Make this up, one cannot
Tuesday, February 14th, 2006family member to me: I don’t want to have to think when i talk to you.
I guess i should give a little back-fill. Since the beginning of time as i know it, the ol’ family has never been able to accept a single decision i’ve made. examples:
what time do you want to leave tomorrow?
how about 6?
are you sure? why not 8?
what would you like for breakfast?
a bagel.
are you sure you don’t want eggs?
I got a job at Yahoo! I’m moving back to california.
Why? You’re so close to finishing your masters.
I think my favorite of all time is my mom:
would you like some tea?
no, I’m fine, thanks.
by fine you mean yes?
I mean no.
ok, fine, means no. Do you want a snack?
ok
by ok you mean no?
by ok I mean yes.
ok, ok means yes. Would you like X?
No, I’m fine.
fine means yes?
I mean no.
ok, fine means no.
now, once in a while, no problem. every single freaking day of my life? problem. So, in an effort to resolve this, i’ve tried to be more transparent. They say you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. i disagree. You just have to make sure it’s thirsty first. In non-allegory speak, it’s called buy-in.
aside: y’know, i don’t know why i’m writting this right now. perhaps because it is late, i am tired, and most probably lack good judgement. anyhow, this kind of feels like revealing trade secrets.
anyway, buy-in. so, lately, instead of yes or no answers, i’ve given my current state of mind. the train of thought being if i walk these people through my thought process, they will come to the same conclusions as i do. examples:
Can you go skiing with us this weekend?
I have a lot of work to do.
Can you drive me downtown?
I just got back from the eye-doctor’s and my eyes are dialated.
and, hence, we get the comment that started this whole post . . . *sigh* time to find a dryer desert to drag this horse through.
