Bryce Moore's Blog, page 114

What Do You Wear to Work?

[image error]

I’ve written and asked about lots of different things people do: what their schedule is like, what they eat, what they do, etc. But it occurred to me just now that I haven’t asked you all what you wear to work. Why do I wonder this? I’ve been wearing a grey zip-up fleece for when it’s been cold in my office for the last several years (at least), and I’m beginning to think it’s time to switch things up a bit, but I’m not sure what I want to switch to.

At my work there’s not much in the way of a dress code. No shorts. No t-shirts. Outside of that, though, it’s pretty much wide open. I wear blue jeans and a golf shirt to work most days. Every now and then if I feel like I need to be dressier, I’ll wear a long sleeved button down shirt, but I just realized that I haven’t even done that in at least a few years. (Probably around the time I got the promotion to director.)

At campus, you’ll see a wide range of clothing on employees. Some of actual uniforms (like Facilities workers). Some come in shorts and a t-shirt. Some wear suits. Most of it is business casual, including jeans. No complaints from me: I like to be comfortable, and I’m happy I can work at a job where I can wear what I’d probably like to wear anyway. (I switched from button down short sleeve shirts to golf shirts a couple of years ago. They’re great. Lightweight, kind of dressy, and I don’t need to worry about ironing them if I hang them up.)

So that’s me. What about you? What do you wear? Is it by choice, or by requirement? And if you wanted to wear something that’s a bit dressier (but not very) in terms of an extra layer to add on cold days at work, what would you go for?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve been posting my book ICHABOD in installments, as well as chapters from UTOPIA. Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Latter-day Saint Name Change: Five Months Later

[image error]

Back in October, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made a public request: to have people stop using the term “Mormon” to refer to them. (See my post from back then for more information.) Five months into the switch, how are things going? Considering the church just announced it’s finally changing its web and social media presences as well, it seemed like a good time for me to revisit the topic.

First, the new changes. Gone are the mormon.org and lds.org sites, replaced by churchofjesuschrist.org and comeuntochrist.org. Mormonnewsroom.org is now newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org. More changes will follow, just as these changes have followed other significant ones (like changing “Mormon Tabernacle Choir” to “The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.” As I said before, it’s clear to me the church is not messing around with this change. It’s gone into it headfirst, holding nothing back, really.

So how has it gone, practically speaking?

I still find myself slipping up and referring to myself as “Mormon” or “LDS” now and then, but for the most part I’ve made the transition to referring to myself as a “Latter-day Saint” instead, eschewing the acronym, as requested. I’ve seen the term “Mormon” continue to be used in most news stories from official outlets even. I imagine it will take time and continued effort to get the change to really take root.

Interestingly to me, one of the strongest sources of opposition I’ve heard has come from church members themselves. I’ve heard quite a few members say they don’t see what’s wrong with continuing to use the term “Mormon,” objecting that language doesn’t work that way, or citing the numerous times the church has tried to switch its name in the past. I certainly understand the arguments, but at the same time, I think we’ve come to a point in society where people (for the most part) try to respect other people and use terminology a particular group requests. If we’re trying to use the right pronouns, for example, how hard is it to switch something like a slang term for a religion?

But perhaps that’s what’s caused some of the bristling in some of the cases: a sense that this is part of a general movement of switching how we use language elsewhere. If that’s the case, I’d hope people would change their mind. I continue to believe all people should be allowed to be called by whatever name or pronoun they wish. My mom had a kid in her school growing up who went by “Wild Thing.” Everyone called him that as his name, though I’m sure it wasn’t the one his parents gave him. So what? If that makes a person happy, what does it cost you to do it? A friend of mine in college decided she wanted to go by “Delia” as her name. I flubbed it a couple of times, but then it was just second nature. (In fact, I can no longer remember what her “real” name was.)

Anyway, from a linguistics perspective, it’s been an interesting journey so far. I’ve enjoyed observing how people navigate the switch, but I continue to hope the switch will ultimately be made. When I first heard about it, I was squarely in the “why does this matter?” camp, but the more I think about it and the justifications for it, the more in favor of it I am.

My Top Secret Swedish Nut Cake Recipe

Growing up, one of my favorite desserts was Swedish Nut Cake. It’s a delicious, moist pineapple cake with a cream cheese frosting, kind of like a less nutritious, sweeter carrot cake, if that makes sense. It’s easy to make, tastes great, and I’ve been having it for years.

