Thursday, May 6, 2010
Breakfast at home: oatmeal with fresh sliced organic banana, organic cinnamon, simple syrup, nonfat milk; Tazo Awake hot black tea. To work: facelift project work: stylesheets. Sent the websteering lunch reminder. Email cleanup and followup. Facelift project work. Sent messages to various groups about Drupal. Small pharm sci web edit for Carol. Rode with Cindy, Lucia, and Shirin to Joel's place to pick him up. We parked in Union Square Garage. Graduation banquet on the 32nd floor at the Westin St. Francis. The glass elevator ride along the exterior of the building scared me—I've never been that scared of heights before. Answered this question on Formspring: Question: "If you could only listen to one song for the next month, which would it be?" Answer: "Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra." Answered this question on Formspring: Question: "How old were you the first time you went to disneyland?" Answer: "I don't know exactly, but I probably first visited Disneyland within the first 5 years of my life." Answered this question on Formspring: Question: "Why are people so rarely satisfied with what we have that we constantly seek more or better? by CacaoBean." Answer: "This question can be addressed on a lot of different levels, but I would first like to question your assumption that people are rarely satisfied. Satisfaction can present itself in many ways, and some of them are not obvious. For example, after buying groceries at the supermarket, you go home and store them away. Do you then go right out and buy more groceries? Usually no—you are satisfied with what you have, and there is no seeking more groceries or better groceries—for a little while anyway. After brushing your teeth, do you brush your teeth a second time? No, because you're satisfied with how clean they are at the moment. If you spend a day thinking about all the ways you are satisfied, you might surprise yourself. It's easy to see dissatisfaction in our lives, and it's harder to see satisfaction because satisfaction is much less interesting. With dissatisfaction you have drama, discontent, problem solving, crime, anger, and so forth. You never see daytime talk shows about families that get along perfectly. Back to your question. The easy answer is that it's human nature. How do we know this? Well, we don't—not for certain. But since we can find dissatisfaction and the seeking of more or better in pretty much everyone, we can make this guess. And if you believe that humans don't yet understand human psychology enough to know why humans act this way, then your question currently has no more correct answer than: we don't know. To me *why* people want more or better matters far less than recognizing that finding more or better does not necessarily make you or others happier. Even if it does, that happiness is still temporary. You could spend your whole life fruitlessly searching for the why whereas recognizing the ways you are already satisfied can bring you happiness today."