ANTI-MULTI-TASKING

The new year seems to be the trendy time to make goals. People want to exercise more, to eat better, to learn a new skill, to just generally turn into a better person. Me? I'm going to stop multi-tasking. 

"There's really interesting work showing that when you're focused on what you're doing, you become happier, even if what you're doing is incredibly boring" 

- Maria Konnikova, author of How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

Based on Konnikova's work, trying to do maximize productivity by doing multiple things at the same time has the opposite effect - you just end up doing a lot of things badly, and are less happy as a result. There's a discipline needed to reign yourself in from multi-tasking, but if you can achieve this discipline, you learn to really focus when you need to. I, for one, need to.  

You can take a look at the article or listen to the podcast here.

FUN LINKS

Travel

20 Reasons To Drop Everything And Go To Spain

Ah...travel. I'm fascinated by it. I fantasize about it, and I didn't need yet another reason to do it, but it's still fun to look, because second only to the act of being in another country, is the anticipation that comes before. 

Book Reviews

Posting the (Almost) Perfect Review

Sooner or later it's going to happen. You decide to write a book review. Possibly on Goodreads. When evaluating someone else's creation, it's always good to go in with some ground rules. This is a good one.

News

Inanities.org

This entire blog. It's great. It's informative and straightforward, and parses through so much political BS like a serrated blade through hypothetical butter. It's possibly the most informative, feet-on-the-ground blog about what's really happening in Egypt, if you wanted to know.

Blogging

5 Reasons I Stopped Blogging

I consider the decision to commit to blogging or the decision to quit as a moment of transition, so it's always interesting to see that what caused the change. I've always found it to be creative outlet. It serves me rather than the other way around. If blogging does not serve you, then it is better to let it go.

TV
Orphan Black
Have you heard of this? I found out only recently - and life became more exciting. This a BBC show about clones that revolves around a female lead. It hooks you right away. It does not let up. Even it you're not into clones, it doesn't matter. It's just a good show. That's all I'm going to say. Anything else would ruin it for you.

Health
Understanding Health Insurance
Short, easy to understand articles that explains heath insurance in simple terms.

PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN: YOU WILL BE MISSED

Via

Goddammit Hoffman. I really liked you - a lot of people really liked you. You put magic on the screen. You could hold it in your hands, and you could take it, and lay it on the table when you wanted. You had your own brand of magnetism - not the the easy kind that comes from being born beautiful, genetic magnetism - but your own kind, which you probably learned to hone, like a craft.     

Let me throw out a random Hoffman. There are many out there, because he was versatile. He could do lead roles and character roles. He could be weak and/or pompous. Let's skip Capote, Almost Famous, The Master* and just randomly fixate on...Punch-Drunk Love. Did you know he was in that? Have you not seen it? That's fine. Let me help you skip to the relevant parts: It's a love story with Adam Sandler trying not to be Adam Sandler, and from the beginning, the rhythm is a little off. I couldn't focus on Sandler, and I couldn't focus on anything else. Either nothing grabs me or too many things grab for my attention, and the entire thing comes off as vaguely stressful. Up to a point. Because then Philip Seymour Hoffman appears onscreen as a phone sex hotline operator, with his hair shot into  a plume, one that bobs when he talks. The man is psychotic, but it's also the perfect note of psychotic, because the tone of the movie is slightly psychotic, and Hoffman just slips right in. Suddenly, the movie has energy. It's the Hoffman gravitational pull. It's a lot more interesting. You find yourself having fun. That's what Hoffman can do. 

Hoffman was also undeniably unique, crazy versatile. He could literally shove himself into a role. As a writer, I notice characters that are a little off. I like them - the weird ones - the ones that are possibly too unrelatable to base a story on. Lead characters are sometimes variations on a theme - cut from the same generic cloth. There's not much creation involved. But when you write a weird person, there's that  tiny moment of panic because damn, it's so...so weird. And weird can sometimes turn into repulsive. Who can play this? Who can make this character likable without compromising on the qualities that make him unique? Might I suggest... 

I probably had unique expectations for Hoffman. There was a tide of uniformity and shallowness that I fully expected Hoffman to subvert, simply by continuing to do what he does, but no. He has left us, and he will be missed.  

*I haven't seen this, but this will be rectified by the end of the week. 

SMALL GESTURES TOWARD WORLD PEACE

How much does a succulent go for nowadays? $3? $7 at most? Did someone descend under cover of darkness with a spade and a bag to steal $7 worth of succulent from a complete stranger? Is this really the best investment of your time?

And no, it was not my plant, but as a member of the human race, I am appalled. There were some other working titles I had for this post - they all involved profanities - and then I thought better of it. There is no need to add to the negativity out there.

My new my working theory is the current title. Let me explain. I had a job in retail at one point, where we were told over and over again not to give the customer a bad experience (ironically, the job was a bad experience for me) because a customer will remember a single bad experience for a year and they will tell all their friends, and bad news travels fast, etc. What I took from this, was that people naturally hoard their bad experiences, and it will color their outlook for a long time. All the little things can pile up over time, until the problems are no longer small, and the world can become a very dark place. There is possibly some evolutionary basis for this: remembering that eating certain plants caused diarrhea probably ensured that your genes made it into the Cenozoic era. But now that we have Imodium, it may be time to rethink that tendency.

What to do? My theory is this: I'm a believer in small gestures. Small acts of consideration done consistently will travel a long way. It's a concept taken from the school of Karma. Small gestures, to counteract the nighttime succulent stealers of the world.

