best econ pick up lines

• Is that a supply curve in your pocket?

...I'm sorry, I should have said best econ pick up line, because nothing can top that.

career planes

Today I was thinking about the major culture shock I experienced when I went from being homeschooled to attending a public high school of 2800 students. Aside from waking up early, meeting new people, making friends, having strict deadlines and figuring out PE, probably the roughest thing for me was figuring out the expectations I was supposed to be fulfilling. While some teachers would give us a detailed syllabus, I still had difficulty figuring out what was required reading, how to prepare for an exam and--most frustrating--how long they actually meant for my papers to be (does "4 pages" mean double-spaced or single-spaced? Do I count references or headers?). I really just wanted explicit directions before I could get started.

This got me thinking about an analogy for life. We start with some toys and we slowly begin to learn various unrelated things--the color wheel, multiplication, subject-verb agreement, the water cycle. These are tools that we all need at some point in our life but which may seem pointless and frustrating when you first learn them. This is analogous to learning a set of instructions for a task that you don't understand; you just know some basic math, communication skills and safety precautions.

So then you get to high school. You're expected to analyze situations and formulate opinions, but you're still expanding on that initial set of instructions that you learned. You're finding out the reason that they work but you still don't understand why you need them. At this time, you're introduced to the task that you're going to be expected to complete: you get an idea in your head that you're going to have to find a job, but you can't picture it and all of your work is highly irrelevant to that task of choosing a career.

Here's where things diverge. Either you go to college or you find a job, but in either case you're expected to begin the process of self-sufficiency. So you have your set of instructions and as soon as you graduate high school you can clearly see the task in front of you. In our analogy let us picture this as an airplane; up until this point you were picturing the planes your parents fly but you didn't know what yours would look like. You hop into the plane and expect everything to be great, but realize that there are a lot of things that your training didn't cover.

Suppose you go to college and realize that you have some time before your plane has to take off. You might find a co-pilot somewhere along the way, but even they can't tell you where you're flying. You spend some time learning new things: how to live with other people, how to complete ambiguous assignments, how to speak Russian, whatever. And while these are more practical than your previous experiences, they don't tell you how to navigate a plane at all. By the time you get to senior year, the engines are revving up and you're moving to the runway. Everything is shaky and scary and you suddenly have a fear of being up in the air even though you know that you've been training for this for years and that everyone else seems to handle it just fine. But every time you've been in another airplane, your parents were there and they knew how to figure out insurance and groceries and rent and taxes; this time, it seems like you have to know everything.

Once you're in the air, you remember that you still don't know where your destination is. So you just start flying and it feels great but you're burning up fuel. You may have to transfer flights halfway through your journey, and this is terrifying on the descent but once you're in the new plane you realize that this is a much nicer ride and that you really needed that extra fuel. Eventually you have to land. You've come as far as the plane can take you and you think you're ready to just get off. But as you near the ground you start thinking about the future and start wondering what it will be like without the comfort of your cockpit: you know everything you need to about flying a plane but now it's of little use to anyone. Even if you try to tell your kids about it, you realize that they need to fly by themselves in order to get anything out of it. So you land--it might be bumpy--and then you get out of the plane and you stare at it for a little while. You don't know who you are without it. You turn your back and walk away but you can't help but think of it when the morning comes and there aren't any switches to flip or people to call.

Here's the thing. I can't even see my plane. I don't know if it's an economy-sized plane or what. I'm going to climb into it in a year and I know it will be fine, but when it comes time to land I don't want to look back and realize that because I'm retired I no longer have an identity. Don't let your career/plane/destination define you...you spend most of your time making little decisions or even making small talk, and when you're up in the air, the color of the plane and the travel route really don't make any difference. What matters is how closely you're listening to your air traffic controller: are you taking directions from your gut or from someone who can see the big picture? We all have these big plans for our flights but if we all just go at it alone, sooner or later someone will get hurt. You're not always going to get explicit directions; you will have to rely on your previous training. But if you listen closely you may be able to avoid a crash.

What it comes down to is this: can you trust someone who you can't even see? Do you trust God or are you really tryna fly solo?

the hunger games

I will freely admit that one of the reasons I didn't read The Hunger Games last summer when everyone was obsessing over it was that I hate appearing mainstream. I don't want to take the popular opinion of society and adopt it on my own; I don't want to get involved in a movement precisely because other people are doing it. I like being my own person and making my own decisions.

But the other reason I didn't want to read it was that I have an obsessive personality when it comes to fiction. I revisit books, movies and tv shows because I love the characters; because I sometimes think they're real; because I get a kick out of experiencing the same emotions over and over again (Harry Potter anyone?). I had heard that The Hunger Games was an emotionally-charged series and I knew that I should steer clear of it if I wanted to be able to sleep at night.

