Polite

the wind and I decided to go different directions today
​3/19/2007

I've learned the hard way (repeatedly) that it is better to say things the nice way. Am I a polite person? Some would say yes... others would say no. I get feedback sometimes. Part of the problem is that I used to think honest meant telling the truth all the time. But when should you just not say anything? I've always had a much harder time with that. These nuances... these social customs often escape me.

In elementary school I told my Sunday school teacher that I didn't like his class and that I didn't want to go anymore. I have never really forgiven my mom for forcing me to apologize to my teacher for (in my opinion) telling the truth. I really ought to let her off the hook though. If this is my main grievance with her, then she did pretty good. 

More recently, a friend of a friend was giving us a couch. While I was picking it up I noted something about the way she dressed. I meant it as a more of a nostalgic nod to a style of attire I used to adhere to... but it turns out her husband felt that it was a bit rude. I was oblivious.

I absolutely bothers me still that someone out there had a negative experience with me. Did you know that there are loads of people out there that just move on? They don't actually care if there are people that don't like them. I'm not trying to say that I want everyone to like me... but I'd really like things to be neutral at a minimum. 

So I will not be going into politics and it is a miracle that I can even perform my day job (emotionally speaking). The only way I get away with that is by often going to excruciating lengths to manage expectations of customers. I give people more information than they are asking for. I try really hard to listen for when I might be taken a way I hadn't meant. It helps that I often have the same conversations over and over. Practice, practice, practice!

It is just a little hard to believe that some people don't have to work so hard to achieve the same results.

Originally Posted ​March 19, 2007

LaGrange - 41.15 mile

I imagined so many seemingly poetic things to write as I was riding. Something about clouds and wildflowers, but I can't remember now. The songs I sing while riding range from "Let's get it on" to "The Hallelujah Chorus". Howerver, usually it is a blessed Regina Spektor song stuck in my head. Bastrop and Buescher State Parks are worth the ride if you've never been and live in the Austin area. They are the home of the lost pines. They just don't know how they got there. A couple of local teens greeted me at First Presbyterian Church and pointed me in the direction of the parsonage. Unfortunatly Mrs. Lee has bronchitis and appologized for being antisocial, but I set up my tent hidden behind the building with the help of the two girls. I visited the house to get cleaned up and then ate and chatted with Walt. He was surprised I knew about the PCUSA, but I did just graduate from a PCUSA school. I've just been updating in the church office and I checked my google analytics account that Jake hooked me up with a couple weeks ago. That's right. I'm watching you. I'm particularly curious about the 6 visits from Europe and the hit from Bancalari. Just as I was done with my usual check in's on the nephew pics, the computer decided it had had enough for the day. Poor old computers. I should head to bed so that I can wake up in the morning. I remember what I was going to say now... "the wind and I decided to go in different directions today"
7.6 ave - 32.8 max - 1695.7 odo - 5:20:57 time