SPRING

makes me smile

vices and foibles

Should we be able to control our vices autonomously or do we need assistance from time to time?


I ate three cupcakes the other night. THREE. I wouldn’t normally do something so potentially detrimental to my figure, but they were available and I was feeling weak. I didn’t want to eat them, I didn’t even enjoy eating them, and I definitely didn’t feel good after eating them.

I usually overcome my moments of weakness by resting my mind in the bubbles of a bath, by watching TV, or by swimming. But the other night, I ate f-ing cupcakes. Damn it.

Would I have indulged so decadently, and so potentially waistsize-hazardously had I not kept the cupcakes on my kitchen counter? Or had someone been regulating how many I ate? Probably not.

...Because accessibility was a major impetus in my impulsive decision, do I think that I should formulate a way of making sure that cupcakes are inaccessible to me at all times? For example, should I insist that a higher power make cupcake sales illegal?

No. And here's why:
a- Just because I can't control my own impulses, it doesn't mean there should be a law prohibiting others from having their cupcake, and eating it too.
b- Guilt. That woozy feeling will prevent me from doing it again.
c- There are already natural deterrents inherent in wrongful deeds. For instance, I will gain weight from the cupcakes.
d- You fill in this blank.

UN-unforgettable quickies

When I have a question, I look it up. I use the internet. Usually google. I can find the answer fast. I type a word into the search prompt and immediately I get an answer. It’s quick. And it’s dirty. It’s called a quickie. And it goes something like this:

What’s the largest land mammal?
0.27 seconds later: the African Bush Elephant.
Then what’s the smallest land mammal?
0.17 seconds: Kitli’s Hog-nosed bat.
Fastest land mammal?
0.22 seconds: Cheetah.
Longest lived?
0.14 seconds: Humans

Impressive, huh?

Not really.
Did I actually learn anything with all of these quick searches? Did I retain the information I learned? Did I make connections to other aspects of my life? Did I put the information in perspective? Did I paraphrase the information into my own words so that I could convey what I learned to someone else? Nope. After five minutes, I’ve already forgotten the name of the smallest mammal.

But I probably would have remembered if I had thought about the advantages of being small and why it makes sense that an animal that can fly would be smaller than an animal that walks. Or what the evolutionary relationship is between elephants and bats.

With all of the available information out there, and with it all so accessible, might we be engaging ourselves in too many quickies? We all know that quickies aren’t memorable. They’re trash. They’re immediate satisfaction. Bam. And they’re gone. They’re a waste of time.

Learning needs to be done right. Read. Then give yourself time to reflect.

synesthesia

Synesthesia:
a condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a color.

…and, loosely following this definition: when the visualization of a color evokes an emotional response sensation.

I had a dilemma of catastrophic proportions today: whether to use gray or tan or white (resume) paper to apply for post-docs. For, I thought, there must be an emotion evoked, whether realized or not, in response to the color on which my cover letter and CV are written. And of course, I want my prospective employer to think the happiest, most pleasurable thoughts when reading my correspondence.
Please play along: I’m sure you have all seen the sky. The sky when it was its brightest blue. How did you feel? Happy. Energetic. Clean. Now, imagine how you felt when the sky was gray. Were you somber? Subdued?
In extension, how would you feel if you were reading a letter on either A) a gray piece of paper (with cold, blue undertones), or B) a tan piece of paper (with warm, brown overtones)?

I realize that the emotions evoked by color vary according to cultures, personalities, influences, circumstances, time of day, what you had for breakfast, the last song you listened to, your paternal grandmother’s maiden name, etc. (and this is probably why there is no good scientific data on this correlation out there), but I still want some imput: which color is most likely to evoke an ‘I must hire her’ sensation?

(and is not all together too distracting)