So when I picked it up last week to read it, I knew full well what I was getting myself into--but I couldn't stand to be left out of the conversations that were happening with greater frequency as the movie release approached. And I knew I couldn't go see the movie without reading the book as that would offend my literary nature.

Once I finished reading the book and watching the movie (both occurring last weekend), there I was in my obsessive state. I couldn't sleep for at least an hour as I mulled over thoughts of Peeta's motivations, Katniss's coldness and the implications they had for my life (and the rest of the books which I have yet to get my hands on). I just kept thinking of what they must have been feeling and wondered what could possibly move the characters from where they were at the end of the book to where they would be at the end of the series (it's already been told to me nbd).

I realized that I would have to put an end to this thinking before I started thinking that they were more real than my real life. The challenge this week for ReLENTless ACT:S of Sacrifice is to sacrifice what consumes you so my goal is to stop being consumed by The Hunger Games. I'm not tryna read the rest of the series in one day; I'll do it when I have the time and when I know it's ok for me to get lost in a fictional world for a day or two. But this will be hard...whenever my mind stops to wander around I end up thinking of the last interaction Peeta and Katniss had and the abundance of emotions that entailed. And here's the thing...I know it's a story, I know it's an overused plot device, I know the bigger implications are about society--and I think about those too, about the situation that the Capitol is in and how they don't know any better than to enjoy murder because that's how they were raised. Could any human be conditioned to that or do they, somewhere inside, know that it's wrong? Is there any room for absolutes in Panem? Or is it the relative decadence versus poverty that makes it all seem so bad?

So now that those thoughts are out there, maybe I can try and think about real life and real justice and real absolutes this week instead of a girl whose idea of radical is to honor an ally's death while ignoring a victim twenty feet away. She may have been sending a rebellious message to the Capitol but if you ask me, putting some flowers around that other kill would have been the coolest thing since Harry Potter "saved" Gabrielle Delacour. I guess Katniss doesn't have a hero complex, just a survival instinct.

bad habits

What I'm about to write might not rub you the right way. You may disagree with me completely, or find me lacking some nuanced understanding of habits/addiction/etc.

I'm still going to say it:

Being "addicted to coffee" is just as unhealthy as being addicted to alcohol.

I don't want to see my friends (or myself) falling into patterns of addiction to anything that isn't wholly and completely good for them, and I can only think of one thing that you can't have too much of: God. Even being addicted to drinking out of my camelbak is pretty unhealthy when you think about it. I still sip it even when I know I've run out of water 30 minutes prior - how messed up is that? It's a habit that has ceased feeding me good things (water) - but if I did have water in there, I would keep drinking until I literally became overhydrated. (I am 95% convinced that this would happen if I had unlimited water and if I didn't have to consciously refill my bottle.) I have so little self control!

I drink coffee every day even though I really have no need for it...it tastes good and gives me a little boost that I could have gotten just by allowing myself to sleep properly. I spend money, time and energy getting this drink that I have no physical need for but the one that I created myself by starting to drink it.

This can also describe alcohol. I love the taste of wine - it's enjoyable to drink with friends - but again I have no need for it. Similar to coffee, it's not bad in itself or in moderation. But when I start to desire something - whether it's every time I go to the grocery store or walk by the Daily Grind - I'm starting a habit that is really difficult to break. I'm certainly capable of stopping and saying, "If I really wanted more energy I would just go for a run." But if more often than not I'm reaching for my wallet to get a $1.50 small Italian roast from the Grind, I think that's unhealthy. I think everything in moderation is fine. But if I make a habit of drinking coffee every morning (or having a glass of wine every time I cook dinner) isn't that going beyond a moderate consumption - and verging toward dependence? If I'm going to be in a terrible mood if I don't get my coffee, then wouldn't it be better to just not have any and start depending not on caffeine but on my relationship with God?

Food for thought. But I think I need to start evaluating my "need" for coffee more regularly.

growing up is hard to do

Matthew 5:43-48

The Message (MSG)

^43-47"You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.

⁴⁸"In a word, what I'm saying is, Grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you."

ethical dilemma

I have an ethical dilemma which will sound at first terrible, then like not a big deal, then really truly horrible again as I walk through my explanation of it.

Terrible: I am all about taking things that don't belong to me.

But, not actually a big deal: What I mean to say is that I compulsively grab extra napkins, utensils, packs of sugar, samples, pencils, mints - anything I can get for no cost. It's kind of bad, but everyone does it to some extent...and after all, those sugar packets at Wawa are there for the customer, right? Is there a line between acceptable and unacceptable consumption of free products? My behavior certainly isn't extreme enough to catch the attention of an employee. Also, as a utility-maximizing individual I obviously don't want to spend money on that which is freely available to me, as I could easily use it on other items which I would enjoy having.

