Ah, yes

[tarotgal]

My new wish for life in general:

"Is there somewhere we could get a list of all of the terrible things that could happen?" ~Vincent on Judging Amy (learning about problems during pregnancy, and being perfectly serious in his request)

I'm sorry, but life would be SO much easier if we all had such a list. You know, a finite number of possible problems. And you could just cross off ones you've avoided, etc. Yes. I'd feel happy with a list like that. LOL

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Unfortunately, Life does not come with an owners manual, therefore, it seems that we must go with one law and one law only.... Murphy's Law.

Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. I hate to be so negative, but it just seems so fitting. Of course, don't forget that the answer to the meaning of life is 42 (inside joke)

I don't wish for a new life, for I'm afraid that if I did, I would have to re-live all of the bad experiences, and once again, there still wouldn't be a manual for it. I live my life by trial and error. That probably explains why I have only been happy for 2 years out of the nearly 40 that I have lived.


Hang in there. Things will get better for you.

You know who

[girlwithtulips.livejournal.com]

Omg *l* If such a list existed I would never ever ever want to see it! I don't think I could handle knowing everything bad that COULD happen. There would be incredibly bad things that I've never considered before that I'd have to start worring about. Or at least thinking about. And it'd be so hard to focus on the good things in life, staring at a list like that! I mean, sure, you might get forced into an arranged marriage in which you absolutely did NOT want to be a part of, but who knows? You might end up having found the soulmate for you ;o) But I don't think the second half of that would be on the list, just the first half, so it'd be so easy to forget that good things happen too! And it'd be like if you had to walk home by yourself one night after dark, and that's fine. But then someone tells you all the details of all the murders/kidnappings/rapes/disappearances/shark attacks etc in the area for the past 50 years. And suddenly you're scared when before you weren't! Ok, so I'm a coward and would much prefer to live in blissful ignorance LOL

[vatergrrl.livejournal.com]

I'm reminded of a line from the Sondheim musical "Into the Woods," which goes something like, "And I know things now that I never knew before..." It's based on an interlocking series of fairy tales, in which some of the characters have to enter other characters' tales in order to fulfill their own destinies or wishes. Lots and lots of fun, but also educational in a good way.

I'm not sure that I'd want the gift of prescience, or even a list of all of the bad things which could potentially befall me. Like girlwithtulips, I think it would make me *more* afraid to live my life, rather than less.

On the other hand, there have been years which I foolishly thought would be wonderful, like the year I turned 27 (I was born on the 27th of the month), but which turned out to be horrid beyond words (two relatives died, got evicted from my apartment). I'm not even going to make predictions for when I'm 44 (my favorite number).

All I can do is to have the courage to keep on travelling the good red road of life, and prepare myself for disappointments/disasters, but still retain the optimism that something amazing and wonderful might also happen when I least expect it. After all, "Anything can happen in the woods..."

VG

[tarotgal]

You make a very good case against the list *G*
But I honestly think it might be nice just to have... to know that there's a finite set of things that could go wrong... that there really isn't anything unpredictable left. I might not read the list... but just to have it. I think it would help me focus on the good a lot, actually. I could technically consider anything not on the list to be good. I know that gets into the whole "when I was a kid things were black and white, good and evil. Then I grew up and discovered there was only gray" issue but so long as I didn't spend all my time with the list... I'd feel prepared for the possible bad things... and then when they all didn't come true, I'd feel good.
I'm a BIG believer of making things out to be much worse than they are and then being pleasantly surprised when they don't go as badly as I thought. I always feel so much better thinking I got a C- on an exam and then getting it back to find an A- :-) So if all the bad things on the list didn't happen (just some of them) I might look back and go "well, it could have been worse!" and focus on the good stuff :-)

[tarotgal]

Awww! I haven't seen "Into the Woods" since I was in elementary school! *starts singing* I've always had a thing for mixing fairy tales, which is why I'm so obsessed with The 10th Kingdom. Well, that and the sexy half-wolf *G*

I agree, such a list would certainly make me scared to do certain things. But I already am scared to do certain things. I think just KNOWING that there's a list of everything that could go wrong- knowing that there's nothing unexpected... I think that would comfort me. I'm one of those people who never believes things will be 100%. I always believe in that tiny little possibility of the unknown. So removing that would be a big thing in the way I view life. See my post to gwt about more on this subject. I like to think of myself as a realistic pessimist. So in that way, the list might be very damaging or very helpful. I don't think I'd have a problem focusing on the good, though. SO many bad things happen to me on a daily basis, especially health wise, that if I only focused on the bad, I'd have killed myself long before now.

Hmmmm I'm curious. Why is 44 your favorite number? It's a nice number. I am very fond of even numbers and multiples of 11.
Oh yikes... yeah, I my family all the bad things seem to group themselves together- especially as far as deaths are concerned. It makes some years extremely difficult to handle. I'm sorry your 27th was so painful! *hugs*

[vatergrrl.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear heart, when I read that "SO many bad things happen to me on a daily basis, especially health wise, that if I only focused on the bad, I'd have killed myself long before now," it hurt. Or, to quote my dear friend Michael, "It breaks my heart." Most of my academic life is devoted to reading and writing about illness and disability, and my husband has a chronic illness, so I empathize. I sure hope you're able to get the sorts of support you need -- medical/emotional/physical -- 'cause a world without you in it would be too dark, too dark altogether.

On a happier note, 44 was the number on a Miami Dolphins shirt that I LOVED as a kid. You probably know that kind of childhood devotion, the "I'm going to wear this shirt every minute of the day until it dissolves off of my body" love for something. I can't say I was into football, but I loved the combination of turquoise, orange and white in that shirt, and I still love turquoise but my orange lust has faded to peach, which seems to be one of the new darlings of the fashion industry -- yaaay!

Hang in there, my dear. I'm only an e- away, if you ever so need.

VG (who still holds out hope that the Seahawks might one day be a great team -- at least their logo is stupendous!)