Yahoo! Launch has booted me off the system for the rest of the month, because I’ve used up all I can without paying for the service. Consequently, I’m stuck listening to non-custom radio. I immediately chose the 80s channel, to maximize the likelihood of hearing stuff I know (it’s important that a tune be familiar in order for me to successfully ignore it and go about my work).

Anyway, so now I’m subjected to tracks from Whitesnake and the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, which gets me thinking that a lot of stuff that we reflexively think we like (such as 80s music for me), we actually don’t really enjoy that much. I was thoroughly disappointed when I bought the Say Anything… DVD and realized I didn’t like the movie anymore. I’d been happier remembering it my way, than watching it suck now. And most of the time, I really don’t feel like drinking that third daily coffee.

We take shortcuts to make life simpler, and to free ourselves up for other processes, such as blogging (listening to something I can ignore, so I can work). But how much of what we surround ourselves with is done purely out of habit, as opposed to true liking? Are many of our relationships with things and people simple artifacts of bygone eras?

Still, I often think of the things I reflexively do not choose, the things I walk right by, that I would now love at first sight if I experienced them for the first time, without prejudice. So I’m trying to say yes to things I would normally automatically refuse. The exercise will probably lead me to sing karaoke and eat sushi (I really want to like sushi, I do), but if I can discover just one new thing I like, it may have been worth it.