(No) Time to think
My new job surprisingly involves a new commute. Instead of 15 minutes on a bike I now have 30-60 minutes in a car.
But it ‘s a pleasant journey. There’s 25 minutes of Mulholland Drive:
Followed by 15 minutes of the slightly less pleasant 405 freeway:
Anyway, I now have a couple of hours to ‘kill’, which I obliterate in devastating style by listening to Howard Stern. However, when he starts to get a little dull and the traffic slows sufficiently I actually get out my phone and check Twitter. Yes, I understand that is somewhat crazy and irresponsible behaviour, but it’s OK, I have a quote from Louis CK and and an article from the NY Times to back me up (thanks, W):
“Sometimes when things clear away and you’re not watching anything and you’re in your car and you start going, oh no, here it comes, that I’m alone, and it starts to visit on you, just this sadness,” he said. “And that’s why we text and drive. People are willing to risk taking a life and ruining their own because they don’t want to be alone for a second because it’s so hard.”
OK, from my own POV the whole thing feels a bit of a reach. I, like many other people, like to use my phone in quiet moments, but generally this is as a form of entertainment: there are articles and books to be read, amusing links to be clicked on, opinions to disagree with… I also occasionally read while eating breakfast or ‘making stool’. Am I depressed and unable to be alone with my thoughts? I don’t think so. When it comes to the one time I really am alone with my thoughts – i.e. the minutes before I drop off to sleep – I don’t go to dark places. I tend to think nice thoughts about how aspects of my life might become better than they are now. Sure, if I have a problem on my mind I may well try to solve it, but my default mind state isn’t a pit of despair.
Maybe that’s just fine for me and the rest of you are wallowing in an effluence of unending misery. Are you? Do you try to keep the horrors at bay with a few games of Angry Bird or Threes (Threes is really fucking good, BTW)? What about when you make stool or drive a car (or make stool while driving a car – those jams on the 405 can get pretty lengthy, you know)?
Where do you go when you’re (*gulp*) truly alone?
Ben,
It seems to me that the world is searching for their soul in the screen of an iPhone.
And failing. Miserably.
And as long as you sell phones for a living your opinion is un-consciously swayed against the more independently minded Louis CK.
I like to try and follow the second part about letting it hit you like a truck and having antibodies that make you happy again. It’s no good trying to squash feeling like shit – it just gets worse, then you have a breakdown. Better to have 5 minutes of unadulterated feeling like shit every day than 6 months of having to rebuild your personality when it eventually overwhelms you.
I reckon.
What you rolling in Ben?
I like to think it’s a fly ass lowrider, although I suspect it’s probably a Prius.
Have a wank
Don’t do it! Don’t text and drive, even on the 405. It’s illegal and the accident rate is horribly high. Just change the radio station. Please.
@Butterbean: even worse than the Prius, I’m currently driving a Nissan Leaf, which is fully electric, and I love it. It’s really nippy and responsive but totally silent.
But it’s just a stop-gap until I work out the financing for a Tesla Model S, which I hope will happen by the end of the year.
@Bill… OK, OK!
I always used to get really sad when I was driving on my own.
And if it was raining- Jesus, the never-ending mockery of the wipers…wank…er…wank…er.
If I meditate, I’m blissfully happy.
However, if I’m in a quiet place where my thoughts can catch up with me, wank…er…wank…er
Actually, to follow Bill’s point, really don’t. Put it in the trunk (‘boot’ in old money).
Even if it’s not your fault, if someone whacks into you and kills themselves, the cops will check your phone for messages sent, websites visited etc. And then they’ve gotcha.
Gotcha like Ian Kimberley got me and shoved my head down a toilet when I was 9.
Plus, it’s the internet, it’s written by other humans, and we’re all dicks, so it’s not worth reading.
Urgh, here come the thoughts…
What’s that, a Nissan Leaf you say?
Ah, I’ve got a lovely little runaround that’ll be right up your street…
http://wordpress.carthrottle.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/tango2.jpg
Shaba, please come back every day and comment. True highlights..
Time spent uninterrupted by technology or other people is a precious commodity, make the most of it, allow your mind to wander (keep your eye on the road though).
ben, with all the knowledge you’ve given me i felt it only right to give you the lowdown out there. first installment: top 5 food near MAL
– tito’s tacos
– california chicken cafe
– la playita
– hinanos burger
– alibi room (for kogi tacos)
Thanks, kind, anonymous me!
Although one of the first reviews for Tito’s Taco’s says: ‘Overly priced food for basic stuff and it suxs krangaroo donkey dick’.
Hmmm…
It’s funny, as a SoCal native I’ve managed to avoid having a commute of any consequence for my entire career–until now. The wife and I are moving to the Long Beach area in a few weeks, about 40-60 minutes drive from my agency.
I may be romanticizing it right now but I am sort of looking forward to the time by myself. Right now, I get to work about 5 minutes after leaving the house and it always takes me a while to adjust to the sudden onslaught of interaction. I even wonder if my work will improve if I have an hour alone with my thoughts each way.
Oh, and–belated welcome to LA! I’ve been a reader for some time now and must have completely missed that you were relocating.
Surely what you need to soundtrack the LA commute is blasting out at full volume (in your Prius pimpmobile) The Eagles, Guns’n’Roses, Queens of the Stone Age, Los Lobos, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc?
No temptation to contemplate the endless void, or check your inbox, when you could be singing along:
Rollin’ down the Imperial Highway
With a big nasty redhead at my side
Santa Ana winds blowin’ hot from the north
And we was born to ride…
Classic Vinyl on Sirius XM is the next one down from Howard Stern on my list of favourites.