Monday, May 4, 2015

My Trip to the Zoo

Hunter and I decided to take our trip to the zoo as a finals break on Monday. Originally, I was a little skeptical whether or not there would be a lot of people there considering it was cloudy, windy, and a Monday morning. Fortunately right when we pulled in Hunter and I noticed almost a dozen school buses. This was a good sign. 

Right when we entered the park we headed over to the first exhibit there: the gorillas. Here, all the kids climbed up on the edge of the fence to get as close to the animals as they could. 

As it turned out, this attraction proved to cause the most laughter out of all the places at the zoo. The kids here seemed to be chuckling nearly the whole time, however, whenever an animal would do something that they thought was funny, the kids would burst out in uncontrollable laughter. The video below captures this excellently. 


Another moment of laughter that I captured occurred in the bird cage. The baby, pictured below, couldn't help but laugh as he reached out to touch the bird. All of the young kids seemed to be so enthralled, yet confused by the animals that their first reaction was to laugh. 

As far as the question of whether or not laughter is contagious, the answer is easy: yes. Nearly all of the laughter I observed at the zoo was a group of kids cracking up. Further, whenever all of the little kids would laugh, it was nearly impossible for the parents/ adult supervisors to not start chuckling themselves. Kids' laughing definitely caused Hunter and I to. 

I really enjoyed this assignment. It was a great study break for this extremely stressful week and enabled us to observe laughter from a different viewpoint. 

Below I attached a picture of Hunter becoming one with the gorilla. 



Saturday, May 2, 2015

Learning Experience #3: The Importance of Professors' Appreciation and Passion


As everyone knows, or soon discovers, with college comes a new-found freedom that much of us have never experienced before. In high school, you had to go to class. That’s just how it was, at least for me. The only way you didn’t go is if you made up some excuse to your mom to why school would just be absolutely unbearable today, or you played the good-old “I’m obviously too sick to go to school even though I secretly just want to play the brand new video game that came out yesterday so I could be a higher rank than all my friends and they will all be jealous of me and ask me how I am so good and how in the world my mom was cool enough to let me skip school to play a video game” card. But that was a rare occasion. College is different. You are in complete control with what you want to do with your day, even if that means skipping classes all week.

When I look back on my first year of classes at TCU, one thing sticks out every single time. The classes that I consistently attended, enjoyed attending, put the most effort in, and learned the most in all had one thing in common: the professors appreciated the students and had a passion for their job. Put simply, they made it their personal job to not just teach, but to develop a relationship with the class as a whole and with the students individually. I believe this teacher to student relationship building is imperative for a student to come to class and, in more broad terms, enjoy college and ultimately succeed at a University. Having the opportunity to enroll in small, engaging honors classes and smaller-classes in general was one of the primary reasons I came to TCU. I knew this is something that I wanted in a University and I felt like TCU could provide me with this opportunity. Now, not every teacher I have had thus far at TCU has lived up to this bill and I would be lying to say that is how every class is here, however, I have sincerely treasured the professors who work to know their students and I attempt to make it known to them that I genuinely appreciate their effort to create this sort of environment. 

During the canoe trip, in which I shared a canoe with Dr. Williams, I told him about how he and Dr. Bob Doran were my only professors this semester who gave out a ‘survey’ to learn more about their students. Obviously, this is one of the first steps in developing relationships with students. Not coincidentally, my two favorite classes this semester have been with these two teachers. When teachers try to get to know their students outside the classroom and appreciate their attendance on a daily basis, students are more likely to put forth more effort and enjoy their time in school. I know that the handful of teachers that do this have greatly contributed to my enjoyment and my success so far at TCU.

Although my learning experience about the importance of professors’ appreciation and passion is not necessarily useful at this point in my life, it will definitely be applicable as I move forward in my post-graduation career. In the future when I have co-workers, or in the case that I hold some sort of management position, it will be extremely beneficial to reflect on this learning experience and try to imitate the appreciativeness and passion that some of my professors had during my time at TCU. Professors have a tremendous amount of impact on their students and I hope they always recognize this and continually attempt to put their best effort forth each day. 