What is a small gesture? I think that ca be as simple as listening when someone is talking to you. Being present. When the cashier asks if you want your receipt in the bag, you look that person in the eye and say "yes." Did you read a good article? Leave a positive comment. I have a friend who writes popular short stories. She can tell that 2000 people have looked at the story. Out of those 2000, 100 "like" it. Then maybe 7 people leave a comment. This is a very aggravating statistic. So, leave a comment.* Little things make a big difference. Be creative and see what you come up with.


*By "my friend" I mean a real separate friend. I'm not talking about myself. Reading this over, I realized how this could be misinterpreted, but I'm past the point of passive-aggressive mixed messages. I've moved on. Seriously.

A PICTURE FOR THE WEEKEND NO. 28

QUICKIE ON THE XO JANE IT HAPPENED TO ME YOGA EXPERIENCE

Every once in awhile, someone writes a piece that is painfully honest, but in a bad way, because it shows you in this one person this utter lack of awareness of internal biases (just reread the title), and the fascinating way that these biases are processed internally. As a result, her inability to stop judging this other person for being black, not skinny, and new to yoga is processed as being "hyper-aware of my skinny white girl body." 

I'm adding this quickie because I do hope it provokes intelligent discussion and change. The actual article at XO Jane has been taken down, but here is a thoughtful reaction to it.

As a personal aside, I'm uncomfortable sometimes by how tight yoga clothes are becoming. I do go to yoga, but it's weird walking to and from class, and sometimes being in class wearing these tight ass outfits. Every little bit shows, and then you have to twist yourself around. I wouldn't do it if I didn't get a lot out of it, but sometimes I do look at myself from afar and see a sweaty mess.

WHY I LIKE EMMANUELLE ALT

Photo Via High Heel Times

Emmanuelle, if you don't know her, is the editor-in-chief of Vogue, Paris, and I'm a little fascinated by her style. And then there is something else. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. That is, until I saw this picture. 

She is the woman on the far right, and the only woman wearing jeans. There are many pictures of Emmanuelle floating around in the internet universe, but most of those are of her standing by herself. I prefer this one.

It's hard to capture inherent qualities in a photograph, the ones that flow from inside a person, but I think this one does a pretty good job of it. If you look at Emmanuelle, there is an integrity there. It doesn't matter where she is or who she's with, she does't alter herself to suit the occasion - I really didn't notice that until now. You don't notice these things until you look at her next to other people. I gather from the other ladies that this is a dressy event,* and they have made themselves up for the occasion. From Emmanuelle, she just looks like herself: glowing, relaxed, calm. Not too much makeup, not too much fuss with her hair. I love that. 

*Do you ever notice, when a bunch of dressed up people stand together, it can add up to too much? When you have one person, dressed up, standing alone - that's okay. Two people - that's stretching it, but still not visually offensive. Three plus people, all dressed in to kill - really is murder on your eyes. Too much stimulation. Too many alluring expressions. Too much competition for your attention. It means to draw you in, but ends up kicking you away.  

JUST GO AHEAD AND DO IT

“In life, you will become known for doing what you do. That sounds obvious, but it’s profound. If you want to be known as someone who does a particular thing, then you must start doing that thing immediately. Don’t wait. There is no other way. It probably won’t make you money at first, but do it anyway. Work nights. Work weekends. Sleep less. Whatever you have to do. If you’re lucky enough to know what brings you bliss, then do that thing at once. If you do it well, and for long enough, the world will find ways to repay you.” 

From Navating Stuckness, by Jonathan Harris

This is one of the parting quotes from a very strong article about one man's roundabout way of coming back to doing what he loves. It's one of those stories to tuck away somewhere, so you can find and reread it when you're feeling like you've lost your way. I'm going to go write now.

FUN LINKS

Finances

What I Learned From a Six Month Spending Freeze

Now that the Christmas behemoth is behind us, why not just jump on over to the other extreme, eh? You're probably broke anyway. Or even better, you can read an article about someone who went through all the hard parts so you can skip straight to the lessons learned. However, you may want to go through the not spending part to break out of the habit of spending. Just a thought.

Reading

Why Reading Is Important

Okay, this is fairly self-serving, I admit it. What I'm hoping this offers is an entryway into the reader's mind. One of the questions facing writers is what a reader wants. This should hopefully clear up some of that mystery.  

Apps

Top 12 Apps To Download in 2014

There may be a few here that you haven't heard about. I'm going to try out the photography apps, because I usually don't use my phone to take pictures. Nothing beats a real camera for beautiful details, but I could be wrong. There may be a post on this waiting to happen. 

Efficiency

How To Perform At Your Peak Everyday: 10 Tips For Working Smarter in 2014

I don't make resolutions on new years. It seems to limit you to making all changes all at once, at the beginning of the year, just so that you can forget them about a week later. These are some interesting ideas here that you might want to try - whenever I see a list, I tend to pick and choose what to try. Apparently checking email immediately upon waking is a bad thing - I'm going to try not to do this and see if life improves.

Creativity App

Coffitivity

This app claims to boost your creativity by providing that "coffee house" allure anywhere you go - for when you don't have time to go to a cafe, but still want to recreate those special moments.

Writing
Why You Should Be Writing Short Fiction
I don't read short fiction, and on that basis, I don't write short fiction, and that was that. Then I read this post - from 2012 no less, but it's still valid - and realized that I shouldn't make decisions based on my own self-centered, short-sighted preferences. Time to fire up that pen. 

DREAMY MUSIC: YOUNG SUMMER

This song is kind of mesmerizing. I'm experimenting with this format, in case YouTube is too annoying. Thoughts?