Esk

Wednesday 24th May was the last time I ate any food containing dead pig. (It was a ham and cheese sandwich.) The reasons for this cessation of pork consumption are not immediately clear, and weren’t clear at the time to me either. I’ve since narrowed it down a bit:

Incorrect reasons

• I’ve become a Jew
• I really like pigs
• I don’t agree with killing animals for food, but I’m taking it one step at a time
• I’ve decided I hate the taste of bacon
• I got indigestion from a sausage

Real reasons

1. An experiment in self-control: I want to see if I can do it, and for how long. I’ve not got much in the way of will power, because thankfully I hardly ever have to exercise it. I stay thin no matter what I eat, I get high marks no matter how little I revise, I have a job where warning your employer you’re going to be half an hour late is considered ludicrously precise, and deadlines are the same as “when it’s done”. I’d like to exercise my willpower muscles a little before I enter the third year and may encounter actual work.
2. It puts my eating habits closer to my ethical beliefs: Since what humans in general value is intelligence, I think we should base what it is reasonable to eat on the intelligence of the food. It is, of course, subjective, depending what you define human intelligence to be, or intelligence, and where you draw the line. I usually draw the line quite neatly just above pigs, but my suspicion is that that is because I like bacon. Whilst I do believe in our right to use animals for our purposes, I don’t think that eating pigs is an appropriate use of such a clever animal. They are on a par with dogs and horses by most definitions, and most people refuse to eat dogs and horses. I feel I should either start eating dog and horse, therefore, or stop eating pig. Maybe after this I’ll try the dog and horse thing.
3. To empathise with people who have to pay attention to what they eat: I have never been on a diet, had an eating disorder, been vegetarian or vegan, been part of a religion that tells me what I can and can’t eat, or been allergic or even intolerant to anything. In addition, I like the taste of almost all foods. I never look at packaging in general, except to check whether eggs are free-range. That makes my food choices wide open, which is nice, but also difficult: I am very indecisive. I want to know what it’s like to have to check every time you buy, and warn hosts when they are preparing you food. It’ll be a lot easier than being vegetarian, or having a wheat allergy, but it’ll give me some idea.

Hope that clears it up for any of you, it certainly has for me. I wasn’t going to bother publicising the fact, since I didn’t really know why I was doing it anyway, but now I have some idea you may as well be aware of it, in case you wonder why I didn’t want any sausage rolls or something.

I expect what’ll immediately happen is that I’ll get several comments telling me why I’m wrong. That’s great, keep ‘em coming. It’ll be interesting.

As most people are going to see the Horror Double Bill at the Arts Centre, there was to be no Geek Night, but now Ruth is saving the day by having geek night at her place! She tells me all are welcome who would normally go to Geek Night, and “people will just have to sit on other people” if there are too many. So now you know.

I was discussing money with a friend from CompSci, who feels that the more money he has, the happier he is, and that there’s no limit to this. His model would look something like this:

I was thinking about how I see the graph, and I can’t decide whether I think it’s this:

Or this:

The more interesting question, however, is what is the value of point X in either case? Where is the optimum, or the point past which things don’t get any/significantly better?

So I’m going to tot up my wants and needs per month:

• Rent/mortgage payments on a nice sized house/flat; my half: £500 including DIY and furnishings and bills
• Food, supposing I ate at a nice restaurant every night and had lunch at a cafe: £20 a day = £600 a month (pretty excessive, but we’re looking at wants as well as needs, here)
• Clothes, I’d like to buy a nice new outfit once a month, plus replacing old things £200
• Tech, I’d like an upgrade or a new toy at about the rate of £100 a month
• Going out, I’d like to be able to go out twice a week and spend £30 a night, so 60 * 4ish = £250
• Travel, I’d like to go abroad once a year, and visit family and stuff, so about £600 a year = £50 a month
• A nice new small car every few years, tax and insurance for that, at £7000 over 3 years = 7000/36 = £200 a month + petrol at £50 a month
• Gifts for various people, birthdays, Christmas… at £50 a month

and I think that’s it. That tots up to £2000 per month, and I think I’ve been quite extravagant in places. £2000 pcm after tax means I’d need to be earning £36′000 gross yearly. If I had more, I don’t know what I’d do with it. Perhaps I’d put it into savings and give it to the children later (You notice I didn’t include children because I’m not sure they’d add to my happiness). Perhaps we’d buy a really big house, but then it’s really hard to maintain a huge house, as my Dad found out after he ended up living alone in a 4-bed detached in the middle of nowhere. But essentially, after £36000 a year, any extra money is no use to me in terms of making me happier. I’m sure I’ve missed a few things, but I think much more than that and I’d just give the extra away to charity anyway. The question is, would I be happier having the millions and then giving it all to charity, or not having the hassle? Does it even count if you give it all away? I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll know, when Dan and I are both earning £36000 ish, whether it’s made me happy or not and whether more money would. I’ll let you know when I get there.

I know that when my Sims have too much money, it’s boring to play the game, everything’s too easy. Struggling with your limitations is fun in itself.