Except yesterday I realized I hadn’t baked one in a while. Since I was feeling pretty chipper, I decided that was a problem I needed to rectify. And since the process went so swimmingly, I thought I’d share with you, my loyal readers, the secrets to making a really good version of this cake.

First off, it’s important to check to make sure you have the ingredients. Cream cheese is pretty much the only one that’s strange, so just check your fridge and make sure there’s some available. We had 3/4 of a pack, which I deemed to be enough. (You develop a sense for this after baking the cake enough.) Since we had cream cheese, it was Full Speed Ahead.

Next, turn on the oven and grease a cake pan. Because duh. Also, you want to make sure to commit to making this cake, and nothing says “commitment” like a greased cake pan. Cleaning that pan’s going to be a beast. You better at least get a cake out of it.

Now that the cake pan is greased, it’s time to get the pineapple. Of course, observant readers will have noted we failed to check to make sure we had a 20 ounce can of crushed pineapple ahead of time. That’s because, contrary to popular belief, a really good Swedish Nut Cake doesn’t need pineapple, as I discovered yesterday.

Once you’ve ascertained a significant Lack of Pineapple, it’s time to move on to the next step: figuring out alternative ingredients. You could Google this, but I’ll save you the trouble. Canned peaches are not an alternative to pineapple. Neither is canned fruit cocktail. The problem with these is that, while they are canned, they are the wrong fruit, and they taste nothing like pineapple, no matter how much you may wish they would work out.

However, you’ll find convenient substitutions in almost any recipe book. I personally found one in my grandmother’s, and I discovered that if you replace all the ingredients in Swedish Nut Cake (minus the greased cake pan, which I’d already committed to) with all the ingredients in her Chocolate Cake, you can still end up with a pretty dang good cake.

(You also have to swap out the directions for making the two cakes. This is key.)

Proceed to make the cake.

Now, we all know no cake is finished without frosting, and a cream cheese frosting doesn’t quite go with our new version of The Cake Formerly Known as Swedish Nut but Now Known as Chocolate, so you’d better whip up a batch of buttercream frosting to wrap this all up. This would be a convenient time to make sure you are all out of butter, having used it baking the cake. (Rookies might think being all out of butter is a problem, but it’s a vital step in making a good Swedish Nut Cake. You get a feel for where to go wrong and where to go right, over time. Don’t worry. You’ll get there too. Eventually.)

If you’ve done everything right, at this point you have a “Swedish Nut Cake” baking in the oven, and nothing to put on top of it. No way of making a decent frosting. You might be tempted to Google “How to make frosting without butter,” but I can save you the trouble. (I’m nice like that.) You can make a glaze. You can make a ganache. You can make a sauce. But you ain’t gonna be making buttercream frosting without butter.

However, there are ways around this. I delved into deepest reaches of my cake baking experience to remember that sometimes I’d poured a caramel sauce over a chocolate cake, and it tasted great. I decided that was just the thing for the task at hand. I looked up a recipe online and got cooking. Of course, the recipe called for heavy cream. Heavy cream, as any smart baker will tell you, is for chumps. I didn’t have any, so I used the handy substitute of 2% milk. The sauce was more liquidy perhaps than a novice might expect, but Swedish Nut Cake is supposed to be moist, remember?

Pour that sauce all over the top of your cake, remembering to poke holes in the cake first, so the sauce can drizzle into it. (It’s okay if you poke holes after you’ve poured the sauce already. That what the pros like me do, anyway.)

If you’ve done everything right, you now successfully have what some might call a “Watery looking plain chocolate cake swimming in caramel sauce,” but which we all know is actually a really good, professionally made Swedish Nut Cake. (If you’ve *really* done things right, your four-year-old daughter will look at the cake and ask, “Why did it melt?” But it’s okay if you don’t get to that level on your first try.)

Serve and enjoy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve been posting my book ICHABOD in installments, as well as chapters from UTOPIA. Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Book Review: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I primarily read books to be entertained, plain and simple. Every now and then I’ll read non-fiction, and I dabble in the literary from time to time. It’s not that I don’t like literary fiction (I have an English Masters, after all), but I’m generally busy enough that when I finally have time for a break, I don’t want to have to think all that hard. I want plot. I want entertainment. And I don’t want to have to ponder the meaning of anything.

Most of the time, at least.

