Expectations vs. Reality

It's never what you think it is. I decree that there are four categories to this. Sometimes it's frustrating, sometimes it's happy, sometimes it's sad, and sometimes it's downright hilarious.

The first one is frustrating. This expectation vs. reality leaves you disappointed, sometimes mad, and occasionally wanting to punch someone. Like when I was waiting at a stop sign to turn right. There was a car coming from my left, and I was waiting for it when it put on it's turn signal to turn right. Expectation: this car is going to make a right turn into the street I'm coming out of, and not go past me. It's okay to go. Reality: the car was actually making a right turn into the driveway just barely past the intersection. Result: I pulled out in front of them, the lady honked and waved her fist at me. And to make matters worse, my truck was in slush and I wasn't in four wheel drive so my tires spun out and everyone in a two block radius thinks I'm a bad driver. Not like that's anything new.

The second one is happy. This expectation vs. reality brings me joy. This is the expectation where you're going to fail a test and you get an A. The expectation where you try to cook something edible and it's delicious. The one where you think you won't be able to sleep and you sleep like a rock. Where you forget to do your homework and the teacher extends the date. The result of these situations are always the same: the feeling of happiness and joy and feeling like you're cooler than Batman.

The third one is sadness. This expectation vs. reality is practically the polar opposite of the happy category. You think you're going to ace a test and you utterly fail it. Your cooking burns and your roommates declare it a health violation. You are so tired and you toss and turn and don't sleep until right before your stupid alarm goes off. You go to class and everyone is turning in their homework and you never knew you had an assignment in the first place. The result of these scenarios can be described as lonely, sad, depressing, and you know how much of a failure you really are.

The fourth category of expectations vs. realities is my favorite. The ones that turn out to be downright hilarious. I have many examples for these. The most recent one is when I went sledding down Old Main in the dark last night. I was standing at the top of the hill looking down the hill at the sled tracks that other people had made. Expectation: this is gonna be awesome. Reality: someone had built a little sled jump on the track and I didn't see it till I was almost to it and as I couldn't steer away, I hit it, my sled went into the air (with me on it) and I almost didn't make the landing because I was laughing so hard. Another sledding expectation vs. reality that turned out really funny was when I noticed sled tracks on the stairs and decided I would have a go sledding down the stairs. Expectation: this is gonna hurt. Reality: it really did hurt but it was SO FUNNY sledding down stairs and then watching my roommate do it. I laughed so hard I almost cried.

So in conclusion, expectations sometimes exceed realities. Realities sometimes exceed expectations. Sometimes you wish you had a video camera. Other times you wish it had never happened.

But I expect it's all part of life.

Fun vs. Practicality

It has come to my attention the fact that things that are "fun" and the things that are "practical" rarely fall into the same category.

It started out when I was talking to my lovely mother about how I'll be doing two days of driving this weekend for one day at home. My mom pointed out how it was not practical.... and I retorted that if she was going to always be practical, she'd never have any fun.

First let me apologize to Mom for being a smart aleck, but second let me point out how true it is. Just think about the funnest moments in your life. And stop correcting my grammar, I know "funnest" isn't a word but I like it better than "most fun".

For example, the other night a friend and I were playing Catch the Chocolate Chip, you know, chucking chocolate chips at each other from across the room and trying to catch them in our mouths. There are many different versions of this game, like Catch the Cheerios or Catch the Goldfish. Or Catch the Pebble, but that's usually a game between two people when only one person, the person throwing the rock, knows what you're both playing.

Anyway, we were having fun, but it wasn't practical because chocolate chips are expensive and would be better used for their intended purpose, like baking. I guess their final intended purpose is being eaten, but they're more cost effective if you use them for baking first.

And then my roommate handed my Catch the Chocolate Chip pal a potato. And as he had run out of chocolate chips (I think), he pretended to throw me the potato. And as I put my hands up to catch the potato, he actually threw it. Thus started the game of Hot Potato. We started throwing it to a third person, then a fourth, then a fifth, and then we had five college kids playing Hot Potato for an hour and a half.

Again, this was impractical because food costs money. We could have saved that potato and eaten it. Another reason this game of Hot Potato was impractical is because it took place after midnight, when we should have been studying or sleeping. It was a waste of time.

Other examples of impracticality include vacations, especially the ones to the beach, watching TV or movies or YouTube, lounging, eating because you're bored (which is really fun in my book. I love food), joyriding around town, or napping just because you have free time. And yet those are all things we love doing.

There was a quote by what's-his-bucket, John Lennon (I just looked it up), that says, "Time you enjoy wasting was not wasted."

Long story short, I've decided impracticality is okay.