Today must be a day to reflect. I sat down and read yesteday's Seattle PI, the Life and Arts section, while I ate lunch. There was an interview of Augusten Burroughs, who wrote the book Running with Scissors. He's on the road promoting his new book, Possible Side Effects, a collection of personal essays.

Running with Scissors was the other influencing factor for writing a class paper on the effect of using humor to overcome abuse. I read Burroughs book in three hours. I gobbled it up. It was one of the most difficult, ironic and dark books I've ever read, and it's something I ponder at the oddest moments. I haven't had to live through anything proximal to his experiences. Any challenges I've faced are a spring day in the park. Even if there is only a kernel of truth to his work (there's been debate about this, but he maintains his work is authentic and factual), around which he spun his personal tale, he deserves a pat on the back for making it to adulthood and being a functional person.

As you read Running with Scissors, there are times you can't help but laugh. And if you're like me, you feel bad for laughing-- the painful experiences Burroughs went through aren't jokes. But the humor-- that carried him through, I think. Some things are so weird, so incredibly painful you just have to laugh, or you'll implode. He chose to laugh.