Saturday, April 23, 2011

Triumph!

Y'all are probably all too young to remember, but when I was a kid there was a cartoon in syndication called Gulliver's Travels. There was a Lilliputian named Glum that had a low monotone voice I can still hear clearly. “We're all gunna die.” You see Glum was a pessimist.

Now I have an MS in psychology, and I KNOW that in reality, Depressed peoples' assessment of a situation is actually more REALISTIC than non-depressed...

80% of us think we are better looking than average. Not possible, right? Only 50% can be... That is the mechanism of which I speak. When we look at a situation, the NON-depressed person thinks 'I can do that!' While the depressed person sees nothing but obstacles... all the reasons they CAN'T (and probably they have a point).

But the thing is, see... I married Glum (referred to here as HWMNBMOTI—he who must not be mentioned on the internet)...

He believes if something is not in mint condition, it can't be used.
If anything might go wrong, it surely will, so why bother?
If I haven't looked from every angle, I must give it up.

But I am a PRO at making do...


Take last night for instance...

My family owns 3 computers: a desk top, and then the lap tops of my daughter and myself. The desktop (possibly because of the son) is in the shop for a virusectomy and won't be back until Monday.

HWMNBMOTI is taking a class that has some work online, so I offered to let him use MINE (nice of me, eh?)--no, he says. I've worn off the letters on half my keys. (technically, it is only 9 keys, but who's counting?)... He tries to use daughter's, but daughter's has some block for his college website (who knows what that's about?)

I told him tonight about the Monday computer back timing and so he thought he might try mine... but mine can't go upstairs as we need SOME computer physically hooked to the modem... and he says the light is too poor...

“Fine. I'll just fail this class.” (see what I mean? Glum.)

So I thought about options. I moved a light so it was a little clearer, but you know... rubbed off is rubbed off...

It occurred to me that at one point we had STICKER letters, but I couldn't find them. What I DID find was a sheet of OTHER stickers, so I cut little white squares, WROTE the letters and stuck them on my keyboard. HA! I WIN! Hubby can do his stuff with no claim of not knowing which key is what letter!

So sometimes a refusal to admit defeat gives you the UMPH needed to figure out the answer.

DELUSIONS ARE YOUR FRIENDS!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

23 comments:

Laura said...

Excellent! I know quite a few GLUMs, but I admire your stubborn refusal to let the situation beet you... my keys are exactly like yours too... all this blogging!
Have an amazing weekend

Delusions are your friends... I'm sticking to that!
Lxxx

Anonymous said...

haha what a brilliant post. I can be a GLUM and a PRO depending what mood I'm in.

jkraus8464 said...

Cute post. It all goes to show that the women are the force to solve the problems in life. Thinking out of the box. Never giving up. I like that. Perhaps you can come over and work with my husband on that. I tend to be eternally optimistic. He is getting more positive about things since he met me but still greets me at the door, tersely, each day with "Well it was a bad day." I'm thinking someone died, someone's ill, the water heater exploded, he had an accident."
Now, it could be must a minor thing. And it usually is. But my job is to put it in perspective.
"Bad day, huh?" On a scale of 1-10 how does it compare with the affer-effects of the tsunami for the Japanese people? Then we can deal with reality. Great post.

Old Kitty said...

Oh now I know what HWMNBMOTI stands for!! LOL!!! Awwwww bless him.

Anyway!! You are like yin to his yang!!!! Yay for NAKED ingenuity!!! Take care
x

Jessica Bell said...

Ha! Now that is what I call making do!!! Have a great weekend, Hart! xoxo

Charmaine Clancy said...

I grew up with my GLUMMUM, so I know how challenging but sometimes amusing it can be. Funny little things people, aren't they? :)
Wagging Tales - Blog for Writers

Laura Eno said...

If HWMNBMOTI had taken touch typing in school, he wouldn't need letters on the keyboard. ;)
Love his name, by the way!

Anonymous said...

