gooollysandra

Thoughts on thoughts and images of beautiful things

Monthly Archives: November 2013

The fate of the working world

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Working a regular 9-5 desk job really shatters one’s creativity. Your time is not your own, and when your time is not your own all you can think about is what you would with time that is your own. So, as miserable as it sometimes may be, it does make you realize what you’re truly passionate about and wish you could be doing. But alas, we all need to make money somehow to survive. So a job’s a job. It seems like most people don’t like their jobs, and those who do are the lucky ones. But I can imagine liking your job when you know what your income is going towards, like the mortgage of a house that you might be really proud of, a family with children that you need to provide for, a nice car perhaps, vacations to places you look forward to going to, pets (which undoubtedly cost money), etc. So may we all strive to like, or even love our jobs!

If the shoe doesn’t fit…

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You know when you feel like you don’t fit in anywhere? With people especially…you don’t fit in with old friends and you don’t fit in with new friends…it’s worrisome because you wonder if you’ll ever fit in with anyone. I think it’s just a reminder that we are fundamentally lonely creatures and even when we’re in the company of others, it’s very easy to feel alone regardless of their presence. But even so, we try to fit in with others to feel some kind of closeness with people, although it can be very frustrating when we’re feeling out of place. You begin to wonder if it’s you or them. Are they just not the right kind of people for you or is there something wrong with you that explains why you’re not feeling in sync with them? Whatever the case may be and although we want to try to form those relationships with people, whether or not they flourish doesn’t really matter since ultimately, we are solitary, lonely creatures.

Alone

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When you live alone, you’re not accountable to anyone or anything, allowing you to slip away or slip by without doing anything particularly productive. When you live alone, it’s easy to become inactive because there’s no one pushing you to do anything. This is not necessarily a good thing, even though it may seem like an easy way to live. Doing the smallest of things requires so much effort and it is hard to motivate oneself to be productive when there’s no one around watching you. But living alone also has its perks. It gives you time to think without the influence of others; being alone with one’s thoughts can be a very scary place to be, but liberating as well. When you’re left to your own defenses your mind wanders to places you don’t want it to wander. And as much as you don’t want to go to those places in your mind, you have to if you want to explore and discover yourself. As scary and unwelcome as it may be it’s a necessary process that real people must go through. Those who choose not to go through it will pay for it, resulting in superficiality. Living alone one can become very lonely and loneliness is the worst sentiment to feel in abundance. Or, on the other hand, you can take advantage of time alone to do things that you’ve always wanted to do but have never had time for; not only that, you can do things that you find comfort in, which you’re prevented from doing if constantly surrounded by others. It’s called self-indulgence and pampering. So, being alone…although it can be scary/lonely/sad at times, has a lot of advantages to it too. We are, after all, fundamentally alone in the world. Regardless of family, friends and loves ones, at the end of the way it’s just us. The only one we have to respond to is ourself.

Netflix

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Netflix is not the most healthy way to watch television. I’ve recently become obsessed with a show and cannot stop watching it. The nature of Netflix in that it lets you watch episode after episode until you’ve watched about 100 episodes, I would consider unhealthy – especially if it’s a show that gets you hooked and leaves you hanging at the end of every episode. This kind of obsessive watching that I’ve been doing over the past couple of days has caused me to be very tired and distracted at work because all I can think about is watching the next episode (I’m exaggerating a little. I haven’t watched 100 episodes back-to-back and I haven’t been that obsessive, but nevertheless obsessive to a certain extent). So what is the cure to this obsessive behavior? I wonder if Netflix should put a cap on how many episodes one can watch in a row? Taking into consideration, of course, whether it’s a half hour or hour long episode…or maybe we should just be able to exert some self-control stop and watching on our volition. Yes, that’s probably the better option.

Philosophy and Interiors

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It was recently pointed out to me that although I studied Philosophy in college, a rather challenging discipline, I have a great interest in Interior Design and aesthetics in general. There seems to be a lapse between the intellectual pursuit of philosophy and the somewhat shallow interest in home decorating…so how do I reconcile this? I beg to argue that an appreciation for interior spaces is not so shallow and can actually facilitate intellectual thought. For me, it is important to create a beautiful, comfortable space in order to be productive. Doing so actually gets my mind going and inspires me. Creating these spaces is a lot of fun for me and I’m actually almost OCD about it. My surroundings have to be just right, or I feel anxious and have to make a change. Not only do I enjoy creating these cozy spaces for myself, I like to go to  places that reflect a similar kind of look and feeling. In college, some of my most memorable, most productive writing was done at Starbucks, a place that I think exudes a very comfortable and inspiring feeling. For me, interior spaces are not just about the aesthetic they present, but also the feeling they evoke. The comfortable and inspiring feeling, I think, leads to more productive and creative thinking.