Conversation #6

It is Saturday, May 2nd and I have just met with my conversation partner for the last time. We were pretty short on time and could only meet for about 30 minutes but we knew we had to see each other one more time before summer break. I did not want to ask Nasrallah questions about a certain topic for this last meeting. Instead, I hoped that we would spend the time reflecting back on our previous meetings. The first half of the meeting we did exactly that. Eventually we began discussing how crazy it is that the semester is almost over. I asked Nas about his final schedule and he told me about how stressed he was. I did my best to reassure him that he would great and tried to inspire him to study as much as he can during this last week. It will pay off in the end.
             It was now time to say goodbye to Nasrallah. I told him how awesome it was to meet with him this semester and how much I enjoyed getting to know him. Over this semester, Nasrallah and I have developed a great friendship, which was something I never forecasted before our initial meeting. I have learned an incredible amount about Saudi Arabia and its unique culture. It is my sincere hope that Nasrallah has learned just as much about my home country as I did about his. To be honest, I can’t believe that was our final conversation. Although we are so comfortable with each other, it still feels like our first meeting was just yesterday. I am extremely glad that meeting with an IEP student was a pivotal part of this class and I hope that this class continues to entail this sort of learning experience.
 

Learning Experience #2: We've got an ant problem

It is Thursday of dead days and my roommate and I have encountered a serious problem in our, dormitory. As my roommate put it, “We got an ant problem”. Unfortunately hundreds, if not thousands, of ants are crawling around my desk area. Upon further investigation, it became apparent that I may or may not have left a week-old, rotting banana in the trashcan next to my desk. Obviously, this is the last thing my roommate and I want to deal with during our study days as we both have an enormous amount of work and studying to do before the end of the school year. The interesting thing is we weren’t mad. Instead, we couldn't stop laughing as we both cracked jokes left and right about having ants in our room. We knew it was an inconvenience, but we both used humor as a way to lighten up the mood and laugh it off. Yes, I hate having ants occupy every square inch of my desk. However, I would take the moments of laughing and the memories that resulted over the inconvenience any day.

Although I could write a blog post about how I learned not to leave a rotting banana in small trashcan, I believe it is much more fitting to talk about an outcome of the ant event: humor.
When I signed up for this class, I literally had no idea what to expect. The title of the class, as we learned through the videos during the first week, could entail hundreds of ideas. When I discovered the topic was going to be humor, I could not have been more excited. I view myself as a pretty funny individual so the idea of delving into why people laugh and what causes things to be funny fascinated me. Throughout the semester, we expanded on numerous theories of humor which are easy to identify on a daily basis. Why do we laugh at the unexpected? Incongruity theory. This makes sense because some event occurs that is against the norm of what we think is going to happen and thus spurs laughter. Many of the other theories are similarly easy to understand…except two. Why do we laugh when someone else gets hurt? Superiority theory. But how is that funny? Why do we find it humorous to make fun of a specific person or group of people? Negative humor. Again, how is that funny? We may never fully understand, but that’s what I loved about his class. We learned about humor. More importantly, however, we were forced to think about things that are seemingly incomprehensible. Thinking outside of the box and developing critical thinking abilities is invaluable.  

So yes, one thing I learned this semester was to not leave an old banana in my room because it will attract an endless amount of ants. More importantly though, I learned about humor and developed critical thinking skills all through a course titled “Literature and Civilizations II”. 

