WW: The Don

Today we picked Donald Trump. Here's Wednesday Wickedness!

1. “A little more moderation would be good. Of course, my life hasn't exactly been one of moderation.”

Do you live your life by moderation or extremes?

I live moderately because I can't afford not to!  Haha! 

Ideally, I'd like to be able to have more money to afford a more robust education for each of my children and my nephew.

I have expensive taste and want more travel in my life.  Truth be told, I'd much rather have the money to travel than to possess.  The two collide in that, if I could afford it, I'd have a home in all my favorite locales -- nothing fancy, but something for sure.  Since I love water, I'd have boats -- yachts, sail, pontoon, etc.  So, resting my head at my home in Monte Carlo, then go to Ibiza to sail, or get on the yacht to watch holiday fireworks in the Gulf of Alaska...  yeah, that sounds pretty good to me.  In so far as having the most expensive jewelry, clothes, a very decorated home with hand-made items doesn't appeal to me as much.  I enjoy a nice purse.  And great shoes.

All that aside, though, there's value in living in moderation.  I never want to lose touch with reality or be so removed from people that my life has to be lived for me instead of me living my own life.  It's my belief that modesty allows for that.  It *is* possible to have *too much* money.  But, since I haven't been given the alternative to live and base my words in experience, I'll never know the difference. 

2. “All of the women on The Apprentice flirted with me - consciously or unconsciously. That's to be expected.”

Have you ever thought someone was flirting with you in a work environment? What happened?

Oh, sure!  It's pretty obvious to me when a guy is flirting with me (women flirt with me, too).  I'm a big flirt myself, so, it's easy to spot.  As far as what happened, well, flirting is fun, so fun happened.  Because flirting exists doesn't mean something beyond flirting exists.

3. “As long as your going to be thinking anyway, think big.”

Have you ever “thought big” and you wound up crashing and burning?

I think big every day.  And I crash & burn every day.  :)

4. “Everything in life is luck.”

Do you believe in luck? If not, do you feel it all happens to us for a reason?

I believe wherever you are is where you're supposed to be.

5. “Experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut, no matter how good something sounds on paper. The second is that you're generally better off sticking with what you know. And the third is that sometimes your best investments are the ones you don't make.”

Have you ever benefited big time because you declined an offer, investment, job (Well you get the idea.)?

I read this question and the context doesn't seem to bend beyond the business realm.  I'm not career driven or ambitions.  I'm not business savvy, nor do I desire to be.  The hunger to advance, to invest, to allow money to rule my life just isn't in me.  So, no, I can't say I've benefited by declining an offer, investment or job. 

6. “I don't make deals for the money. I've got enough, much more than I'll ever need. I do it to do it.”

Tell us about someone that you know that has all the money they need.

In the strict sense of need, most of whom I know has enough, but they want a more prominent lifestyle so they make choices to live in a way that skews need vs. want.  (Dallas metro is kind of Keeping Up With The Joneses-ish in case you haven't heard....)

7. “I have made the tough decisions, always with an eye toward the bottom line. Perhaps it's time America was run like a business.”

Do you think running your country like a business would be a good thing?

I abstain from answering this question because politics exists in business and business exists in politics.  I have fierce opinions about them that are (1) not worth my time to express, (2) not worth your time to read, (3) apathetic at best, (4) ill-informed.  So, no sense spouting off on subjects where I am actively choosing to play ostrich.  I'll stay in denial and play the ignorance card until I have the energy to give a crap about it.

8. “I try to learn from the past, but I plan for the future by focusing exclusively on the present. That's were the fun is.”

Do you live in the past in any way?

Sometimes I do.  I look back to my days in El Paso and smile at the simplicity there.  Here, in Dallas, it's an Act of Congress to have social time with friends and family.  The city is so huge and there is a litany of events from which to choose -- it's almost overwhelming.  I miss being able to drive over to a friend's house to see if they wanted to go to the mall for a while just to be together.  I didn't need to call ahead, put the whole thing on my schedule, log in an address on a GPS, so on and so on.  

But, Donald has a point here -- focusing on the present does somehow allow for more fun.  I think this goes back to how I'm not much of a fan of the restraints of time (watches, schedules, etc.).  Worrying about what I'll be in 40 years today is a downer and overwhelming to me.  It is definitely hard to balance fun with responsible living, though.  I'm still a work in progress on that.

9. “If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable.”

How are you at balancing work and pleasure?

God's blessed me with a good job and good employer.  I work in an environment that's work hard, play hard.  And the people with whom I work are solid, talented, and fun.  We have golf tournaments, catered food regularly, department outings, holiday celebrations, company-planned and paid happy hours, sporting events, the occasional tickets given to pro sports games/events, etc. 

More fun in my life would have to include the luxuries of time and money so I could travel more by myself, with My Husband and/or as a whole family.  Seems there's never enough money.....the more I make, the more I seem to need.  Frustrating. 

10.“Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war.”

Tell us about a time that you won the battle but lost the war.

Won the battle but lost the war?  Gosh...  *thinks*

I think I'll leave that alone and go watch "True Lies" which is actually airing at 3 ayem on Thursday but this post is actually posting at 9 something ayem Wednesday...before the Thursday.  *wink*