A Few of My Favorite Things

One of my favorite things, particularly in this pandemic-era of working from home, has to be the Internet. It is also one of my least favorite things. The reason it made both of my lists is not complicated, and perhaps best explained by this metaphor — the Internet is like the most extensive library on the planet, containing every document, book, work of art, song, movie, TV show, play — everything ever published — uncurated and piled in a giant heap in the middle of the floor. The Internet presents us with a wealth of information, but is also fuels anxiety, narcissism, and hateful, anonymous trolling. As a favorite … cancelled.

You can tell quite a bit about a person from their favorite things. I sometimes wonder what my own favorites might reveal about my personality. For my birthday one year, my brother-in-law gave me a book touting the benefits of being more sloth-like, which then made the sloth one of my favorite animals. It also made me question his motives.

In the category of animal favorites, I have always listed pigs and monkeys, making it a point to stop at these two exhibits on each visit to the zoo. Monkey behavior is intriguing in the way it mimics that of humans, and you can watch them for hours (as long as you don’t stand too close to the cage). If you have watched monkeys for very long, you will know what I am talking about. As for the pigs, my therapist and I are still working on it, so don’t ask. <continue reading>