Of beautiful days and broken cameras

I was in the bank today when the teller mentioned that it was a beautiful day outside and how she wished she didn't have to be at work so she could enjoy it. I thought, Now would be a good time to take more pictures... It was 60 degrees and sunny outside, I had nothing else I had to do, and nature was waiting. I thanked the teller and when I went to buy milk at the pharmacy, I asked the cashier if she knew of any places that were good to take pictures. She recommended Jone's Gap, but only if someone was accompanying me.

"Girls get grabbed out there," she warned. She then recommended I go downtown to take pictures of the Reedy River. "Especially this tree with all these roots. Its roots go down like this," she said, gesturing with her hands. "My son took a picture of it and it was the..."
"Coolest thing ever?" I offered.
"Yes! It was the coolest picture."

By the time I arrived downtown, I found a two-hour parking space and spent the next twenty minutes trying to take old film out of the camera and put new film in. Inevitably, after twenty minutes of effort...I broke the camera. AND ruined the film. Great. Just like me. With nothing else for it, I ended up in the library all day.

On the other hand, the library was selling this book on cooking with cast iron skillets and I bought it for four bucks. Pretty nice deal, if you ask me.

Now all I have to do get Matt to help me out with the cooking. And tell him I broke his camera.

Magazine Articles that Changed My Life

I was in the doctor's office today reading a magazine when I stumbled upon an excerpt from the book Spontaneous Happiness. The excerpt dealt with the possibility that our "stone-age" brains were not meant for the modern, postindustrial era. Modern times have contributed to noise pollution, sedentary lifestyles, and a paradoxical cycle where the more we buy, the more depressed we are likely to become. Why is this? This made me rethink a lot of things, such as "Do I have too many things?" I probably did. In spite of my minimalist lifestyle, there are probably lots of things I could do without and other things which are just frivolous. I was also surrounded by too much noise--I listened to music to drown out the silence, I turned on the car radio when I went driving, and nights spent at my parents' house almost always involved television. Sure, there was nothing inherently wrong with these things, but I didn't really need them either. Moreover, I couldn't remember how many hours I wasted on the internet just because I was lonely and depressed and didn't want to face my life. (I mean, look at where I am now--on the internet). I did, however, hold to my New Year's Resolution to stop wasting time on the internet. Other than applying for graduate school, I've spent less than twenty minutes total checking email, on social networking sites, and watching YouTube videos of Phineas and Ferb. I'm proud of myself. Instead, I've spent more time reading, with real-life social groups, and just with quiet time to myself.

Another part of the same magazine listed three women whose lives have changed for the better because of the economic recession. They found that giving away free things helped lift their spirits or NOT spending money meant finding more creative ways to have fun. One woman who was laid off re-evaluated her life, finally married her fiance, and started a family. None of them liked the economic recession, but they did owe it a great deal for changing their lives for the better. That also re-evealute my mindset on things. What if I'm chasing after the wrong things in life? What am I being blinded by? There's nothing like bad times to really make people step back and look at things differently so maybe now's the time to do it.

The first thing I'm doing is getting rid of the things I don't need in my apartment, starting with my room. There are old pictures that just need to go and so many decorations that are just lying around doing nothing so I think I will get rid of those first. This new year, I'm setting up a new theme: simplicity.