Gapers Block has ceased publication.
Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
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TODAY
Friday, April 26
Fuel
m / May 27, 2008 8:08 AM
survivor's eye of the tiger.
and the thought of a new job. and the weather from over the weekend.
Hop / May 27, 2008 9:19 AM
The loss of youth! I've got so many things to accomplish before I realize how old I've become.
printdude / May 27, 2008 9:34 AM
$$$$$$$.
Love.
Desire to be a better human.
Not always in the same order.
Not always with confliction.
matt / May 27, 2008 9:37 AM
Why it's my Intelligensia Quetzal Breakfast Blend coffee, of course. And, that nagging desire to keep my mortgage paid...on time.
J / May 27, 2008 9:40 AM
Money.
Hal / May 27, 2008 10:30 AM
Guilt and fear.
Loads and loads of guilt for missed personal deadlines (yes, little thesis, I'm talking about you).
Fear of losing my job and facing down our mortgage on a Starbuck's salary.
Baldeesh / May 27, 2008 11:14 AM
Money.
Good health.
Sanity.
The short list of people I absolutely adore.
Owning a house.
Staying organized.
Seeing the world.
Food.
Those are the general motivators, always exerting varying degrees of pressure on my existence.
Today's motivator is my current knitting project - I'm making a sweater for my mom. It's going to kick ass and show off my knitting prowess.
Val of Richmond U.K. / May 27, 2008 11:34 AM
Finishing classes for the spring semester and attempting to completed this freakin' degree this decade. Applying myself at almost 40 is really kicking my ass!
Mucky Fingers / May 27, 2008 11:42 AM
Fatherhood, which for me will start at the beginning of September.
steven / May 27, 2008 11:49 AM
This damn project at work.
A new screenprinting hobby that has taken hold.
The past six days that have made me realize how much more I want out of life.
Leelah / May 27, 2008 12:15 PM
-Summer vacation (shortened to a month since my school is going year-round), which begins June 13.
-the marathon
M, I ran the Soldier Field 10 Mile this weekend, and every few miles, there would be a truck blasting "Eye of the Tiger"!
JasonB / May 27, 2008 12:21 PM
The strong desire to move to Canada, New Zealand or the UK, after coming to the realization that a black man (or white woman) doesn't have a chance in hell of taking the presidency in this backwards-assed country. My employer has offices in UK/CA - I have the formal request prepared.
p / May 27, 2008 12:39 PM
jasonB- i hope your employer's canadien office has a Department of Tired Ideas because your current desire would serve u well there, moving forward. a lateral move to the Office of Unproductiveness might also fit.
if u decide to stick around tho- both candidates u mention have volunteer offices right here in chicago.
i'm motivated by the visualization of sharks chasing me. and jealousies.
annie / May 27, 2008 12:49 PM
Being a newlywed. It really makes me want to be a better person for the person I love, more organized and to grow up. The idea of having kids is also motivating me to get in shape and save money...at the same time I keep thinking, this is your last summer to act like a kid!! Mostly though it's money, as in saving money to buy a place instead of renting. Although, I feel that is a pressure I feel by my family and friends, b/c a 32 and 33 year old couple should own not rent...Screw 'em. We're doing pretty well considering some circumstances that have been tossed our way and I really don't care anymore what everyone else has that I don't. I am for certain much happier than all of my family and most if not all of my friends..I married for love!!
Irisheyes1212 / May 27, 2008 1:00 PM
Searching for motivation. It's hard to shake out of a rut sometimes. But need to be motivated in the following areas:
Weight
Money Management
Personal Life
In that order.
I bought a bike recently out of a moment of motivation, but funny thing is..it doesn't ride itself.
JasonB / May 27, 2008 1:03 PM
Dept of the Wide-eyed, I gather?
abitbitter / May 27, 2008 1:27 PM
fear of cancer
p / May 27, 2008 1:31 PM
Hardly. I just thought talk of quitting (to the degree of ex-patriation) in a thread about motivation was weaksauce. You lack motivation son, and you're polluted w/ unmotivated stinkin thinkin. time to get yourself motivated. there's posters with the word Motivation on them and a picture of a MountainTop- u need one asap.
Irisheyes1212 / May 27, 2008 2:17 PM
p - "polluted w/ unmotivated stinkin thinkin"
tee hee, I may have to borrow that one.
