MY FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH

Photo of my girlfriend's garden.

LAUGHTER is contagious just like yawning. When someone tells a joke, we laugh because it is funny. We laugh also when we could not understand the punch line and someone explains it to us. I am the clown among my peers. Whatever I say, they laugh because sometimes, there is double-meaning to it. When we see each other on a party, we share fond memories of our youth. We, coming from the South and them, coming from the North.

Laughter makes you younger (for real) and young at heart. There are lots of things around us which make us happy. A baby boy or a baby girl in the buggy smiling at you and then you say, Hi! How are you? The mother would immediately throw you a "What do you want " stare, a protective stare and you would back-off. Don't worry, this is a normal animal instinct to protect the young. Birds do it, animals do it so we have to accept it.

Remember the Lion King, Simba? The lion father was very protective over his son, Simba. Madagascar movies are also great fun and yearly, I would see the re-runs not because one of them is my namesake.

As the song goes, don't worry be happy. It is true. When you watch the news on TV specially CNN Live on their web www.cnn.com/live, watch it but don't watch for hours otherwise, you are going to be depressed. There are BREAKING NEWS from CNN Live over wars in some Islamic countries, frequency of earthquakes, aftermath of tsunamis (in Thailand and lately in Japan), floods in Australia, forest fires in Texas (USA) and other calamities. See Google Maps to find where these countries are geographically located. New York Times has also a website www.nytimes.com and could compete delivering up-to-the-minute news. All of these will be branded everyday in the news. Of course, we have to care and feel their sufferings but we have to think about ourselves too. We have to maintain our mental health thru laughter. I know that right after watching the current events, breaking news, we cannot afford to laugh. We have to change the channel and watch some hilarious films in HBO, Disney Channel or Comedy Channel or better yet find and buy some films from Amazon by clicking www.amazon.com.

Once you see a film, you will be carried into another world or dimension and you forget your sorrows, problems and woes.
You will laugh and laughter is good for your heart. There are blooper short films on TV which we tend to watch over and over again. There are cartoon characters which impregnated my youth. This is my ritual. Every Saturday morning having breakfast in bed, I watch CNN Cartoon Network on TV featuring Looney Tunes characters such as Sylvester with his sweet lisping way, Tweety and the famous "I tawt I taw a puddy tat" punch line and Granny, the short sighted darling granny-o. She always make sure that Tweety does not fall into any trap made by Sylvester or into his mouth. Most of the time, Tweety can outsmart Sylvester. The Puddy tat is always hungry and there are times when Tweety is already in Sylvester's mouth. Granny will look for Tweety and when she finds out where Tweety is, Granny will punish Sylvester with her walking stick. Ouch!. Kids, please don't do it to any cat. CNN Cartoon Network is also featuring Merrie Melodies cartoons for example: Bugs Bunny, Duffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Pepe Le Pew, Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner, Henery Hawk, Speedy Gonzales, Tom and Jerry.

Bugs Bunny is the smartest cartoon character ever. He outwits Duffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam altogether. Bugs Bunny
begins with catch phrase quote "Eh... What's up, doc?", usually said while chewing a carrot." I remember this comic strip whereby Bugs Bunny is being chased and shot at by Porky Pig because Hare hunting season has begun. He would always escape and there comes Duffy Duck with his raven-black feathers. He also has this lisping way of saying things too. Bugs Bunny removes the Hare Hunting Season sign and nailed down Duck Hunting Season instead. Therefore, Porky Pig is now chasing Duffy Duck. How Duffy Duck hates Bugs Bunny for it and he keeps on putting back the Hare season sign. Porky Pig is tired and confused which season it is and in the end, it was Duck Season and Porky Pigs dreams of a roasted duck for supper.

