Brantley Foster: [reading mail while sorting] Some of this stuff doesn’t make any sense. They send requisitions through two departments to get procurements for a third. What kind of thinking is that? — The Secret of My Success

Two of the things that make me absolutely crazy is bureaucracy and ‘process-oriented’ people.  I’m not a cowboy by any measure, but even stodgy old me needs to know that slogging through a process gets me closer to a goal.  Paperwork for the sake of paperwork, or meetings for the sake of meetings make me itch.  Sadly, things like this are almost predictable once an organization grows to a certain size or reaches a certain age.  Things get so ossified that no-one can explain how they got that way or why they are how they are.  The mind numbs and you start earning your keep by habit and reflex, and the good parts of your job start to fade.

The challenge is to find a way to enjoy your job despite the bureaucratic cruft that gets layered over it.  There’s no silver bullet for this, but it’s crucial to do so.  If you can’t, you’ll either stop caring or become bitter, and that attitude is corrosive to things far beyond the office.

This excitement isn’t just about the fun of baseball. It’s not about the prize. It’s about the gloating and rubbing their noses in it. The “Nah-Nah-Nah-Nah-Nah! We beat you!” taunting if you will, that comes with the winning. — Chicken Little

The Winter Olympics are going on now, and for the most part, I’m not watching.  It’s supposed to be an opportunity for the people of the world to come together to compete for the joy of competition.  What it has turned out to be is an opportunity for corruption, waste, poor sportsmanship, and show-boating.  Every athlete seems to come with their own made-for-TV backstory, every game of tiddlywinks is an opportunity for geo-political overanalysis on cable TV.

I think I’ll just watch old films of Cassius Clay.  He talked less smack than today’s Olympians.

I ain’t good enough for you, am I? I’m a hired hand. I got dirt on my hands. Pig slop. I ain’t fit to touch you, am I – you’re better. Oh, you’re so much better, Miss Laurey Williams! Well we’ll see how much better you are, and then you won’t be so free and easy and hifalutin’ with your airs! You such a FINE lady! — Oklahoma!

I’ve been guilty of jealousy, but I don’t understand it.  I also don’t understand people who think that their wife or husband is their property.  Jealousy and possessiveness mean, to me, that the person has issues trusting the other.  If you can’t trust someone to be a healthy part of your life, then why are they a part of your life in the first place?

The same goes for those who can’t take “No” for an answer.  I don’t mean the young Romeo who minds his manners, but won’t stop trying to convince a young lady of his love.  I’m talking about the guy who takes a negative response as an insult, and acts on this to make life uncomfortable, or worse, for the woman.  If someone doesn’t want you, what do you think the value of the relationship will be when it is coerced?

If, for some reason your life functions ceased, my most precious one, I would collapse, I would draw the shades and I would live in the dark. I would never get out of my slar pad or clean myself. My fluids would coagulate, my cone would shrivel, and I would die, miserable and lonely. The stench would be great. — Coneheads

 

I cannot imagine how I would manage without Irish Woman.  She is my anchor in life, and without her I would drift.  Not only is she the most tender being I have ever met, she is also the toughest taskmaster.  She seems to believe that I am a good person, and will accept nothing less from me.  I am afraid that without her, I would sink to my own expectations.  Hopefully, I will never have to figure out how to live without her.

Doc Holliday: What did you ever want?
Wyatt Earp: Just to live a normal life.
Doc Holliday: There’s no normal life, Wyatt, it’s just life. Get on with it.

— Tombstone

You have your dreams. You have your plans. You have your life. No-one guarantees that those three things will ever intersect. The mark of a true adult is how you deal with what happens when life diverges sharply from what you want. A very wise old man told me a long time ago that you can either live through what life throws at you, or you can die. Just about everything in life boils down to that.

 Have you ever considered any real freedoms? Freedoms from the opinion of others… even the opinions of yourself?  — Apocalypse Now

There are a few people whose opinion matters to me.  I try to never do anything that would make them ashamed of me.  Most of all, I have to find a way through life that keeps me from being ashamed of myself.  Freedom does not come from not caring about the opinions of others, or even about your own.  Freedom comes from recognizing which opinions matter, and disregarding those that don’t.  And with that freedom comes the responsibility to act in a way that earns their respect.

Let us pretend that you are a loving daughter, and I am a good father. — Gladiator

Being a father has been the scariest thing I’ve ever done. I’ve been doing it for over two decades, and for a big chunk of that time, I sucked at it. It took living without my kids for several months for me to figure out that I was a selfish twit, and that I needed to figure out what was really important. Luckily for me, I was able to get a job within a few hours of Little Bear and Girlie Bear, which allowed me to reconnect and relearn how to be a parent. It’s a chance I didn’t really deserve, but it’s one for which I am eternally grateful.

There will be no rescue, no intervention for us. We can only save ourselves. — Hotel Rwanda

In the end, you can only depend on yourself. No man is an island, but no man is never isolated. Learn to rely on yourself, on your skills and resources, and you will not only be better to yourself, but also be a better person to others.

Those are harsh words to throw at a man, especially when he’s walking out of your bedroom. — The Big Sleep

Having the last word is usually satisfying, but the last words of one conflict usually lead to the next.   I’ve damaged several friendships by insisting on arguing until I wore down someone else.  The momentary feeling of victory was quickly overshadowed by realization that I had said and done things that hurt someone I cared about.  Always remember what is important.  I doubt that it will usually be winning an argument due to endurance and snark.

Another one of them new worlds. No beer, no women, no pool parlors, nothin’. Nothin’ to do but throw rocks at tin cans, and we gotta bring our own tin cans. — Forbidden Planet

Boredom is a killer.  Boredom in a group of people under stress will quickly kill their relationship, which might mean the difference between getting through a problem relatively unscathed or not.

Like a lot of people nowadays, I’m doing what I can do to be prepared for emergencies.  I’ve gotten first aid training, we stock non-perishable food and water, and, of course, I keep a few firearms around.  We talk about what we would do if a tornado struck Louisville while I was at work and couldn’t get home.  We make sure there are ‘get home’ kits in all the vehicles.  We even have contingency plans for what we would do if a disaster hits and we are asked to house family and friends for a while.

One thing that Irish Woman has done, and this shows just how well I married, is to make sure we have a lot of things to keep us from going stir crazy in the event of a disaster.  She maintains an entire closet full of nothing but school and art supplies.  We have shelf upon shelf of books, with everything from Dr. Seuss to Tolkien.  She even stocks educational and reference materials so that learning won’t stop if the schools aren’t open.  She makes sure that every Christmas we get a few more board games, and that we have something for everyone.  In the event that we’re snowed in or lose power for a week or so, we will be fed, warm, safe, and entertained.

How is entertainment fitting into y’all’s prepping plans?