I know being unemployed in this day and age is really NOT a big deal. Some say it’s great. It’s apparantly rejuvenating. In good times, people take sabbaticals, in bad times, people take no-pay leave or voluntary severance. But if you ask me, being jobless is pervasive and can be detrimental to one’s mental health, emotional well-being and mathematical intelligence (read: ability to make fast math calcs in one’s brain). It lowers the opportunity cost of a human being’s most important resource - Time.

All of sudden, I find myself waking up in the mornings, thinking about well…taking a job, going to the gym, perhaps reading the paper over coffee, musing over the latest Fed plans on the fiasco of a financial bailout. It has come to the point where my opportunity cost of time is so low, that I am basically reading exclusive articles covering the history of Tim Geithner. In a normalized world, would i really care that he is a publicity phobe, or that he ever made comments that women are less developed in math and science capabilities? I am thumbing through You tube videos, sent by well-meaning friends to cheer me up, seeing 30 sec flip shots of Hilary Clinton kissing Obama instead of Bill - it is supposed to be funny and clever. I have become an internet voyeur in response to my apparant increase in time.

An article in the recent Economist said that given these recessionary times, people have become more polite. Certainly, I find myself having to be more conciliatory, and put on my best suit and my best smile to have coffee with the many investors that I used to mingle with on a professional basis. And so polite I am, that I try not to blanch overtly when they say things like, “Sorry. The markets are really bad, we are not even looking at making investments this year, much less increase headcount.” Smile, smile, smile.

My opportunity cost of time has become so low that I spend the day formulating social behaviour theories that link Tim Harfords “the Logic of Life” to the now-hit movie, “He’s just not so into you”. Hah! So, an excerpt of my thoughts:

Underlying the end results of “He’s just not so into you” type of male responses to women connudrums such as “Why didnt he call after our date?” or “Why doesnt he say I love you often enough?” lies rational motivation. Millions of mechanical thought processes later, I really do believe in the power of revealed preferences and what and how people’s actions display is really a result of their underlying emotional motivations and preservation of self-interest. Meaning, if some guy does indeed say I Love You enough and voluntarily probably is very self-interested to be committed to a relationship (read: maybe he is done with random dates and meeting unfulfilling women). In business school, we often make the joke of a man’s option value expiring, and this is simply cashing in one’s option as you know that one’s market value will probably fall in the future, or has come to a complete stagnant point. Future growth (one’s ability to play the field) has just ceased to exist. Women who allow men to constantly give excuses for their “poor” behaviour (as all is relative), secretly know that they probably have few options, else, why would one stay in a destructive and possibly debilitating situation? Ok, the psychologists are probably flipping out now, because god knows, all sorts of human beings enjoy being victims, through no fault of their own…yeah…whatever. Of course we need to examine relative and perceived lack of choices. Victims probably reckon they have very little market value, and hence are willing to cave for a lot more crap.

In any case, in reading one of these analyst reports on how the world is coming to an end, that capitalism as a force for allocating resources is making way for socialist procedures, the report makes fun of people who now “blog more” given the high state of unemployment. Thanks, i just joined this club unwillingly, as i take yet another coffee break, sitting at my local cafe, typing out furiously, might I add, my opinions of the world (that NOBODY will read!). I am not at the stage of screaming “its unfair! Why me?!!!” yet, I fear it might be soon, but I am definitely at the stage where taking some form of mood moderators is going to help.

If facebooking and watching last 3 seasons of Lost back-to-back is not a crime, I don’t know what is! The last crime that I hope i do not commit, is joining Twitter and twittering my exact location, life event and thought every single minute.

It’s raining cats and dogs here and I cannot escape from this cafe. I am stuck here for at least another 2 hours listening to the best of power rock and the likes of Alanis Morissette. Technically, I could keep writing till my laptop dies… See how I just let you know my location, life event and thoughts? Joblessness has that effect. Call it the new evil.

The Dead

Yesterday, en route home from having an interesting conversation with a well-known philanthrophic organization, I chanced upon a dead man. Mid-40’s, car up on a kerb, lying there quite still. The car was apparantly undamaged, 3 cop cars were parked just beside. The forensics guys had their high-end Nikons whipped out, photographing his very dead face, as he lay benched against the back of his car seat. It was black Japanese car, nothing special nor illuminating. I thought it was a movie being filmed on my street, but I guess…it wasn’t.

Real death, as opposed to reel death (of the CSI variety) is strange. I do believe this is the first time i have seen someone dead, aside from coffins at funeral palours (Another weird statistic - i have been to more funerals than weddings but it’s probably because i avoid happy endings). Non-life seems very static and well-composed. I felt strangely ambivalent, but did manage to chat with Anand, the guy who makes my coffee at Starbucks on what we thought happened (a mad case of Cluedo). I think it’s foul play, only because he was so…bloodless.

I went home, with groceries in hand, past the maddening crowds gathering for the extended CSI reeltape and went home to watch the reel-thing. CSI Season 9 - where reel death is far more elaborate and suspenseful than real death.

p.s: I checked the papers today, no mention of dead man. it’s terrible to go this way. not leaving a spot on this world, just a bunch of dead photos…but then i will have no way of winning my bet with my coffee-dude now.