The Book of Questions

[doctork]

As any of you who read the Show Thread know, I am perpetually forgetting to write down My Life's Persistent Questions in time to ask Guy Noir for some help. Well guess what - I found some help with questions - in a book by Gregory Stock, PhD. So I will borrow shamelessly from Dr. Stock until I get my own Question House in order, or you folks start posting questions too.

Question #78:

If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living?

[doctork]

I'll go first, and as I'm always told, since this is the first answer, I'll repeat the question:

If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living?

Gee I hope not. I try really hard to Make Today Count. Or as a psychiatrist friend told me - I always keep my passport current, just in case. Oh yes I do.

Or I could borrow an answer from Woody Allen - If I were to have done things differently, I'd skip the remake of "Lost Horizon." (It wasn't a very good movie, so don't waste you time)

[jspnrvr]

If I knew now that I would die suddenly in a year? Wouldn't that mean that it wasn't sudden? But we're not here to quibble, are we? Of course not.

I don't have a passport, but I do keep the oil changed in my truck and don't let the gas gauge go below half. I try to keep my paperwork caught up and not stick my tongue out at anyone, since I might not have a chance to take it back. We're all just penciled in.

Change? There is someone I need to see face to face. Making today count sums up things pretty well. Procrastination would have to find a new home.

[Jane]

I'd be torn between taking out a huge loan and moving to NYCity or making a daily date with everyone of my grandchildren.

No, I'm pretty sure I'd opt for family. And writing lots of letters.

[doctork]

Jay, my mom always told me not to stick my tongue out. she said "The weather might change and then you're be frozen that way!"

So Jane, are you going to start writing lots of letters now?

[liriodendron]

Oh, gosh yes. To start with, I'd stop cleaning my house.

[gailkate]

This is hard to answer, because - except for Jerry - my family is gone. I wouldn't want to leave him bankrupt, quel bummeur. I think I'd want to travel to places where I've been happy, visit friends, and also splurge on a trip to England. Darn. Would there be a special Last Year Fund that could only be used for self-indulgence, kind of like a bank bailout?

And would the designated dying person be feeling good and not have to spend money on staying alive?
See, the questions just mount up.
I'm with Lirio - for sure I wouldn't waste time cleaning.

[BoatBabe]

Hmmmm . . . since I've actually had jobs that included toe tags and rectum packing on a daily basis more often than car dealers are now selling cars . . . I have different questions. And I don't mean that in a bad way. You guys are talking about it being you, and I am talking about it being them, knowing that them will be you and me. I know what it looks and feels like, so I'd like to move on to different things. Please carry on, if you would like.

I'm not sure I can think of all my questions tonight, But since you asked:

Who is actually right when one party bails out by using the phrase, "Yes, Dear"? The arguer or the arguee?

If the potato salad has more sauce than substance, but great taste, was it really worth it to try to make potato salad for two? And who ever heard of Potato Salad For Two, fer cryin' out loud.

After following the twenty-year old boy for forty-five minutes while he revved his parents' Hummer and swerved all over the two-lane road trying to attract the attention of the spaghetti strapped 12-year olds walking down to the park, what response should I have expected when I yelled, "Sorry about your pee-pee, Dude!"?

I'm sure I will think of others. Those were yesterday's life's perpetual questions.

[BoatBabe]

Persistent, though they may be.

[liriodendron]

//After following the twenty-year old boy for forty-five minutes while he revved his parents' Hummer and swerved all over the two-lane road trying to attract the attention of the spaghetti strapped 12-year olds walking down to the park, what response should I have expected when I yelled, "Sorry about your pee-pee, Dude!"?//

These days, sadly, you are lucky he didn't take a shot at you.

[BoatBabe]

Okay, I really didn't "yell" that. I seriously had to talk myself out of yelling it for the exact reason L just mentioned.

So I said it fairly softly, since the windows were down, then spent the next hour making up potential scenerios to another one of life's persistent questions.

The getting shot one was on the worst case list.

[BoatBabe]

Here's another one I have no answer for:

Since the new sailboat on the portside will now be home to a University of Washington Freshman because it costs too much for housing at the U, how long will it be before the sudden appearance of the Big Bright Thing In The Sky coaxes an All Night Frat Party?

I don't believe using the Inversely Proportional Theory of Elemental Relativity is necessary, but I could be wrong . . .

[gailkate]

I am fogged-in on the elemental whosis. But I think it's safe to say the question is moot - yes, the college boy on the sailboat necessarily poses a problem - ipso facto and like that. You might invite him over for potato salad and subtly suggest you are in loco parentis. Then I guess you'll have to keep your own parties quiet - or invite the kid and all his friends!



_{I just had the immense satisfaction of karmalyzing K for her 100th Exaltation. Yay, DrK!}

[doctork]

Thanks gk! That must be extra good karma, 100 being such a round number and all.

All these questions make me ponder John Donne:

As the islands of knowledge expand, so do the shorelines of ignorance.

One question begets at least three more. I ponder this daily in the practice of medicine. This Mr. Donne was a smart fellow. Good poet too.

[Jane]

Small puzzlements:

Why can't someone invent a vacuum cleaner cord that doesn't twist up?

Why does it cost as much to go to a vet as to an MD? And why will the doctor let you pay over time, but the vet wants to be paid RIGHT NOW?

Why are women's sizes all different? Like why can I try on pants from two different makers, and the 10 fits, but the 12 is too small?

And why in the heck is a size 12 considered "Plus Size"?

And speaking of pants, my perennial question: Who ever thought it was a good idea to wear one's pants slung around one's thighs so that one has to hold them up, tastefully, at crotch level, in order to walk?

[sailor]

I'm still thinking about the potato salad for two.

I quit making potato salad, I now prefer macaroni salad. When I make it, there's only two of us to eat it and it takes us a week to accomplish; and that's eating it everyday.

I may come back to this subject later.

Mike

P.S. the secret to making the best macaroni salad is...



...a little bit of dill pickle relish. Just enough to make people wonder to themselves what is in this salad, it's so good, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

[joew]

Apr 5, 2009 21:15:08 GMT -5 liriodendron said:

Oh, gosh yes. To start with, I'd stop cleaning my house.

Hah! I did that a long time ago.

(But I'm still not anxious to go. Even a year from now.)

[BoatBabe]

Ahh, yes, Mike. I'm switching to Macaroni Salad for the season. I large-dice dill pickles in mine, but I really like the relish idea. Consider it stolen. I just can't make those salads in small portions even though I keep trying, and Dahhlink gets sick of them after several days, so I guess the real question is: If I build a big Macaroni Salad this weekend, will they come?