i've moved to davidleong.info

so i've spent almost every free moment during the last week pretty much slaving away on various home improvement projects, and on friday, my trusty 12 ounce hammer finally called it quits. i bought the hammer during my sophomore year at UW at a local hardware store in the u-district, and given its low price of $4.97, i'm surprised that it lasted as long as it did.

as i was pounding on a prybar during the demolition for my new garage door installation, the head of the hammer just flew off and i was left holding the wooden handle, which is now essentially useless. it made me think for a minute that none of this would have happened in the first place if i had just left my garage alone, but no... i had to 'fix' it.

now that it's done, is it an improvement? sure. but was it worth it? i'm not so sure. this house and all its little projects have certainly added up, and all the time and money i've spent has been significant. but as i've reflected on my investment, i'm not sure if i actually own the house or if it really owns me. so often the stuff we think is necessary just accumulates and our lives just revolve around those things- and i'm fairly certain that we could go without a number of the standard life accessories we commonly view as 'essentials.'

it's a reminder to me of the importance of simplicity. life frequently gets cluttered up with unnecessary stuff- some of which we pursue because sadly, we have nothing better to do. i wonder what it would look like if we were able to articulate a compelling alternative narrative to the everyday pursuit of material comfort and accessible pleasure. i think we'd be deeper people... and more human.