Yesterday, I joined Hubski for the first time! I was intrigued by how it all works, and from my lurking I noticed the high quality discussions being made. So, I was only too happy to join! I really haven't done anything that warrants a wall of text. I have been at university studying a professional writing degree. Classes are interesting, mostly, and I do feel I am improving in my writing. Of course, I am cognisant that nothing I write is going to be perfect, but simply trying is the best way to go. Although I don't exactly relish getting up early in the morning for early classes, where I live in Australia, the sunrise often looks beautiful! It'll be streaked with purple or perhaps light pink. It's simply delightful. Have a great day, everyone!
Welcome fellow writer-person! Life here on Hubski is good, friendly, and fun. We also use a LOT of expletives in totally non-mean ways. So if you think you are being yelled at, think about the last time you were three pints in, sitting with a friend at a bar, and he said, "No, WAIT. Dude. Fucking LISTEN... it's like this, man... we NEED Airbourne, because AC/DC abdicated when they canned Brian Johnson! Right? I mean, fucking RIIIIIGHT?!?" Welcome.
Thanks, Goobster! I will definitely remember this for next time. While I tend not to swear as much as possible, I don't really mind if I get that on Hubski. Kinda like banter between friends. Cheers! Out of curiosity, what's your favourite form of writing? I really enjoy writing short stories, because there's a certain art to packing a story into a few pages. I also like poetry, because if I'm feeling particularly emotive, I can channel it into poems. They don't necessarily have to rhyme, but they can have a poetic structure to them. As for reading, what do you like to read? I tend to read non-fiction, particularly history books and biographies.Life here on Hubski is good, friendly, and fun. We also use a LOT of expletives in totally non-mean ways. So if you think you are being yelled at, think about the last time you were three pints in, sitting with a friend at a bar, and he said, "No, WAIT. Dude. Fucking LISTEN... it's like this, man... we NEED Airbourne, because AC/DC abdicated when they canned Brian Johnson! Right? I mean, fucking RIIIIIGHT?!?"
Welcome fellow writer-person!
I guess screenplays are my favorite form of writing. Tight, efficient, and focused. A tool to be used by others to create images. Although, I do have a couple of book-length pieces (sci-fi, crime thriller, zombie apocalypse), as well. But the books that have made me money were technical books. Back when people read books to learn about new technology... Reading... On the other end of the spectrum, I spent the majority of my life avoiding all fiction. I read science and history and studied religions. Nowadays, it's Terry Pratchett. Neil Gaiman. Neil Stephenson. Bill Bryson. And books on language itself, like The Horlogicon.
I don't know how to quote you, sorry, but here's what I like to discuss: History and historical events. I like thinking about the causes of major events and what we can learn about them. Writing in general, how people write and what motivates them. Vinyl records and 70s music in general. Some of my favourites from the period include Slade, a bit of Elton John and Badfinger. Yeah, that's a pretty eclectic list, but those are my main interests!
On the top right corner of your dialog box, you'll find "markup tips." That's a hot sheet that'll show you how to quote, shout out, insert hyperlinks, link tags, and stylize your text. Dude, if those are your interests, you're in a pretty good place. We have another recent member, historyarch, who has made some pretty interesting history threads. The musical tastes of people on this website are varied and fascinating, so totally dive into bfv's weekly music threads. This place is full of creative types, from writers to painters to musicians. Don't be a stranger. Fucking pop around and dive into conversations. Every now and again you'll notice some of us have a bit of an edge in our comments, but we're all actually pretty damn open and inviting. Also, if you see an old conversation that interests you, don't be afraid to contribute, even if it is a few years old. Thread necromancy, while not a common art here, is openly allowed.
Wow, wasn't aware of this! Cheers, dude. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised! This site's community looks to be amazing! Looking forward to discussing stuff! Thanks @rd95!Dude, if those are your interests, you're in a pretty good place. We have another recent member, historyarch, who has made some pretty interesting history threads. The musical tastes of people on this website are varied and fascinating, so totally dive into bfv's weekly music threads. This place is full of creative types, from writers to painters to musicians.
I am with someone who is a kind, patient, and talented person. Whom I like a lot. But I don't know if I want her. Or a relationship. I feel guilty over how crazy my schedule is, and frustrated over the state of my body, and unsure of where I will be in a year. She's great, but I'm not as excited, and wondering if I will end up in love with her or not. Wondering what that even feels like. I've felt love once in my life, and that was five years ago now.
Maybe. That last sentence is important. If I felt love, would I recognize it? What does it take to feel love? How much time is giving a relationship a fair shake before knowing?
Six months, max. If you know, you know. That's the problem. When you don't know, you don't...and so you wait around, hoping one day you'll have that certainty. But when you don't know...you just don't. You shouldn't have to wait forever to know. How long did it take you to know when you were in love that once, five years ago?
