It’s not my Canada, but I like visiting it; its culture, humor, scenery and food have long been favorites. Did you know that much that is funny in North America is actually of Canadian origin? This is because we Merkins have become a nation of humorless stiff-necked religious wackjobs, and we are unable to laugh at ourselves and our so-called sacred traditions of patriotism and love of country. This is not the case in Canada, where this sort of thing is done much more tastefully, without the boo-ra chest-thumping (not to mention the tattered 4X6 truck flags stapled to a stick and jammed on the back of a pickup). Patriotism can be tasteful and interestingly ethnic, as Joey tirelessly proves over and over.

Now, I really must find the lyrics to “Ren And Stimpy’s Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen.”

Okay, this is funny enough that we sat and plugged in all kinds of names: David, Steve, Joe, Jim, Studebaker, and Red. Then we plugged in David’s dad’s name, and just now I plugged in my MIL and my mom, with predictably funny results. The other image choices are a kind of elegant C-3PO knockoff, and a cheezy femmebot.

So naturally, I went with the big red maimbot.

As seen at Pale Blue Dot: Get your cyborg name

Right. We’re suburbanites. We hardly ever go to downtown Chicago – except for that time recently when I had jury duty at 26th and California. However, we made an exception because of Hanukkah.

Here’s how things work in this family – sometimes it’s hard to get everyone together unless it’s one of those holidays that you’re supposed to keep clear. So when my mother-in-law tried to organize a Hanukkah/holiday season get-together, it was harder than ever this year. One of my sisters-in-law is in law school, the other has 4 kids, and their spouses (spice) are also busy and hard to corral. We like to see a show or some kind of big entertainment of some kind after the holidays are over, but couldn’t make any dates work in January, and it just never eased off until now.

So Sunday night we went down to da Tommy Guns Garage for our Hanukkah treat. We woulda gone fer Mudder’s Day but wouldn’tcha knowwit, dey were all too busy. And they have these jamokes and… well, you get the idea. It’s a dinner theater where the cast are also the waitstaff, and there’s a lot of improv-type humor and audience participation. It was my mother-in-law’s idea, and we went along with it because, well, we’d put it off so long, we just wanted to get it over with before next Hanukkah.
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