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I see the tools of voice (elections and representative democracy) as less effective than the tools of exit (consumer choice, leading to profit and loss).

From Arnold Kling (who once interviewed me for a book!).

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Going out to a movie, on the other hand, is much more rewarding. It makes me feel like I’m engaging with the world instead of just staring at a computer screen, and the experience of being in a dark room and a big screen heightens the overall experience.

(I created the Boulder Movie Meetup Group to help me stick to my resolution. So far over 100 people have signed up. Join us!)

Last week we saw Melancholia. I’ve wanted to see this since it came out. It got good reviews, and I enjoyed this interview with star Kirsten Dunst on Fresh Air.

In a nutshell, the movie is about a depressed woman and her sister confronting the possibility that the world may end from a collision with another planet. I’d heard good things about the movie and really wanted to like it. I did like Kirsten Dunst playing the depressed sister. As someone who’s struggled with depression myself, I thought she was believable without being overly dramatic.

But… overall the movie Was. Very. Slow. I get it: depression is kind of like Zen. You live in the moment, it’s just that every moment sucks. However, I couldn’t help wondering when we were going to get to the good part. The good part eventually did come, but not until the last 30 seconds of the movie. Oh well.

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That got me to thinking about how quickly time seems to fly by. As they saying goes, “the days are long but the years are short.” I thought that maybe it seems to go by so quickly because I, I forget what happened. I don’t retain the memories (at least not without prodding) so everything becomes a blur.

As it happens, there was an article in the New Yorker about this (alas, I can’t find the link). But it focused more on novelty of experience. The researcher who was the subject of that article posits that when we are children, time goes slowly because every day is a new adventure. But as we get older we tend to do the same things over and over (same job, same commute, same co-workers etc), and so nothing stands out.

Anyway, here’s my point. In 2011 I started recording novel events in a Google Doc, which I linked from my toolbar. I didn’t do a diary per se, more a listing of things I did out of the ordinary: a date, dinner with a friend, a party I attended, a movie I watched etc. I kept each entry very short, the idea being that it should be just enough to trigger the memory. I also added especially notable current events such as the Arab Spring and the earthquake in Japan.

I got two things out of it.

1. My year end review was much more rewarding. It was a blast to relive the highs and lows (yes, I record those too)
2. As I worked on it during the year I would occasionally look back over the document. I was amazed at how often I would forget something that happened just one month before. Or conversely, how much time had passed since an event that seemed like had only happened yesterday.

In short, this little journal slows down time and increases the resolution of my life. I plan to do this for the rest of my life.

I strongly recommend everyone try this.

A couple other things I started:

A journal of happy memories. That is, when I remembered something from my childhood or adult life that I hadn’t thought about for a long time, I would write it down.

A journal of “imprints” that other people have left on me. For example, a girl I dated for a while back in the early nineties was a huge Garrison Keillor fan. After dating her for a couple months I became one too. And every now and then when listening to his show I think about how, if not for her, I may not have discovered him for many years, perhaps never. Since his show makes me laugh at least a couple times every week, I’ve probably experienced thousands of laughs because of something she introduced me to almost twenty years ago.

So even though that particular relationship didn’t last for the long term, I consider it a success. In fact, I consider practically all of my intimate relationships a success for similar reasons.

I was not as diligent about these journals as the first one, but I hope to do a better job in 2012.

@AlexFriedman Should be. The phone was made in China! in reply to AlexFriedman #

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