Two months. That feeling held for about two years until depression took it away from me. Since then I haven't felt anything close to the same feeling. This relationship is at month 2.5.
Well . . . dating sucks balls but . . . there's worse things in the world than spending a bit of time with a kind, patient, talented person. Have you checked in to see how she's feeling about things? That might clarify or affirm things that you're noticing about your own reactions (or non-reactions).
Job’s going great. Need to make sure I don’t spend too much time on it, because extra hours doesn’t mean a fatter paycheck. I also wanted to share some of the maps I’ve been working on this week. The first of the two was a demo I did on Monday for a product idea I’ve been developing with a colleague. If the business side of things work out as we hope it will, we might be able to sell it for somewhere in the six figures. The second image shows some demographics in a neat hexagon grid. I know it is not much better than a pixel grid, but pixels will never make me want to trade sheep for wheat so I can build my city, meaning it’s clearly inferior. Had my first swimming class this weekend. The course is to learn the front crawl and backstroke. I was slightly nervous - I used to hate the ever living fuck out of mandatory school swimming classes. That was entirely because of my clumsiness, the risk of being singled out for my ineptitude in front of peers, and the proximity of swimming to drowning. I’m still clumsy and suck at swimming, but I now know I just gotta practice and suck for a while until I get better. The teacher mentioned that you need to get your breathing in a calm, regular pattern before you can even begin to do proper strokes. Yesterday, I went on my own, practicing just that and he’s totally right. It went much better when I focused on my breathing - funny how meditation breathing exercises come in handy like that. I did seriously hurt my leg though. It felt similar to a leg cramp (which runs in the family) but much worse. I didn’t realize you should be drinking enough, so it might be just serious leg cramps, but shouldn’t those be gone after a while? My leg still feels a bit sore from it...
I demand that you use exactly this explanation whenever anyone asks. Because then you can follow up with the fact that every successful tabletop game ever made (including the ones everyone in the audience has heard of, harrumph) uses a hexagonal grid because it increases engagement and opens the mind to new possibilities, both of which are highly desirable characteristics of public outreach. And then they will nod knowingly and be putty in your hands. As to the leg cramps, bananas. Also, the whole point of learning to swim is so you can take up Scuba. Trust me on this.I know it is not much better than a pixel grid, but pixels will never make me want to trade sheep for wheat so I can build my city, meaning it’s clearly inferior.
My professor seems to agree regarding hexagons! (or rather Walter Christaller, the slide was about Central place theory.)
In favor of what? I left iPhone a year ago in favor of a Samsung Galaxy S8. I regret nothing. I still rely on Apple for purchased movies and TV.
I was thinking about this when Verizon had their in-store sale. Then I was told that since they got rid of subsidies I'm still paying more than I did for my last phone, on top of like $80 for an "upgrade fee." Fuck that. See also: Verizon using locked bootloaders, so you can't jailbreak. Leaning towards getting a used LG G6 that I can then put Lineage on. Or maybe if I really want to go hardcore, an unlocked Pixel (2) XL and Copperhead.
Every Wednesday I think something happened and I have a life update to share that's worthwhile. And every Wednesday I blank and post a drawing of a cat or something because my problems aren't that bad and my life isn't that interesting. Anymore. Quarterly recap: I had a girlfriend, technically, for about a week. I thought it'd be a good fit since I assumed a much younger woman would have relationship goals that were not very serious and would work with my situation. Nope. She was naive and desperately in love with being in love so I bailed. She also wrote fan fiction which I have about no respect for. She should probably find a man who writes fan fiction. Ignored red flags but didn't stick around and make it worse. Pretty much done with the grad school application. Now I need letters of recommendation. Which I have no control over. And for reasons I took the same professor in my department like nine times. And he does not use computers. And his wife told me he is recovering from tongue cancer. So even that letter isn't guaranteed. I'm also very upset to hear that and other details from her. I'm not a complete selfish prick. I got a job and quit a job and got a new job and quit that job. I guess I don't like being micromanaged. And not all similar positions in the same field are in similar work environments. Because individual employees can be colossal dicks. I was incredibly lucky at my last long term job and now I know that. I have two interviews today. When you work for not much money and you can bail easily and not worry too much about job insecurity since there's probably another shitty job closer that pays the same. I should probably maybe have a date this weekend that's like five years in the making. I've been texting a girl for six months who I kept meeting on the old dating apps repeatedly over the course of said years. I was not in the place to want a relationship or feel anything for anyone but over six months with her I think I have developed something and I've also got over a bunch of my own shit in the interim. Other stuff too. Whatever. I want to write. Reassessing the direction of the large writerly output I produced last year that I had planned to mostly discard. Sometimes the success of Ernest Cline or Bret Easton Ellis being published at 21 seem to light a fire under my ass but then I just watch MST3K because I deserve to relax or something.
