What is a Curmudgeon anyway?

Previous email: "You know that I didn't get one response from my "Curmudgeon" email. I found that rather disappointing! I suppose that means that everyone thought I was serious and they must agree with you. I meant it to be funny."

Thank-you for thinking enough of me to give that title!!

A little research puts me in a rarefied group of people!

A quote:
"What is a Curmudgeon anyway?

A curmudgeon's reputation for malevolence is undeserved. They're neither warped nor evil at heart. They don't hate mankind, just mankind's absurdities. They're just as sensitive and soft-hearted as the next guy, but they hide their vulnerability beneath a crust of misanthropy. They ease the pain by turning hurt into humor. . . . . . They attack maudlinism because it devalues genuine sentiment. . . . . . Nature, having failed to equip them with a serviceable denial mechanism, has endowed them with astute perception and sly wit.

Curmudgeons are mockers and debunkers whose bitterness is a symptom rather than a disease. They can't compromise their standards and can't manage the suspension of disbelief necessary for feigned cheerfulness. Their awareness is a curse.
Perhaps curmudgeons have gotten a bad rap in the same way that the messenger is blamed for the message: They have the temerity to comment on the human condition without apology. They not only refuse to applaud mediocrity, they howl it down with morose glee. Their versions of the truth unsettle us, and we hold it against them, even though they soften it with humor.

- JON WINOKUR "

All of our children and most of our grand children have a "twisted sense of humor". And a sense of humor is an indication of higher intelligence.
That means that their mother and I have done our job; prepare them for a world that is largely witless and humorless and to THINK.
May heaven or some Higher Being grant peace and protection to anyone that marries into this family.

More Quotes:

1. Question: What makes a person funny?

Answer: Funny people have a heightened sense of the absurd. They take life seriously, but not literally. They’re sometimes described as “twisted,” but it’s just the opposite: they’re the sane ones in an insane world. Funny people are also aware of the music of humor. They instinctively know that the stress and number of beats has to be just right and that a superfluous syllable can kill a laugh, whether written or spoken. That’s why copy editors are hazardous to humor manuscripts. They care about being grammatically correct, not funny.

2. Question: Are people born funny or made funny?

Answer: A sense of humor runs in families, whether as a result of nature or nurture or both.

http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/09/ten_questions_w.html

Workin' Mysteries Without Any Clues

The Mystery of Women

On my voyage through this experience called life;
I have pondered several things that I consider interesting to me.

Key among these things, is the power that women have over men.

I think that my interest in this topic began soon after I finishing reading
H. Rider Haggard masterpiece, "She". It's a marvelous adventure tail set in
Africa involving the Penultimate Woman; Ayesha, "She Who Must Be Obeyed". It's classic, if you haven't read it - buy it and read it now! If you have read it,
read it again - it's a classic. Like classical music, opera, vintage wines,
and older women; it just keeps getting better and better!

I was extremely fortunate to find my Ayesha 48 years ago. I am still puzzled
as to why She chose me. I guess I'll have to wait for Lazarus Long to explain
it to me.

Let me clearly state here, I am not an anthropologist, psychiatrist, or any those
people. Hell, I am not even college graduate. I am just curious as to why.

Why do we, men, devote so much time thinking about them?
Why do we spend so much time and money attempting to attract them?
And in my opinion, it does not make any difference whether we are normal
heterosexual males, or homosexuals, or transvestites, or even the most
controlling wife beating SOBs ever made - all of us want to just what it
is about women that keeps us interested.
I don't think it's just sex. Come on guys, if you seen one porn flick -
you've really seen them all.
All I say is, it's a good thing that women don't judge us with the same standards that we use to judge them.

Maybe it is as simple as the line Boon uttered to Lucius in the "The Reivers" by
William Faulkner. As the young boy, Lucius, stares at full frontal nude female
portrait hanging above the bar in the brothel, Boon says, "It's a mystery."