I think of iTunes, these days, as some kind of benevolent dictator. Since I do not own an iPod, most of my tunes, save those I'm specifically studying for some reason or other, arrive via iTunes shuffle on my computer, which is pretty much a Magic 8 Ball for music. I'm sure I've already written about my penchant for thinking that a particularly good run of music on shuffle is an omen of a good day. I'm really not sure what to make of this morning's playlist, which has been shifting manically between Renaissance motets, Django Reinhart and Stephane Grappelli, and Sleater-Kinney. It�s an oddly satisfying mix.

* * * * *

I'm finding all your comments on cultural attitudes toward boredom very provocative. Some of you have threatened to write your own entries on the subject, which I would love to read. I've also got to read Erin's recommendation of Walter Benjamin's essay on the subject in Illuminations, which I really should have read by now but haven't. I'm loving this blog-as-seminar-in-cultural-history that's been turning up lately. This is why blogging is so much more fun than traditional diary writing.

I need to think about other things today, but I would like to throw one more thing out there, which is that we need to think about our concepts of busy and idle in order to explain our attitudes toward boredom. This idea of needing entertainment hinges on our drive toward busyness, busyness as a competitive sport, as a sort of superiority contest. Clearly in the busy-idle continuum, busy is valued more highly. Within the category of busy, some types of activity are valued more highly than other. Office work is better than manual labor, brainy work is better than repetitive tasks, any work is better than entertainment, individually manifested entertainment (e.g. a painting or a play) is better than reproduced entertainment (e.g. a postcard of a painting, a television show). Entertaining is also better than being entertained because it is more active, more work-like (and may actually be work).

So now achieving idleness has become another type of activity. We go to yoga class to achieve something like idleness, in a way. But it's active. Meditation is active, sitting there is not. But in many respects the difference is primarily perceptual. I've been thinking lately about why yoga class is so much more effective for me than doing yoga at home. I can do the same things in both places. One reason is that I don't push myself as hard without guidance. But the main reason is that I don't give myself license to do it -- I don't feel like taking the time to sit or stand in a pose quietly is okay. I should be doing something. When I go to class to do yoga, I'm doing something. When I'm in my house doing yoga, I probably should be doing something else.

Just as right this minute, I should probably be doing something else. Maybe I should stop talking about boredom and start talking about guilt.

[Yesterday's entry was made late in the day and this entry probably doesn't make much sense without it, so click back and read it already!]

1 people said it like they meant it