Yolanda Fu
AmLit H Armstrong
This Is Water: David Foster Wallace
Sometimes I think about life. Not just the meaning of life or its overall purpose but just life in general. I find myself washing my face every night and thinking, "at this exact time yesterday, I was doing the exact same thing". I think about how days will go by as a repetition of yesterday, or last month, or maybe even last year. A lot of the time, this realization just causes me to switch things up a bit, nothing big. Maybe I'll go out with friends every week and have some fun. Then, maybe I'll do this for a week or two but then life gets in the way and I go back to my mundane routine. I can relate to what Wallace is trying to say on page 3when he states, "One such part involves boredom, routine, and petty frustration."
David Foster Wallace gave a reading for Booksmith ...
English: David Foster Wallace at the Hammer Museum...
The Meaning of Life (Tankard album)Although I can't exactly say I feel the "petty frustration" as I am a person who is rather content with routines, I understand how years of it could turn you into a sour, bitter person. David Wallace Foster has touched on something I have actually been thinking about for quite awhile. I often contemplate how one could make life seem more like "LIFE!" instead of "life". The one thing that constantly wins out is perspective (Wallace agrees). Perspective shapes up our view of the world. We can see other people as the bad guy or we can see them as good. It is really rather a simple choice. I think my viewpoint comes from my parents, especially my mom, as she is the one who consistently answers to my sighs of "what is life" with "it is what you make it". This is true; so...