I've had a bad week. Lousy weather, upset stomach and a kind of post-partum like depression following the release of my book. Or maybe it's more like the end of a wild, crazy affair. Book and I were together day and night for four years. Now he's gone, with vague promises to stay in touch: a review here, a small royalty check there.  

In addition to the relationship issues, there are oil spills, wars, the death of Rob Lowe's character on "Brothers and Sisters," a pain in my lower back, and a problem with my stomach which have me thinking about mortality and how far beyond middle age I seem to be, unless I find myself suddenly living in a yurt outside Inner Mongolia, eating yogurt every day and guaranteed a prominent position as esteemed village elder. 

After several days of sweatpants and ice cream containers with spoons stuck in them, I decided to decided to give myself a mental kick-start  by making a list of things that make me laugh. I'm not talking about gentle smiling but real laugh-out-loud of the variety that might surprise serious Mr. Book, if he were around. Below is my list. What's yours?

(Oh, and thanks for humoring me.)

1. The McDonald's "Fillet of Fish" theme: I kid you not; I made this my ring-tone awhile back. The musicians among you will share my appreciation of the final note coming on the off-beat and timed with the turning fish head. The non-musicians have much else to enjoy: the new wave/emo tune, the singing fish on a cell phone, the different reactions of the two guys chowing down. Or not.

2. Lewis Black: The man is enraged, profane, and unerringly accurate in his assessment about the human condition. Talk about unrequited love, though; although I mention Black several times in my book, he hasn't even joined my Facebook page.  

 3. My dog, Molly: I know, everyone says their dogs make them laugh, but, seriously, mine is a born entertainer. She also happens to be a born whiner, moocher, chow hound and diva. But watching her play is like uncorking a bottle of pure joy. I laugh, she works harder, I laugh more; it's all good.

 4.  Smart kids: Actually smart kids make me clap my hands with excitement, almost like a little kid. Weird, huh? I just love to watch a nine-year-old reflecting on a problem or to come across a letter to the editor by a precocious fourteen-year-old. However, I have no tolerance for smart-ass or bullying smart kids, who inevitably grow up to be smart-ass, bullying adults.

5. Con Chapman: If you're on OS, you know who he is; if you're not, click here.  He's already pretty well-known but for someone as consistently funny as he is, even the constant stream of EPs doesn't seem enough. Weird, well-read, intelligent, perverse, prolific, and often hysterically funny writers are not exactly a dime a dozen, you know?

6. The E-Trade commercials with the babies, especially the one on the airplane: Oh god, it's so embarrassing to admit. Really, most thinking people probably despise these commercials, which involve taking baby images, manipulating them shamelessly, and giving them the voices of self-entitled, over-indulged thirty-something traders. Ugh. Why the hell do these commercials make me laugh? Apparently I'm not alone.

7.  My sister: It isn't so much that Sis is funny as we have that special "sister" connection that's made up of equal parts shared history and quirky biology. We are near in age, without other close ties at this point in our lives; we've had more than our share of disappointments between us and with each other. But sometimes when we're talking, something silly will occur to one of us and we'll be off and running, scripting our own odd story line, trading off each other's thoughts until one of us comes up with some word or idea so ridiculous that we both end up literally paralyzed with laughter. I promise you, I've actually had to pull over the car on  occasion. I don't know that I've ever attained that side-splitting state with anyone except my sister but then again, I don't need to. 

images of Black uploaded from starpulse.com; image of children uploaded from cyprusprivatetv.com