{"id":700,"date":"2009-10-15T23:42:11","date_gmt":"2009-10-16T03:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/?p=700"},"modified":"2023-08-06T22:22:23","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T02:22:23","slug":"as-funny-as-a-brain-tumor-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/2009\/10\/as-funny-as-a-brain-tumor-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"As Funny as a Brain Tumor! Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the years, I have told this story hundreds of times.\u00a0 At restaurants, friend’s homes, camping trips and many other places. \u00a0 There have been a number of times where I start telling the story to one person and soon find myself surrounded by a number of people all tentatively listening. These attentive listeners will often interrupt me with eager questions that they just can’t hold in any longer: “How is that possible?”\u00a0 “What did you do?”\u00a0 “Why didn’t you go to the doctor?”\u00a0 “What did people think?” etc………<\/p>\n

People always seem captivated by the story and I hope that it will someday be on the discovery channel as one of those medical mystery shows.\u00a0 I’ve even had a number of people tell me that it could be a movie featuring Tom Hanks or Jim Carrey as Steve Neff.\u00a0 I’m not sure I can imagine that, but in the meantime,\u00a0 I thought I would share it here on the internet.<\/p>\n

I find the story quite entertaining to tell and it is all 100% true.\u00a0 My goal in sharing my story is to perhaps give comfort and hope to others who might be going through their own story. We all have our own stories with our own ups and downs, highs and lows, etc…… and in that we can hopefully all relate and know we are not alone in our struggles.<\/p>\n

I always struggle with how to best begin this story, so I guess I should just begin. Back in the early 90’s (1993-1995 time range) life was good. \u00a0I was feeling great about many aspects of my life.\u00a0 I was 26 years old and was playing the sax full time which had always been my dream and passion. \u00a0I had a girlfriend I was crazy about and a lot of friends. \u00a0I was working out and my health was good. I drove a cool silver Nissan 300ZX sports car and was feeling pretty good about my life. \u00a0I was involved in a great christian church in the Boston area and at the time, I felt like life was great!<\/p>\n

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1985 Nissan 300ZX-probably the absolute worst car to drive in snowy New England-But I looked cool……<\/strong><\/p>\n

During this stage of my life,\u00a0 I started noticing that I was laughing a lot.\u00a0 I know what you are thinking, “That’s good!\u00a0 You were happy. Life was good. Happy people laugh a lot!”.\u00a0 That is true, but this was a bit different. Have you ever met somebody who would laugh whenever they were uncomfortable or nervous? \u00a0Well, that was me. \u00a0It started out where I would laugh at odd moments like during a serious conversation or when someone else was upset. \u00a0I think the people around me would just write it off as “this guys a little strange.”<\/p>\n

As time went on,\u00a0 my laughing became even worse. \u00a0It was now becoming the kind of laughter where I felt like I couldn’t stop.\u00a0 My whole body would move up and down shaking and I would laugh hysterically so hard that I would fall off my chair if I was sitting down. \u00a0I was doing it all the time,\u00a0 many times a day. Let me give you a few real life examples just so you can understand.<\/p>\n

Every time I went to the bank and had to stand in line, I would start cracking up. \u00a0Just laughing and laughing while in line.\u00a0 Sometimes there would be other people in line and sometimes, I would just be standing there alone.\u00a0 Either way, it didn’t matter, I would be cracking up laughing.\u00a0 I would get up to the teller and she would ask me “What are you laughing at?”.\u00a0 I would say \u00a0“I don’t know” and just keep on laughing. Many times, this constant laughing I was doing would make other people laugh with me so it was kind of funny to see everyone at the bank laughing with me. The tellers at the bank actually named me the “Laughing Boy”. \u00a0They always seemed to get a big kick out of me when I visited…………<\/p>\n

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The bank line. Worst part of my day!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another situation, that happened all the time,\u00a0 is that I would burst out laughing during uncomfortable times in movies. One specific time, that I remember clearly, is when I went to see “Braveheart” in the theater with a bunch of my friends. \u00a0Do you remember that point where Mel Gibson’s wife gets her throat cut and dies……..well, I started hysterically laughing out loud.\u00a0 It was so bad,\u00a0 I had to leave the theater because I couldn’t hold it in.\u00a0 As I headed down the aisle laughing loudly during a traumatic scene, I couldn’t help but think that the people in the theater were probably thinking I was a nutcase or perhaps a closet serial killer…..\u00a0 I finally got control of myself outside and went back in. \u00a0Do you remember how “Braveheart” ends? (clue: FREEDOM!!! while Mel Gibson is disembowelled)…….Well, let’s just say I had to leave the theater again and my friends and everyone else there were wondering “What the heck is wrong with this guy?”<\/p>\n

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Mel Gibson making me laugh hysterically in Braveheart<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another experience that I remember, is that I would always lose it in elevators.\u00a0 I would be standing in an elevator by myself praying no one else would get on. The doors would open and a bunch of people would get on. \u00a0It would be really quiet and that nice elevator music would be playing. \u00a0Then, out of nowhere, I would start snickering and chuckling as I tried not to laugh. \u00a0The people would turn around and look at me and I would apologize. \u00a0They would turn back around and as soon as they did, I would start laughing again even louder while apologizing repeatedly.<\/p>\n