Conversation #5


As you probably can guess by now, Nasrallah and I began our fifth conversation in Union Grounds. As we have done a few times previously, we decided to walk around a bit and then relax in the basement lobby of Milton- Daniel. Before I even had the opportunity, Nas asked me what today’s subject was. For this meeting, I wanted to ask Nasrallah about the biggest differences he notices between Saudi Arabia and the United States, as well as any stereotypes that the Saudis have of Americans.
             The first thing that Nasrallah mentioned was the vast differences in schooling between America and Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia, the boys and girls attend different schools and there is no mixing between the two genders in education. Nasrallah, however, insured me multiple times that he is completely fine with going to school with girls. Since the topic had been brought up, I asked Nasrallah more about the education system in Saudi Arabia. Something that I found very interesting is that Arabic is the primary language used throughout grade-school and high school, but in college all the professors teach in English. I guess they assume that the students ought to be fluent in the English language by the time they reach the college grade level. The second big difference that Nasrallah notices between the two countries is the way kids treat/respect their parents. Nasrallah told me that he has encountered the situation numerous times when a kid is yelling profusely at his or her parents and even cussing at them. According to Nas, this behavior would not be accepted in his country. Saudi Arabian children respect their parents much more than what he has experienced here in the United States. When Nasrallah was telling me this, I felt rather embarrassed. However, I completely understand why he thinks this way. I think all of us have seen how disrespectful others, or even ourselves, can be to parents and other adult figures. It is sad that Nas specifically notices that about America, but often times it is completely true.
             As far as stereotypes go, Nasrallah says that the majority of Saudis view Americans as smart individuals. This is why a lot of them want come to America to study and eventually live. According to Nasrallah however, Americans don’t think. I was rather confused by this and so I asked him to explain what he meant. Nasrallah responded that Americans seem to need a manual for everything we do. We always follow a procedure list and go step by step, rather than figuring things out on our own. He stated that “Americans are smart but still look to procedure and check list instead of using their own brains”. Nasrallah then provided an example that he has experience in his own life. As I mentioned in a previous post, Nas worked for an American company and often times he would be fixing a radio or something along those lines and know how to do it on his own, however the Americans would get mad at him for not following the procedure list. In Saudi Arabia, they do everything on their own and aren’t so set on a specific way to do it. I thought this was an extremely interesting point and something that I have failed to really notice while growing up.

             Through this conversation I was able to develop a better idea of the Saudi Arabian Culture and the differences between the two countries. Further, it is interesting to hear an outside perspective about the stereotypes of the country that I live in. Day to day life I don’t necessarily pick up on the things that Nasrallah pointed out, however it is easy to notice these specific stereotypes if you take a moment to just reflect. I have gained so much more insight even about the country I live in, which is something I never expected when I first met with Nasrallah. 

Negative Humor

For this blog post, I have decided to not focus on one specific incident, but rather cover an example of negative humor that I tend to hear on a consistent basis. Very often I hear individuals, often times my own friends, say phrases such as “He’s acting like a kid with downs” or “He looks autistic”. After these statements, the group cracks up and laughs at the ‘joke’…everyone but me. If there is a quintessential example of negative humor, I believe these vicious remarks about people with learning disabilities is it.
The reason I am so bothered by comments like these is because I have personal relationships with individuals who have the disabilities mentioned. My brother is autistic and one of my cousins has down syndrome. I absolutely love both my brother and cousin, so when people make jokes about the way they look or act I am extremely offended. I don’t understand how these jokes could be funny in any way whatsoever and I am always upset when people tell or laugh at things similar to this. 

However, this is exactly what is worrisome.

The majority of the humor I am exposed to on a daily basis is negative humor, especially on a college campus. In fact, there is probably an incident almost every day where I participate in negative humor, whether that is telling an offensive joke or laughing at one. This is exactly what scares me. I get so offended and upset when people tell a joke that involves autism or down syndrome, yet I probably laugh at jokes that other people are equally offended by. More than likely, you will laugh at any example of negative humor except when you have a personal connection to the thing being ‘joked’ about. Whether they admit it or not, someone is almost always adversely affected by an incident of negative humor. Since our class discussion on negative humor, I have begun to notice the prominence of negative humor on campus. To be honest it is sad that our society views demeaning and offensive things as funny, but we do. Somehow, I believe this needs to change in our society. Personally, I have tried my hardest since the discussions to avoid engaging in negative humor and I try to utilize other pathways for laughter. Although negative humor will more than likely continue to flourish, if we each attempt to abstain then hopefully we can begin to make a difference on TCU’s campus.

