Well, in all honesty, the times aren't as difficult as when Thomas Paine wrote of the "times that try men's souls." Although some folks might think there is a revolution to be fought, the truth of the matter is that things aren't all that bad. But it does seem like there is more than a fair share of crabbiness going around. I am as guilty as anyone else. Maybe it's the partisanship in Washington, or the recession, or maybe it's that it seems like spring will never arrive that's causing this funk. One thing's for sure, though — we've got to pull ourselves out of it.

When I get this way, I try to find things that amuse me. Reader's Digest says that laughter is the best medicine and the French satirist Sebastion Roch Chamfort said that "the most utterly lost of all days is that in which you have not once laughed."

So I constantly seek things that I find funny. And being the weird kind of person that I am, I don't mind if it is something that amuses only me — the ultimate inside joke.

Here, lately, one thing has been a source of amusement. I noticed it several weeks ago when I dropped by Smith's in Edgewood before coming into the office. I was searching for a donut or some such sweet to start my day (which also helps beat the blues). If you've been in Smith's in the morning, you know that the staff probably outnumbers the shoppers, although there is always a line at Starbucks.

In my search for something good to nosh, I walked down a frozen food aisle. The cases were darkened, but when I walked by a motion sensor automatically turned on the lights, so that lights flickered to life on my left and on my right. I felt almost omnipotent as the lights willed themselves to illuminate in my presence and shut down moments after I had left.

I'm not sure when Smith's changed the lights for the frozen foods. I'd never noticed before and when the store has more shoppers, they are on all the time. Obviously it is some sort of energy-saving measure, but I like to feel that the path to the french fries is brightened solely for my amusement. Now I go by Smith's at least once a week, and yes, I make sure to walk through the frozen food aisle.

But obliging lights in the frozen food aisle of the supermarket are not enough in themselves to keep the blues at bay. Maybe if I had theme music that followed me around all the time, then I could find true happiness. But if I had theme music, I also would need an announcer saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for the one and only ..." That would greatly amuse me, but at this time is a little impractical.

I used to like to play jokes on people, but I've had to stop that now that someone actually put me in charge of an office.

Now I must confine myself to silly word games, when I can get away with it, such as when someone pops their head into my office and says, "Can I ask you a question?"

Most times I'll say, "You just did." It's stupid and silly and unprofessional, but it amuses me.

I'm also a pretty good mimic, but I do that more for the amusement of others than for myself. Granted, there is a slight thrill in getting other people to laugh, but mimicry can also create hurt feelings. So I don't do that so much anymore. I also like what some would call "potty humor," but there is a time and place for that — and I rarely find myself in the right time or the right place.

So I find myself having to repress my scatological sense of humor because, as I'm reminded from time to time, I'm an adult. That's OK. There's still enough around to amuse me.

This week it's pretty lights; next week it may be something else.

No matter; it's just me shaking off the blues.

Contact Rory McClannahan at 823-7102 or online at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .