And the new year is off and running!

I hope everyone had a nice New Year's weekend. To anyone who had New Year's Day off, but had to work Friday... sucks to be you! Working for an Association may not pay the best salary in the industry, but we get every holiday off possible.

I hadn't planned to celebrate New Year's eve in any special way, but at 11:30 a friend called (and woke me up sadly) and talked me into getting together to see the new year in. I'm glad I did since sometimes I just have to be forced out of my hermit cave and rarely regret having given up that time by myself that would have otherwise been spent asleep or entertaining myself by myself... :)

Through this friend I met a new friend who I took an instant liking to. He was funny and quick witted, had a good humored smart ass sense of humor like myself and also like myself, he pulled the most obscure movie/TV quotes and references out of the air.

One of the things I enjoyed most was talking about race issues with him since he's black. Note I didn't say African American because he would whap me on the head if I had. He says he's just American and that's good enough. While not everyone would share his ease of comfort on racial joking, I thought it was admirable that his view on racism when it comes to racial jokes is, if its said in humor, it's just humor and words. It is the threatening views that hurt or bar people from living their life to their ability that cause damage.

Several black comedians have perfected their ability to make racial issues part of their sets. They're never mean, but what they say is true in a comic sense and I think the more we can show uncomfortable issues in an open forum where it's ok to find the humor, the more that unease will lessen over time. One of my favorite comedians is Katt Williams. I'm usually in physical pain after watching his concerts, but it's pain well worth the enjoyment.

After talking with my new friend this weekend, I thought about this portion of Katt Williams' HBO special and wanted to share.