JasonB / May 27, 2008 2:32 PM
you have it all wrong, dad. No one's quitting. This young lad's heart has been set on leaving a country he never believed in to begin with, since childhood, and the inescapable downward spiral it's locked on is my final motivation to leave, as I now have the resources and outlet to do so.
It wasn't my intention to spur a political debate in this seemingly innocent thread, and, I'm afraid I haven't a poster that could convey my thoughts to you. That being said, I'll be headed toward Intelligentsia on Jackson , shortly, where I'd be more than happy to flip you off in person. If not, save your uppity lectures for those that regard you as a valuable figure on the matter.
p / May 27, 2008 3:40 PM
the derth of motivation here is worse than i had suspected. and it has borne in you a cyclone of frustration and hostility. your perspective requires an immediate injection Self-Actualisation and Can-Do-It-Tude.
i thank u for your unsolicited update on your whereabouts this afternoon- enjoy your coffee and the beautiful monadnack building, but please don't flick anyone off on my account (people might think you're a lunatic or oddly passive aggressive). lack of motivation in one's life can lead to misdirected frustrations and loss of control, but u can never go so far that u can't go home, and america will welcome u back.
David / May 27, 2008 3:45 PM
Barack Obama!
Or his Irish gay porn star doppelganger, Brock O'Bama.
And jingoistic nationalism [sic].
kate / May 27, 2008 6:28 PM
I try to kick ass on a daily basis... mostly because I like blowin' minds with just how much awesomeness one girl can behold. Nah, just kidding.
I'm doing the triathlon simply because I want to be able to say "Yeah, I did a triathlon".
fluffy / May 27, 2008 6:53 PM
right now, fear.
Val / May 27, 2008 6:58 PM
A happy outlook.
Belief (and hope) that there is good in all of us.
Peter Bjorn & John.
vise77 / May 27, 2008 9:18 PM
Yeah, leave for the UK, where classes still hold more sway than the in USA.
Or Canada, where black people and white women have ruled for generations.
I really have nothing to say about NZ because I simply don't care about that little country.
That said, I am motivatd by the desire to be a productive citizen (and I invest a great deal in that term, in an almost classical or at least Englightenment sense), and helping my country--far from perfect--become better, and to help correct many of its mistakes. While I would love to live overseas, I would never give up and flee. That's a cop out.
Meems / May 27, 2008 9:31 PM
My completely incompetent supervisor motivates me to take initiative so I can take her job when she leaves.
My new love of my life motivates to me be a better girlfriend than I was in my last relationship (patience and security mostly).
My desire to go to Costa Rica this November has motivated me to work a second job.
Hey! I'm not as bad off as I thought I was.
Steven / May 27, 2008 10:53 PM
Motivation is the province of malcontents. I am happy and therefore motivated by nothing. I do, however, love the latest album by Madonna.
missing the message / May 28, 2008 6:20 AM
It's hard to take someone seriously when s/he cannot bother to write the "y-o" in the word "you".
m / May 28, 2008 9:16 AM
leelah-did it motivate you?
when i first graduated college and was driving myself around to interviews, i would play eye of the tiger just before entering the building.
Spook / May 28, 2008 10:51 AM
The Dream.
It never died.
It just got deferred
eric / May 28, 2008 11:01 AM
If I don't think about it, then what motivates me is looking good, avoiding looking bad, and proving that I'm good enough for my fiance and not some f*ckup. In a word, I guess it'd be fear.
If I intentionally think about what motivates me, then I realize that looking good is ultimately lame, and I am not a f*ckup - I am amazing. So what motivates me is adventure, family, love, money, health, relationships with friends...there's a lot, but these are the main ones.
Brandy / May 28, 2008 11:14 AM
Work/money in so far as it pays off my DEBT. (yes, all caps, DEBT)
And in the last month - love. *sigh*
Nick / May 28, 2008 1:04 PM
The 'Sex and the City' midnight showing on Thursday night. Don't judge.
Irisheyes1212 / May 29, 2008 8:40 AM
Update on my motivation status or lack thereof.
Old flame recently dropped back in my life...I am motivated now to lose this last 30lbs even if it means eating salad and popsicles all summer. Hey, if I can't do it for me, I will do it for spite!
psyche / June 3, 2008 3:41 PM
Envy.
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