In honor of the start of the first day of my online class, Design Your Life (and yes, registration will remain open until the 8th of October), I feel it’s time to get back to more of the completely pointless things that I pride myself on writing about, such as:
CK Media has its own photo studio in Utah, and we have a great team of photographers in house. I work with these talented people via long distance, much of the time. They’ll shoot something for the magazine, and then they’ll use Apple’s iChat to show me what the shots look like to get my approval on key images.
The following conversation snippet came after I was reviewing a layout shot for our Focus on Photos column slated for our January/February issue, and it involved propping the layout with a red playground ball. The ball was bigger than the actual layout, and I knew I was going to have to do a little photoshop work to shrink it down.
And I will just say up front: balls are funny when you let your inner 6th grade boy control your reactions. Without further adieu, I present my iChat with the CK Media photo studio’s lead photographer, Brian:
Hmmm. I wonder if that’s a compliment to my significant other, or not? I can’t imagine anyone NOT thinking the term "manageable balls" would be anything BUT a compliment. Then again, I wouldn’t exactly call myself a ball expert.
Oh well! Happy first day of my online class! Check back frequently here for the kind of borderline inappropriate content you’ve come to depend on from me.
Susy says
LOl, even the most innocent converstaions can come out totally the wrong way. Luckily I have four sons and am no stranger to either crass humour or balls,lol.
Laurie says
So happy to be starting your class today! 🙂
Thanks for taking the plunge – I think you’re a dynamic and fun teacher, Cathy.
Gab says
I’m very glad I”m doing your class!
alexara says
Gosh, what a lot of lovely possibilities there are with this word! Glad you’ve got the ball rolling (Design your Life!), and I’ve already downloaded all the files, watched the video and am pondering my photos – just love it so far, especially your dry and self-deprecating wit. And your passion and energy. It’s just all so …. gutsy and – well, for the want of a better word – ballsy. 🙂 alexara
kreativekate says
You are a breath of fresh air in the blogosphere… I have 4 brothers, two of my children are boys, and I have a husband. There are a lot of ball jokes around here. Rock on, Cathy, and I will help you bring back inappropriate! See you in class.
Melanie says
She’s baaaaaack! WooHoo! You always make me laugh!
Nathalie (famille1999) says
When are you getting your stand-up act? You are too funny! Can’t wait to see what you have in store for your students! 🙂
Heather says
Love to know that other people have revert back to 6th grade occasionally too! Love to check your blog in the morning as I drink my coffee — always makes me smile!
Tamara says
he he he – sounds like a conversation I had at work about a month ago…
You are seriously my kinda gal!
Lisa H says
I live in a world of balls (3 boys, husband, 2 male dogs and so on)so I am no stranger to ball humor.
Thanks for the laugh! And so excited that your class started today!
sue Treiber says
Oh nuts!
I thought that may be the new catchline on your header.
Lana says
reminds me of schwetty balls.
Sorry, there’s no way you can have a conversation in depth about any sort of balls, and not do the 6th boy chuckle.
Happy Thursday!
jany says
So, how valuable do you feel like Design Your Life will be for someone who’s read both your books a couple of times, and has almost all your SS articles memorized? 🙂 Just trying to justify the 100bucks… just graduated… just had to get a new computer… Mac, of course…oh, and just gotta explain it to my husband, too. 🙂
Michele says
I like playground balls….:P
rofl
I am so excited that DYL starts today! Yay!
Brigid G says
So funny! Thanks for making me laugh out loud!
Jill S. says
I was going to put LMAO, but it depresses me every time I type it when I check out my a** and it’s still the same size.
Holly Denghel says
Hey, that humor is right up my alley. I was snickering as I read it. 🙂
Susan D. says
i get a laugh every time my dd (4) compliments on how big the balls are outside of target. “Target has big balls! Do you know why their balls are so big?”
Cyndi says
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW I got an email from Cathy Z, yes Cathy Z in MY,li’lle ole me, mailbox. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
jenn b says
You always make me laugh, Cathy!
I am breathing and I can’t wait to get caught up on my class stuff. It will happen and reading your blog and letting loose will definitely help.
thanks!
Megan says
I am sooo used to that conversation. The other day my husband told me he didn’t have any balls. I wanted him to show me. He told me he was talking about game balls. (He’s a baseball coach.)
oops.
Christina says
2 things:
1) So ready for work to be over so I can go home and work on your class!
2)We have many conversations like this at home…Lovin it!
Karen M. says
Thank you, thank you – for political incorrectness, for inappropriateness, for off the cuff remarks and displaying the human side of life! The rest of the world is becoming increasingly homogenized and boring because we are so afraid of hurting someone’s feelings! What happened to being tough, developing character?
