I guess like most people, I am a mixture, tending to err on the side of pragmatism, which is - more often than not - perceived as negative. I have a friend who runs a branding agency, I run a PR firm. I think he's too positive, he thinks I'm too negative. We are probably both right to an extent. A typical exchange between us from about a year ago...he called me in to talk about copy writing for a internet forum outreach program for one of his clients. I listened to his ideas, gave a few thoughts, and - as most of you may know, but he did not, I know a thing or two about the innards of forum management. He basically wanted us to do some writing on forums on behalf of his client. I said no, the mods will just ban you as a spammer, and you are going to have some issues when you go back to the client as a banned former user. He gave me that typical-matt-pisses-on-my-cupcakes look, did it anyhow, billed his client, got banned and said 'oh fuck, now what?' This one is more cut and dried than most of our dialogue, but is typical of it...as I said earlier, he'd insist I'm always seeing the negative, and I'd insist his optimism is unrealistic. I don't know where that places me on a binary scale. When I talk about people - which some would say I do too much of, and is something I have been working at curtailing - I do make an honest effort to not speak ill of most people. It reflects more on me than on them, and tells the listeners that when their back is turned, it will be them that I am speaking about next. This is a bad thing. So, if I am talking about other people, I do try to stay with the positive...funny stories and good things that they are up to, rather than being bitchy.
I just can't
