Using Humor to Make Growing Old Fun

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Using Humor to Make Growing Old Fun

• by Don L. F. Nilsen and
• Alleen Pace Nilsen

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• Why Seniors should not go to Summer Camp
• http//i.imgur.com/2SvpTAA.gifv

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Two Approaches to the Aging Process
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And Two More Perspectives on Aging
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• Fritz Coleman Pasadena Conference on Aging
• https//www.youtube.com/embed/LR2qZ0A8vic?rel0

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That was ThenThis is Now
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The Effects of AgingPeugeot Before and After
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Do you remember the Johnny Carson Show on
Television?

• The Great Flydini (Steve Martin on the Johnny
  Carson Show)
• http//rubytooth.com/link/45516

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An Old Tree
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Four More Old Trees
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Old Car and Old Tree
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Music for People Who have Been Around the Block

• Fifties and Sixties Jukebox Hits
• http//www.1959bhsmustangs.com/VideoJukebox.htm
• Lookin for my wallet and my car keys
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vpJDNsJEnWqk
• Mayo Clinic Music Recital
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vd_14wbmbM5Afeature
  related

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Senior Moments
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An Old Person Returning to Work

• http//www.youtube.com/embed/qteu4ld_SCE?rel0

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Old Age and Death Are Serious Dilemmas

• The search for eternal life is a popular theme
  even in childrens books, e.g.
• Rick Riordans Percy and the Olympians
• J. K. Rowlings Harry Potter books
• Stephenie Meyers Twilight books

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Lazarus, Raised from the Dead Seven Harry
Potter Horcruxes
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The Adams Family, Dracula Frankenstein
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Ghosts, Werewolves, Poltergeists the Zombie
Apocalypse
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But Most Importantly, We Make Jokes as a Way of
Coping
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• Geriatric Traffic Jam
• http//biggeekdad.com/2013/08/geriatric-traffic-ja
  m/

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Seniors on the Golf Course
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Did you ever have a little red wagon?

• http//www.youtube.com/embed/-1w48qPF5hc

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Alleen Nilsens Little Red Wagon

• This is a bucket made from a truck tire that we
  brought back with us from Afghanistan in 1969.
• She made it into a White Elephant for a Del Rio
  Ward Relief Society event.
• Its now in Marilyn Browns yard with a plant
  growing in it.

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• This one happened in the Gammage parking lot at
  ASU where an old man had finally gotten his
  Cadillac in position to slip into a space.
• A student in a sports car scooted around him and
  took the space.
• The college kid jumped out of his car and said,
  See what you can do if youre young and quick!
• To the sound of crunching metal and glass, the
  old man responded, See what you can do if youre
  old and rich!

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• Mary Maxwells Deadpan Prayerhttps//www.youtube
  .com/watch?vvPFCn3itBFEfeatureyoutu.be

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General Douglas MacArthurs response to being
fired by President Truman was Old soldiers
never die, they just fade away.

• Old teachers never die they just lose their
  principles.
• Old athletes never die they just lose their
  supporters.
• Old robbers never die they just steal away.
• Old editors never quit they just write away.
• Old blondes never fade they just dye away.
• Old deans never die they just lose their
  faculties.
• Old lawyers never die they just lose their
  appeal.

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Gerontological Paradox
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My Blackberrys not working

• http//www.flixxy.com/my-blackberry-is-not-working
  .htm

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In his 1988 Too Funny to Be President, Mo Udall
defended humor as necessary to the health of our
political discourse and our private lives. It

• Leavens the public dialogue.
• Invigorates the body politic.
• Uplifts the spirit.
• Brings a diverse society closer together.
• Helps individuals roll with the punches.
• Is an antidote to self-importance.