Ok, enough rant – yeah first day of class!
Krissy says
I was reading your post about your friend Mary and how you had made a book from her blog to present to her family. I’m wanting to do a similar thing for the family of someone who just passed away from Melanoma. (Her story sounds very similar to Mary’s) I didn’t know her, but I knew her husband from school. She left behind 2 adopted children who are hearing-impaired. She kept a blog during her last year as she struggled through discovery of the recurrence of cancer after having been cancer-free for 11 years, radiation and chemo treatments, several major surgeries and eventually learning that her condition was terminal. I would want to make several copies of the book, and am wondering how you made yours. I have seen photo books on Shutterfly and also a service by blurb.com, but was wanting to go for more of a hand-made feel. What would you recommend?
Jenna says
3 boys here – I totally get the humor.
Michelle says
From a woman that will always laugh at 6th grade humor I say thanks for the morning Ha Ha!
Michelle says
and right there was the gut busting laugh that I needed today.
kim strother says
This made me laugh out loud! Good way to start the day…that and DYL class. So excited we are finally starting!!
young c-m says
LOL, thanks for sharing – very funny! =)
cindy b says
LOL! You must watch Alec Baldwin on SNL for his ‘sweaty balls’ routine…love it!
ps. Totally excited about class today!!!
kfs says
Oh Cathy, hon, I was basically drummed of the Board of our Elementary PTO after a discussion of playground balls “Does Mrs. S___ have her balls yet? … yes, but she likes bigger balls and these balls were too small for her needs. She plays with balls a lot and she really needs them BIGGER. The little ones are hard to handle and get lost …” denigrated into a fit of giggles between myself and the Board secretary while the rest soldiered bravely on.
Good times …
Stephanie T. says
…too funny!
now go take a look at this on YouTube (a classic!),
SNL, Schweaty Balls with Alec Baldwin
…i’ve watched this a thousand times, laughing until my sides hurt
Kathy P. says
😉 Refreshing after all of the seriousness of the news of late.
Brian Smith says
Ha ha ha… sweeeet!
Lisa says
Just one ball?
kass says
um, you know it HURTS to laugh so much right now!
You are a winner.
Jo S from Australia says
LOL – definitely one I can relate to, with 3 (sometimes 4) boys in my house! Tuning into your blog often starts off my day.
YAY for DYL starting – I’ve watched, laughed, taken a breath, and downloaded. Now for the weekend and time to SCRAP!!
christine says
Woman, you owe me a new keyboard. I spit water all over mine after seeing that. Thanks for getting back to basics and bringing double entendre back (yeah).
JoLynn says
Hysterical. Thank goodness it wasn’t a blue ball.
heather says
What is this, Ball Humor day? Did I miss this when I looked at that same calendar that tells you talk like a Pirate day is Sept 19? I went with some friends to a pub around here after chaperoning a field trip. They serve an appetizer called Rover’s Nuts. Shaped as, you guessed it, balls (you can see a picture of them on their website: irishroverpub.com/). Oh my the comments coming from our waitress!
Hoping your class goes great! Would’ve loved to take it, but financially, it just wasn’t the right time.
Nancy C. says
This reminded me of a conversation I had when I worked as an Educational Consultant with Apple in the late 80’s and early 90’s. I got a call from one of my schools who reported to me that all of their mouse balls were missing. It took me a second or two before I realized what we were talking about! The kids had figured out how to remove the balls from the old style mice, so I had to order them a ton of mouse balls. One of the funniest conversations I can remember having!
elizabeth Rosemond says
wow! day 1 of class and borderline inappropriate banter?? i am truly, truly blessed 🙂
Dawn Priestley says
Oh God – you make me laugh some days! Love the way your mind works. Lovin’ your DYL class so far, looking forward to more! Cheers.
– Dawn, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada
DawnS says
LOL…really! My kids are looking at me like I’m, well…nuts! Thanks for the laugh Cathy Z! -DawnS
Kia Gregory says
Cathy, most of you ladies in the scrap world seem so prim, proper and rated G and it is a breath of fresh air to see that you too laugh at big balls.
Lawrenbc says
That’s too funny Cathy — I met Brian at CPR in San Jose and he also tends towards borderline inappropriateness (I mean that in a good way, of course!). You guys are a bunch of comedians.
Tammy M. says
LOL!! Looking so forward to class…see you there!
JoEllyn says
That’s so funny!! We fish with downriggers up here in “danorth” for trout occasionally and we have to use 8 or 6 lb balls…you can imagine the jokes from tat–all complete with the northern mn accent…good times…good times…