Elizabeth's Laughter

04-20-2020 I'm not going to lie, I haven't been laughing a whole lot during quarantine. I've been feeling pretty depressed, to be completely honest. I'm stuck at home, I can't see my friends, and almost everything I have is still sitting in Fort Worth in my apartment.  Despite all that, it doesn't mean I haven't had good times while I've been home. There have been times where I haven't been able to stop laughing, though they are rarer at the moment. One of these moments was last night with my little sister. Like many people during this time of self-isolation, we have been staying up way later than we should be, despite the feeling of sleep-deprivation. Lately, my sister and I have been watching American Horror Story far into the night (well, she is watching, I'm re-watching). Last night, when my sister and I finished our last episode for the night, I remembered something from earlier that day. I'd been showing my sister the games I have o...

04-04-2020 Yesterday marked the six month anniversary of the day I adopted Gus.  I can't believe it's been half a year since he came into my life.  It's amazing to me how quickly time flies when you're living with someone you love, even if that someone is a dog. As I think back to where I was when I got him compared to where I am now, I realize how much I've learned and grown since he came into my life. When I went to the shelter looking to adopt a dog, I was not in a good place. In fact, I was experiencing the darkest period of my life up to that point. To make matters worse, I lived by myself, and I felt completely alone. I decided that a dog would help with at least that little bit. I'd always loved dogs. I'd grown up with dogs my whole life. And after all, I'd been talking about how I wanted a dog of my own for years at that point. So I went to the Humane Society at the same time that Gus' foster mom was dropping him off. He'd been on cra...

04-03-2020 While the country was still trying to figure out what to do about COVID-19, I was in the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, New York City, for Spring Break. It wasn't as if I had recklessly decided to say "screw it" and take a trip to New York just for fun. I was in the city with all of my fellow senior performance majors for Theatre TCU's annual Senior Showcase. I've described it in one of my previous blogs, but for those of you who haven't read that particular blog post:  All twenty three BFA Performance Majors (Acting and Musical Theatre) in the theatre department...spend our Spring Break in New York City attending workshops and presenting our showcase to agents and casting directors in the hopes that we will learn something new and maybe even have someone take an interest in one of us. Our professors had been keeping us up to date on developments in the city. The faculty had met about it, and one of our professors even had a me...

04-09-2020 Comedy comes naturally to some people, while others have to work for it. Regardless of a person's innate talent or lack thereof, you will find that funny people have a tendency to follow certain comedic patterns, whether they are aware of it or not. Here are a few ways I think anyone can improve their comedy skills: Incongruity in Storytelling - Oftentimes when I am telling a story, I will throw in some incongruous commentary, meaning I will say something that does not "fit" with the scenario I'm describing. It is a type of sarcasm delivered with a straight face and tone, as if what you're saying isn't unusual at all. For example, I might say, "My friend and her fiancee started snuggling while we were watching the movie. It was super cute, so I dumped my soda and popcorn on them and told them to stop being disgusting." Or I could say, "Yeah my dog scratched the hell out of my arm, but I love bleeding so it's all good." ...

Verily ,  I find there is no better word in the  very world than  very . For instance, things can be  very  good  or very  bad  or very  in between. There's nothing very  vague about that. Though e very day people scan thesauruses  in search of more suitable words: absolutely, awfully, certainly, decidedly, deeply, eminently, exceedingly, excessively, extraordinarily, extremely, greatly, highly, incredibly, noticeably, particularly, pretty, profoundly, remarkable, surprisingly, terribly, truly, uncommonly, unusually, acutely, amply, astonishingly, considerably, dearly, emphatically, exaggeratedly, extensively, indispensably, largely, notably, positively, powerfully, pressingly, prodigiously, substantially, superlatively, surpassingly, vastly* ...to name very  few, I find it very  true that no word other than very will do. Happy April Fools' Day, Dr. Williams! (Please don't fail me.) ...