Yosemite Sam is a rowdy, red-headed cowboy with overgrown mustache who hates rabbits too but as I said, Bugs Bunny is smarter than him. Yosemite Sam likes to trap Bugs Bunny but in the end, it is Sam who gets trapped by his own doing. Pepe Le Pew is a French skunk and everyone who sees him runs for his life and hide because Pepe has this special aroma smell - Eau de la Phew (I guess I will patent this perfume brand and I will get the royalties). Pepe is chic and vain guy who takes care of his looks but never realizes that he stinks. A lady cat happened to be under the paint and she got this skunk vertical stripe too. Therefore, Pepe chases her all over Paris. In the end, the cat falls into his arms and she fainted because of his smell. Wile E. Coyote lives in Grand Canyon and he likes to catch the Road Runner, an Ostrich, but the Road Runner is as fast as a lightning and it is impossible for W.E. Coyote to get him. Traps are also used to catch the Road Runner and as usual, it is always the trapper who gets trapped.

Henery Hawk is a small, baby hawk who is under training by his father on how to catch a chicken. He tries to catch Foghorn Leghorn, the rooster, who is 50 times more than his size. So, Foghorn Leghorn gives him the sort-of-training and tells Henery Hawk that the Barnyard Dog is the chicken. It is really a mess up and poor little Henery, he is most of the time confused. Speedy Gonzales is a mouse from Mejico and he always says "Arriba, Arriba,...Andale". His enemies are of course, Los Gatos (cats). As Porky Pig will say every time the film is over, he would stutter also this slogan "Th-th-th-that's all folks!"

These cartoon characters were my contemporaries and they accompanied me throughout the years over and over again. Of course, the new film releases like Shrek (Schreck in German which means fright) makes me laugh all the time. Is it because he personifies some of our medieval instincts and attitudes in his acts like farthing in a pool of mud and blub! Bubbles came up. Some of us do it in the bathtub full of soap suds.

Our lives are just like films. It could be a drama, comedy or a boring film. There are lots of anecdotes in our youth which made the foundation of this happy life.

To learn how to swim is just a great feat. The big siblings would throw you in the river and you crawl like a dog and a few minutes, you get the life-saving vest in the form of 2 dried coconuts tied up together. I remember the film, Papillon, Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffmann were the big actors there. At he end of the story, the coconuts served as lifebuoy and saved Papillon's life. This film made me cry all the time but when I see Dustin Hoffmann with his thick eyeglasses, I could burst into laughter. He is an excellent actor also in Midnight Cowboy. His classic films should be available at Amazon.

One weekend, my brother came from the Boy Scout Jamboree and he had this bamboo cane but it was sealed. He told me that he had a special gift for me inside the bamboo. I was so happy, my little brother did not forget me. Slowly with gaping eyes, excitement and happiness that he bothered to arrange a special gift in my behalf, the lid was open and suddenly methane gas came out spreading all over the room. He farhrted on that bamboo and I was so angry and ran after him to pinch his ears. How many of us have such kind of remembrance? That was a funny autobiography and reality film.

As we grow, we appreciate the black and white films of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. The Honeymooners of Jackie Gleason and Art Carney are still a big hit. Dumb and Dumber with Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels is one-of-a-kind. It must be Jim's broken tooth which makes me laugh at his sight. The list would be long but the most important is that we must be entertained, tickled to the bones and burst into laughter without inhibitions. I am sure that you will find these hilarious films at Amazon.com.

If you are down, you can comfort yourself a bit, relax and simply forget what is eating you. See what eBay (www.ebay.com) is offering and surely, you will find some trinkets which will uplift your heart. Design some funny but not obscene artworks and send it to CafePress (www.cafepress.com) and Zazzle (www.zazzle.com). These are one of the excellent ways to please yourself once in a while.

Cartoon Characters Catch Phrases:

Tweety - "I tawt I taw a puddy tat"
Bugs Bunny - "Eh... What's up, doc?", usually said while chewing a carrot."
Speedy Gonzales - "Aribba, Arriba,...Andale"
Porky Pig - "Th-th-th-that's all folks!"