I have two problems with this which make it really, truly horrible:

1. If I have learned anything from high school and college, it's that Garrett Hardin is probably the most influential article-namer ever and that ecology somehow relates to every subject there is. People love talking about the "Tragedy of the Commons" - the idea that people exploit a limited resource (land...or plastic...or sugar) because they don't own it and don't get to a) reap the benefits of leftovers or b) observe just how much is being consumed. Knowing this, I experience a lot of cognitive dissonance because I know that everyone faces the same incentives as I do and only education can get people to stop over-consuming, barring a total restructuring of free giveaways (eg keeping napkins behind the counter and making people ask for them). So that's the purely cognitive reason I feel bad.
2. I don't think that I'm just a physical being who exists for a while and then ceases to exist. I think humans have a responsibility to maintain their health, help those around them and work to leave their environment better than it was when they found it. We have thoughts and emotions for a reason and we have guilty consciences for a purpose - because there's something that we ought to do and we feel bad when we don't. Collectively, we're the stewards of this planet - so my little part, whether it's recycling or just not wasting material that doesn't (or does...) belong to me, is kind of a big deal. How can I hold others to this standard if I myself don't show that I value it through my actions?

So would it solve my problem if I just paid for these things? Wouldn't that also be wasteful? Shouldn't I stop using sugar in my coffee altogether if I'm really worried about waste?

Yes and no. No, because sugar can and should be enjoyed if it's properly obtained. Paying for it gives more information to grocery stores or other providers and helps markets determine the actual demand and the price that it should sell at in order to be sold in sustainable amounts. I'm not sure if it matters whether Wawa buys it or I do - but Wawa isn't making a profit from it so we can assume that I would probably have a higher willingness to pay, since I actually care whether I get it or not. If everyone just bought their own sugar (I don't think this shift would have a large effect), then perhaps the prices on all goods at Wawa would fall to better reflect their operating costs and this could reduce inefficiency. Similarly sugar prices could rise just a little bit when sold straight to consumers which would probably benefit everyone.

But yes, I should pay for these things, because I could significantly cut back on my waste if I suddenly had an incentive not to use plastic bags for my groceries or not to get a plastic fork at a restaurant - because suddenly, I wouldn't be willing to take them. I have bags and forks at home! So being forced to pay for these things would probably be good all around. [Let me clarify: I'm not saying free mints are a bad thing and that they ruin the market for after-dinner mints. But there are clearly some products which are available for free which don't need to be used at all (grocery store bags, for example) and there are some products which could be consumed at more reasonable levels if they had a cost attached to them (like sugar packets or online movies or what have you).]

Is this blog post going to significantly affect any markets or the well-being of the planet? Definitely not. Will it alter my behavior? Maybe. I can't estimate the magnitude of effects these actions have, but I can say that I'll be living a more fulfilling life by honoring God and thinking a minute about how to honor both his creation and his commands of stewardship.

head vs. heart

I'm going to continue to quote lyrics to make my points for me. See Death Cab for Cutie's Crooked Teeth:

I'm a war of head versus heart,

and it's always this way.

My head is weak, my heart always speaks

before I know what it will say.

I love this song. I used to think that this directly applied to me, like Ben Gibbard was singing to my soul. I enjoy being a very rational person but of course I have emotions and sometimes I felt like I was just following those instead of my logic. I felt like there were two opposing sides to me: Spock and Kirk, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, Economics and English, and probably most significantly: student and Christian.

But religion isn't all about emotions just like it isn't all about singing songs or making cookies. The real struggle is between the natural self and the supernatural - my nature is to act based on a combination of my changing mood and my logic (which is essentially focused on maximizing utility). That is a terrible natural state to be in! My mood can go haywire at the mention of one word and my logic is really dumb considering the fact that I value my personal utility/comfort/health/pleasure like 10 times higher than anyone else's utility. If I stop listening to my natural self and start listening to something that's more wise than my wisdom and more understanding than my limited scope of emotions - then that's when we're getting somewhere. I'm not just talking about the goodness of my heart, because let's face it, that's pretty self-centered. I'm talking about the Holy Spirit.

When I start listening to him I start making really good decisions because I stop caring about appearing consistent or perfect to other people and I don't have to debate which side of me I should give more weight to. Obviously I still use reasoning and I let compassion motivate me but I should never have to decide between a "rational choice" and an "emotional choice," listening to my head OR to my heart. God can use both of them to show me what to do and in the end they shouldn't have to conflict - listening to the Spirit might not lead me to something that I want to do but it will always lead me to something that I know both in my head AND in my heart is good because it aligns with the nature of God - which is pure goodness.

If you're curious - this is what made me start thinking about this:

1 Corinthians 2:10b-16

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹ For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. ¹⁴ The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. ¹⁵ The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, ¹⁶ for,

“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”

But we have the mind of Christ.