Some thoughts that have been stewing in my brain lately [there are some FNL spoilers at the end, if you haven't seen the finale]:
Fit-In vs. Stand-Out Industries: Working in midtown with the bankers and other white-collar criminals, my office mates and I stick out like sore thumbs. I wore shorts and Vans to work today. There’s an office of JP Morgan in my building, and riding the elevator with those guys (and they’re all guys), you can tell they’re equal parts envious and disdainful of the denim-clad creatives on floors 2 through 6.
I have friends in finance that hew to a similar dress code as the JP Morganotons: Clean shaven, short hair, conservative shirt tucked into conservative pants with conservative shoes. I don’t dress wild or cool, but I like working in an industry where people are encouraged to stand out, not to fit in.
I remember a passage in Liar’s Poker in which Michael Lewis outlines the dress code of Wall St.: Only the honchos are allowed to wear suspenders and bow ties. The grunts better stick to the uniform. Bear Stearns was one of the more conservative offices in town–Corinne had to wear a suit to work each day. You’d think being the most formal office in New York would protect a bank from crashing, but turns out it had nothing to do with the performance or health of the business.
So throw off your business-casual uniform! Grow a beard! In the land of clean shaven drones, the bearded man is a “creative eccentric.”
The Socio-Political Ramifications of Spinning: I’ve been trying to stick to my goal of exercising every day except Sunday. My body’s holding up fine, but my mind is rebelling, for political reasons.
I have energy to burn. Isn’t that crazy? I put too many calories in my body, and then I sit on a spin bike for an hour and pump my legs, with the express purpose of burning all those calories I just ate. We pedal stationary bikes, we run without needing to arrive at a destination, we lift heavy metal objects up and down–we literally work without any end in mind except the benefits of the physical action of working.
I wonder why we’ve never harnessed that energy? How much potential energy is unleashed every day in Manhattan before and after work? How many thousands of people on treadmills, spin bikes, weight machines, ellipticals?
In a world where calories are a precious and scarce resource, we use ours to spin a heavy wheel on a stationary bike. It makes me want to get off the spin bike and go on a hunger strike.
Breaking Bad is Back! Shudder. That scene where El Pollo Loco takes 10 minutes to silently change his clothes is insane.
Friday Night Lights is Gone! It ended at the perfect time though. Over the course of the show, every character underwent unexpected transformation: Jason Street became a cripple, then became a successful professional with a kid. Buddy Garrity lost his status, his team affiliation and his business. Tyra became an ambitious college student. Riggins became an unselfish martyr. Vince became a responsible leader to his team. Julie became even more of a whiny idiot (hers was a slight transformation).
The only two characters that had yet to undergo any kind of character development were Coach and Mrs. Taylor. I’m glad they got theirs in the last episode.
Tall People Are Screwed: Seriously, all you guys out there that wish you were a few inches taller, close your tiny mouths and be grateful that you can walk into any men’s clothing store, buy whatever clothes you like, and then wear them.
I’m not an Apple Fanboy–frankly, that level of anthropomorphization and attachment to a brand is kind of sad and weird. But maybe it’s not anthropomorphization in Apple’s case, because Apple isn’t really a brand, it’s a human. A human named Steve Jobs.
