Chapter 5: Humor and Sichuan Gourmet
The next day, I met up with some of my other best friends Alex Russo, Justin Evans, Max Greenwald, and Carly Shay, as well as Carly's parents, Sam and Freddie, at the Carnegie Library in Squirrel Hill for a discussion group on humor. "Hi, guys!" I greeted my friends. "Hi, Angel!" Alex greeted back. "I need to talk to you about my personal behaviors towards my mom, such as teasing her and saying inappropriate things to her that I think are funny," I told my friends. "I remember that when my parents first got married, they shared some unfunny jokes that I did not understand or think were funny," Carly explained. "For example, if you cut up a pizza with 8 slices in 2 different ways, then you still get the same number of pizza slices. Heck, even a preschooler wouldn't understand the joke!" "We didn't mean to make such inappropriate jokes like that, Carly," Mrs. Shay pointed out. "We just wanted to see if you liked the same kind of jokes that other kids your age liked at the time," Mr. Benson agreed. "Even today's movies and TV shows are not as funny as they used to be," Alex agreed. "It's not that I don't love the live-action Disney movies, but how did they decide to do them?" "Well, because those types of movies are cheaper to make, Alex," Justin agreed. "Yes, and it would cost a lot of money to make an animated movie," Max agreed. "I hate to tell you this, Angel, but you are not very funny most of the time, either," Alex told me. "Why do you say that, Alex?" I asked. "Because you say the same things over and over again, you bring up inappropriate jokes at inappropriate times, you talk too loud, and you talk about things like sausage parties and South Park even when we tell you to stop," Alex informed me. After our discussion group on humor was over, we went to Sichuan Gourmet to get Chinese food for dinner. "Why did I not attend so many gourmet oriental restaurants like this back in high school?" Alex asked. "Maybe, because you weren't as wealthy as you were now," Max pointed out. "Besides, studying for your SATs was way more important, especially during your junior year of high school," Justin added. We then ordered our meals to eat. I ordered green bean stir-fry with juice, Carly ordered chicken lo mein, Mrs. Shay ordered pork lo mein, Mr. Benson ordered a fish fillet meal, Alex ordered a steamed chicken with broccoli meal, Justin ordered General Tso's chicken with fried rice, and Max ordered stewed chicken with mushrooms. I even shared leftover desserts from Abigail's birthday party with my friends. I split a whole key lime pie with Carly, and then I gave Alex some oatmeal and oatmeal raisin cookies, Mrs. Shay some chocolate cake, Mr. Benson a chocolate cupcake, Justin some chocolate sprinkle doughnuts, and Max some eclairs, while I saved some of the ice cream for myself. After we paid our checks for dinner, Carly and her parents drove me back to my mom's apartment in Highland Park. "Thanks for a great evening, everyone!" I thanked my friends. "You're welcome, Angel," Carly replied. "Bye, guys!" "Bye!"