Taxes

I did my taxes today. Got $1389.51 back from the federal gov't and $46.75 from state. For some reason, I didn't feel like $1389 was real money, it's just gonna get deposited into my bank. But when I saw $46 I immediately thought of what I was gonna buy with that money. So in the future, if I just send all my paychecks to direct deposit, maybe I won't spend any money.

Anyways, I was just thinking about what to spend money on. Electronics are the most tempting. The next purchase will either be the Toshiba Pocket PC or a nice little TV for my room. I was picturing that commercial when they have the flat panel and mount it on the ceiling. That would be pretty cool, but I don't think I wanna burn that much cash right now.

It's kinda bad, cause this is the kind of stuff that brings more recurring costs. Like if I get a PDA, I'll end up buying memory cards and add-ons and stuff. And if I get a TV, I'll probably eventually get a PS2 or GameCube, or a DVD player, which means I'll buy more DVDs.

Which makes me think, my life is pretty simple right now, and I consider myself a pretty happy person. Do more possessions really add more to life? I remember watching a video in Leisure Studies 100 (which I took one summer and I recommend to anyone still at U of I), and it was comparing people's standard of living in the 50's to how it is today. In the 50's, people were told that the technology advances in the future would eliminate the need for us to work, and that everyone would be able to relax all day.

Well, it turns out that technology is indeed more advanced today, but the opposite has happened to the typical person's lifestyle. Instead of having more free time, we are statistically busier and more stressed than ever. We work more, and make more money, but we also spend more and have less time to enjoy what we have.

What to make of this? Should we live the life of a Buddhist monk, get rid of all our possessions and live on a mountaintop reciting chants all day? Well, I don't think that's the answer either. I still like my possessions. I still love the feeling of opening a new toy. And I don't know any Buddhist chants.

I guess I don't have a point to sum up all this stuff I just wrote. I started out just writing about doing my taxes and ended up writing about Leisure Studies somehow. And now I am too tired to write a conclusion.

Laters.