Alton Brown and Pessimism

First off,  an engineering joke:

          Optimists say the glass is half full. Pessimists say the glass is half empty. Engineers say the glass is twice as big as it needs to be. Ba-dum-chhss.

     Now on to what I really want to talk about. I was watching a Speaker's Broadcast given by Alton Brown to a large group of college students. He talked about various different ways to be successful and things he has done in life and his attitude towards it that has allowed him to be successful. One thing I found quite peculiar was his perspective on Pessimism. He is very much a pessimist and see's nothing wrong with it. He actually almost embraces it. Being the fellow pessimist that I am, I paid close attention to the following things he had to say.

      He put it something like this: Pessimists always expect the worst to happen. When the worst does not happen it is wonderful. Optimists, on the other hand, have to constantly live with disappointment. They expect these wonderful things to happen and sometimes they just don't. 

     I, of course, could not do the description justice compared to Alton Brown, but I think you can get the idea. I just found this thought so very interesting. Instead of bringing the negative connotation to being a pessimist, he took a positive spin on it and embraces it. Being a pessimist is not faulty wiring, but rather a different perspective of the world.