{"id":2668,"date":"2015-11-29T10:49:04","date_gmt":"2015-11-29T15:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bennesvig.apps-1and1.com\/?p=2668"},"modified":"2023-05-14T22:21:20","modified_gmt":"2023-05-15T03:21:20","slug":"definition-comedy-learned-vacation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/definition-comedy-learned-vacation\/","title":{"rendered":"A Definition of Comedy (and things I learned on vacation)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The wife and I recently went all out for a vacation. The problem is that I&#8217;m a maximizer ( which I learned from <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1Oo5KOk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>The Paradox of Choice<\/em><\/a>). If I care about something, I want to have the best version possible.\u00a0When it comes to the car I drive, the clothes I wear, and the razor I shave with&#8211;I don&#8217;t care about the quality as long as they work. But when it comes to computers, morning espresso, and vacations&#8211;I want the best possible experience.<\/p>\n<p>And this is where a definition of humor can be found. Ben plans big. Books a trip to Oahu. Sees the unreal scenery on Instagram and gets a head full of fantasies. There is the dream. Then comes the\u00a0reality. Comedy comes from the contrast between expectations and reality. This is shown in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=83XIo__j4TM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">vacation video below<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/83XIo__j4TM?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Even though it rained almost all day for 6 of the 7 days we were in Oahu, it was still a fun trip.<\/p>\n<h3>Lessons learned from the Oahu vacation.<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.airbnb.com\/c\/benn24?s=8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Airbnb<\/a> can be a great experience. It was our first time using it. I wanted an experience that would be more interesting than a hotel (not hard to top).<\/li>\n<li>There is a reason flights are much cheaper a certain time of year (it might be rainy season)<\/li>\n<li>Lack of self-awareness is most evident on airplanes. The touch screen on the back of my wife&#8217;s seat was a &#8220;poke screen&#8221; for the elderly woman behind her. On the flight back, a man in the row in front of me had the worst body odor I&#8217;ve ever encountered. Shortly into the flight, I couldn&#8217;t tell if the woman next to him was asleep or passed out from the rancid fumes.<\/li>\n<li>You can buy a window seat on an airplane that doesn&#8217;t actually have a window (definition of a first world problem).<br \/>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 658px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-version=\"6\">\n<div style=\"padding: 8px;\">\n<div style=\"background: #F8F8F8; line-height: 0; margin-top: 40px; padding: 50.0% 0; text-align: center; width: 100%;\"><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 8px 0 0 0; padding: 0 4px;\"><a style=\"color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/-L7VX5odmI\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Enjoying the view from my WINDOW SEAT. #blessed #windowseatlife<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;\">A photo posted by Ben Nesvig (@bennesvig) on <time style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;\" datetime=\"2015-11-17T12:43:34+00:00\">Nov 17, 2015 at 4:43am PST<\/time><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\" async=\"\" defer=\"defer\"><\/script>\n<\/li>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<li>Hawaii has acai bowls. Minnesota does not. Acai bowls are amazing.<\/li>\n<li>Relaxing on the beach is nice and all, but you should do one thing on every vacation that makes you a little nervous. Hiking the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.yelp.com\/biz\/olomana-hike-kailua\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first peak of Olomana<\/a> was slightly terrifying. (Also, don&#8217;t Google [name of the trail + deaths] before going on a hike.)<\/li>\n<li>Fun and happiness are different. Hiking Olomana was brutal and awful in the moment, but one thing I&#8217;m happy that we did. It can be helpful to ask yourself &#8220;In a year, will I be happy that I did X?&#8221; If I had done that while at the top of Olomana, I would have put aside my fear of heights and put together my drone for what would have been the best video of the trip (assuming I didn&#8217;t lose the drone).<br \/>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 658px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);\" data-instgrm-version=\"6\">\n<div style=\"padding: 8px;\">\n<div style=\"background: #F8F8F8; line-height: 0; margin-top: 40px; padding: 28.125% 0; text-align: center; width: 100%;\"><\/div>\n<p><a style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/-T_Xabodj5\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A video posted by Ben Nesvig (@bennesvig)<\/a> on <time style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;\" datetime=\"2015-11-20T15:52:44+00:00\">Nov 20, 2015 at 7:52am PST<\/time>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\" async=\"\" defer=\"defer\"><\/script><\/li>\n<li>Apple bananas taste way better than regular bananas.<\/li>\n<li>Rain or shine, Hawaii is more fun than Minnesota (ok, I already knew that).<\/li>\n<p>&nbsp;\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The wife and I recently went all out for a vacation. The problem is that I&#8217;m a maximizer ( which I learned from The Paradox of Choice). If I care about something, I want to have the best version possible.\u00a0When it comes to the car I drive, the clothes I wear, and the razor I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[51,52,53],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Definition of Comedy (and things I learned on vacation)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The wife and I went big for a vacation. We booked a trip to Oahu and got a head full of fantasies. Then came the reality. This is what we learned.