Holding Pattern Entries

Ryan Ferguson wrote:

"Focusing intently" was meant to be a humorous slant on that portion of the procedure, because
figuring out whether to turn left or right shouldn't tax the brainpower of even the most
sluggardly of instrument pilots.

Well, I guess I kinda feel that being situationally aware of where
the holding pattern is and from which direction one is approaching
shouldn't tax the brainpower, and once one knows that the correct
P/T/D entry is pretty obvious. If you fly across the holding pattern
(or the same side) to get to the fix, it's a direct entry. If
crossing the fix and proceding on course would have you flying
across the holding pattern, it's teardrop. If crossing the fix
would have you flying away from the holding pattern, it's parallel.
I don't worry about if I'm off by 10 degrees from what "looks right".

So I don't grasp where the supposed superior simplicity of a method
which requires one to be situationally aware enough to figure
out where the holding pattern is, what is the shortest direction
to turn to the outbound heading, and from there what is the
proper direction to turn towards the inbound leg. It honestly seems
to me that you're using as many or more brain cycles.

Maybe I'm just wierd, though.

Cheers,
Sydney