Friday, October 19, 2018

OK Fine

Fine art, fine wine, how about a big fine.
Or consider this:
Collector of fine beer,
Collector of fine blogs,
Collector of bad questions.

Over the decades of traveling around, but often sitting at my desk, I’ve discovered many strange unusual things attract enough interest to be collected. Sure you probably heard of string being collected (hey I bet there has been a huge drop in string usage since the introduction of plastic bags but are string collectors now rich?). 


Royal wedding cake (link)

Slices of wedding cake are not on my list of collectable items. However, add celebrity or history to most anything from a strand of hair to a chair and you’ll create a collectable. Not too long ago a slice of royal wedding cake (in a very nice tin) was auctioned off to a wedding cake collector (I guess). Historical items probably are smart choice for collecting but what qualifies as historical?

I rank that last question as a good question. However, I’ve discovered that I have a talent (curse?) for bad questions.

A question even more than a statement can reveal your inner thinking. Certain situations transform into confrontation when a bad question is mistakenly voiced. Think of the bad taste of foot in mouth.

Not wondering at all is difficult but wondering while remaining silent often allows you to shift to other more promising discussions. Unfortunately, I don’t remember my own guidance in these situations. Instead I’ll drop a bad question. Really I’m not intentionally constructing a bad question. I just fail to think through how my question might be interpreted. I’ve noticed the reply to a bad question most likely is another question. Typically the question shooting back at me is “why are you asking that?” or something worst.

What starts as ping pong escalates to a explosive smart missiles with me being left with only dumb bomb questions/answers.

I need to start a collection of bad questions so that I have a list to check before acting on my wondering. I plan to become a collector of bad questions.

As Paul Simon once wrote (and sang):

I want a shot at redemption
Don't want to end up a cartoon
In a cartoon graveyard

I don’t need redemption but recognition with a side of understanding would be a good finish to a heated exchange.

Dancing (an almost non-existent skill of mine) might also improve situations. Dancing out of the way is classier than ducking.




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