My mom drove me and my sisters around in used minivans. She'd often be darting accross town to get one or more of us to our various activities or playdates. The extent to which these vehicles were used was pretty insane. Each of them would be 'driven into the ground', a phrase I've heard my mum say with pride a few times over my life. I admire this lifestyle choice of hers. There was never working AC in them, and there is a particular nostalgia for sitting in a blazing hot minivan in the parking lot after a soccer game or something. Those minivans are intertwined with some core memories I cherish today. They brought me and my family to friends' cottages, all kinds of camping trips and drive-ins, and those extra-special days where a parent caves to endless pleas for Dairy Queen from a van full of whiny kids.

I have maintained the tradition in a way, in terms of the various gadjets that have got me through my degree. Sidenote -- I drive a real piece of shit car too, but not enough time has passed for it to be nostalgic and instead its sorta just terrifying driving it but alas. I made it through my degree with some real stinkers for computers. I came to university with the PC I had built in highschool with the money I made assembling steel enclosures in a factory all through highschool in the summers. It periodically turns off, but in most ways has pretty much been the best investment I've made. I built it almost a decade ago, and have got thousands of hours of use out of it. But it cannot run all the programs I need it to, so I also bought a 200 dollar thinkpad. Sidenote -- don't buy 200 dollar used laptops. They're $200 for a reason. This particular piece of trash has the charming qwirk of turning off the millisecond the charger isn't 100% jammed in the port.

But like my mother, and her mother, I'll make the most of what I've got.

In a landscape of rampant consumerism, our attention and our money is being competed for by some of the largest and most sophisticated systems there are. Any impulse to be on the cutting edge of personal computing, or fashion trends, or diet crazes will, at best, leave one with a fleeting sense of belonging, and even successfully adhering to the modern or cool status-quo will be short-lived.

Making the most of what we have can be so rewarding in contrast to upgrading/chasing the next thing. It's also a sort of rebellion in a culture and economy that attempts to normalize debt in exchange for 'experience' or status.

It also just makes fiscal sense.

But another exciting way to think about it is in terms of the hedonic treadmill, which is the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness (or sadness) despite major positive or negative events or life changes.. According to this theory, no permanent gain in happiness will come from getting new things, because our desires rise in tandem with our expectations. Sometimes, when I am craving something I know I have no business buying, I think of 'banking' the rush for a time where it doesn't hurt me as much financially.

Nothing I'm saying is deep here. Just make the most of what you have and count on yourself and your patience to get you the things you desire most later in life when it's less risky to do so. I'm writing this post at an uncertain time, between graduating and getting my first 'career' job, and writing this is an exercise in practicing what I preach.