How full is your magnifying glass?

You know the saying:

The pessimist looks at the glass and says, “It is half empty.”

The optimist looks at the glass and says, “It is half full.”

Then there is the one where the realist adds his comment. “I think the glass is full of pee.”

i call myself ‘the eternal optimist’, especially when it comes to sport watching because i like to believe til the absolute last moment that my guy or team can pull it off, even at times when it is bordering on impossible.

and this cartoon from ‘Poorly Drawn Lines’ illustrates it beautifully:

with the original glass scenario, the situation has not changed, only the perspective regarding it. the optimist is choosing to focus on the positive of what the situation has presented and celebrate the existence of something. the pessimist is instead choosing to look at what is missing, and respond to the lack of a thing.

is one better than the other? personally, i don’t think the pessimist is very helpful, because he doesn’t often come up with a plan to change things. pessimism generally deflates, takes the air out of sales, slows down movement.

i do prefer the optimist [maybe cos i generally am one and think i’m pretty cool] but at the same time there can be the danger that the optimist on occasion has their heads in the cloud and their positivity can prevent them from realistically assessing the genuine possibilities in a situation andso ‘hoping for the best’ or ‘anticipating the miracle’ can replace doing the next thing that needs to be done.

so maybe the realist is the best person to have around [because no one wants to drink a glass of pee] but with strong elements of optimism to keep him hopeful, anticipationary and to help him expect the best of people, which is a strong trait of an optimist.

what about you? which of these three would you most closely identify yourself with? anyone have some positives to take from the pessimist?
and do you think it is possible to change from one to the other?

dead-ants… dead-ants… deadantsdeadantsdeadants

deadantsdeadaaaaaaaants….dead dead dead dead dead ants

[to the tune of the pink panther song]

don’t get me wrong, i’m not scared of ants. or maybe more accurately, i’m not scared of ant. how can you be scared of ant? small little random creature you can squish with a thumb. but we all saw what happens when woody allen gets them all organised into a multi-ant killing machine…

so antS…? little more nervous… if the ones in our kitchen wandering seemingly aimlessly over our different counters and fridge and the outside (i hope) of our peanut butter jar, ever get themselves organised into a single body, yes a body of ants (there’s a title for you, wes craven!), then we, and more likely’ly i, could be in trouble

likely’ly? i like that… it’s not just likely, it’s more likely’ly… moving on…

since meeting a lot of veggies and also doing our own small little part like no-meat thursday and so on, i think i do have a bit of a greater appreciation for animals and all things God-made (mosquitos? ah) and so i don’t go out of my way to kill bugs any more even and if i can save them (some exceptions) – especially spiders i think which before i used to happily squish but even yesterday i freed a giant one (well three cm) and banished him outside shooing him with my slop as opposed to simply shoeing him. but now these ants are crossing the line. or the line of ants is crossing the line. or making a new one or something

and so, “Ants! prepare to meet my Doom”

let’s see how you like them ant-pills…