A Rough Day on Everyone Involved
August 8, 2013 7:43 PM Subscribe
A visual representation of your days on earth, made delicious. SLYT
On earth, or space, I guess.
From the inimitable perennial Mefavorite, Zefrank. Previously.
On earth, or space, I guess.
From the inimitable perennial Mefavorite, Zefrank. Previously.
You'd think I would be depressed, but this only made me want jellybeans.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:23 PM on August 8, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:23 PM on August 8, 2013 [2 favorites]
....Okay, I was flip.
The problem I (usually) have with this kind of "this pile of [foo] represents each one of the days in your life" is that it's almost...too abstract. I mean, after they took away all the time spent on brushing your hair and sleeping and eating and whatever and were all "this is all the time you have left for everything else", my reaction was, "....that still looks like kind of a lot". And then they did that whole "but what if you had less than this, what if you had only one day left," and....you didn't need jellybeans to do that. So...I don't really get why the visual representation was supposed to be that much more impactful.
(The reason for that "usually" is that I have seen one bit of work that incorporated candy as a metaphor for something in a way that got to me - the conceptual art piece here.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:28 PM on August 8, 2013 [3 favorites]
The problem I (usually) have with this kind of "this pile of [foo] represents each one of the days in your life" is that it's almost...too abstract. I mean, after they took away all the time spent on brushing your hair and sleeping and eating and whatever and were all "this is all the time you have left for everything else", my reaction was, "....that still looks like kind of a lot". And then they did that whole "but what if you had less than this, what if you had only one day left," and....you didn't need jellybeans to do that. So...I don't really get why the visual representation was supposed to be that much more impactful.
(The reason for that "usually" is that I have seen one bit of work that incorporated candy as a metaphor for something in a way that got to me - the conceptual art piece here.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:28 PM on August 8, 2013 [3 favorites]
My daughter turned 16 this year. In two years, for sure, she will be heading out in her own world. With that realization, I've been thinking about what those days will be like when she's off on her own, when my son joins her a couple of years later out in the world. Somehow it seems, in that moment, that I'll have an awful lot of jelly beans left.
posted by salishsea at 8:40 PM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by salishsea at 8:40 PM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
But (and I say this as someone whose child turned into an adult when I was in my late 40s) I urge you to consider how much more personal time you'll have each day to enjoy those jelly beans. Treasure them and consume each one with conscientious joyfulness, but don't try to hoard them or they'll go stale.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:32 PM on August 8, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:32 PM on August 8, 2013 [2 favorites]
Thanks Greg_Ace...I'm sanguine about the change.
posted by salishsea at 9:44 PM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by salishsea at 9:44 PM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]
So, the Universe waited until I was 65 to illustrate this so clearly to me for what reason?
Move over Zardoz.
posted by HuronBob at 3:05 AM on August 9, 2013
Move over Zardoz.
posted by HuronBob at 3:05 AM on August 9, 2013
How many jellybeans(days) did he take to make that video? He could have been hiking or playing the guitar.
posted by dukes909 at 5:36 AM on August 9, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by dukes909 at 5:36 AM on August 9, 2013 [2 favorites]
Well, and the bean thing is weird because first he says that each jellybean represents one day. But then there's a huge jump when each jellybean becomes the fraction of the day that you're not sleeping, bathing, or working. That's why I usually object to this kind of thing. It assumes that those activities aren't your own and aren't worthwhile.
That's not really how life works out -- the real measure is good days vs. bad days, or worthwhile days vs. not worthwhile. Days you connect or explore or love or dig your toes into the sand vs. days you don't. If we play it right, that pile for good days is the biggest pile of beans.
posted by mochapickle at 6:29 AM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
That's not really how life works out -- the real measure is good days vs. bad days, or worthwhile days vs. not worthwhile. Days you connect or explore or love or dig your toes into the sand vs. days you don't. If we play it right, that pile for good days is the biggest pile of beans.
posted by mochapickle at 6:29 AM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
But jellybeans are gross though.