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Awkward elevator tension before I burst out laughing<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s interesting because some people would laugh with me even though they had no idea what I was laughing at. \u00a0Other people would get mad. \u00a0You could see it on their faces.\u00a0 They would start fidgeting and checking their clothes and zippers.\u00a0 Others would check their backside and shoes looking for the source of my amusement because they were afraid I was laughing at them.\u00a0 Most people would get off the elevator nodding their heads in bewilderment but others would glare at me like they were personally offended by my laughter.<\/p>\n

Any time I would have any kind of deep and meaningful conversation with my girlfriend at the time,\u00a0 I would always end up laughing uncontrollably sooner or later.\u00a0 If she was mad about something I would start laughing. \u00a0If she was concerned, I would start laughing.\u00a0 If she was sad, you guessed it, I would start laughing.\u00a0 I had no idea why I was laughing!\u00a0 Most of these times, there was nothing at all funny about what we were talking about, but nevertheless, all I could do was laugh. \u00a0Let me just say that this laughing thing did not prove to be a healthy building block for a strong and lasting relationship………..<\/p>\n

One time,\u00a0 I had a performance appraisal that was given to me by my very over-weight boss. (I started working as a manager in a convenient store in 1995)\u00a0 As we sat down in my small office and he started to talk about my performance over the last year, I started cracking up.\u00a0 It started out sparse, a giggle and a snicker here and there, but eventually, I exploded!\u00a0 I was laughing so hard I fell off my chair and couldn’t talk. \u00a0My boss started turning red and I could tell he was getting really angry! \u00a0I imagine that he thought I was laughing at him because he kept asking me “What are you laughing at?” “Are you laughing at me?”\u00a0 I would gasp “No” over and over in between the laughter as tears were running down my cheeks. \u00a0Although he gave me a great performance appraisal at the time because I was doing a great job, \u00a0I’m pretty sure that he thought I had some mental health issues troubling me after that encounter and that he would need to fire me sooner or later.<\/p>\n

Another time, at this same store, the president of the company came in to meet me as he toured all of his stores.\u00a0 He was a pretty serious guy as most millionaire CEO’s are.\u00a0 Let’s just say that I didn’t leave the best impression.\u00a0 We met each other in an aisle in the store where we shook hands and he introduced himself.\u00a0 He then proceeded to watch me laugh for what felt like five minutes straight.\u00a0 The boss who had given me the performance appraisal was also there and trying to do his best to cover for me but I’m pretty sure that that the owner of the company was wondering why the heck an idiot like me was managing one of his best stores. Luckily, at that time I had one of the best performing stores in the region so I think that helped me not to get immediately fired that day.<\/p>\n

One of the most painful memories to share was when I had to go to the funeral of my girlfriend’s father who had died unexpectedly. \u00a0I had just spent an afternoon with him a few weeks before and asked him for his blessing to ask his daughter to marry me. \u00a0 The funeral home was packed and I was sitting in the second row with my girlfriend and the family. \u00a0 Even though I felt very sad, that laughing feeling started rising out of my gut again. \u00a0“Oh, No”,\u00a0 I thought. \u00a0 All I wanted to do was be there to support my girlfriend during this painful loss of her father but here came the laughter. \u00a0As with all the stories above, I couldn’t control it!\u00a0 “What was wrong with me?”\u00a0 I had to leave the funeral home and walk out in front of everyone laughing out loud………. This again, was not a building block moment for this relationship………..<\/p>\n

Another memory I have,\u00a0 is of being in<\/span> a Sunday night church meeting and the m<\/span>inister<\/span> was talking about people “going to hell”. \u00a0I didn’t find anything particularly funny about this message of his but nevertheless, I started laughing hysterically. There was nothing subtle about it, I just burst out laughing and interrupting his lesson in a room full of about 50 people. Of course, this interruption caught the minister’s attention and <\/span>h<\/span>e asked me what was so funny as I continued to laugh. \u00a0I <\/span>couldn’t<\/span>\u00a0give him an acceptable answer for my outburst which seemed to make him quite frustrated and mad.<\/span><\/p>\n

H<\/span>e then proceeded to <\/span>change <\/span>his lesson from “people are going to hell”,\u00a0 <\/span>into<\/span>\u00a0“people going to hell is not a laughing matter”. \u00a0In this new revised lesson, he taught that if\u00a0<\/span>you think <\/span>people going to hell is<\/span> funny, \u00a0you should not be going to a church meeting about “people going to hell!”. \u00a0 I was still laughing hysterically as he made his revised points which of course made the minister even more angry. Finally, my continued laughter used up any of the patience he had left and he told me to get out. \u00a0I remember laughing the whole way to the door, out to my car and all the way home…….(Surprisingly, I <\/span>wasn’t invited back<\/span>\u00a0to those Sunday night church meeting after that)<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ll continue with the rest of this story next time. There’s much more to it, so check back later…………..Part 2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the years, I have told this story hundreds of times.\u00a0 At restaurants, friend’s homes, camping trips and many other places. \u00a0 There have been a number of times where I start telling the story to one person and soon find myself surrounded by a number of people all tentatively listening. These attentive listeners will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":34614,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[226],"tags":[1729,224,1999,1730,225,1732,1728,1731,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-700","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brain-tumor-story","8":"tag-brain-stem","9":"tag-brain-tumor","10":"tag-funny","11":"tag-hysterical","12":"tag-laughing","13":"tag-massachusetts","14":"tag-meningioma","15":"tag-mgh","16":"tag-steve-neff","17":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}