15 posts tagged “qotd”
I answered the "insurance deductible" question with my own knee-jerk reaction.
But then I got to thinking, under what circumstances WOULDN'T one offer to pay the deductible?
Editorial comment: The scenarios that follow should NOT be construed as the actual intentions of this writer, nor as recommended behavior for the rest of y'all! Kids, DON'T try this at home!
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SCENARIO #1:
- Your friend is drunker than you, and you were trying to drive him home for his own safety. After the crash, you sneak him into the driver's seat before anyone sees. He gets the ticket, he loses his license because this was one DUI too many, he does the community service. He remembers no details, and you feel guilty for the rest of your life. Because this makes you tense and worried whenever you see him (which is unpleasant and you hate feeling that way), you abandon him as a friend. You achieve this by being progressively meaner to him until HE abandons YOU. Then you can tell yourself he was the jerk who ruined your friendship, and most days this works... but deep in your heart you know the truth. You die (eventually) and go to hell.
SCENARIO #2:
- You're trying to get your pregnant wife to the hospital before she gives birth in the back seat (failed -- she ended up giving birth in the ambulance that came to the wreck scene). Your note to self: Next time, call the ambulance from home. And don't wait so long to call. And get your own car tuned up well in advance of the due date, so it's not in the shop when duty calls, forcing you to beg a car from your friend. Later, this will become something you all laugh about together -- much later.
SCENARIO #3:
- You and your buddy just robbed a bank and you're driving the getaway car (his). Better luck next time.
SCENARIO #4:
- Your buddy broke his right leg and can't drive, but must get to the airport to go on an important business trip. You kindly offer to drive him, but because of the bad weather, traffic is slow and he's going to miss his flight. When you finally reach a stretch of open road, you put the pedal to the metal. SCRREEEEE--CRUNCH!! -- Oopsie.
SCENARIO #5:
- You and your buddy are tornado chasers; driving fast in bad weather is what you DO. It had to happen sooner or later...
SCENARIO #6:
- Your friend is Bill Gates (not any more).
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Anybody else want to play??? (Not Zilla -- I know you don't want to play this one in winter! -- Though of course, if you WANT to, you may!!))
List three things you'd buy with your last $20. One practical, one frivolous and one of your choosing.
I'm estimating on prices here, but hoping I could find these items for under $20 total:
(1) PRACTICAL ITEM: Good big towel.
(Everybody knows WHY, and if you don't, go read Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.)
(2) FRIVOLOUS ITEM: Funny socks. I love funny socks.
Someday my kids will be ashamed of me for my socks, but for now, they dig 'em. Socks with doggies on them, or kitties, or tropical fishies, or five-toe glove socks, socks with little barnyard hens and chickies, socks with stripes, socks with polka-dots, socks with flowers, socks for every holiday from Halloween to Easter. I guess I'd splurge on a pair of goofy socks just to keep my spirits up.
(Maybe someday if you're lucky -- or not -- I'll think to take pictures of my feet in various goofy socks and post 'em.)
(3) MY CHOICE: Two big envelopes and enough postage to mail off a manuscript and SASE, and hope they finally buy it, so as to replenish my $$$ supply!
You crash your friend's car because you're driving too fast in bad weather. Everyone's okay, but the car has to go into the shop. Who pays the deductible?
Duh. You do. Was there even a question?
Additional questions: Should you offer to pay your friend's increase in insurance premiums too??? Should you offer to pay the whole thing out of pocket so that the friend doesn't have to involve the insurance company?
What are 10 things you've done that other people probably haven't?
Submitted by Janette.
Can I think of 10? Let's see... In no particular order...
(Probably for all of them, there's bound to be SOMEBODY out there who has done it, or something like it, or taken it farther. But maybe not too many people have done this particular combination of things!)
(1) Spent 5 weeks living in a tent in a National Forest, doing trail maintainance work for free. (See: SCA.)
(2) Marched in 2 Rose Parades.
(3) Played the euphonium.
(4) Hiked to the top of 2 different mountains.
(5) Jumped off a cliff. (Into water! No fears.)
(6) Swam in Lake Michigan in May; also October.
(7) Saw and touched the Taj Mahal in person.
(8) Sailed beneath the Mackinac Bridge.
(9) Am the Matriarch of my particular little tribe. :P (Loved Zilla's fabulous phrase, so I stole it from her: "I am the benevolent dictator, and my husband's job is to be my army of one!" Thanks, Z!)