You can have all mine if you want.
posted by sparklemotion at 6:54 AM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
You can have all mine if you want.
posted by sparklemotion at 6:54 AM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
Guh. The formulation of WHAT IF YOU HAD JUST ONE MORE DAY does not motivate me to "live to the fullest." It merely reminds me of how thoroughly my society, and my place in it, restricts my capability of living to any fullest that would matter to me, and fills me with anxiety at the sudden command to fit "live to the fullest" into the, like, 10 spare minutes I have left after trying to keep basic breathing life in my stupid fleshly body every fucking day.
I often think how nice it would be if I could gift my proverbial jellybeans to someone more able to use them properly, rather than being allowed to waste them in bare survival for the next 40-60 years.
posted by like_a_friend at 7:49 AM on August 9, 2013
I often think how nice it would be if I could gift my proverbial jellybeans to someone more able to use them properly, rather than being allowed to waste them in bare survival for the next 40-60 years.
posted by like_a_friend at 7:49 AM on August 9, 2013
like_a_friend, I think it depends on what you mean by living life to the fullest. For some people, it's extreeeeeme bungee-jumping/parasailing/curing-cancer/flying-to-antarctica/listening-to-opera. For others, it's taking a moment to scritch your cat's ears and watch the leaves outside the kitchen window catch the light. I just poked through your AskMes, and you live in a neat city and make pizza and have friends. It sounds like you have good things going on.
I am typing this while watching a squirrel s-t-r-e-t-c-h on the branches a few feet away and devour the currants he's picking off the branches. If I had just one jellybean left, just one day, I'm pretty sure I would spend part of it sitting right here, watching that squirrel.
posted by mochapickle at 9:52 AM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
I am typing this while watching a squirrel s-t-r-e-t-c-h on the branches a few feet away and devour the currants he's picking off the branches. If I had just one jellybean left, just one day, I'm pretty sure I would spend part of it sitting right here, watching that squirrel.
posted by mochapickle at 9:52 AM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
I am typing this while watching a squirrel s-t-r-e-t-c-h on the branches a few feet away and devour the currants he's picking off the branches. If I had just one jellybean left, just one day, I'm pretty sure I would spend part of it sitting right here, watching that squirrel.
And I would happily give you all of my jellybeans so that you can do that for an extra several decades :)
posted by like_a_friend at 10:03 AM on August 9, 2013 [1 favorite]
Well, and the bean thing is weird because first he says that each jellybean represents one day. But then there's a huge jump when each jellybean becomes the fraction of the day that you're not sleeping, bathing, or working. That's why I usually object to this kind of thing. It assumes that those activities aren't your own and aren't worthwhile.
Yeah, and you know what else, that also means that that leftover pile of jellybeans actually represents full-24-hour-periods when you're doing something, and so if you add back in the fraction of each of those days that you'd be eating or pooping or whatever, that pile should actually be bigger.
And then when he takes it down to "what if it was just one day you had left, how would you spend it" that now makes me wonder whether I'm supposed to avoid pooping now because "omigod that kills a fraction of my day", and...yeah, that could get real bad real fast.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:17 AM on August 9, 2013 [2 favorites]
Yeah, and you know what else, that also means that that leftover pile of jellybeans actually represents full-24-hour-periods when you're doing something, and so if you add back in the fraction of each of those days that you'd be eating or pooping or whatever, that pile should actually be bigger.
And then when he takes it down to "what if it was just one day you had left, how would you spend it" that now makes me wonder whether I'm supposed to avoid pooping now because "omigod that kills a fraction of my day", and...yeah, that could get real bad real fast.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:17 AM on August 9, 2013 [2 favorites]
Okay, okay...this is the ultimate beanplating.
posted by salishsea at 11:11 AM on August 9, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by salishsea at 11:11 AM on August 9, 2013 [2 favorites]
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posted by zardoz at 8:21 PM on August 8, 2013 [1 favorite]