Decisions, Decisions

R.a.n.t. of week 11/17/13

Paragraph One:
If there is one thing I hate, it's having to decide between two options. Especially when both options are equally pleasing. How does one decide? For me, it's usually the option that was available first and already decided upon. But at times, when things are additionally presented, it makes the original decision challenging to stick with.

If there is one thing I love, it's getting to decide between two options. Especially when both options are equally pleasing. More options to choose from is a big plus. Still, when an extra option is suddenly made available to me, I feel like a jerk if I don't go with the first option I had already decided upon.


Paragraph Two:
I had just such a quandary this weekend. Initially I planned with my son for a weekend get-away. The plans were still in flux but already presented. Several years ago, we spent the night in Chicago and I was considering doing the same thing. Ultimately, I decided to travel to the relatively close city of Woodstock, which is the city where most of 'Groundhog Day' was filmed. If you know anything about me, you'll know I absolutely love the movie. Of course, I was then invited over to a friends house for games and dinner with other friends. Tempting, temping.

I had just such a quandary this weekend. Initially I made plans with a friend of mine for a Sunday evening of DVD watching. Lately we've been rewatching episodes of either 'Doctor Who' or 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'. To be honest, it's been many weeks since we've done this last so it was going to be a real treat to do once again. And then came an offer to join a few friends for a 5:00 dinner. To be honest, this is the first time I've been invited out by this particular group of friends so I was going to hate having to tell them no. Decisions, decisions.


Paragraph Three:
To a small degree, I always have this exact problem when trying to decide the topic of my next r.a.n.t. Should I find something I've talked about before and find a new angle to tell it again? Or should I find something completely new? To combat this, in a Jeffrey Scott first, I'm actually going to decide next weeks r.a.n.t., this week. So what will be the discussion for next week? People Who Have no Sense of Humour. Join me again next week, when you'll hear me say, "In case anyone thinks I've forgotten, here is the line I told you I was going to write last week."

To a large degree, when trying to decide the topic of my next r.a.n.t. I have this exact problem. I hate rehashing older topics and prefer to find something new each week. So to eliminate this dilemma for next week, I have a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! In a Jeffrey Scott first, I'm going to decide my next r.a.n.t., this week. So what will it be? When Technology Makes us Dumberer. Tune in next week. Same bat-time, same bat-channel.

Indecisive

R.a.n.t. of week 09/19/04

Life is filled with many choices. My morning usually starts with, 'Do I get out of bed or hit the snooze alarm'? Most decisions in life are easy to make; 'Do I take my glasses off before falling asleep'? - Easy, the answer is yes. But every so often, we are presented with a few choices more difficult. 'Where should we go for dinner?', 'What sort of graduation present should we get?', 'Should I pay rent or fix my car?' It's easy enough to be indecisive on your own, but when you have someone else helping you to be indecisive, it's no fun. Take my ex-wife.... please. Back when I was married, I'd do my best to be decisive. So I'd make a decision when suddenly she threw out a case for the other alternative. Trying to put my psychology classes to use, I assumed she was more in favour of the other option. So, I'd deftly alter my decision to fit her need. Then suddenly there would be a counter point made for my original decision. At this point I was now totally confused and unable to make a decision. To which I'd always get the standard reply, "Why can't you ever just make up your mind?". That always frustrated me so much I wanted to either scream or throw something. I never could decide which I wanted to do.
Reprinted 12/13/12






*PLEASE NOTE - I recently found old R.a.n.t. articles posted to a website I once owned. I've decided to reprint them in my current run. However, ironically enough, I'm not to fond of the writing so I've decided to edit the articles and repost them. For comparisons sake, I've decided to run the edited version as well as the original. In a way, it's kind of fun to see how my writing has changed in eight years.

Original R.a.n.t.
One of the things that I’m really having a hard time with lately is being indecisive. Two options are presented to you and you don’t know which one to take. Or you have a situation going on and you have no idea how to handle it. It seems to get worse the more serious the situation is. And the answer is never just something quick or cut and dry, it usually involved many various factors, each having a degree of negativity to it. But, instead of just getting full blown into my own personal problems there is another aspect of being indecisive that drives me nuts as well. It’s when someone offers you a choice and you make your choice. Then suddenly they make a claim for the other option. “But if you do this, then we can do that.” So, being the true diplomat and a semi-psychologist you realize they would rather do the second option, so you change your mind. Not wanting it to end so easily another option is then presented or a claim for the first option is given as well. “If we do this though, we can have that.” So you try to read them and make a switch once again. “Well, which do you want? A or B?” Of course now you are confused and have to honestly answer that you have no idea what you want to do. “You are so indecisive, why can’t you just make up your mind?” You can just start to feel your brain melt when you remember that originally you did make a decision. I don’t know, maybe I’m just reading to much into this, either that or I’m just not getting it. I’m not sure which is correct.