Every now and then I come across an author or book that makes me reevaluate my tastes. Something that makes me wonder if maybe it wouldn’t be better if I just read high brow stuff all the time. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon, is one such novel.

It’s centered around Prague and New York City during World War II. It ties in historical events and details with complex character studies and then frames it all around the rise to power of . . . comic books? Yup. Comic books. And it does it all in a really riveting, involving fashion.

Chabon’s text is not always easy to read, and that has to be on purpose. His vocabulary is so much better than mine, I at first constantly found myself looking up the definitions of words, until it got to the point that I just guessed what the words meant and kept on reading. (Remember: I don’t like having to think to much.) But he uses language so effectively that this doesn’t turn into a stumbling block. It makes me wish I had a better vocabulary myself–that the flaw is with me, the reader, being unable to rise to meet the challenge of him, the author. (Sort of like when you try to play a piece of beautiful music, only to discover it’s beyond you.)

This book wasn’t beyond me. I loved it. And I got through it in 9 days, which is a testament to how good it is. Usually a “you have to think” book is going to bog me down for a couple of weeks at least.

If any of this sounds remotely entertaining, I strongly encourage you to check this book out. It’s well worth your time. Already read it? Let me know what you thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve been posting my book ICHABOD in installments, as well as chapters from UTOPIA. Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Life in Easy Mode

I read an article the other day about the many ways tools, cars, clothes, and life in general have been designed for a male audience, making it harder for females to do the same things. For example, women are 47% more likely to be seriously injured in a car crash. Why? Because car crashes have been tested for years with male-model test dummies. Test dummies that are the height and weight and mass distribution of the average male.

Another example: most public spaces have an equal amount of space set aside for restrooms for men and women, and yet (as anyone who’s ever walked past any restrooms during intermission can tell you) there’s always a huge line for women and almost nothing for men. Why not? Because a men’s room can accommodate more users at a time, using the same foot print. And not only that, but men are finished with their business much more quickly than women.

The whole article is really worth the read, and I recommend you check it out. But it got me thinking on a broader scale about how often things like this come up in our society. I don’t believe the people who designed these things really set out to be sexist. They just made a few base assumptions and never questioned those assumptions over time, to the point that those assumptions became engrained in the way our society is set up.

As a man, it’s easier for me to use current smart phones, because my hands are bigger. It’s easier for me to use voice-recognition software, because it’s been designed to recognized male voices more easily than female voices. (70% more accurate for men than women!) I can go to the store and buy any “one size fits all” thing and be pretty confident it will fit me, because it’s been designed with male proportions in mind.

This extends beyond sex. It’s easier for me as a white male to walk down a dark street at night, because I don’t have to worry (for the most part) about people wanting to rape me. I also don’t have to be as concerned about the police (or bystanders) being suspicious of me. Just another white guy! Nothing to see here.

The thing is, this is something that’s very hard to recognize when you’re one of the people who’ve benefitted from it over the years. I never stopped to think about how awkward smart phone sizes these days are, because they work for me fine. Some people take umbrage at the thought that “white privilege” might exist. That somehow being white made things easier for them. After all, things have been very difficult for them already. And I’m not trying to belittle their struggles at all when I say that. Just because someone else had it harder does not make my personal challenges any less challenging.

But it also doesn’t mean I should ignore the fact that other people are struggling even more due to things outside their control.

It also doesn’t mean that when someone speaks up about something, it can be dismissed because “that’s not my experience.” The more I think about things, the more I see that personal experience only accounts for so much. We go through our lives thinking most people have it more or less like we do. But we’re all different. Even in the same country, the experience of a Mainer is going to be very different from the experience of someone in California.

Is there “male privilege”? You bet. Does it mean that everyone who’s been enabling that privilege for years has been part of some nefarious grand conspiracy? No. It just means they took certain assumptions for granted and never questioned those assumptions after that. And so when I get in a car to go home today, I’m 47% less likely to get seriously injured if my car crashes than if Denisa gets into that same crash.

That’s privilege.

I’m happy to see these assumptions being to be questioned, and I look forward to more questions in the future. Because while it’s great that the world has generally been designed with me in mind, I’ve also been the victim in some aspects. Let’s call it “average height privilege.” If I’m on a plane or in a theater, chances are those seats are not going to fit me at all. And when someone leans back in their airplane seat? My knees are going to suffer. Not because that person is a jerk, but because the plane wasn’t designed with people who are my height in mind.