I'm fuckin' beat. I just played tour guide nonstop for two weeks because my best friend and then my sister each spent a week at my house. The first week was fun, the second less so - I ended up basically repeating the first week note for note because I didn't want to think of new things to do. I mostly stay at home or within a mile of my house, so I had little to no idea of what would constitute "sightseeing" in Portland. On the plus side, I have an 11 day break starting tomorrow. Lots of plans. Pictures I'll upload after work: socks and hats I've been knitting, sweaters I've been sewing, maybe some of the pastel stuff I've been drawing. Poop quality picture. I've never worked with knits before, sewing jersey collars suuuucks. Getting better though. Lots of socks! Lots of hats! Trying to turn all my leftover yarn into finished projects before moving in May. Pastels. Mostly just been working on Bob Rosses, finally moved beyond using black 400 grit sandpaper as my pastel paper.
"I don't know why you'd get into watchmaking because everyone just has a phone these days." The value of the worldwide watch industry in 1970, adjusted for inflation, was $460m. Last year, the value of the Swiss watch industry alone was 21 billion dollars. I don't need to make 21 billion dollars, I need to make a living. My chosen industry's exports were up double digits in its top six markets last year. And there are so few American watchmakers that nobody can even definitively say who they are. Registered for classes. Staring down the barrel of 26 credits. Nice guidance counselor at one of the schools looked over my transcript and said "I see you're grossly overqualified in math." Fuck yeah. You want trig. I got finite element analysis. I also just trimmed an eyebrow and am developing what looks like a skunk stripe from my widow's peak so really, I guess I'm earning my midlife crisis. Or is it a second-life crisis? It isn't even really a crisis; I've arranged things such that I can continue thriving off the terrible television viewing tastes of the American Midwest for so long as they hold steady. Are you allowed to have a midlife crisis with a 5-year-old? I've still got a damn crib folded up in the garage. My Precious doesn't run well. This is partially because it isn't lubricated and partially because apparently someone dropped a caliber covered in cosmoline in the ultrasonic cleaner because me and another guy now have funky white crystals growing on our watches. Looks like naptha. Gotta take 'em apart and run 'em again. The more you do this the easier it gets. it was discussed that I might have trouble fabricating a winding stem to make it work as a wristwatch until I said "I'm gonna be half a day in a CNC shop five days a week for the next year" at which all problems are assumed solved by inspection. That said, My Precious runs better than the piece-of-shit Troy-Bilt chipper that decided to up and die in the middle of chipping goddamn pinecones yesterday. Got spark. Runs great on ether. In consultation with certain small engine repair technicians it has been suggested that carbs don't get along with modern gasoline these days because it's dirty and full of ethanol. Okay, fine. Seven tanks. Seven tanks should not kill a fuckin' 250cc OHV briggs and stratton, except of course it should because their initials aren't "BS" by coincidence. If your only exposure to American engineering was Briggs & Stratton you'd wonder how we won the war. Bought a thousand dollar tent for my Porsche yesterday. Will keep it from bleaching while I'm enjoying the too-hot summer weather and earning a year's pay. I figure keeping a Porsche in a tent keeps it real. Said tent was unfortunately unavailable in RealTree. Which makes it one of the very, very few things not available in RealTree. I've decided that "RealTree Cult" would be an awesome HickHop band name. At the moment it's a disappointing image search. 20 million views, fuckers.
I went to Baselworld yesterday. The watch industry is well alive and booming.
I realized recently how convenient having a watch over a phone is since you just turn your arm and bam there’s the time. With my phone I had to remember if it was in my jacket, purse or the other room. I’ve been looking at watches ever since but I can’t decide with one I want. I don’t like digital but I also have vivid childhood memories of struggling with the analog clock worksheets in grade 2 or 3. I still get anxious when I have to read them, but I’ve also always had a weird love of them. Kind of like how English was one of my favourite classes in school even though it was struggle city.
Talked to a watchmaker with the Richemont Group. Asked him what he thought of smartwatches. "Best thing that ever happened to the industry," he said. Beg pardon? "Well, all these people that never cared to tell the time have gotten used to using their phones when they need to but then they buy an Apple Watch because it's too bulky to haul out of your purse now so suddenly they're used to wearing a watch and they discover that Apple Watches are bulky and ugly so they decide maybe they don't like wearing ugly things and they come shopping with us." Might I suggest a Cartier Tank a' Guichets? They're a mere $30k when you can find them. (In all seriousness I can't think of a single ladies' watch to recommend that doesn't cost a shit-ton. This is one of many reasons why I think the market is ripe because I'd love to recommend the Chanel Boy-Friend line but they don't start getting interesting until you hit BMW prices)
There's a scene in Halt & Catch Fire where the new venture capital chick plays with her JL Reverso. It was so en pointe that I laughed. I was probably the only one. What amuses the shit out of me is you're supposed to say that "zha zher lay KOOLTr". I like pissing off watch people by calling them "Jayger LeCultures." I damn near gave one guy a facial tic.
