pragmatic

TLT — This Magic Moment

Fandango11 Comments

I’m the practical, pragmatic sort, and the idea of pursuing, much less experiencing, magic was totally foreign to me.

And then it happened, this serendipitous moment when I stepped into the elevator and saw you standing there, the only other passenger in the car.

It took me by surprise, this feeling that suddenly came over me, when I looked at you and watched your face shift from expressionless to a warm, demure smile as our eyes locked, and I knew that you were pure magic.

Written for Sonya’s Three Line Tales prompt. Photo credit: Karly Santiago.

Q is for Quixotic

Fandango17 Comments

F20B82C1-EC28-43D9-8509-DF03ABD60836In my A to Z Challenge post yesterday, I wrote about pragmatism and described myself as a practical pragmatist, someone who is guided by practical considerations, someone who self-describes as a logical, rational, and reasonable person.

Today I’m going to write about the word “quixotic,” which is a word I would use to describe my wife. She can be impulsive and often rashly unpredictable. She can also be exceedingly idealistic; unrealistic, and impractical, albeit with a sense of romantic nobility.

F53F863E-9E44-46F7-9904-0CD7C07E0699The word “quixotic” is taken from the name of the hero of Cervantes’ 1605 novel with the themes of chivalry, romance, and sanity, “Don Quixote.” Quixote dreams up a romantic ideal world, which he believes to be real, and acts on this idealism, which most famously leads him into imaginary fights with windmills that he regards as giants, leading to the related metaphor of “tilting at windmills.”

I’m not suggesting that my wife is tilting at windmills. But she is highly idealistic, can be impulsive, and does have a sense of romantic nobility. And her quixotic nature serves as a perfect complement to my practical pragmatism and is the best explanation I have for why we will be celebrating 43 years together later this year.

Previous A to Z Challenge 2019 posts:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Share Your World — Well, Sort Of

Fandango7 Comments

This week Melanie, at Sparks From a Combustible Mind, has a special Valentine’s Day edition of Share Your World. She’s calling it “Share Your Heartfelt World,” and, as she said, “This week, instead of gratitude/thankful for question(s), I’m asking romantic, squishy booby hug, possibly sappy and overly sugary QUESTIONS about love.”

Truth be told, I’m not really the romantic, squishy booby hug, sappy, and overly sugary type. I’m more of a practical, pragmatic kind of a guy. Hence, I’m going to opt out of her “heartfelt” questions and stick with her “matter of fact” ones. But if you’re interested in seeing her sappy, Valentine’s Day questions, click HERE.

So with that said….

What’s your favorite way to spend a weekend?

As a retiree, my weekends last seven days. That said, our two grown kids are not retired and both work during the week. So weekends are the opportunity we have to spend some time with them, whether it’s heading to their respective neighborhoods or them coming to visit us.

Who do you admire most in the world?

Hmm. These days I don’t find too many truly admirable people. That said, I think that as a class of people, I’d have to focus on teachers. They are overworked and underpaid and are expected to shape the minds of our most precious possessions, our children. They should be much more admired — and valued — than they are.

 What do you regret not doing?

Not winning the Powerball or Mega Millions lottery.026DE52E-7C07-4F0E-8ED9-46794C3A2D68

If you see a puddle on the ground, do you walk around it or over/in it?

It depends upon what kind of footwear, if any, I have on. If I’m barefoot or wearing rain boots, I’ll definitely step in. Otherwise, I’ll step over or around it.

#FOWC — Head Case

Fandango7 Comments

The human brainI generally consider myself to be a somewhat introspective, cerebral guy. I try to use my intellect over my intuition or instincts by carefully examining my own thoughts and feelings. I tend to be a thoughtfully reflective person, making me, perhaps, more of thinker than a doer.

But these days there’s a lot of shit swirling around inside of my head. So much so that when I climbed into bed tonight and got ready to go to sleep, I realized that I had totally forgotten to write a post for my own One-Word Challenge for the day, “cerebral.”

I am having difficulty being that thoughtfully reflective person I have always been. I am starting to become overwhelmed by emotions and feelings and it’s creating a sense of imbalance in me.

I blame Donald Trump for that. I have become so preoccupied by the shitstorm that is the Donald Trump administration that I can’t focus on anything else. Between the heartbreaking crap that is going on at our southern border, and the rapidity with which Trump is dismantling our American democratic institutions, I am losing my ability to think objectively.

I get so angry and feel so frustrated by my inability to do anything to stop this Trump train wreck, that my normally logical, rational, and pragmatic way of coping isn’t working anymore.

And so what do I do? Well, for one thing, I forget to respond to my own fucking one-word prompt.