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My Relationship with my Washing Machine

100 Ideas by Kerri Smith has some very interesting topics to keep me spiked with creative ideas. #39 is to write about my relationship with my washing machine.

We bought this washing machine second-hand. Who knows how many owners it had previously or how long it had been sitting at the second-hand shop. The first time I used it, I did an empty cycle with bleach. The surprise was what came out from this machine's innards! I couldn't really tell what it was. At times, it looked like dried fish shavings. Other times, it looked like moths. I stopped counting how many cycles it took to eliminate what was inside. Eventually, I was satisfied that the machine was sanitized and no longer spewing its guts.

After owning this machine for four years, today I took note of the word "dry" in English. I had seen this when we first got the machine, but it never really registered that the machine might be a dual-functioning washer/dryer! Even stranger, when I told my husband, he said he had realised this as well this week but hadn't mentioned it. So now, we're trying to figure out what common stimulus prompted our shared selective attention. The question is: Does it really have a dryer and does it work?

Some interesting abstracts on Selective Attention Behaviour:

Attention to Action: Willed and Automatic Control of Behavior

Neural Mechanisms of Selective Visual Attention

Selective Attention and Goal-Oriented Behavior

Comments

Unknown said…
now that's something i've never heard of--a washer that also dry your clothes. if in fact that's what it does. i'd love to have one of my own.

what i *am* very fond of is the selective attention. it happens to me every now and then. the most recent incident that i can call was something i came across on the etsy forums.

after all these years of buying foil or plastic wrap or having it in my home growing up, it was news to me to learn that there are little tabs on the side of the box that, if you push them in, will hold the roll in place. i'm sure i'd noticed them before, but it never registered with me to determine just what they were.

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