Interaction (1) Mar 21, 2007
A frighteningly large part of my day is spent avoiding human interaction.  I take the scenic route to work to avoid traffic.  I bask in the quietness and darkness of my office in the early morning.  I don't make phone calls at work because I don't like when other people overhear what I'm saying (if they hear what I say, we're essentially interacting).  I send emails instead of making phone calls.  I eat lunch at my desk.  I walk quickly down the hall so nobody can see me from their offices.  I look down the hall before I walk to make sure nobody's there that I wouldn't really want to talk to.  I read blogs but don't leave comments.  I watch American Idol but don't vote.  I keep my head down as I walk to my mailbox so I don't have to talk to any of my neighbors, and I pretend to read the mail as I walk back to my house. 

Update (2007-03-22 1:01pm):  One more:  I go to the self-checkout line at stores. #psychology
Expensive hobbies Mar 21, 2007
I've come to the conclusion that everyone has some sort of expensive hobby, something they enjoy spending lots of money on.  For me, it's electronics like computers, cameras, and phones.  I regularly spend a good amount of money on new gadgets and toys while I simultaneously buy rotten fruit and used clothes to save a few bucks.  I wouldn't have been satisfied with a standard cell phone, so I spent a lot of money on a PDA.  I wasn't impressed with the standard options in my Dell laptop, so I spent lots of money to customize it. 

When I hear about someone spending tons of money on fancy clothes, I alert them to the fact that certain stores sell perfectly good clothes for much less money.  These less expensive clothes perform all the same functions as overpriced clothes, including covering nudity, keeping the body warm, and ... well that's about it.  Clothes don't have much more of a function than that.  But I suppose these people buy expensive clothes for more than just function.  And while I don't understand or agree with that, I guess I can accept it. 

Since everyone has an expensive habit, a lot of people will inevitably have different expensive habits.  I like electronics.  My friend likes camping equipment.  I knew a guy who liked guitars.  I know a lot of people who like cars.  I suppose some people like fine dining.  When I don't agree with someone's choice of expensive habit, I classify them as "stupid".  This is wrong.  I'll try to stop doing this.  Just because I don't share someone's interest in expensive habits doesn't mean mine or theirs is any more worthy. #business