Thesis on "Room, I Came Up With a List"

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These things that I have bought, kept, and hoped to use over time reflect my tendency to keep things, particularly documents, that I believe would be useful to me eventually. Take, as an example, the collection of artful documents I kept in my small binder. The Levi's Red Tab brochure, Nike postcards, and local bar postcard/invite showed my appreciation for art in cartoon format (as shown in the Levi's ad and local bar postcard/invite) and photography of different body forms in aesthetically fashionable yoga gear (as illustrated in the Nike postcards). I realized that, I never had the opportunity to use these special finds, despite my appreciation of their art. In fact, I doubt if I will have any use for these keepsakes ever. The only function that I can think of for these works of art is that I could give them to my sister, who is an artist, and provide inspiration to her artworks and improve her artistic style. I likened these artistic/artful keepsakes to paintings hung on the wall, having no function at all but to be appreciated.

If the artful keepsakes reflect my penchant for collecting artful things that do not have any function in my life, then my Christmas cards demonstrate how I always have the best intentions in mind, but have not committed to action these 'best intentions.' Interestingly, in the past two Christmases (2007-2008), I bought similar sets of Christmas cards because I thought the designs were simple yet fun. I have tried working on my project (i.e., to give out cards to all my friends) every Christmas, and the unsent cards illustrated my intent to send these out to my friends, but somehow, I was not able to give these cards to their recipients. Along with the 'clean' Christmas cards, the unsent cards has become my funny way of reminding myself how I often take up projects that I cannot follow through.

I believe that I am not the only individual who likes working on projects enthusiastically at first, but fall out of it at the last minute, leaving marks of lack of follow-through at their rooms, closets, or garages. Interestingly, my 'collection' of Christmas cards is a manifestation of the kind of society I live in today: there is abundance of things we need, ready for use or disuse by the consumers. Unfortunately, my cards are in a state of disuse, and it is ready to be discarded or be given to someone else. I felt, though, that I need to hold on to these cards since I know they will be useful on Christmas this year. I am just not sure, however, if I will be able to finish what I started two Christmases ago. Maybe I will, after this reflection. But most likely I will not.

I admit that I just seek comfort in the idea that I have something to give out to my friends during an emergency card- or gift-giving, but I know that this emergency will not come, and I know that the time will come wherein eventually, I will discard these cards and shelf this card-giving project if I am able to think of another, better project to work on. Unfortunately for me and for people who have worked on 'no follow-through projects,' the availability of things that we need and want in life has made it easier for us to address and solve our needs. But abundance of things we need has changed the way we define 'need,' and we have therefore consumed more than what we really need. As a result, more things are discarded than used, contributing to waste and influencing overproduction of these things, a vicious cycle that in the end, would only do more harm than help not only to our attitudes and behavior as consumers, but also to the physical environment that we live in, making this environment no longer sustainable and livable for us.

The TIME magazine collection is the one thing that I do not use anymore, but I cannot make up my mind whether to give this out or to just keep it for reference purposes. If I am going to give this magazine collection to others, I do not know where or to whom I will give this collection. At the top of my mind, I could give it at the local library, where I know it would be more useful; however, I know that the Internet has made it possible for researchers and information-seekers to access magazines online, without having its hard copy. Browsing through magazines have become easier, too, since researchers could then look for specific articles already just by typing in the correct search keywords. At most, hard copies of magazines will only be useful to researchers who are not proficient in the use of computer and Internet technologies, and/or those who do not have sufficient funds or budget to sustain research or information-seeking through Internet technology.

Among the things that I have listed as not useful anymore (at least to me at the moment), I believe that my TIME magazine collection is my way of maintaining my awareness, and in effect, becoming proactive on the state of affairs affecting not only my local community, but also to the country on a larger scale. By keeping myself updated, I am making myself more involved with the social issues considered to be significant to the interests of the general public. And by keeping myself informed, I am able to competently think about ways by which I can do something about the issue at hand, if it is within my capacity to do something to alleviate this social problem or issue in my community or society. Thus, my TIME magazine collection was my way of assuming responsibility to my community and country, the best way I can think of to become at least a conscientious member of the society. Looking at my magazine collection from the other side of the coin, my need for more information can be likened to the issue of information overloading, resulting from the free, accessible information on the Internet. Only, in my case, I consider my magazine collection as a combination of my aspiration to become socially responsible, while at the same time, not neglecting the fact that ultimately, I am a consumer first more than a socially responsible individual in my community. Thus, my magazine collection symbolized two separate aspects of my life: one that feeds my need for individualism (i.e., need for information therefore subscribing to TIME) and at the same time, be more responsible as a member of the American society (thus keeping myself aware and informed by reading the magazines).

Q2

During my regular trips to and from work, the ads I usually encounter are billboards and digital signages. In my routine trip, I usually notice these billboards and digital signage. I could recall billboards showcasing car, car insurance, and telecommunication ads. For the car ads, I have seen ads for Toyota, Dodge, Honda, and Mercedes; from what I can recall on these ads, Toyota, Dodge, and Honda featured "family" cars such SUVs and wagons. Mercedes advertised… READ MORE