Really appreciate the advice! I want to reply to each comment, but am about to crash after working all day. I'm going to create a louderwords account and share with the hubski community, which I was hopeful would be receptive to my writing but the healthy response to my question and the other projects it seemed to help coagulate makes me feel even better.

Depends on what I've been doing recently. If I've been stuck at home doing nothing, going out perks me up like nothing else. If I've been running around busy as all heck, then getting a quiet night to myself recharges me.

Its unsettling factor slightly outweighs its "holy shite I need that" factor. Notwithstanding the potential adverse effects it could pose, which aren't fully understand and probably won't be very easy to pinpoint, this somehow feels very inhuman. I'm not sure, but this seems to fall within the realm of transhumanism. Don't get me wrong, if this can treat chronic depression better than the current cocktail of chemicals we have available, then that's a gosh darn godsend.

But it feels like a cheat code for learning. Will we lose the qualities that struggle and difficulty brings out in people? Persistence, faith, understanding, empathy, determination? Won't this fundamentally change who we are as a species? Will we be satisfied when working towards a goal that used to feel triumphant will merely feel routine?

The potential is great, yet I can't help feeling this will dull some of the qualities that make us human.

This is awesome! You could also add metal studs to simulate the spines :)

Definitely Hand It! | The Web's Hand Gesture Manual which is a blog I started and have been running since late December. I mostly post about the gestures myself, but I have also gotten submissions from some friends (and a student in Estonia!). I've achieved some minor blips of little guy fame through different posts on reddit and some twitter shares. The coolest was when The Daft Club (daft punk fansite) linked to my recreation of daft punk album covers with their signature pyramid hand gesture and I saw a user make the gif their signature.

It's important to relish even relatively minor success when you're doing these kinds of projects.

I have a lot of fun developing it, working on it daily (like Seinfeld's productivity habit chain), noticing just how ubiquitous yet under-the-radar hand gestures are, learning about graphic design, web administration, content creation, headline writing, talking about it with friends and new people I meet. I would love to take the project to the next level, but alas I'm a near-broke college senior searching for real jobs so it'll have to remain my side project for the time being.

Great vivid story about the jungle gym. My third places growing up definitely shaped who I am today.

reddit was more of a third place when I first discovered it, but now that position is definitely debatable. I think it's gotten too big for its own good.

Hubski seems to be where it's at now. There is a more authentic community spirit and everything I read is thought-provoking in the best ways possible. On reddit I lurked for about a year before I started posting, but here I've been comfortable diving in head first.

Are there other societies for watching the sunrise? Or maybe ones for sunset? I would really love to be a part of one, that sounds like a great way to gaze the twilight and reflect upon/look forward to the day.

my website, reddit, facebook, wikipedia, and wherever my curious google searches take me

i'd go to that barcade

me too. Even though i'm afraid of flying and airplanes, making it into space would be amazing.

Chris Hadfield, the astronaut in the ISS, tweets from space and all of his pictures are breathtaking.

daftendirekt

one of my friends is trying to teach english in japan. he's been there before and it isn't as much travel, but he would essentially be paid to live and teach in another country.

aesop?

Happy to hear :)

Although, I'm sure you've had that one, completely out-of-left-field fantasy that wasn't necessarily something you wanted or desired, it was just something that popped up.

I have no desire to start a radio tower in Antarctica...unless...*handonchin

I saw it more of a combination public art installation and social experiment.

The ball pit's main purpose seemed to get two complete strangers, who would've never interacted otherwise, to sit in a ball pit and talk about themselves, life, and whatever other topics were written on the balls. These strangers connect on many different levels, which is a pretty big feat, considering how people are usually too absorbed into their own little digitally-enabled social bubbles and never really make an effort to get to know a stranger.

Nocturne: A Journey in Search of Moonlight by James Attlee