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/definition-comedy-learned-vacation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Definition of Comedy (and things I learned on vacation)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The wife and I went big for a vacation. We booked a trip to Oahu and got a head full of fantasies. Then came the reality. This is what we learned.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/definition-comedy-learned-vacation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ben Nesvig\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"BenNesvig\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-29T15:49:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-15T03:21:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/bens-blog.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"144\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"144\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ben\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@BenNesvig\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bennesvig\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ben\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/definition-comedy-learned-vacation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/definition-comedy-learned-vacation\/\",\"name\":\"A Definition of Comedy (and things I learned on vacation)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-29T15:49:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-15T03:21:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/#\/schema\/person\/630774e1b0fa7bb70c29fc853cf777b9\"},\"description\":\"The wife and I went big for a vacation. We booked a trip to Oahu and got a head full of fantasies. Then came the reality. This is what we learned.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/definition-comedy-learned-vacation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/definition-comedy-learned-vacation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/definition-comedy-learned-vacation\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Definition of Comedy (and things I learned on vacation)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/\",\"name\":\"Ben Nesvig\",\"description\":\"The home of Ben Nesvig&#039;s Daily Musings.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/#\/schema\/person\/630774e1b0fa7bb70c29fc853cf777b9\",\"name\":\"Ben\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b05a21cf77da471045239625b8602d4?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b05a21cf77da471045239625b8602d4?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ben\"},\"description\":\"Ben Nesvig is an author, writer, idea spreader, and creative dabbler.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/bennesvig.com\",\"BenNesvig\",\"in\/bennesvig\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BenNesvig\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/author\/Ben\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Definition of Comedy (and things I learned on vacation)","description":"The wife and I went big for a vacation. We booked a trip to Oahu and got a head full of fantasies. Then came the reality. This is what we learned.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/definition-comedy-learned-vacation\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Definition of Comedy (and things I learned on vacation)","og_description":"The wife and I went big for a vacation. We booked a trip to Oahu and got a head full of fantasies. Then came the reality. This is what we learned.","og_url":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/definition-comedy-learned-vacation\/","og_site_name":"Ben Nesvig","article_author":"BenNesvig","article_published_time":"2015-11-29T15:49:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-15T03:21:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":144,"height":144,"url":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/bens-blog.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Ben","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@BenNesvig","twitter_site":"@bennesvig","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ben","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/definition-comedy-learned-vacation\/","url":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/definition-comedy-learned-vacation\/","name":"A Definition of Comedy (and things I learned on vacation)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-11-29T15:49:04+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-15T03:21:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/#\/schema\/person\/630774e1b0fa7bb70c29fc853cf777b9"},"description":"The wife and I went big for a vacation. We booked a trip to Oahu and got a head full of fantasies. Then came the reality. This is what we learned.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/definition-comedy-learned-vacation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/definition-comedy-learned-vacation\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/definition-comedy-learned-vacation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Definition of Comedy (and things I learned on vacation)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/","name":"Ben Nesvig","description":"The home of Ben Nesvig&#039;s Daily Musings.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/#\/schema\/person\/630774e1b0fa7bb70c29fc853cf777b9","name":"Ben","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b05a21cf77da471045239625b8602d4?s=96&d=retro&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b05a21cf77da471045239625b8602d4?s=96&d=retro&r=g","caption":"Ben"},"description":"Ben Nesvig is an author, writer, idea spreader, and creative dabbler.","sameAs":["http:\/\/bennesvig.com","BenNesvig","in\/bennesvig","https:\/\/twitter.com\/BenNesvig"],"url":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/author\/Ben\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paW5lA-H2","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2668"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2668"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2787,"href":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2668\/revisions\/2787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bennesvig.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}