Overheard at My Own (nice) Funeral

Julius Caesar

"The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones…" -Mark Anthony – Julius Ceasar

Well, I suppose the quotation depends on how evil you were. I mean no ones saying anything nice about Hitler. But I think for the average folk the opposite is true – once someone dies, people only remember, or at least only talk about their good qualities, not what a pain in the rear, yenta, or manipulative son of a ______ s/he was.

So what nice things will they say about me?

What nice things do I want them to say about me?

I'm not quite sure, but I'm sure that I don't want them to use the word "nice" on me….because I always said, nice = boring.

It's not a matter of being modest that I'm not saying what people will be saying, I'll toot my horn, not a problem, I just don't know which horn to toot. I know what qualities and attributes I have, but I don't think that many of them are things people who aren't very close to you fully recognize, or even if they do, something to consider saying at a funeral…

"Oh Leah, it's sad she was was such an anaylitcal, and objective person."

"I know, Sarah, people these days just don't have those qualities; she will be sorely missed."

They'll probably say it was a nice funeral, for nice person. Yay.

Independent, depending how you see it

Leader or Follower describes most people, but there is a small minority of people who I call independents. I count myself among them.

They don’t lead; they don’t follow; they just do what works for them, what they think is right, what they like. Sometimes they seem to be leaders, because they’re paving their own way, but no one is following them, and they don’t care or want people to. And sometimes they seem to be followers, because what they decided to do just happens to be what everyone else is doing too.

It’s a great position to be in in life. There is the independence of being a leader, without the responsibility.

I have more to say on the whole concept of Leaders vs. Followers, but the question was “Are You a Leader or Follower”….I’ll leave my rambling rhetoric for later.

My Own Test Run on Old Age (or a Haiku about the last thing I ate)

 

Old lady in home

She dunks crackers in juice. Me?

Cookies in coffee

The Best Advice I Ever Received and Listened To

I have subscribed to Plinky to help with my Writer’s Block of sort…it asks a question, I answer it, and then it gets sent to my blog if I choose….so this was the first question….what’s your answer?

Answer:

Don’t have expectations and you won’t be disappointed.

My mother says this all the time, and I’ve passed along this pearl of wisdom to my husband who claims it has changed his life.

That is not to say that one should be a pessimist, or expect the worst in every situation, but on a practical level in relationships…if I don’t expect a present, then I won’t be upset if there is none, but pleasantly surprised if there is…I don’t expect you to do a favor for me, so if you don’t, our relationship remains status quo, and if you do, all the better.

So often we have expectations of the people around us, that they should always be there for us, do for us, etc, and very often these expectations are a bit grandiose and quite a lot to ask of other people, especially when you realize people have the same expectations as you in terms of you doing for them….so lose the expectations, the perfection, the “it’s all coming to me” attitude, and realize the world owes you nothing… you’ll be a lot better off for it.

Blasphemous Brilliance

I always wanted to meet someone brilliant. I want to talk to them, hear them, see what it means to be brilliant and not just average, or above average, or bright, or smart, or even very smart. I want to meet brilliant, genius. I think it would be fascinating, insightful, entertaining.

All my friends seem to know brilliant people. They’ll mention a friend’s, co-worker’s, associate’s name and add on, “Oh, s/he is brilliant, you have to hear him/her talk; you should meet him/her 2yng2tch.”

I wondered why I was surrounded by mediocrity. I mean I know a lot of smart people, a lot of very smart people, but no one brilliant. Maybe I was hanging out in the wrong library.

Then one day I discovered people are liars, well, not liars, but they exaggerate an awful lot. You see, I found out that I am one of those brilliant friends, co-workers, cousins, teachers – whatever relationship someone might have to me. (long story how I found out) People call me brilliant, and I’m not.

Really not, not humbly not.

People think I’m smart because I use big words and know the most useless things about everything. I also stress my T’s which gives me an accent and makes me sound smart (almost like the English accent means instant sophistication)

It’s such a disappointment.

If you think you’re brilliant, or know someone who’s really brilliant, contact me so I can cross something off my life-goals to-do list.