No gym. needed foooood!
I made an interesting observation recently when talking with my mother. We were talking about Christmas wishlists, and different ways of assessing what we want, and how 'dire a need' something is. I commented that an interesting way of looking at anything you're going to buy is whether (and how drastically) it will change my life. Note, there's no value judgement there as to "positive" or "negative" change. That was rather interesting to both of us. Many things can change the way we think, or our routines, or our little habits.
Cigarettes, for instance, are an obvious example. So is coffee. But that's thinking small, and inside the box.
For starters, let's try this very thing I'm creating now: a LJ Entry. My goodness, but this changed the way I thought about things. In my case for the better. I think about happenings, my experiences, and the world in a different, more wordful light. Which is good. because I want to be able to write about it. Some people, however, can easily can turn out like that chick in Neia Under7 (which reference only one person I know might get), who put blogging before real life.
New example - me getting a few notebooks years ago changed the way I looked at the world. Not drastically, but it started a habit of always trying to have writing implements close at hand, both for writing an idea while the brain is 'hot', and for utilitarianm purposes like phone numbers, maps, or addresses. Or shopping lists. For more easy-to-reach examples, I know that carrying around a daily planner has affected the way some of my friends think. So has getting laptops. Or cell phones - cell phones! - there we go, they sure change the way we feel about the world, how contactable we are, how we plan things (I've been noticing this one lately), and sometimes how easygoing we are about changes or lack-of-notification ("he should have called me when he was late" or "why didn't you let me know you were going to see Harry Potter"). The camera ones do even more to those who use them regularly. Not sure how I feel about that'n. I'm also not sure where I'm going with this.
I guess I've just been searching through the wearables and Cyborg sections of We-Make-Money-Not-Art, and I've been realizing that's the attitude I use to evaluate most of the thingies, doo-dads, gizmos and tech-tools that I run across:
"will this alter the way I think, or relate to the world?"
"Will that be a positive or negative thing?"
I'm dead certain that getting a nice (small) digital camera to alwayscarrywithme would drastically change the way I looked at the world somehow. But I'm not sure how. Or whether it would be good-change or bad-change.
Cigarettes, for instance, are an obvious example. So is coffee. But that's thinking small, and inside the box.
For starters, let's try this very thing I'm creating now: a LJ Entry. My goodness, but this changed the way I thought about things. In my case for the better. I think about happenings, my experiences, and the world in a different, more wordful light. Which is good. because I want to be able to write about it. Some people, however, can easily can turn out like that chick in Neia Under7 (which reference only one person I know might get), who put blogging before real life.
New example - me getting a few notebooks years ago changed the way I looked at the world. Not drastically, but it started a habit of always trying to have writing implements close at hand, both for writing an idea while the brain is 'hot', and for utilitarianm purposes like phone numbers, maps, or addresses. Or shopping lists. For more easy-to-reach examples, I know that carrying around a daily planner has affected the way some of my friends think. So has getting laptops. Or cell phones - cell phones! - there we go, they sure change the way we feel about the world, how contactable we are, how we plan things (I've been noticing this one lately), and sometimes how easygoing we are about changes or lack-of-notification ("he should have called me when he was late" or "why didn't you let me know you were going to see Harry Potter"). The camera ones do even more to those who use them regularly. Not sure how I feel about that'n. I'm also not sure where I'm going with this.
I guess I've just been searching through the wearables and Cyborg sections of We-Make-Money-Not-Art, and I've been realizing that's the attitude I use to evaluate most of the thingies, doo-dads, gizmos and tech-tools that I run across:
"will this alter the way I think, or relate to the world?"
"Will that be a positive or negative thing?"
I'm dead certain that getting a nice (small) digital camera to alwayscarrywithme would drastically change the way I looked at the world somehow. But I'm not sure how. Or whether it would be good-change or bad-change.