time for an update on my basketball learning. Far from actually understanding the game, I at least know what position I play (I think). Maybe. But last night’s game taught me a lot more than just to follow the ball and figure out a defense. It taught me a lesson in controlling your emotions and learning to actually enjoy playing a game. Not just to be there to compete and win. We lost. By a lot. The mercy rule was actually called to end the game early, but that wasn’t the most frustrating thing that happened on the court. As an athletic and competitive person, I am always striving to be competitive and to improve my game, whatever it is. However, that’s pretty hard to do if you feel like you are never getting passed to. That game was a lesson in learning to control my frustration at wanting to be better at basketball, so I could actually make a few plays. I had to put the team before my desire to compete and figure out how I could help the team. Luckily, I have a few skills that stem from playing tennis that can make me pretty unique on the court. Since I’m used to playing 3 hour almost constant games, I have a stamina that can often leave me the last one on the court. I’m used to running in all directions and have pretty good reflexes. This gave me the ability to follow the ball constantly and earned me my own play! I finally had a way to help my team, by simply following the basketball and doing anything to slow down the person with the ball. Was I making endless baskets or blocking everything? No. Was I trying to improve my team the only way I knew how? Yes. At the end of the game, I realized that I wasn’t having fun because we were winning (we weren’t), or because I was the MVP of the game (I wasn’t). I was having fun because I was getting to be active with my friends and helping my team to do the best that we can. In the end teamwork does pay off, and that was a pretty fun lesson to learn.