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Author Max Shulmans Rule

• Max Shulman, the author of The Lives of Doby
  Gillis and Barefoot Boy with Cheek, said that if
  he told a joke that made listeners say, Ah ha, I
  know someone like that, he would get a laugh.
• But if he told a joke that made listeners say,
  Oh no, thats me! he would not get a laugh.
• How does this work in relation to our own telling
  of old people jokes?

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John McCain called Leisure World Seizure
World.Steve Benson responded.
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Age-Activated Attention Deficit Disorder

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v6oHBG3ABUJUsnsem
• Pam Petersons Memories Parody
• http//www.youtube.com/embed/HzSaoN2LdfU

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• Here are three of our favorite jokes
• A doctor is soothing an 83-year-old woman by
  telling her that even with modern medicine he
  cant make her any younger.
• She interrupts him to say, Im not asking you to
  make me younger. I want you to make me older!

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• That afternoon, the same doctor tries a different
  way to cheer up an 80-year old-man.
• He looks up from examining the reports from the
  mans bloodwork, and says, Youre in fine
  health! Youll live til youre 80!
• Im already 80, says the man.
• See! What did I tell you? says the doctor!

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HUMOR AND THE AGING PROCESS

• Psychologist Lucille Nahemow suggests that humor
  is a vital part of the aging process, because it
  can change our perspectives.
• For example, there is a proverb that reads,
• An old maid who gets married becomes a young
  wife.

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• Nostalgia The Land that Made Me Me
• https//www.youtube.com/embed/J55S38xwxnQ?rel0

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ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

• The doctor of an 83-year-old woman says to her,
  There are some things not even modern medicine
  can cure. You know, I cant make you any
  younger.
• Who asked you to make me younger? she replied.
  I want you to make me older!

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STILL ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE

• A doctor tells an 80-year-old man, Youre in
  excellent health youll live till youre 80!
• Im already 80, says the man.
• See, what did I tell you! exclaimed the doctor.

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The Political Advantages of Aging

• Reagan-Mondale Debate The Age Issue
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vLoPu1UIBkBc

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Light Switch in a Doctors Office

• One of the important features of humor is sudden
  insight.
• This is an ad for Viagra.

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So have fun growing old!
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Bruce Jenner and Caitlyn Jenner
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The Generation Gapin Tablet Use

• http//www.snotr.com/embed/8965

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• SEND IN THE CLOWNS! (Frank Sinatra, et. al.)
• http//www.yourememberthat.com/media/10939/Send_In
  _The_Clowns/.VBdREfnIY9Y

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If Cartoon Characters Aged
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• Julie Andrews Turning 79
• In order to commemorate her 79th birthday, Julie
  Andrews made a special appearance at Manhattans
  Radio City Music Hall for the benefit of AARP.
• One of the musical numbers she performed was an
  updated version of My Favorite Things from The
  Sound of Music. Here are the new lyrics

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• Boxtops and nose drops and needles for knitting,
• Walkers and handrails and new dental fittings,
• Bundles of magazines tied up in string,
• These are a few of my favourite things.
• Cadillacs, cataracts, hearing aids and glasses,
• Polident, Fixodent, false teeth in glasses,
• Pacemakers, golf carts and porches with swings,
• These are a few of my favourite things.
• When the pipes leak, When the bones creak,
• When the knees go bad,
• I simply remember my favourite things,
• And then I dont feel..so bad.

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• Hot tea and crumpets and corn pads for bunions,
• No spicy hot food or food cooked with onions,
• Bathrobes and heating pads, hot meals they bring,
• These are a few of my favourite things.
• Back pain, confused brains and no need for
  sinnin,
• Thin bones and fractures and hair that is
  thinnin,
• And we wont mention our short shrunken frames,
• When we remember our favourite things.
• When the joints ache, When the hips break,
• When the eyes grow dim,
• Then I remember the great life Ive had,
• And then I dont feelso bad.

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Words to Live By

• CHARLIE BROWN Some day, we will all die,
  Snoopy!
• SNOOPY True, but on all the other days, we will
  not.