I don't know what I'd do without your goofy asses.

[Wait Wut]

I couldn't escape the 'news' and FB comments this morning. I felt myself sinking lower and lower into something beyond sadness and moving frightening close to apathy.

So I came here. You people are nuts and I love you. Let others whine about the 'cliquishness' and 'arrogance' of The Lounge. They obviously don't get it.

[Grantuspeace]

1. The lounge is a great escape.

The intellectual level is way higher than Facebook.

[lunatica]

2. I was afraid that SCE wouldn't post his Sunday LOLcats because of grief

But he did and ended it with a very classy tribute to a beautiful little angel. I really needed the Sunday Lolcats today!

[Baitball Blogger]

3. Everybody deals with stress in their own way.

I think many of us in the Lounge have learned to deal with it by escaping into a part of our brain that takes us as far away from sadness as we can possibly go. Maybe there's a bit of denial going on, but what else can you do when you are helpless to do anything else. At least, that's how it works for me.

I try to respond to every newbie that comes into the Lounge. I even look for posters who have not received a response. But as much as it appears otherwise, I'm not here 24/7. It doesn't help when some of our more prolific writers get removed.

[LiberalEsto]

4. I go to the Lounge thinking, "Life sucks. Please make me laugh."

and the Lounge has never failed me yet.

[pipi_k]

5. I've heard many times

that the biggest "clowns" are often carrying around the most pain in their hearts and souls.

My way of dealing with it is to either clam up and go silent, or go into self defense mode with humor.

If we were to not laugh every time something tragic happened in the world, then we would never laugh again.

Sometimes we need to get away from the heartbreak...and I agree...the goofiness here in the lounge is a good place to come for relief.