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Conversation #4

For our fourth meeting, Nasrallah and I met up in Union Grounds, per usual. However, this time Nasrallah really wanted to take me out to lunch for our conversation. Obviously I agreed, considering any opportunity to get some food outside of the BLUU is an opportunity that cannot be passed up. Nasrallah always insists that he drives, which makes this occasion even sweeter. As we walked to his car, I asked Nasrallah where he wanted to go and he mentioned Terra Mediterranean Grill. Nasrallah told me that Terra has a few entree options that are similar to what he eats in Saudi Arabia. Thus, I was excited to eat there.
             The restaurant was buffet-style and had many options. Because Nasrallah is a regular at the restaurant, I had him point out what food I need to try. By the end of this process, I had 3 plates of food before me. And yes, I ate it all.
             For this meeting, I asked Nas if we could gear the conversation towards his religion. Nasrallah is Muslim, which means his religion is Islam. During the conversation, Nasrallah noted that many people do not understand what the words ‘Muslim’ and ‘Islam’ mean, along with the similarities and differences between the two. Basically, Islam is the religion and the word ‘Muslim’ is used to talk about an individual who follows the religion of Islam. As he talked about this, he seemed rather frustrated in American’s ignorance about this. Nasrallah then went on to describe some of his prayer ritual. As you may know, Muslims pray 5 times a day. Nasrallah completes this each day to the best of his ability.
             Through this conversation, I gained some more insight to who Nasrallah is as a person. I also gained a better sense of respect for followers of Islam. Growing up, I attended Catholic School my whole life, so I was never really exposed to different religions. It is a great experience being able to talk to someone about their religion and certain beliefs, especially with a Muslim. There seem to be so many stereotypes revolving around individuals of his religion, and it is only my wish that people would work to become more educated about the religion and more acquainted with the people who follow Islam.
             Before we left, Nasrallah invited me to a dance that was going on later that night in the BLUU ballroom. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend because of a Club meeting and Intramural game, but it was neat to see that Nasrallah really does enjoy his time spent with me and that he wants to hangout even outside of the conversation period. Nasrallah always thanks me for meeting with him, which is incredibly special considering I am the person who should be thanking him.    

Conversation #3

Setting up a time for our third meeting proved to be a difficult task. After multiple failed attempts and a few days of cancellation because of the ‘2015 Icepocalypse’, Nasrallah and I were finally able to meet after about 3 weeks of not seeing each other. After a little bit of catching up, I decided to gear this third conversation towards Nasrallah’s athletic and academic interests.
             When I asked what sports he likes, Nasrallah replied “My favorite sport to watch is futbol but I don’t like to play it”. Confused, I asked why he loves to watch the games but avoids participating. He then told me that when he was younger he broke his leg during a match. Ouch... I now understood. Nas then went on for a few minutes about how he doesn't understand Americans because we are the only people that call the sport soccer. I was completely amused by his animation towards this topic and agreed with his assertions. I then asked him if he attended any of the TCU football games in the fall.  Nasrallah responded with a “yes”, but then went on to tell me that he doesn’t really understand the game. He does not know any of the rules of American football and was confused the majority of the time. However, he loved the school’s spirit towards the football team and the overall atmosphere within the stadium. He plans on attending all of the homes games next fall. Finally, I asked Nasrallah if he was interested in any other sports. During his free time, Nasrallah enjoys playing billiards, swimming and bowling with his friends. He also conveyed his intent on playing basketball more often so that he can learn the game better and become better. After questioning him for a while, Nasrallah turned the questions towards me and asked me about my specific interests. I told him that I love playing pretty much every sport but my favorite was definitely soccer. Then, we made a plan to go to the recreation center sometime so I could help him learn how to play basketball.
             Academically, Nasrallah’s main focuses revolve around chemistry and space. His dream job would be with NASA, but for now he plans on finding a job that is hospital-related or similar to his previous job. Before coming to America, Nasrallah worked in Saudi Arabia for an American-based company, Baker Hughes. In Saudi Arabia, Nasrallah was an electrical and radioactive technician for just over a year. Baker Hughes is an oil drilling and manufacturing company and, interestingly enough, is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Nasrallah says that he would work for them again, if that’s what he ends up doing upon graduation from TCU. He has been in the intensive English program at TCU for 1.5 years now. He is also taking a Math course through the program and has another 3.5 years left before completion. Just like earlier, Nasrallah asked me questions pertaining to my specific academic interests.
             Through these first three meetings, I truly feel like Nasrallah and I are becoming real friends, not just people who meet for a class. In fact, we have had multiple encounters with each other just walking around campus and always greet one another and talk for a few minutes. I am learning more and more about Nasrallah and his interests each meeting and enjoying this assignment even more than I previously thought.



