Awkward Laughter

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

Tag Archives: zerotohero


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60 Days In: Still Blogging

In comparison to the length of time many writers have devoted to their blogs, mine is in its infancy. But since I never plan to birth a child, I’m going to consider it my baby, take a page from first-time parents everywhere, and celebrate Awkward Laughter’s milestones in months this first year.

Don’t worry. I won’t bore you with a post each time. I already skipped January. But this one, or more specifically, the 60-day mark jumped out at me.

Sixty days is:

  • Twice as long as I spent training for my first 10K
  • Ten times as long as my last vacation
  • Sixty-plus times as long as my last bad date (although that one felt longer)

In my book, 60 days of sticking with anything that doesn’t pay my bills is something worth celebrating. Plus, I like any excuse to open a good bottle of wine.

Piper Heidsieck Champagne

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Angel Cat Collage


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An Open Letter to Cat-Check Boy

Dear Cat-Check Boy,

You don’t even know that’s your name, and I confess I’ve long since forgotten your real one.

I met you in 2003. Your strong face and blue eyes struck me from across the bar. You stood out amongst the lackluster men I had encountered since moving to that small town.

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Photo credit: clarita from morguefile.com


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Good Luck? Bad Luck? What Luck!

A few weeks ago, I posted D’oh!, an embarrassing confession about how I included a typo in the domain name I reserved for Awkward Laughter. Day 21 of Zero to Hero (I’m playing catchup) challenged us to revisit that post and expand upon it.

Rereading D’oh! got me thinking about the unexpected ways life unfolds. Maggie from The Zombies Ate My Brains commented:

“That’s actually quite sublime! The universe knows what it’s doing sometimes, don’t you think? Thanks for sharing!”

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Sabrina


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Pardon My French, I’m Southern

A woman from the lower-eastern U.S. speaking broken French sounds about as poetic as Dr. Suess in Swahili. Those were my initial thoughts after learning that I had the chance to go to Paris for the first time.

Nonetheless, I was determined to take advantage of my work trip to the UK and to make a detour to France, the homeland of my paternal grandmother’s family. Continue reading →


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Returning from a 10-day hiatus from blogging, I have to share this awkward exchange at a Parisian restaurant, speaking with a lovely couple from Mexico:

Woman: “So where are you staying in Paris?”

Me: “Right around the corner at the Hotel Cambronne.”

<<surprised look on her face>>

Me: “Why? Is that a bad thing?”

Woman: “No, it’s just that…well, that name has a different meaning in Spanish…It means a**hole.”

<<hysterical laughter by both of us>>

Me (internally): “But of course I’d be staying at the hotel of a**holes. That’s the way I roll.”

Paris Eiffel Cambronne Hotel

Photo from Hotels.com

A quick Google search back at my room uncovered that she was thinking of “cabrόn” not “cambronne.” (Undoubtedly, my pronunciation was off.)

If my brief research is correct, “cabrόn” means “male goat,” but according to Urban Dictionary, it’s also slang for “a**hole” and other interesting words (read if you dare).

(This Awkward Aside is brought to you via my trip to Paris and the resulting timezone, travel hangover. Enjoy!)


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A recent awkward realization – When I had the idea for “Awkward Laughter” two years ago and reserved a domain name to support it, I made a typo. I bought Awkard Laughter (sans the 2nd “w”). &#%*@$!

Thankfully the site I wanted was still available, but definitely not one of my brighter moments and proof positive that I can’t edit myself.

(This Awkward Aside was inspired by Zero to Hero: 30 Days to a Better Blog’s Day 19: Publish a Post in a New-to-You Format.)


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My Social-Publicize Dilemma

Activate a social network. That was the advice that came on day 18 of the Zero to Hero: 30 Days to a Better Blog challenge. And for the first time in this blogging adventure, my immediate reaction was “Nope! Not gonna do it.”


(A 90’s nod to Dana Carvey impersonating President George Bush, Sr.)
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Calling all Crazies: Freak Magnet Here

My reputation can be summed up in two words: freak magnet. This isn’t a self-proclaimed status. As reputations go, I’d rather be known as witty, pithy or even nerdy. But if you ask my friends and family, they’ll most certainly tell you: “Kim is a freak magnet.”

Magnet Collection

That opinion is so universal that they refer to my experiences as “Kim stories.” God love them! They are a collection of day-to-day occurrences that make up my life, such as: Continue reading →


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Freshly im-Pressed with the Power of Blogs

All of the vitriol coming out of the debate about the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a Obamacare) is enough to make even the most avid policy wonks and political junkies want to tune out. Many comments made over the last few years by proponents and opponents alike have been nothing less than absurd.
Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil monkeys
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Enough About Me, Let’s Talk About Me

Tell me if I’m alone here, but doesn’t blogging make you feel like you’ve fallen into some narcissistic rabbit hole? Perhaps it’s because my blog isn’t about cooking, DIY, travel, or any other topic in particular, but rather a random collection of anecdotes and musings by yours truly.
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