Randomness

My favorite weekly meme, the following questions are thrown out by Linda at Second Cup of Coffee every Wednesday.  It's great fun to read through all the different answers her questions generate!  Go check some out if you have a chance.

1. How good are you at delaying gratification? 
 It depends on what it is.  I can wait and patiently work toward a greater goal (like moving back to the Western Slope of Coloado); I can live with particle board flooring in my kitchen while we save up for hardwood; I can even hang onto a bottle of Guinness until Saturday night's movie with Dan, but if there's a Snickers in the cupboard or a chocolate chip on the counter...  Well, forget it.

2. Maybe a marshmallow wouldn't be too difficult a temptation for you. What food (or anything else) would be most tempting?
Um, chocolate.  Definitely. Or coffee.  Or -- the combination of the two: mocha.

3. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being saintly) how patient are you?
  Oh, my word.  I started out in this life being about a 2.  And I occasionally slip back to a 2.  But, for the most part, on any given day (when I'm neither pregnant, nor dieting, nor  suffering the results of insomnia) I'm about a 3.

4. Have you ever waited for something in life only to be disappointed upon realization of the goal/object/etc.?
I'm racking (wracking?) my brains to think of an example of when this would have been true for me, but can't think of a thing.  Any time I haven't reached a long-sought goal, I've been well satisfied with the substitution.  For instance:  After 3 1/2 years of college, I wound up short of graduating by less than 20 credits -- but I got Dan instead of a diploma.  I waited through my whole childhood, looking forward to being an adult; and here I am, forty-five years old, getting wrinkles and grey hair, and somewhere along the line, I missed that magical adulthood distinction.  I have no more confidence and security now than I did when I was sixteen years old.  But it's all good; I got a houseful of kids and license to play instead.

5. Are you a person who takes shortcuts?
Evry chnce I get.

6. Which line is hardest to wait in?
It just kills me to be stuck in the long line of cars coming down from the mountains on any ski weekend afternoon.  You can't help but feel trapped; I-70 really is the only way down from the places we tend to go, and there is just no speeding up the trip, even though there is rarely any obvious reason for everyone to be going so slow.  35 mph is a good day, and if there's an accident, the highway is just a parking lot.  You  wouldn't wonder if some folks took the skis off their ski racks and skiied along the highway to get home.

7. Did you wait to discover the gender of your unborn child until its birth?
We did with our first child, Paul, who was a boy.  Then, when our second pregnancy was twins, the docs were in there looking around so much, it was impossible to keep a secret that they were little boys.  I think we went ahead and took a peek with numbers 3 and 4 (both boys), but our OB with #5 refused to tell us -- him and his Irish humor!  Number 5 turned out to be our first little girl and (Thank-you, Dr. Delaney)  it was a lovely surprise.  For the next five, we chose to know, the surprise being less appealing than the chance to dig out the right gender bins of baby clothes ahead of time.

8. Are you more patient with children or the elderly?
Well, let me qualify first of all, that, to  be perfectly honest, I'm more patient with other people's children than with my own.  But, I have never felt impatient toward the elderly.

9. Did you ever sneak a peek at a present? 
Never. God is looking, you know.  I admit I'm impatient, but I'm not dishonest.

10. What is the longest you've ever waited for anything?
It took us almost three years of sweat and work, to try  to sell the farm so we could move to the Western Slope --  And we made the move, thinking the property had sold, but it hadn't.  We're still trying to sell the farm.  We're still waiting.

11. Who has more patience, you or your significant other?
Oh, no question about it.  This is a no-brainer for anyone who knows us.  Dan is definitely more patient.  Thank God. 

12. Which of the following songs about waiting is your pick for the best? (OK, you may substitute another, if you like.)
A) Anticipation by Carly Simon
B) The Waiting by Tom Petty
C) Right Here Waiting for You by Richard Marx
D) Wait for Me by Rebecca St. James

My substitution -- and one of my theme songs -- because I tend to do things quickly, and some of the dear people I'm around most of the time -- don't.  Bless their pokey little hearts.

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

Jack Johnson | MySpace Music Videos


Here's the famous video of this song that I couldn't paste due to copyrights or something; it's a lot of fun and worth a look if you haven't seen it.  Jack Johnson references it at the beginning of this clip.