Conversation #2

             Nasrallah and I met for our second time one week after our original discussion. Our schedules only made way for about 30 minutes to talk so we decided to just grab a drink and hang out around Union Grounds. We both inquired about how each other’s weeks were going and what our plans were for the following week. After a few minutes of this introduction-type talk, I decided to gear the conversation towards Nasrallah’s family so that I could get to know some of his background better.
             Nasrallah is one of six children. He has two brothers and three sisters. Unfortunately, Nas also had a twin-brother that passed away in a car accident when he was just 12 years-old. I expressed my grievance towards Nasrallah and said I was extremely sorry to hear that.  He kind of shrugged it off and responded with a “Its life” comment. I was originally surprised by this acceptance attitude but that just shows his amazing strength in dealing with such a heartbreaking incident. As he continued to describe his family, he told me that there was something unique about a lot of families in Saudi Arabia. After a follow up question, Nasrallah told me that he has a couple dozen half-siblings. His Dad has multiple wives and even a few who he has divorced from. Obviously I was extremely intrigued about this and wanted to learn more about his culture and religion. However, I decided I would gear a future conversation towards these topics.
             One of the things I found most interesting during this second conversation was that Nasrallah is the first of his siblings to study in the United States. Thus, I asked him what brought him to the United States, and more specifically Texas, to attend school. Nas responded that his father had surgery about ten years ago and was brought to a hospital in Houston for a month or so. He did not make the trip overseas, however three of his siblings did. After hearing about their time in the states, Nasrallah knew that he wanted to come study here one day. Nas then told me that one of his cousins attended Texas Wesleyan University, which is nearby TCU. His cousin advised him to not attend Wesleyan, but instead persuaded him to look into Texas Christian University. He never visited TCU but decided to apply and, upon acceptance, enrolled in the University’s intensive English program.
             Because of the time crunch, Nasrallah and I ended our conversation there, but planned on meeting the following week. 

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Unrestrained Laughter: Incongruity

For Halloween this past year, Joe Hartshorn invited me and a couple of our girl friends to go trick-or-treating with his younger siblings. If you don’t know already, Joe’s youngest sisters are absolutely adorable so it was an obvious decision that we were going to drive to Frisco. After an awesome time going around with his family and helping sort all of the kids’ candy, my 3 friends and I decided to go on a walk and have conversations amongst each other. About 5 minutes in, we stumbled upon a park. Our inner 5-year-old selves ran over to the swings and were monkeying around on the playground equipment. As we were leaving, Joe attempted to jump over a teeter-totter but his foot caught the lip of the seat and he pancaked face-first into the mulch. My two other friends and I burst out into laughter. In fact, I even fell on the ground and was rolling around because I was laughing so hard. It was one of those things that you just watched in slow-motion and kept replaying it in your mind, each time producing unrestrained laughter.

The laughter in this incident is definitely an example of incongruous humor. We all expected Joe, because of his apparent ‘athleticism’, to successfully clear the obstacle. However, when the unexpected happened it caused us all to laugh. Because of this event, the rest of the night was full of jokes and laughter. The mishap not only affected us in the moment but for the remainder of the night. Moreover, I believe the event brought us closer together. Even though this event was so miniscule, and doesn’t even relate to friendship, the power of laughter is immense. Human beings are able to develop chemistry between each other in so many different ways and laughter is the quintessential way of doing so. To this day my 3 friends and I still reflect back on that moment, and the night as a whole, as one of the most memorable nights of first semester. Without this seemingly miniscule event, I would be unable to confidently say that.

Conversation #1: My new FRIEND

When I first heard about our assignment to meet with students within the extensive English program I was ecstatic. The fact that individuals travel from all over the world to receive an education and broaden their horizons, often times hoping to find a job in the states, fascinates me. I have always loved talking to international students and was confident this would be no different.

I first met Nasrallah inside the BLUU by union grounds. Immediately, I was amazed at his overall speaking capability. We experienced little difficulty in understanding each other with the only obstacle being his accent. We had planned on eating lunch in the email previously exchanged, so I offered to buy him Chick-Fil-A or swipe him into Market Square. To my absolute surprise, Nasrallah asked me if I wanted to go to “Maharaja”. Because I don’t leave campus much I had no idea where this was and was immediately taken back. I had just met Nasrallah and he already wanted to drive me to a restaurant!? I decided it wouldn’t hurt and agreed to eat there. I soon thought about how absolutely amazing it was that Nasrallah was willing to drive me to a restaurant without any previous encountering. This stuck out to me. I quickly noticed Nasrallah’s outstanding personality and his genuine appreciation for the opportunity to meet someone new. I was excited.

