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Laughing in the Face of Danger 2

I've said it before, but I very willingly laugh at myself and situations that could negatively impact me, largely because I'm too much of a smart ass. Quite often, I see the humor of the situation even when I am the "victim" in the scenario. I also tend to think that there's value in adding to the general amusement in the world, so I've always considered laughing at myself to be fair game. All in all, it makes for all sorts of interesting exchanges. The latest bout of this happened to be when I was in the hospital a few months back.

First of all, I had to check in on a weekday, so I was by myself. The people who I could trust to bring me to the hospital were all working that day, so I strolled in by myself. That was fine, but the first nurse I saw was a bit surprised by this fact. In her words, she thought I "was a teenager, so [she] was about to ask where my parents were." Awesome. I was all of five minutes in to my excursion, and already things were going askew. Of course, me being me, I replied that I was actually of age, but that I would do everything I could do to be immature during my stay to act as old as I looked. She laughed at me.

Now, I happened to need an IV, so a separate nurse came and set all of that up. It wasn't a horribly complicated process, but she did explain the process before she stabbed me with a needle. Of course, the nurse also made sure to chat with me during the process, so the following exchange happened:

Nurse: "First IV?"
Me: "Yup, though I'm hoping it's my last."
Nurse: "Oh, I doubt it. We all end up in a hospital for something or other."
Me: "True, but a man can dream."

Both the assigned nurse and the nearest nearby nurse immediately burst in to laughter. I'm not entirely sure if they were amused by my response or if they were laughing at my naivete, but either way, they were both mildly amused. I'd like to call that a job well done.

The piece de resistance was yet to come, however. When making sure I was properly prepped, one of the attending medical folks noticed that I was missing something:

Nurse: "Wait, wait, you need a hat."
Me: "I get a hat, too?"
Nurse: :Yup, party doesn't start until you have your hat on."
Me: "No offense, but I'd rather have this party be over."

Frankly, it was true. I really did want the whole ordeal to be done, and I had no problem laughing at myself in the process. Of course, everyone near by caught my comment, and they all laughed. It was the kind of laughter that was sudden and immediate, provoking gut-busting movements from several people. The general amusement level of the world definitely increased as a result of my smart aleck response.

So, all in all, I think I discovered that even while dealing in and around a hospital, I am still very capable of applying my smart aleck tendencies to laugh at the situation. And given the reactions of all of those around me, this seems like a good thing. The people have spoken and the number don't lie; I have to continue to be a smart ass in order to increase the general amusement of the world.
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