Thursday, August 26, 2010

Waxing Philosophical

Denmark is one of the happiest country in the world. Did you know that? This Danish professor researched the reason why Danes are happy and this is what he said (I didn't write this part, just so you know. I copied it from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/14/60minutes/main3833797.shtml):

They’re so glum and get happy when things turn out not quite as badly as they expected. "And I was thinking about, What if it was opposite? That Denmark made the worst, number 20, and another country was number one. I'm pretty sure the Danish television would have said, 'Well, number 20's not too bad. You know it's still in the top 25, that's not so bad,'" he says.

History may also play a role in the country's culture of low expectations. If you go to the government's own Web site, it proudly proclaims “the present configuration of the country is the result of 400 years of forced relinquishments of land, surrenders and lost battles."

Hhahaaaa! Isn't that great? And also a little ironic and sad, but mostly just great.

So, I was thinking about this. And I realized that that has been my problem of late. High expectation. Geez, what's my problem? I should never expect anything good to happen to me. Now I feel marginally better about my summer.

Having said that, I can all of a sudden think of a handful of of little moments that were kind of great.

-I only have two and a half days of work left. YES. That is great.

-I've been teaching "The Tempest" all summer. This is the fourth time. This session, the class consists of 19 girls, who are all about 14. And 1 boy. And every day when I get to to class, these girls will crowd around me and tell me that they like my outfit. Every day. I am the most popular kid in town.

-A maybe-homeless man saw me sitting on a bench in the park, reading. And he said, "You're so pretty. If I was half my age, I would ask you on a date." It was not creepy, but actually kind of sweet.

-My lovely friend Emily I. M. visited me, and we had a glorious weekend, doing very bad karaoke (me) and drinking fantastic I.P.A. at the Brewers Fest and getting tipsy(both of us).

-My hair became red.

-I made a giraffe cake and left it on Jesca's porch in the dead of night.

-We've had sibling "True Blood" night every single Sunday since the new season has started.

-Right now, as I am writing this, there are pre-teens in the classroom next door singing Queen with piano accompaniment.

Lots of things. Perspective is a good thing.

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