At lunch, Nasrallah and I carried out conversation like we were two childhood friends catching up after not seeing each other for a couple years. We asked each other the basics – hobbies, majors, hometowns, jobs, etc. In fact, Nasrallah stimulated much of the conversation. I especially liked this because it didn't make the conversation feel awkward. The last thing I wanted to come out of having a conversation partner was the feeling of being ‘forced’ to meet with each other. Instead, I wanted a natural feeling in which we are BOTH excited to meet and get to know each other on a more personal basis. Luckily, this is exactly how it feels. After lunch, Nasrallah drove me back to campus and made a plan to meet the following week.


Nasrallah and I were both excited to meet again and continue to develop a friendship.  

Learning Experience: Academics vs. Social

I was extraordinarily excited for college. Leaving home to experience a whole new state and dive head-first into a brand new community intrigued me. I could not wait to attend new classes and still be able to nap in the middle of the day. Furthermore, the new-found freedom college promises fascinated me. I couldn't wait.  Before I left my parents told me countless times to “start strong” and “manage your time well”.   I tend to be a fairly confident individual, thus I was convinced I would have absolutely no trouble immediately succeeding and successfully managing my time.

I was wrong.     
                            
I quickly discovered that although the academics aren't overly challenging yet, managing my academic and social obligations efficiently will be tough. The college workload didn't surprise me. It was not too overwhelming and I credit my high school in preparing me for this academic aspect. That being said, I knew this was my first semester and had heard numerous times from upperclassmen it was BY FAR the easiest year work-wise. It was imperative for me to take advantage of the opportunity and earn the highest grades I could. The combination of academics and social life was challenging though. In fact, extremely challenging. I’m a fairly social person and the first 2 months I didn't understand that sometimes I have to say no. My first couple grades came back and I was not satisfied in the least bit. I knew I needed to sacrifice some of my social time to concentrate more on academics. Luckily, I was able to recover and eventually discover the proper amount of time I needed to complete school work.

Managing time effectively may be the most valuable skill for college as it is absolutely imperative to succeed.  Further, it will be just as important moving on in my life as I enter the work-force. I will need to be able to govern my time efficiently so that I can complete tasks in a timely manner. Although I’m still not perfect, I can confidently say one of the most useful and valuable things I learned during my first semester in college was how to effectively balance my academic and social obligations

Unrestrained Laughter

When I attended my first few classes in the fall this year, the most common ice-breaker utilized was to name a fun-fact about yourself. Every time, I answered that I skied on the Vail Development team throughout high school. My love towards skiing and the mountains is definitely an enormous aspect of my life. Thus, the first thing I did when I got home for Christmas break was immediately drive up to the mountains and ski.

During the summer my dad bought a new pair of skis and this was going to be the first time he had used them. Both of my parents are great skiers, however, my dad tends to slow us down some so we were hoping the new skis would increase his speed and elevate his overall ability. The first day on the slopes is always a little rusty, but it obviously felt great to be back. Everyone was enjoying their day and my dad was beginning to get used to his new skis and ‘break’ them in. After a great day, we decided it was time to head home so that we would beat the traffic. On the last run, my dad was skiing over a little roller, caught an edge, and tumbled head over heels. Of course my mom was extremely worried because of his hard fall, but luckily my dad popped right back up and finished the run. After the somewhat scary crash, we definitely knew that was our last run of the day.

About 30 minutes into our drive home, my dad stated, in all seriousness, “I can definitely tell the difference of these skis compared to my old ones. They are so much wider and I can’t believe their stability”. Immediately my mother and I broke out into uncontrolled laughter. My dad had just had one of the worst falls he has ever taken and he was commenting about the stability of his skis!?! We couldn't control ourselves. Eventually we calmed down and respectfully responded to my dad’s statement.


This incident is definitely an example of the superiority theory of humor. In a sense, the laughing poked fun at my dad. My mom and I could easily tell that he was offended by our laughter and it bothered him. Looking back at it, I can understand why he may have been upset. My dad and I are both extremely competitive individuals and anything that denounces our athleticism or ability tends to bother us. If I was in my dad’s shoes, I am sure I would have been somewhat bothered by the uncontrollable laughter. Regardless, my dad’s comment after his fall is one of the funniest things I can recall from this year