Once you can recognize how you’ve been personally affected by some of these biases, maybe it becomes easier to recognize how other biases might be affecting others, even if you yourself haven’t been impacted by them at all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve been posting my book ICHABOD in installments, as well as chapters from UTOPIA. Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

On Michael Cohen

I’ve watched some of the Cohen proceedings while I’ve been at home sick (again!), and I’m not really sure what to say, except how disappointed I continue to be by our government. That we ever got to this point is such a sad state of affairs. That the President’s personal lawyer has admitted to lying to congress. That he’s now accusing the President of all sort of terrible things, and that a large portion of the country believes him.

That instead of handling this in a way even remotely resembling adults, our leading politicians choose instead to spend their time grandstanding, playing to the people at home who either wish Cohen would bring this whole presidency toppling to the ground or wish all those smarmy Democrats would finally be put in their place.

In the end, I just turned it off. As much as I’m against Trump, I don’t believe anything Michael Cohen says under “oath” will have any sort of an impact on the end result. It’s possible, of course, that some of the documents he produces might, if they can be verified, but even they will be tarnished goods, open to skepticism.

The fact that the “hearings” are going on for so long is even more depressing, as each politician wants his or her chance to bloviate into a microphone for their allotted time, until they’re cut off and have to cede the floor to the next chest thumper.

There are so many important things happening in the world. The fact that we have a President who’s acted in a way that set the stage for all of this to happen is disgusting. And that we continue to have a vast majority of Republicans supporting him is even more discouraging. (Currently 89% of Republicans approve. 38% of Independents, and 5% of Democrats.) So of course Republican politicians are all too eager to show how they support Trump as well.

No. Watching the Cohen hearings is a waste of time, giving the people involved exactly what they so acutely desire: a microphone, a platform, and a sea of listening ears.

Depressing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve been posting my book ICHABOD in installments, as well as chapters from UTOPIA. Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Mary Poppins: When the Movie is Much Better than the Book

[image error]

Mary Poppins, the movie, was always a favorite of mine growing up, and it continues to be a movie that resonates well with me today. The music, the story, the characters, the whimsy. It all comes together in a fantastic combination. There’s a reason it was nominated for 13 Oscars and won five (including Best Actress).

So of course I’ve been drawn to other Mary Poppins-related works. I watched Saving Mr. Banks and thoroughly enjoyed it as well. I loved the concept expressed in the film that Mary Poppins hadn’t come to save the children, but rather to save the father. And that line stayed with me after I watched the movie, kicking around in my head until at last I wondered why in the world I hadn’t ever read the original book by PL Travers?

When I saw the book on sale on Kindle, it was an easy purchase.

Having now read the book, I believe I will trot it out often as a prime example of a time where the movie adaptation is much, much better than the book. People love to say that all the time: “The book was better than the movie.” And having studied adaptation for my English masters thesis, there’s a ton I could say on the subject. Often, it’s just a matter of a person expressing their preference of literature over film. Often, they’re right. Books can be much more nuanced than films.

But it’s not always true.

In PL Travers’ version, there is no real plot. Mary Poppins arrives because the last nanny left. Not because the children were necessarily horrible (though you could infer that in places), but just because she decided to leave. There’s no grand line of nannies out front. None of them get blown away. More importantly, Mr. Banks has almost no role to play whatsoever. He’s a background character. Bert makes a single appearance in one chapter. The family isn’t “broken”. Mary Poppins isn’t there to save anyone. She’s there to have a series of whimsical adventures and then get whisked off by the wind when it changes direction again.

(The original also had serious problems with racist depictions of characters, to the point that a chapter was revised twice in an effort to solve them. Whoops.)

So what’s actually in the book that made it into the movie? There’s a talking penguin at one point. The scene where they all go floating in the air for tea is there (minus Bert). Bert and Mary go into a picture (sans children). And Mary leaves at the end. (Spoilers!) Other than that, the only thing left is the sense of whimsy of the book. Even Mary’s character is quite different. She’s fairly self-obsessed in the book, and not very nice throughout the story, despite how much people seem to adore her.

I love the whimsy, but the lack of a plot and any character development was a huge disappointment. True, perhaps my expectations here higher because of how it had been depicted in Saving Mr. Banks, but even without that, the book is a let down. The things that made the movie so remarkable are absent in the book.

