The carmageddon that wasn't....

Seriously, I hated that term "Carmageddon" and never even mentioned it. I am adverse to things that are hyped up and I knew going in that it wasn't going to be all that bad. There were probably 80% less cars on the road this past weekend than usual. Most people either went up to the Bay, went to Vegas, biked, walked, public transpo-ed it, or just stayed home.

What I am impressed is the PR campaign by the city of Los Angeles. They have sufficiently scared everyone enough by coining the term "Camageddon," posting enough signs everywhere weeks prior, and the mayor's reminder of what is going down over the weekend to everyone who lives under a rock.

It just goes to show that traffic doesn't have to be bad in Los Angeles. If there weren't such a social stigma against taking public transportation and they set up more bike lanes, the traffic (or lack of) this weekend can be something we can have every day.

Informational Overload

Just came back from biking from a cafe in Santa Monica at 1:30 in the morning. Went there to try to catch up on some reading. Came across an idea that is super interesting in the Economist: Informational Overload. (The irony of coming across the article about informational overload while trying to catch up on reading by cramming 10 back Economist issues).


"Information overload is the biggest irritation in modern life." 

This is so true. I check my facebook news feed way too often a day finding out way too much information about my friends' (or rather random people I've met once at a party) favorite dish at a place they checked into. I get inundated by blast emails at work, yoga deals on my personal email, car detailing special on my drive to work, not to mention the plethora of links whenever I google something.

According to the Economist, information overload raises stress levels and is bad for your health. I personally could care less about the two. The problem I have with information overload is that the more information I come across, the more I realize that I know nothing. I pride myself on being somewhat informed about life, the world, technology, current events, culture,  people, or whatever. However, the wealth of knowledge out there which is so easily accessible makes me think I should be way more informed than I am now. I seriously don't have the resources, time, or energy to be that informed. For me, the irritation comes from feeling inadequate of not knowing enough.

Coffee Bean epiphany

I've been hitting up the Coffee Bean next to the CAA building everyday to get a chai tea latte. I told the barista that I used to hate chai, and now I'm addicted and need at least 1 chai tea latte a day. He made a simple but a soul-searching statement. He asked me, "Why does it have to be so extreme? Why can't you find a happy medium?"

Not sure.... I guess I just have an extreme personality. My sister tells me that in psychology, they say that people who think in extremes (i.e. don't understand gray areas) are typically people who have a mind of a child due to the under-development of the pre-frontal cortex.