Endurance

Does anyone really like the word endurance? Endured maybe, for it indicates that the experience is over. But endurance is hard. You keep with something just because you must, you should, or you want to. No matter the reason you are digging in when so much seems to say, "Quit!"

 Several years ago my school decided that the lobby of the girls' dorm should be tiled. The materials were purchased and some of the teachers became students. How do you lay tile? We endured pulling up the carpet, the easiest part of the entire process. Then came scraping up the glue, tile needs a smooth surface. Everyone displayed endurance, for the glue would not come up. But it had to come up. There was no choice. So we scraped. Finally, we could lay tile.We stooped and scraped and spread (our math teacher in the picture gained a new respect for surface area). Endurance was again called for. I cut tile, then re-cut tile.

Just as we began to think that we would never stand straight again, we finished. We had endured. It is such a sweet experience to enter that lobby now. All the enduring past, now there is just the "fruits of our labor".

What enduring right now?

Glib

I love words. Often I come across new words and don't have time to look them up, and then when I have the time, I've forgotten the word I heard. Other times I hear a word again for the first time and realize that I don't really know what the word means. This week it was glib. Do you know what it means without looking it up?

According to Merriam-Webster, glib means the following: 1a: marked by ease and informality, 1b: showing little forethought or preparation, 1c: lacking depth and substance; 2: smooth, slippery; 3: marked by ease and fluency in speaking or writing often to the point of being insincere or deceitful.

It is the last bit of the definition that surprised me. Ease and informality don't sound too bad. Don't we want to communicate with others in a easy, carefree sort of way. To an extent, that is the reason for a blog to begin with - an more informal way to communicate without being totally formless (twitter). But the last bit - "to be point of being insincere or deceitful." How easy is it to fall into that hole when you are trying to be easy going. Must all preparation or depth be thrown to the wind? Can a person truly be easy going even if they have prepared, or is that like women who spend hours (literally) on their hair in an effort to make it look like they haven't done anything with their hair. Is planned ease always insincere? Is planned ease in communication really possible?

I'm not sure if this post is glib or not. Just some thoughts and ideas about a fun word (some words are just more fun to say than others).

Oh, as a point of trivia, glib was first used in English in 1584.

Expectations

I don't remember how old I was when I read Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations. I do remember finishing it with unfulfilled expectations. To whose "great expectation" did the title refer? Were the "great expectations" met?

Expectations are funny things. I wonder if life ever really lives up to our expectation of it? This past week a Whole Foods store opened in Oklahoma City. Many people have been greatly anticipating this event. As I attempted to wonder through the store on the day after the grand opening (it was still far too crowded to truly wander), I overheard an employee mention that on opening day some people arrived at 4 am with lawn chairs to await the grand opening. Now I've heard of such "camping out" for Apple products, movies, and even books but for the grand opening of a . . . grocery store? Don't get me wrong, as I surveyed the deli and salad bad, my expectation were more than satisfied. But what type of expectations must a person have to arrive at 4 am?

When I graduated from high school in May of 1992, I expected to graduate from college exactly four years later. Well, two years later I did receive my Associates of Liberal Arts. So far, so good. Then life happened. Four years later I was receiving my Associates of Science in Nursing. This was now six years after graduating from high school. Already my expectations were a little battered. This coming May, 20 years after graduating from high school I will be receiving my Bachelors of Science, not the Bachelors of Arts I was expecting 20 years earlier. All of those early expectations were unfulfilled. Now I have new expectations regarding a Masters degree.

A colleague of mine asserts that expectations in general are the source of most of the discontent people experience. Yet, I feel addicted to generate expectations. My own "great expectations" of 20 years ago were not met, but they have been replaced by what I think are better expectations. So, are expectations motivating you or making you discontent?

New Blogger - Beware

I've made the leap into the cyber world of blogging. (Is the term "cyber" outdated?) As part of a composition class, I've become the latest new blogger - beware. I hope this will not be as traumatic for me as when I was a new driver, or as traumatic for the rest of you as new drivers are to me. So to begin this adventure, I ask for your advice. What do I do with this blog? Maybe the best way to answer is if you would share why you started your blog. Keep in mind that new bloggers, like new drivers, move slower than necessary. : )