I’m not sure how well the novel sold. Clearly well enough to inspire four sequels before the movie came out, and then three more after that. But I would definitely contend that the character Mary Poppins would have long ago disappeared from pop culture had it not been for the remarkable film.

Is the book worth reading? Sure it is. It takes all of an hour or two to get through it. But I just gave it a 6.5/10. It’s fine, but nothing to write home about. And yet I’ll recommend it to anyone the next time they insist books are superior to movie adaptations. There’s no hard, fast rule to adaptation. In this case, Disney took the character, the basic premise, and then altered accordingly, leaving really only the whimsy of the original intact. So is it “faithful”? Not to the plot or characters, certainly. I can see why Travers was upset by the changes. It wasn’t her book anymore.

But if anyone ever adapts one of my books and brings the sort of quality and shine Disney brought to this one? I would sing their praises.

Just sayin’ . . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve been posting my book ICHABOD in installments, as well as chapters from UTOPIA. Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

The Oscars were Better without a Host

Snow kept me from the full-blown Oscars party I prefer, but we still had a family affair last night, complete with Martinellis, brownie pudding cake, and a close race for the coveted Oscar the Grouch hat. (In the end, DC and I tied, but I gave her the win, since she managed to pick best picture.) A few thoughts on the broadcast:

I didn’t miss a host at all. The opening number with Queen was snazzy, though Adam Lambert is no Freddie Mercury. I definitely didn’t miss the lame running gags. In a show that runs over three hours, do we really need random schticks where they bring in people off the street, or where we have a standup routine? I found myself wondering what in the world all that fluff was there for. Last night’s show was done before 11:30, which feels like a small miracle, even though it still ran over. Of course, there have been hosts I really enjoyed. I have fond memories of Billy Crystal, for example. But other hosts have just fallen flat, and it feels like years since we had one I was really happy with. A lot of it has been touch and go, so the question for me is whether the potential reward (a great host with wholly relevant, interesting additions to the ceremony) is worth the potential risk (boring, stupid routines). In the end, I would say it isn’t, judging by last night’s show.It made me wonder what else could be cut. The Memoriam piece is nice, and I liked that they cut the mic to the audience, so we didn’t have applause when names and pictures showed up. (They died! Yay! Really?) Honestly, if I had one suggestion, it would be to have a host, and have that host be the one person to give out awards all evening. You ditch all the stars trotting out and doing insipid little skits before each award and just have the awards themselves. Maybe I’m too much of a purist? Anyone who wants to see who’s wearing what can see all that during the red carpet show. I think the awards themselves should be all about movies. Clips from the films and performances, music from the films, play the soundtracks of the films, etc. But maybe the audience of moviephiles is just too low.Acceptance speeches: some were soapboxes (which I don’t care for, since people winning an award for acting or cinematography or whatever doesn’t really qualify them in my book for making me care what they think about politics), some were long laundry lists that just went on forever, but some were enthusiastic and heartfelt, and those are ones I really enjoy watching. I’m willing to put up with the former to have the latter.As for who should have won and who did win, of all the nominees, I have only seen: Blackkklansman, Black Panther, Incredibles 2, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Bao, A Quiet Place, Infinity War, Ready Player One, and Solo. So in other words, I have no leg to stand on to say who should have won anything. I don’t believe longevity should “earn” anyone an award, and I don’t believe being snubbed in the past “earns” you a right to an award in the present.That said, I would like to see more of the movies, and next year I’d be willing to put my money into it some more. In my ideal world, I’d like to sit down to watch the Oscars having seen all of the nominations, so that when I fill out my sheet, I can say what I’d like to win. That would take some effort, but I think I could do it. I’d have about a month to watch them all, or at least all the ones I could watch through streaming online somehow.Having seen all the musical numbers, I really liked Shallow’s performance and the song itself. Really well done, and an integral part of the movie. The other numbers I’ve already forgotten.Fashion choices were sort of all over the place. I remember liking Richard Grant’s smoking jacket look, and that dress with all the little mirrors on it was pretty cool, but the king of fashion, I am not. And I really don’t care who designed what.I didn’t see any of the ads, as I started the show late and had recorded it on YouTube TV, so I just skipped them. I missed seeing them, however, and next year I’d like to start on time, honestly. It’s like skipping through the Super Bowl commercials. They’re a part of the experience.

