"How are you doing?"

The waiter at my favorite café just asked me “How are you doing?” and I was like “Umm, next question please.”

I just can't get used to that version of “hi”. Each time someone throws it at me my reflex is to catch it and throw it back instead of simply letting it fall. “How are you doing?” I hate that phrase because everytime I fall for it and I start to seriously consider it; the conclusion is rarely positive. The last time it was my boss who said it and I heard myself mumbling “I've been better.” I doubt he’ll inquire ever again.

When will I learn to simply say "Fine"? I guess I'm a slow learner.

Hey, kitty

He couldn't care less about me but then again he's a cat:

Sweet dreams

It's unpleasantly cold today which is why the sliding door at my favorite café is closed and I had to get up to open it for that dear old lady as she left. This time she said to me “I hope that this year will bring you something very lovely.” The expression on her face was so firm that it made her words sound ominous. “Well,” I thought “I hope you're right. It's about time.”

And then I remembered that article that I read just minutes before that. It was on Carl Sagan accurately (scarily accurately, as the article points) predicting the state of the world today over 20 years ago. One of the things the article mentions is the fondness people (will) have for horoscopes. The concept is apparently known as “optimism bias” and in simple words that translates as “people see what they want to see”.

Well, why not, if it helps me get out of bed in the morning. What else is motivation but choosing to see something that isn't there and does it really matter where you get it from?

Brilliant :)

I saw that quote in an article that attributed it to Winston Churchill but Google returned a different name. Either way it's brilliant.

Orchid in bloom

It bloomed yesterday. It's not much of an orchid - it looks simple and ordinary compared to all these intricately shaped and rare orchids that I've seen only on pictures. But this one is in my home and to be able to observe its delicacy up close and personal feels strangely exciting:

Discouraging

Who would have thought that wishing for world peace would become relevant again? For me that's a remnant of the past, a standard socialistic slogan from my childhood as common as "how do you do". That comes as yet another confirmation to the cycling nature of history. Ages come and go, people remain the same. A depressing thought, don't you think?

"I'm pretty and I know it"

This grey beauty didn't mind posing for me:

The great expectations

At the table next to mine a man and a woman are going through the horror of the first live date after online relationship. Both are in their 50s (encouraging), both are intelligent (lucky me for I can't help but listening to them). I wish them luck. I’ve been there once, you know, many years ago. Back then I was only looking for a friend, and I thought I had found one. Well, future proved me wrong. However, that turned out to be a blessing in disguise - I could forgive his faults in a friend but not in a romantic partner. He, on the other side, must have had already all the friends he could use because he ended it the moment he realized that friendship was the only dish on the menu; apparently he had an apetite for more. Anyway, it's all water under a bridge that is no longer there. For their sake I hope these two are on the same page, or the same book at least. I feel a bit like a chaperone who observes other people's lives just to create the illusion that she has a life of her own. And that's OK, really. An illusion is all I have the energy for anyway.  

Daily laughs

Yesterday one of my lady colleagues came to me with her smartphone in her hand​. “Isn't that Jared Leto?” she asked pointing to a picture on the screen. Indeed it was Jared, from some 15 or 20 years ago (with him the only way to tell is by his hair style).  “Umm, yes, that's him” I confirmed while wondering why in the world she had Googled him of all the people. And then she scrolled down the page to reveal the name of the article the picture was attached to: “6 reasons not to have sex with him”. Apparently whoever wrote it needed a picture of a handsome guy and just chose one randomly (I guess).

Sure that made me laugh but the reaction of one of the other ladies in the room was priceless. Let's say that she and I have have completely different taste in men, like totally different. And besides, I have never heard her refer to Jared as “attractive”. She insisted to know why I was laughing​ and when I told her and showed her the picture she said “Even a million reasons wouldn't stop me.”

Wow, who would've guessed!?