Now that The Snooze Button has some content and momentum, I’ve decided to do an assessment of its progress.

This blog is my first attempt at public writing. I can say that it is serving some of its originally intended purposes - it’s keeping me busy and constructive. I feel that being able to choose my topics and direct myself has allowed me to develop my writing style. My adoption of stream of consciousness narration has unfortunately prevented me from keeping the promise I made in my first post to stay concise. My intention is to set enough foundation to avoid excluding readers who have never explored a post’s topic, and this ends up inflating the post. But as astrophysicist Carl Sagan put it: “If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”

Initially I had no unifying theme beyond “whatever happens to interest me.” I also wanted to try to keep these introspective posts few and far between. Hence, I didn’t think the blog would last this long because I figured I would probably run out of material in two weeks. But identifying and researching my interests in order to write about them reignited a passion for learning that I hadn’t realized had been dormant for some time. That passion has fed back into my day-to-day life making me sharper and more observant. Through that dynamic I found themes: exploration, pedagogy, and reflection.

Though I expected to have run out of material by now, I’ve written about a multitude of subjects and have so many more in the pipeline: quantum physics, astronomy, poetry, investing, biological immortality, lucid dreaming, global warming, geoengineering, art, internet humor, the technological singularity, fashion, statistics, music, and more. I’ve found that writing for this blog has been therapeutic; pursuit of these interests provides perspective and makes everyday noise like political disputes and tabloid headlines seem so trivial. Even in personal life, how can you get hung up on a bad day or a break up or a computer virus when there is so much going on around you to observe and appreciate. 

A sincere thank you to those of you who have provided me with feedback on and offline. I appreciate the input and welcome more of it (in case you’ve been sitting on some).

I very much enjoying crafting these posts and I hope you enjoy reading them.

The last few posts have been pretty dense, so I decided to make this post a light one. In no particular order, the following is a list of things that have been irritating me recently:

• mayonnaise
• cars that take up two parking spots
• traffic
• pigeons
• Lil’ Wayne
• getting sand in my shoes
• mornings
• morning radio
• people who only drink bottled water
• rabbits screwing up my garden
• Mondays
• fundamentalists
• reality television (except when used for drinking games)
• pictures of people pretending to push over the Leaning Tower of Pisa
• people who wear socks with sandals
• allergies
• life jackets
• misspellings
• hangovers
• Charles Barkley
• country music
• not being able to do a handstand
• board games
• people who won’t take board games seriously when they’re playing against me
• not knowing why Hawaiian Barbecue is called L&L
• misuse of the word “correlate”
• crows
• telemarketers
• slow internet
• being patient
• losing at anything

I thought to myself, why is there a discrepancy between the person I am and the person it is within my power to be? I set goals for myself – keep up with news, make progress on my reading list, work out and eat healthy, etc. – and I’ll work toward them, but soon I’m back to sleeping in past noon and engaging in self-destructive activities.

Jonah Lehrer wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal late last year titled “Blame It on the Brain,” in which he equated willpower to a muscle. Traditional belief holds that the mind is boundless, but studies conducted in the past few decades suggest physiological limitations; the mind is, after all, governed by the brain. Lehrer uses the “willpower-as-muscle” metaphor to explain why New Year’s resolutions are so difficult to follow. Abruptly taking on five resolutions is similar to adding three hundred pounds to one’s max weight on a bench press: failure is to be expected. Willpower can be worn out from overuse just like a bicep, and increased brain function also requires additional energy which can leave one feeling fatigued (and hungry). But just as a muscle can be bulked up, so can willpower. Simplifying rather than multitasking, taking baby steps, and winning the little battles over mental weakness strengthen one’s will; “practicing mental discipline in one area, such as posture, can…make it easier to resist Christmas cookies.”

I’m a month and a half out of college, and since graduation I’ve spiraled into a routine of self-destruction. I’m not used to setting my own regiment, and I hadn’t realized until recently just how dangerous having full control over my life is for me. If I can’t meet these even these minor personal goals, I can’t imagine how I can succeed in any capacity. I function better when I have obligations to fulfill, so I’m going to try get back on the wagon by imposing a baby step of responsibility on myself to strengthen my willpower - a blog.

I like writing, so this will be an outlet to constructively indulge my intellectual curiosity. The title of this blog has no significance to the subject matter. You can expect to find posts concerning current events, science and technology, finance and economics, literature, sports, music, entertainment, fashion, art, internet culture, and anything else that peaks my interest, which will force me to stay on top of those interests in order to update. If anyone out there actually ends up frequenting this blog, I’d welcome feedback and suggestions; this isn’t supposed to be a journal. I’ll try and keep my posts well-informed and concise. This is probably the longest self-reflective entry I will have.

That’s all for now.