Awkward Laughter

Because most things in life are humorous, even when they shouldn't be

Tag Archives: DPchallenge


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How Roy Orbison Saved Me: 30:30 Somethings

It seems blaspheme to say this, but the combination of Osama bin Laden, football coach Steve Spurrier, and Roy Orbison reunited me with my father. Outrageous, yes. But before these men collided in unexpected ways, my dad and I hadn’t spoken in years.

Let me back up. Growing up, my father told me and my sisters many stories over, and over, and over again.

The time he grew six inches in one summer during high school. Or the time he scored a perfect 100% on Ms. Phipp’s two-hour calculus exam in a mere 15 minutes. Ugh! We couldn’t take another rendition.

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Cheeseburger


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Say What?: 30:30 Somethings

“Sure, I like cheeseburgers,” the random hostess replied to my mother, smiling, as my mom exited the breakfast bar. .

This might have seemed the perfect, polite response to an inquiry if my mother had actually asked about her menu-choice preferences, but that wasn’t the caseCheeseburger

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Umami


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Taste in Men: 30:30 Somethings

When we discuss the beauty of relationships, we rarely describe them in terms of taste beyond good or bad. But as a woman who’s dated many men and married none, I think the variety of our romantic interactions deserves a better range of adjectives.

So when the folks at WordPress prompted a discussion this week about taste and which we’d give up voluntarily, it only seemed fitting for me to equate it to my palate for the ups and downs of this portion of my life. Continue reading →


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Eat the Cake!: 30-30 Somethings

Several years back, I decided to date a younger man – and by younger I mean 10+ years my junior. Adding to the awkwardness of my could-be-boyfriend choice was the fact that I worked with him.

My friends and I dubbed him “New Kid on the Block” when he first caught my attention. For months, the two of us flirted, he poked and prodded around the dating edges, and I agonized over whether I should give him the signal to proceed. Continue reading →

If You’re Stinky and You Know it Raise Your Hands

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Does Your Nose Work sign from public bus

After two days of organizing, cleaning and other do-it-yourself projects around the house, I couldn’t help but remember this photo I snapped on a city bus in Gainesville, Fla. I think I could officially be this sign maker’s muse, much to the dismay of the folks I encountered at Pier 1 and Lowe’s while stocking up on supplies. Continue reading →


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Family Traditions: 30 30-Somethings

“What are you looking at you, green-eyed heifer, you?”

That’s what my father asked me. He’d said similar things to my sisters but swapped green-eyed for blue-eyed, brown-eyed or the all-encompassing big-eyed heifer.

He conveyed those words with such loving affection that my sisters and I didn’t realize, until way too late in life, that he was actually calling us cows. Continue reading →


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Dirty Old Men: 30 30-Somethings

Glass of wine and remote in hand, I lounged on my couch unwinding from an intense day at work. I’d been assigned to a project with one of the senior leaders in our company, and my brain felt drained from hours-long strategy sessions about the appropriate communications plan for a highly contentious issue. Continue reading →

Kim and Peter


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Falling in Love at 4 Years Old

Cooties, schmooties. From birth, I thought boys were fantastic!

To my four-year-old girl friends who thought otherwise…well, I don’t understand your reluctance. Boys were awesome! (Unless you were gay. Then I completely understand, though I didn’t at the time.)

Peter was my first boyfriend. It was a pre-school kind of infatuation – the kind most would quickly dismiss. But not I.

He was the Goldar to my Silvar (a bad but popular 1970s’ reference to Space Giants).

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Celebrating My First 10K


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My Meh 2013 According to Facebook – Part 2

…continued from “My Meh 2013 According to Facebook Part 1”

Sitting on my couch, a glass of my favorite Sauvignon Blanc in hand (and another one already in my belly), I clicked on my Facebook 2013 Year in Review for the second time.

I cringed once again at the selection of photos rotating at the top. Most were boring. Many were unflattering. Only one reflected what I thought was truly memorable from the past year. Continue reading →