Makeshift sound system...
About an eternity or two ago, when I was a freshman in college, I briefly dated a funny Austrian guy from the uni at Graz (who incidentally is still a good friend... have visited him a couple of times in Austria & Italy, and I still chat with him occasionally on Skype as he is occasionally bored in his Russian posting, while his wife is in Austria).
I think of him this particular moment because I remember I remember once asking him about his phone call with little sister Marlu--a conversation he no longer remembers. Marlu apparently thought he had made it in life--he had his own place, yogurt and canned peaches in the fridge, a few other "grown up" things I can't remember, and yes, he had just bought a portable CD player, which he connected to computer speakers. I'm not sure I had seen a CD player up close, in many ways I've always been technologically behind.
It is now 18 years later (yikes!), and I find myself listening to Norah Jones--a CD someone (who?..) burnt for me--on a $30 DVD player I found online a few months ago (thanks to my internet-shopping-savvy roommate). It's attached to my television for speakers. Only a few months ago, I'd be using my portable CD player attached to computer speakers :-)!
It's funny because part of me thinks, you've come a long way baby--NOT! :-) It's amusing seeing this in the context of the expensive sound systems people like to get. On the other hand, I really don't value upgrading period...
And yet, isn't it funny how in this society we have come to equate material 'upgrading' as an indicator for how far we've grown up? It's not always a 1-to-1 dollar to brownie-point correlation, but it's still subtly there. And how it affects us to not be "up to pace" with our peers--even if we specifically choose to be off the beaten road... one of my main motivators for buying a place, besides the financial logic, was that I felt very odd and old to be living in a shared house with 4 others. But that's also a financial decision, so that part of me is uncomfortable feeling pressured to do something that relates to $ and its role in setting ones status. Or perhaps what I feel uncomfortable with is the realisation that I'm as affected by these status indicators as the next person...
And it's not just about $... status is there independent of $ as well. One friend recently stated that he wanted to be married and settled down... that he felt out of phase with his friends, who are nearly all married, and that frankly, he didn't like it. Huh. Now why did that sound novel to me?... simply acknowledging the role of social pressure.
I think of him this particular moment because I remember I remember once asking him about his phone call with little sister Marlu--a conversation he no longer remembers. Marlu apparently thought he had made it in life--he had his own place, yogurt and canned peaches in the fridge, a few other "grown up" things I can't remember, and yes, he had just bought a portable CD player, which he connected to computer speakers. I'm not sure I had seen a CD player up close, in many ways I've always been technologically behind.
It is now 18 years later (yikes!), and I find myself listening to Norah Jones--a CD someone (who?..) burnt for me--on a $30 DVD player I found online a few months ago (thanks to my internet-shopping-savvy roommate). It's attached to my television for speakers. Only a few months ago, I'd be using my portable CD player attached to computer speakers :-)!
It's funny because part of me thinks, you've come a long way baby--NOT! :-) It's amusing seeing this in the context of the expensive sound systems people like to get. On the other hand, I really don't value upgrading period...
And yet, isn't it funny how in this society we have come to equate material 'upgrading' as an indicator for how far we've grown up? It's not always a 1-to-1 dollar to brownie-point correlation, but it's still subtly there. And how it affects us to not be "up to pace" with our peers--even if we specifically choose to be off the beaten road... one of my main motivators for buying a place, besides the financial logic, was that I felt very odd and old to be living in a shared house with 4 others. But that's also a financial decision, so that part of me is uncomfortable feeling pressured to do something that relates to $ and its role in setting ones status. Or perhaps what I feel uncomfortable with is the realisation that I'm as affected by these status indicators as the next person...
And it's not just about $... status is there independent of $ as well. One friend recently stated that he wanted to be married and settled down... that he felt out of phase with his friends, who are nearly all married, and that frankly, he didn't like it. Huh. Now why did that sound novel to me?... simply acknowledging the role of social pressure.