It was one of those times.

You know what I mean...the times when you just can't stop laughing? I had one of those today. I was at my best friend Jo's house [Jo is short for Joanna] and we were playing "Uno Attack," a version on the game of "Uno" but with a thing that shoots cards at you. Pretty fun. Here's what happened:

She was down to two cards, and played her Wild card, changing the colour to red. Well, I didn't have any red, so I pressed the button of the thing that shoots the cards, and some cards shot out at me. As that happened, Danielle [Jo's younger sister] came into the room and I was like, "Hey, you wanna play?" At that moment, I picked up my cards and saw a Wild Hit card [a card that meant the player to your left had to press the button till cards got shot at him/her] and I went like, "Muahahaha." And promptly dropped the card. Well, for some reason, we all thought it was funny.

Correction: Jo and Danielle thought it was funny...I seemed to think it was hilarious.

I totally burst out into helpless laughter, and within seconds, tears were streaming down my face. I literally couldn't breathe because I was laughing so hard. Eventually it turned into one of those silent laughs...the ones where you're desperately trying to breathe, but completely failing. This went on for about five minutes, and I totally couldn't stop laughing. I'm pretty sure that they all thought I was insane by the time I managed to catch my breath, stifle my laugh, and get a drink.

So, we continued to play Uno Attack, and after awhile, Josh [Jo's younger brother] came out and said, "I'm cleaning the rat cage - you wanna hold them?" Instantly, we all volunteered. Josh has two rats: Triss and Curda. They're very curious, and soon were galavanting up and down me and Danielle while Jo watched in amusement. They were not content, however, to play with our hair. They began to investigate everywhere they could go, including our clothing. At one point, Curda was running around on my back and stomach, with me desperately trying to catch her.

More laughter ensued, and by the time Josh came to collect his insane pets, me, Jo and Danielle were laughing our heads off.

Sometimes you really need a good laugh. I think people are entirely too cynical in this world. I should know - I used to be one of the most cynical people out there. But now I'm beginning to see things in a different light, and it's really making me feel like a better person. So, here's to living life and being content - down with cynicism...it won't do you any good in the end.

Jhandrol ailai si shol,
Laughing into the wind,

~ Meredith