Expect The Best, Prepare For The Worst..

     You'd really think I'd know better by now. The other day I had a message in my inbox on facebook that read;

        "Hello how are you doing,
     Would you like to be friends and see how things work out,"
     Well my name is Tina

     Her composition wasn't up to my abnormally high standards (I thought she may have been Russian for some reason) but I liked her pictures and profile info so I sent her this message back;
   "I'm doing alright, you? Nice to meet you Tina, let's give it a go. Hah! I was just thinking, you're not going to hack into my computer now are you?" 

    Once again those feelings of hope and mild excitement awoke in me and I found myself actually looking forward to hearing back from her--she was the first person I'd seen on any dating site or facebook that I actually had some interest in. A few days passed with no reply and the thought hit me (as it has at various times in the past), whenever I hope, I set myself up for disappointment--I know better...

     How many "hopeful" nights spent heading out on the town thinking, "This is the night, I'll meet her for sure" or the insidious thinking of, I'll meet her in a line up at the coffee shop, at the grocery store, shopping mall, Lonsdale Quay, laundry room, hallway, on this blind date etc. Basically setting myself up for failure.

    It got me to thinking about other areas of my life where I experience the hope/disappointment syndrome;

 

  ~My golf shot is going to be better than I thought it was going to be, even though I'm hoping for the best as I approach my ball or estimated landing area. 

  ~The dropped piece of toast isn't going to land jam side down. 

  ~Whenever I change lanes to avoid a left turner they invariably catch a gap in the traffic and render my lane change completely unnecessary.

  ~ If I shift to the "other" line in London Drugs, the person in front of me is trying to purchase something with no bar code on it and they can't find anyone to verify price.

  ~The cheque is in the mail when I expect it to be.

  ~When I show up to paint someone's house they actually have moved the furniture to the middle of the room and taken all their artwork down.

  ~ The boring guy that talks too much finally clues in to how painful his social skills are and nips his droning in the bud. 

  ~People will be friendlier and refrain from being rude and stupid--I know that's a lot to ask.

  ~She'll take me back after some "time to herself."

  ~The therapy will take, the drugs will work and I'll have my epiphany--I can learn to love anyone.

  ~ I'll spill a white glass of wine.

    Anyhoo, you get the basic idea but this thinking about hope/disappointment, the message from Tonia and Lianne and her haiku posts inspired me to write this;

             there's one thing I've learned

             in my time on this planet

             don't get your hopes up...