(HEDONIC TREADMILL)New Year's Eve was (surprise surprise) pretty t/lame, BUT my expectations had been adjusted accordingly so I guess you couldn't call it anticlimactic (which it tends to be every single year). The highlight was getting to see my nephew, but he had just woken up and was a little frowsy and groggy. Two of you guys were down with food poisoning, the weather had a real feel temp of negative 5 degrees, and I also didn't want to end up at parties with just couples (was invited to a couples' potluck and also a diff party where there promised to be single people but one would include a friend who had a falling out with another friend of mine--I wished to avoid such potential drama/awkwardness), AND I didn't want to have to figure out how to get from Brooklyn back to Queens in (aforementioned) negative five degree weather when I still had the sniffles. So I figured I should spend time with the very people that gave birth to me: my parents. My family and I go to the movies about once every two years, and every single time, my parents fall asleep and start snoring--loudly--in the theatre. Or, my mother nudges me every five seconds to ask, "Eh, what did they just say?" And I have to translate loud enough so she can hear, and then Umma ends up falling asleep anyway.
So we saw Yes Man, and I have to say--I was pleasantly surprised. I actually quite enjoyed it, and I don't really like Jim Carrey. I do, however, really like Zooey Deschanel, although I cringed a little in all of their make-out scenes, for two reasons: (1) I was with my parents and (2) Jim Carrey is like, 20 years older than Zooey. Awk! 
(18 YEAR AGE DIFFERENCE--AWKWARD!)
I later realized Peyton Reed directed it, and then I got all happy--I am a SUCKER for his films. Down with Love? Bring It On? SIGH!
(18 YEAR AGE DIFFERENCE--AWKWARD!)
(PEYTON REED!)So it goes. I'm going to go pack my stuff, do laundry, and figure out when I'm heading back to Boston to do work. Happy New Year, everybody!
3 comments:
Hedonic Treadmill... interesting. But as our good friend Barry Schwartz would say, you my dear, are a Maximizer
MAXIMIZER:
What is a maximizer? A maximizer is one who only seeks and accepts the best. They are the people who check out all the options before making any choice. They often take a long time before making a choice and will compare purchase decisions to choices others have made.
Even when they have made a choice, they worry that that was not the right option or may feel less satisfied and less positive with the choice they have made. They may also experience regret after a purchase or choice. Maximizers also don't cope with negative events well, take longer to recover from these events, and will ruminate about their experiences.
Many would think being a maximizer would be a good thing, but it can pay a price. A number of problems can occur with those who are maximizers, including feeling less happy, more regret, being more perfectionistic, and feeling an overload of choices. In the book, Sachwartz outlines a few studies that represented this.
Remember your mattress debacle?
oh, i hope it's ok to link to this Patty, but your mattress buying post was kind of amazing:
http://thesupermarket.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=5
Thanks Morgan--bless you for reading that whole mattress post. Barry Schwartz was one of my profs at Swat, so of course being a maximzer was a label i've long identified with =)
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