And that sums it up for me. What did you think of the evening? Miss a host?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve been posting my book ICHABOD in installments, as well as chapters from UTOPIA. Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

External vs. Internal Motivation

I’ve been thinking the last week or two about what makes us do the things we do, and for me, much of it breaks down to external or internal motivation. Internal motivation comes when you personally decide to do something and then just go out and do it. External motivation comes when you’re forced to do something by any other means. This could be due to legal requirements, family pressure, societal norms, and things like that.

Typically, the only things I’m able to really motivate myself to do through internal motivation are the things I want to do anyway. I like watching television shows enough that there’s not really any need for me to find any external motivation to watch as much as I can. I love playing games, and so there’s no need for me to do anything extra to get that done, either.

Then there are the things we’re generally forced to do. Going to work each day. Obeying laws. Getting up each morning to take people to early morning seminary. These are things that, when left to our own devices each day, we might not be so quick to do. (Though ideally each of us wants to obey most laws and be dependable people at work.) But it’s okay, because society has a whole ton of externally motivating mechanisms to keep everyone doing these things. Paychecks really help. So do strict consequences for breaking the law.

Sometimes when I’m struggling to do something that I want to do in theory (though in practice I’m falling short), I come up with externally motivating factors and put them in place to get me to kick things into gear. I’ll tell people about a goal I have, and then I’ll report back regularly on it. I’ll throw in some monetary goals, or some kind of specific reward. But when you get down to it, all those things I put into place are really just variations of internal motivation as well, aren’t they? Because after all, they rely on me continuing to tell people about those goals and my failure to meet them. I have to decide to want to do it. I suppose you could arrange something where someone else is automatically informed about what you’re doing, and then they agree to impose consequences on their own, but that’s getting pretty convoluted.

So how do you go from being externally motivated to being internally motivated? Are there any tricks I’m missing? Because the only thing I can really think of is developing stronger will power. Just making a decision inside you to stick to a goal or make a change and have it be a lasting decision. Having your will power take the driver’s seat instead of your instincts. Conquering your id.

I suppose these are all basic philosophical questions people have been asking forever. So maybe it’s no wonder I still think about them, both in terms of how I can improve myself and how I can help my kids to improve.

So . . . do you have anything to add to the discussion? What methods have you found helpful?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve been posting my book ICHABOD in installments, as well as chapters from UTOPIA. Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Spamalot: Then and Now

You wouldn’t think going to a production of Spamalot would be the fodder for much in the way of a blog post, but guess what?

You’d be wrong.

Denisa and I first went to Spamalot back when it was on Broadway in 2006. It had just won the Tony for Best Musical, and we both had a great time. (Except for the French taunting scene, which amused Denisa far less than it amused me.) My memories of the show are that it was very lively and fast paced and funny from start to finish.

Last night, we saw Spamalot for the second time, driving up to Orono to catch the touring production. It was a solid performance, though of course not nearly as good as the Broadway production that lives now in my memory. It’s an unfair comparison to make, but very hard to get around it. Still, it was funny and a great way to spend an evening.

Except for one scene.

It wasn’t the French taunting scene this time. No, in this instance, it was the “You Won’t Succeed on Broadway” number:

It’s all about how, to really succeed on Broadway, you need Jews. And when I saw it on Broadway in 2006, I thought it was hilarious. A great in-joke that went over very well with the audience. The ensuing music and dance number, with all the Jewish references, was fantastic.

Last night in Orono, Maine, thirteen years later? I found the whole number quite painful to watch. Not because it was poorly done. The choreography and acting was no different than what I’d seen in 2006 (minus some simple matters of the skill of the dancers and actors), but the content itself was rough.

For one thing, I was in Orono, Maine, where the Jewish population isn’t exactly overwhelming, so it felt much less like I was laughing along with a joke and much more like I was laughing at a particular group of people. But much more significantly, when I saw it in 2006, anti-Semitism seemed like such an outdated mindset. Something only a real imbecile would espouse. Perhaps that was just my naïveté, but certainly the amount of public anti-Semitism in America has gone through the roof in the intervening years.

And how depressing is it to think of that through the entire number? I almost felt like they should have just cut the entire scene, if it were possible. Judging from the laughs (or, rather, the stark absence of them in comparison to the rest of the show), I don’t think I was alone in my feelings. Which then makes me wonder if the scene was all that funny in the first place, back in 2006.

In any case, overall we had a great time, and it provided plenty of conversation fodder for the drive home. What do you all think about it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve been posting my book ICHABOD in installments, as well as chapters from UTOPIA. Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.