Ice-cream-eating pessimist

[vilakins]

2 – Optimist Day: Do you consider yourself to be an optimist or a pessimist?
Definitely a pessimist - or realist as I prefer to call it. Greg tends to optimism and whenever he assures me that something good will happen (e.g. shithead won't get elected in 2016, Covid won't come here, tradies will get our house renos finished before we've been in it 7 years, or tradies will, you know, actually turn up to do it) I've been right just about every time. Realist.

3 – Take a Cruise Day: Have you ever been on a cruise?
No, but I've been on lots of ferries, here and in Europe, which isn't the same thing. A work colleague went on one of those decadently luxurious cruises pre-Covid - one-day stops in various European cities, don't scratch the surface - and that really doesn't appeal. A friend's parents have just left on a much smaller French cruise ship for the Antarctic, and I have to say I wouldn't mind that: interesting destination and French food!

4 – Ice cream For Breakfast Day: Have you ever eaten ice cream for breakfast (or for any other meal)?
I'm assuming that ice cream is the entire meal? If so, then never for breakfast, only for afternoon tea if that counts (and I suspect that's not a meal per se). A local seaside restaurant makes their own gelato and sorbet in delicious and inventive flavours, and we've been getting ice cream two or three afternoons a week this summer. We sit on the deck there and eat it watching waves hit the breakwater. Actually I haven't had so much ice cream since I was in Rome as I only ever bought a small tub each summer till now.

Comments

[siliconshaman]

A pessimist is what an optimist calls a realist.. to borrow quote. Or a cynic is an optimist with experience.

[vilakins]

Yep. and even more so these days!

[gwendraith]

I'm definitely an optimist, I have a glass half full personality. I find the positives in most situations, even negative ones. Because an outcome seems bad doesn't mean there won't be something good to come out of it. I'm really not sure why people are wired differently although I think acceptance is something to do with it and being able to look at any outcomes differently.

[vilakins]

I enjoy the present well enough, especially if I stay away from doom stuff, and books are always my escape if I can't - also an escapist! I do base my feelings about the future on what's happened in the past, which is the realist part. In the meantime it's a beautiful day and my current book is set in a universe I'd love to live in.

[executrix]

For many years after the show stopped airing in the US, a newsstand in the West Village had a card of buttons in the window. One of them read "Avon was an optimist."

[vilakins]

Ha! Because he kept trying despite experience being against it? Though if he had been an optimist on GP, he'd have taken Blake's ambiguous comments about setting it all up and waiting for them a bit more positively than he did.

[executrix]

I can't be sure, but I think they meant "things were even worse than he thought they were."

[vilakins]

That sounds about right.

[kerravonsen]

One of the things I recall with fondness about living in Sydney is the ferries across the harbour.

[vilakins]

That's one I haven't taken as I only went to Sydney once. I think my favourites were the ferries that ply the Greek Islands, so much fun and joy. The Cook Strait ones can be nice in calm weather but it's often too rough to enjoy.

[kerravonsen]

How long does Cook Strait take to cross, usually?

[vilakins]

3-4 hours. But there's a night crossing which leaves about 2 or 3am by which time one can be fast asleep. Cabins cost only $40 which is both a cheap overnight when on a road trip, and a way of sleeping through huge swells, which I have. I'm prone to seasickness so that's a bug plus. A daytime crossing in fine weather is beautiful though.

[imhilien]

I'm a bit of a pessimist; I'm always aware things can go sideways (see recent Auckland floods).

I've never been on a cruise; I get motion sickness despite taking things for it.

Breakfast is too early for ice cream said by someone who loves ice cream.

[vilakins]

I'm OK if I take sealegs. I've been sick on ferries and yachts in rough seas, but I doubt those cruise ships move a lot, they're so massive.

Ice cream is defo not for breakfast!