Expectations...

I had an interesting chat last night with someone I hadn't chatted with for awhile. And most of it came off as whining. Though I think she felt I was in desperate need of sleep too (and I wouldn't argue with that). But I got to thinking about what exactly it was that I was whining about. And it all came down to expectations. My expectations. And how they just haven't been matching reality. Mind you, sometimes not meeting expectations turns out pretty good. It's not always a bad thing, but just a different thing. But often times it is simply disappointing. Examples:

• I suppose this last weekend would be a prime example. I expected a much better turnout for the pool party. I talked it up pretty good and expected to write long posts about it and you'd all be sorry you didn't make it. But there were 5 or 6 people that I expected to see there that didn't show. Not including BTE's friends who didn't show. Granted, a couple of them certainly had no control over circumstances. I had a great time, and I'm glad I went, but my expectations were different.
• I hinted that there could be some exciting news I could relay. My flight was overbooked at LaGuardia, so I volunteered to give my seat away for a $400 ticket voucher and a seat on the next flight to Minneapolis. Well, things got weird as the plane was already late leaving, and the two of us who volunteered ended up getting on the flight, but not in the seats we had expected. But we were rushed to leave our mailing address with the ticket agent, saying "I'll mail them to you." Yesterday, I got a $100 ticket voucher from Delta. Wonderful, but not what I expected (let the trip requests begin!).
• Prior trips have also not met my expectations. My trip to Nashville in January was fun, but I expected more people to come out, particularly the locals (there seems to be an awful lot of lip service involved with expectations). And the concert we went to wasn't what I expected. And other things did or didn't happen based on my expectations. The Dallas trip in 2007, while incredibly fun, didn't meet expectations either.
  
• And since I'm listing expectations--for years I used to expect that HNTers were rather civil, and somewhat "above" the general perving commenters. That expectation was shot down long ago. I expected that lines and boundaries would be understood and respected. Nope.
• I have had certain expectations of friends, both online and off, and have constantly been disappointed in their questionable decisions and off-beat direction. Sure, I have no say in their lives, but if crashing/burning is an expectation, then many of them have met those...
• I'm certainly not meeting some of my own expectations either. I've got music I have to write for two different bands by the end of the month (realistically, by the end of next week), and others waiting for me to get it all done. I expected to have most all of it done by now, but I haven't met that. I expected my life to be in a totally different place than it is right now, but that's not going to be met. Not that it's a bad thing, but just different than I expected.

This isn't to say that none of my expectations have been met. Meeting Minority Report on Monday went beyond my expectations. The summer concert in July went beyond expectations. Buying a car was easier than my expectations. There's plenty of others.

I could aim lower with my expectations, or I can either quit having expectations that constantly disappoint me. Or I could continue to keep them high, and revel in the expectations that have been met or exceeded.

I expect I might be able to do that...