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30/4/10 23:05One of the peculiarities of this apartment is that I can always hear something from somewhere. I wear earplugs to sleep because I wouldn't get any sleep otherwise; if I wake up at 3 a.m., or 4 a.m., I can hear a murmur that sounds like someone's distant television, not loud -- not loud enough for me to pinpoint where the sound comes from -- but distracting. I think it may be someone who keeps really strange hours, or who falls asleep in front of the television, and the walls are just really thin.
I am holding out hope that I will be able to sleep better in the new place. The walls seem thicker, and I'm on the top floor so nobody's going to be running around on top of me.
I'm up to 15 boxes, and I've packed the majority of the kitchen stuff plus everything in my closet. I'm trying to keep in mind that 20% of the packing takes 80% of the time, and I'm not as close to done as I think I am.
...But still, I'm pretty close to done.
In other accomplishments, I did laundry, bought groceries, and picked up my bridesmaid dress from Queens (despite losing my receipt! By our Magical Twin Powers, they believed that since we matched and our dresses matched and she had her receipt, I was probably okay.)
I have been wondering lately if the huge industries in books and magazines about diet and exercise, investing and money management, self-help, and any other advice area you could name, give rise to a culture where it's hard to trust yourself to find your own way. Michael Pollan may have built himself a little empire telling people to "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants," but to get people buying a new magazine 12 times a year you've got to get them to believe that THIS issue is the one that has the Secret in it, and the Secret has to look novel enough to make it worth it to buy the magazine. And you have to wait a year or two before recycling the same Secret, so every fad gets seized on -- It certainly creates the illusion that somewhere out there is the Right Answer.
I've read that there are Satisficers and there are Maximizers. Satisficers will look until they find "good enough," and then stop; Maximizers will keep on looking until they find "as good as possible." It turns out that Satisficers are happier -- they waste less time considering alternatives, and less time worrying about what if they'd gone with that other path. But maybe our massive information overload creates a situation where you can't get away from the nagging feeling that you'd get it right if you just kept looking...
I am holding out hope that I will be able to sleep better in the new place. The walls seem thicker, and I'm on the top floor so nobody's going to be running around on top of me.
I'm up to 15 boxes, and I've packed the majority of the kitchen stuff plus everything in my closet. I'm trying to keep in mind that 20% of the packing takes 80% of the time, and I'm not as close to done as I think I am.
...But still, I'm pretty close to done.
In other accomplishments, I did laundry, bought groceries, and picked up my bridesmaid dress from Queens (despite losing my receipt! By our Magical Twin Powers, they believed that since we matched and our dresses matched and she had her receipt, I was probably okay.)
I have been wondering lately if the huge industries in books and magazines about diet and exercise, investing and money management, self-help, and any other advice area you could name, give rise to a culture where it's hard to trust yourself to find your own way. Michael Pollan may have built himself a little empire telling people to "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants," but to get people buying a new magazine 12 times a year you've got to get them to believe that THIS issue is the one that has the Secret in it, and the Secret has to look novel enough to make it worth it to buy the magazine. And you have to wait a year or two before recycling the same Secret, so every fad gets seized on -- It certainly creates the illusion that somewhere out there is the Right Answer.
I've read that there are Satisficers and there are Maximizers. Satisficers will look until they find "good enough," and then stop; Maximizers will keep on looking until they find "as good as possible." It turns out that Satisficers are happier -- they waste less time considering alternatives, and less time worrying about what if they'd gone with that other path. But maybe our massive information overload creates a situation where you can't get away from the nagging feeling that you'd get it right if you just kept looking...