Reality v. Expectations and some random odd and ends...

(cross-posted on Facebook and Travis's Pensive blog)

I think I have set a new record in between blog posts...two months. I guess that shows how much other services have made sharing ideas quicker and easier.  Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr have allowed for short and more significantly quick ways to express myself and as such my blogging has been limited to really big things that take some exposition.  If you have been missing out on my randomness check out my various pages linked above to see stuff about the holidays, football, etc.

So I guess I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up the great demise of Cowboys season on Sunday...well what is there to say?  We got our butts kicked. It really is a puzzling result to me as the game was completely decided by our offensive line's total inability to block the Vikings.  Tony Romo literally had no chance.  For a line that has performed so well all season long, the way they played yesterday came completely out of left-field. Not really understanding the nuances of offensive line play, I find that it perhaps makes it all the more painful because it is harder to point to a specific "this is how/why we lost and this is how we can fix it."  Instead of going into great depth on this matter, myself check out the column written by columnist Jennifer Engel for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for today.  It pretty much mirrors my thoughts on the game and the Cowboys season.  All-in-all: very positive.  Here is a excerpt from the column I particularly enjoy:

1. Stop blaming QB Tony Romo or do blame him, just expect to get “Are you smoking crack?” stares from everybody.

Repeat after me: Romo did not have a chance.

He barely had a chance to breathe, much less drop back and do his job. I do not know how you judge his game at all, unless grading him on his ability to run for his life. He did OK in his pocket pirouetting, when he was not lying flat on his back thanks to runaway Vikings defenders who took turns blowing past befuddled Cowboy linemen and knocking him into next week.

Romo’s fault? He deserves a medal for only fumbling twice. Having never done so myself, I can only guess it is pretty hard to hold onto the football when you are blindsided on one Mississippi.

This is not to say Romo played well. The interception was particularly poor but he did not have time to better his grade. So to blame him is like blaming the bartender for the drunken paparazzi shots of Lindsay Lohan. Go ahead, just prepare for the stares.

So somewhat logically out of the same premise of the great Cowboys' failure comes a larger issue that I think is worth discussing. I may have discussed this before in passing here on the blog (though a quick look through the archive doesn't give a indication of this fact), but anyway this has been something that has been weighing on my mind of late.  This is the proclivity of my 'expectations' failing to meet up with 'reality' and how this might relate to long-term planning. These two subjects seem to be quite intertwined for me. Now may be this is always the case that planning implies some level of 'expectation' and even the best planning doesn't guarantee that a certain outcome will result.  But I think that really planning is a means to try to increase the odds that such and such will happen if I do this and this.  Recently I have found that I have all these great plans to do activities/socialize/have fun and my 'expectation' is that these are going to be great (!) and I am going to get out of my funk and lead more of the life I would like to see myself leading.  So I make all these plans and prepare, but they get buzz-sawed for any number of reasons before they can be seen to fruition.

One of my favorite movies of late has been 500 Days of Summer.  There is a unique sequence in that movie where they show split-screen of the main character Tom as an event occurs in which one side shows the expectations he had for this event and the other half of the split screen depicts what actually happened. I have embedded a portion of that scene below:

(direct URL: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/dor/objects/14252918/500-days-of-summer/videos/500days_2_071009.html)

Now if you have seen the movie you know what happens at the conclusion of this particular scene.  My life seems to be filled with smaller versions of this scene.  One little gut punch after another. I don't want to go through each sad tale of misfortune, but rather muse on what perhaps is the best way forward.  Setting lower expectations would seem to be the best option or planning a little less far in advance with great hope hanging on something to happen. On the other hand, I feel as though there is something to be said for living life large and expecting or hoping that great things are going to happen. Today is going to be the day! I only have to wait until next week...that is when everything is going to fall into place and my life will be better for it!  I think it is important to live life with passion and excitement and losing the thought that something remarkable is going to happen doesn't seem so appealing.

I guess as many of the questions I raise there is no good answer or solution to magically fix the problem. Adapting and changing, figuring out what works are things I have found takes time, having patience and realizing things have a way of working themselves out is something I need to embrace and try not be downhearted when expectations fail to meet up with a certain reality. Life is a journey that doesn't always happen on the schedule you want it to. You just have have to live to see the day when you have finally arrived at the place you are striving for.