I think it’s in my nature to be pedantic against better judgement. Can’t even fathom the kilowatts of energy drained in course or the extent of items neglected.
I’ve developed an ill obsession to chronicle the inconsequential: what I’ve read, dates of initiation and completion, the surrounding circumstances, where I’ve eaten, what I’ve ordered, conversations held, locales frequented. This enacting my own surveillance authority might sound beneficial if not for the impulsiveness the behavior artfully engenders.
Though it’s a lie, I often face uncertainty which avenue is the more wasteful: to neglect the bookkeeping and let the whirlpool precipitate (which intuition and empirical evidence strongly discourages), or proceed tal cual. I wonder if there be a plausible compromise?
At home I struggle to commence a meal unless the equipment be washed prior, not after. Though battling to relax the mania, the thought of letting apparata linger in the sink still unsettles me. Probably relates to the credence of labor first, fruit after; effort -> reward.
Even when the chain of causality challenges the natural entropy cycle. That’s one rationale, however lacking in the remotest sense.
The other: I don’t embrace debt. More precisely, I cringe at the mere idea; even the interest-free. And I can’t ever seem to find employ for the word usury, to appease my other pedantic obsession: over lexicon. To leave dishes in the sink until after smells suspiciously of debt.
King Arthur (if the apocryphal Sir Gawain narrative bear any weight) is said to defer a meal until a sensational occurrence take course: a joust, a tale, an equinox, a beheading, etc. Is that not a crude variant of the exertion -> output paradigm I expose above?
You might argue Arthur postpones a meal in view (or rather, in demand) of extravagant entertainment. Richard III developed a similar habit: obstinate to dine until the head of that or other lord/liaison/fool/dignitary (inevitably an ally the hour prior) be summoned on a platter.
I don’t derive that much pleasure in dishwashing to call it extravagant entertainment. But I likewise abhor the sight of dirty plates.
Amazing how much behavior analytics I’ve exercised over a handful of trifles. With that in mind, let’s append applied behavior analysis to the list.
Questions, comments? Connect.