(10) Wrote a novel in a month! (Admittedly, an awful one. But, baby steps. Baby steps.)
Someone's writing a biography of your life (to date). What is the best/worst chapter of the book?
Submitted by Ross.
Ummm... Haven't gotten there yet?
Well, okay, let's take what we've got so far... let's see...
BEST: The summer I fell in love with Dear Husband. NO-O-O-O, I'm not going into the juicy details now!!!
WORST: MBA school. Gotta be. Living Hell. Absolute living hell. (Maybe that should have been a clue???)
What do you think is your best physical attribute?
Submitted by Nacwolin.
Until recently I would have said my hair. Until it started to go grey.
Well, it's still pretty good. Usually when I moan about going grey my audience rolls their eyes and says, "what are you talking about???" So it must not be that bad yet. It's thick, got a little body to it, not straight, and a nice chestnut-style brown with reddish and goldish highlights in the sun. (Also some grey, apparently visible only to me.) Looks darker in pictures.
I guess after that I'd have to say my legs. My family (aunts, cousins and so forth) has always had good legs. The extra weight settles elsewhere, lucky us!
If money were no object, which five luxury items would you rush right out and buy?
Submitted by lorilyn.
(1) An indoor swimming pool, with hot tub (attached to my house, of course!)
(2) The Cottage, to ensure it stays in the family.
(3) Um...? Can't think of anything else! (Really!)
(4) Instead of buying an item, could I hire a service? A Nanny!!!
(5) And a Chauffeur!!!
Tell us about an event that changed your life forever.
Submitted by Miss Scotch.
(1) Summer of '91, signing up to give a campus tour to a group of visiting students, and finding out the tour was not a walking tour as I had supposed, but a bus tour, and my old friend D. happened to be the bus driver... And I hadn't seen him in a few months, and suddenly saw him with new eyes ("Dang, he's cute!" would be a pretty accurate paraphrase)... and the rest, as they say, is history. ;-) If I hadn't signed up to give that tour, and if he hadn't signed up to drive for that tour, I'm fairly certain that I would not be married to him, and would not have the three kids that I do have, etc.
(2) Going to India on my very first business trip, age 24, August, 1995. It would take an entire blog entry to explain why, and maybe I will, later. But in any case, I came back from this trip with an entirely different suite of political views than I had on the plane to New Delhi.
(3) Having children.
(4) Reading "A Circle of Quiet" by Madeleine L'Engle.
What was your favorite game to play at recess in grade school?
Submitted by Elisheva Chana.
How bad does it burn?
I wouldn't say this was a favorite. But one of my most memorable recess activities -- here in Michigan, where winter can begin before Halloween, and lasts well into April -- was "See how long you can hold your bare hand on this frozen puddle." Last one to pick their hand up from the ice wins.
Thank God for pain. Negative reinforcement = adaptive trait.
I don't THINK anyone had any seriously damaging frostbite from this activity. At least, I still have all my fingers.
But I still remember seeing the image of my handprint, melted into the ice. And all my little friends, huddled around, admiring.
What are five things you're good at?
Submitted by HapaLove.
(1) Reading. I can zip thru a book like nobody's business. (and often do) Kids' books: I do all the voices. Ha!
(2) Writing.
No, the blog doesn't count. This is more like a conversation than anything else. My writing on the blog is just like I sound when I talk. My other writing is different. At my old job I was really good at communicating, not just verbally but also with graphics, putting the data in a way that helped them speak for themselves. I was also a heckuva presenter; I loved giving presentations. Fear of public speaking? Ha. I actually miss that part of it.
(3) Swimming. Even now. In the water it doesn't matter how much you weigh.
(4) Singing.
But only when I have music to read from. I'm really glued to the music. I really miss singing in the church choir. I always thought I was a better Christian when I was singing in the choir. I could feel it more, so much more somehow, than I do when just reading books or listening to a sermon. Maybe this coming fall... Dear Husband can put all 3 kids to bed by himself one night a week while I'm at choir practice... We'll see. Currently it takes both of us a solid hour to get all 3 into their respective beds.
(5) Organizing. Events, not stuff. The stuff... is taking over. Has taken over. But figuring out the logistics of what has to happen when in order to achieve thus-and-so... I'm yer gal!