I'm all for the making do, and fixing it when you can. I've been known to bite off more than I can chew though.

At which point I doggedly chew until I'm done. >:)

I dunno how you're doing this A-Z challenge, darlin'. It's exhausting even trying to keep up with people's posts!

Mary@GigglesandGuns said...

I think I know more Glums than Pros. I float.
Your solution was great in my book.
Psst, why is he looking at the keys anyway?

Hart Johnson said...

Laura, yeah, it is 4 years old and has written 8 books for me. Definitely a little worn...

Niki-You must have some connection with reality, then... Me? Not so much...

Jeanne-that thinking outside the box is I think why he IS GLUM (rather, because he can't)--he is a CLASSIC Virgo and things not only need to end up right, they have to GET THERE the right way *rolls eyes * where I am cheap and super anti-waste, and so try anything that might work. That perspective thing is good to keep in mind.

Jenny-it's true—we are definitely complimentary, and sometimes I NEED his reality or I just leap.

Jessica-thank you!

Charmaine-I have a glum mum, too, but she has my stubborn and cheap thing (or at least did growing up, as we didn't have MEANS to buy all the solutions), so she is a little more willing to try, and she is married to Mr. Fix-it (who is an optimist like me) so she gets some balance.

Laura-he graduated high school in 1980 with plans to be in a punk band and he is only NOW getting to college. Yeah... no touch typing in there. I didn't master it until it was needed for a day job and his jobs have all been physical.

Simon, well OF COURSE you are like me! You ARE my twin! And I bite off more than I can chew fairly often and never admit defeat, no matter HOW LONG I need to chew.

Mary-teehee—He just has never had enough reason to need to type to LEARN the keys. When he actually gets to his English classes, things should improve.

Alison DeLuca said...

TeeHee! Still snickering over here at the thought of HWMNBMOTI. Hey, I have one of those too.

And Dwight Okita bought those sticker letters too! He said they were the greatest invention ever...as long as you can find them....

TS Hendrik said...

Haha, that's genius.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Sometimes we just don't see the path for the forest. Although I'm not that glum! It's just my solution would've been to buy a new computer.

Andrew Leon said...

I remember that show! That was one of the cartoons on Banana Splits, wasn't it? I'm not sure...:(

Your relationship dynamic is more common than you might think.
heh

Carol Kilgore said...

Perfect!
You have a great weekend, too.

Hart Johnson said...

Alison--your SO insist all these people on the internet aren't real so he won't be one of them? *snort* And nice to know I'm in good company! (even if I had to improvise)

TS-Thanks!

Alex-that is what HWMNBMOTI would do, but we don't have the resources.

Andrew-it WAS part of the Hannah Barbara lineup! It was on in the morning before school--when I ended, it was time to start walking. (and I'm sure you're right--HWMNBMOTI and I are extreme cases, but I think it may even be MOST couples that are opposite this way).

Carol-thank you!

LTM said...

You are so awesome. You know that? Just keep swimming. Those are some tough currents that hit sometimes~

xoxo ((big hugs)) <3

Marjorie said...

I think it is absolutely hilarious that you call your hubby HWMNBMOTI and mention him as that name even though we know he is Mr. Tart and no one else. haha!

Sarah Ahiers said...

i'm an optimist, which means i may be wrong about things more often, BUT i'm also excited about things more often and in general am more happy and stree free.

Al said...

Us glum sods need an optimist like you to bounce off!

Anonymous said...

Good job making it happen for him! I'm married to a glum HWMNBMOTI, too. I totally understand. Where would they be without us, huh?

Cheeseboy said...

Now THAT is the sign of a good and dedicated writer.

Kas said...

Hahah, and I say SEE, the MS in Psych agrees with me! I'm more realistic than all of you people!! *ahem* I like to think of myself as a realist more than a pessimist, but in all honesty I can be anywhere on the spectrum depending on the mood.

I'm still stopping in to read (and enjoy) when I can.. just not around much in general. Last week of college and all that!! ;]

<3