"Hill?" I thought to myself and then looked in their direction of travel. The part of the parking lot I was in did slope up towards another. "Hill" might not have been the right word, but "ridge" or "incline" are both less common. It isn't truly a street, although I believe it is recognized as such by some mapping systems.
I hopped in my car and also went up the "hill" and then out of the apartment complex and down the street. Roughly a mile away, Tiffany's version of "I Think We're Alone Now" come on the radio. I laughed in amazement. Somewhere someone thought playing this in 2017 would encourage advertising revenue. After laughing for about 15 seconds, I changed stations (or channels if that is the parlance you prefer).
I arrived at a Staples, initially went to the "Laser Cartridges" sign I could see from the entrance and then saw the printer cartridges along one wall with no distinct sign visible from the entrance. I looked through my options. The cartridges I was looking for had gone through a branding change in a vain attempt to convince customers something was improved. I say vain in my case, perhaps someone else was enthused. There was a package offering both the color and black cartridges and some "photo paper" for less than the combined price of the separate cartridges. I have thrown out more "photo paper" than I have used, so I payed the extra markup. I knew that 90% of the cost is markup in this case. If I am being ripped off, the amount matters little.
I was then offered some type of "membership" or "rewards" twice. I declined, twice, and noted that I didn't need a bag, again twice. I took my leave and headed back home. A station playing some Michael Jackson which I quickly switched from. I returned home and walked my dog. On a patch of grass, I saw several pieces of sliced bread seemingly left there intentionally. I could not think of a good reason ti do so.
These perceptions were defined by my perspective. This has caused many to believe (or at least state) that we define our own reality. I would have thought that creation of machines that could perceive would have put an end to that, but it has not. Perhaps some people do not believe that they perceive, only that they collect data. I would say simply that we have an overdeveloped sense of our own "greatness" and move on.
The children, the programming directors of various radio stations, the young men working at a retail outlet were all had their own perspectives. The fact that many of these perspectives seem to have commonalities is both a product of my own perspective and a product of the fact that the initial sensory input was similar because we exist in the same reality. I believe that too many people are influenced by money, and so I see evidence of that. I believe that we create more waste than we should and so try to avoid it. I believe that the perspective of the small is limited and so I choose to recall evidence of that. I didn't cause the children to reference "the hill" but I did notice it. I think ill of the majority of pop music and so believe that more people should. I think nostalgia is a destructive force and again feel that more people should.
I also believe that perception is far more powerful when multiple perspectives are taken into account. I believe that we humans have the ability to modify our perspective. I also believe that our perspectives are part of what defines us and perspective that is truly malleable can be mislead.
And so, Michael Jackson did have a profound impact on pop music, yet I prefer not to listen to his work. Someone does remember Tiffany's music fondly, perhaps because it reminds them of a pleasant event, but it really has no place in radio play. Many, if not most, people will buy the package if they need both cartridges, and some may even use the "photo paper". I also believe that you only purchase ink at a Staples because you need to print something out that day and know that I only think of printer ink on those days.
And so, Michael Jackson did have a profound impact on pop music, yet I prefer not to listen to his work. Someone does remember Tiffany's music fondly, perhaps because it reminds them of a pleasant event, but it really has no place in radio play. Many, if not most, people will buy the package if they need both cartridges, and some may even use the "photo paper". I also believe that you only purchase ink at a Staples because you need to print something out that day and know that I only think of printer ink on those days.
And now back to perceiving the world around me.