Somehow got into web novels. Enjoying Release that Witch so far. Also, Altered Carbon on Netflix is compelling. Found out a couple of minors I was going to pick up along the way need to fall by the wayside in order to graduate, but it's no biggie. And off to meet a lady friend I've been seeing consistently of late. Still chipping away at my mid-term New Years goals. Feels good.
I made it through Altered Carbon as an audiobook, but I made it entirely on the strength of Thirt33n and The Steel Remains. The sequel to Altered Carbon... I couldn't get more than a few chapters into. If you're going to do more Richard K Morgan, do Thirt33n.
You know Morgan's next book, Thin Air, is set in the same timeline as Thirt33n?
The RPS has been doing resoundingly well in school. Only her second semester back and her grade is less than 3% shy of perfect in every class, including her honors courses in nutrition and child development, with every indication she is going to end the semester with aplomb. She likes to send screencaps of her GPA to her parents/grandparents, and we usually get a reply that is something to the tune of 'Move back home/stop living in sin and we will pay for school :))).' So that's fun. I asked what she wanted to do to celebrate her good grades, she asked me to learn how to make cha siu bao because the frozen ones from the chinese grocery aren't quite the same as fresh. I'm watching a few videos and starting to sweat a bit. I'm a pretty competent cook but a baker I ain't. I'm gonna approach the bun-making process like Walter White as opposed to Julia Child I think. Baking requires too much precision to do otherwise. Semi-related, I was looking over my financial stuff on Monday and evidently I owe a ton less on my student loans than I ever thought, just looking at the balances on the accounts. I'm doing some digging to make sure, but it's not a far fetched idea to say that I could be student debt free in less than a decade. Fingers crossed that this is legit and not just an accounting mistake. We're going to spend a weekend at a lakeshore cabin with some friends to celebrate a birthday on Saturday. The plan is intoxication, Dominion and Mario Kart 8 and I'm looking forward to it a lot. I'm responsible for the omelette bar on Sunday and I'm excited to break out all the bougie fillings. Right now I'm leaning towards something like prosciutto, asparagus and caramelized onions with some kind of stinky cheese.
Cha siu bao is one of my favorite things, so she has good taste. I'll be interested to hear about the process once you find something that works. Mario Kart 8 is great.
Oh fuck dude she's got you learning humbow? SIGN ME UP So there's a shop off Pike Place called Mee Sum Pastry. They make humbow unlike anyone else on the planet. I first had them in '90 when I came up to visit as a wee bairn and I immediately had like six. They're damn near legendary. And they do what they wanna do. I would argue that the goal is to make the RPS happy and the baked humbows at Mee Sum are about as far away from traditional Chinese cha siu bao as you can get. Do what works and iterate until you nail it. by the bye, goat cheese not stinky cheese. The thing about an omelet is it's supposed to be light. It doesn't take much to overpower eggs. This is why you typically don't see anything more hardcore than gruyere. You also rarely see the good ones with more than two ingredients (prosciutto and goat cheese, asparagus and gruyere, carmelized onions and bacon). If you really wanna get decadent, go mouselline. And grab a cheap bottle of bubbly and some orange or grapefruit juice because somehow mimosas make people think they're the fucking queen or some shit.
That's the goal. I think the filling should be pretty easy to nail except for the color, which I found out comes from a metric fuck ton of nitrate salt. Maybe I'll just use Sriracha instead. Also I have the same problem with bao that you do. I can't order them at restaurants because I get them, devour them, get my entree and wish that I had more bao isntead. I have done in the past, I'm not opposed to the idea. The gruyere is an inspired touch, maybe I'll go that route. What white cheese goes with prosciutto other than fresh mozz? Definitely doing more than two ingredients though, I'm feeling decadent. Booze has already been covered or I would have been the first one to suggest the bubbly. I'm learning to stay in my wheelhouse and not over prepare for things. There is a certain amount of grace in allowing other people to host I think.Do what works and iterate until you nail it.
goat cheese
Different takes on traditional white cheeses are Beecher's Flagship, and Cougar Gold. Both are deeeeee-lish, local, and enough different from store-bought mass-produced cheesefoodproduct, that you'll feel like a white-cheese-eating toff. And supporting local producers.
The fact that there's a Beecher's in SeaTac reinforces that being my favorite continental airport to-date.
Mee Sum does four or five different fillings and they're all bomb.com. One of them is basically stewed pork in sweet and sour sauce. The color comes from FD&C Red. One of them is curry chicken. It's fuckin' curry chicken. One of them is beef stew. It could be goddamn Dinty Moore. I think their success comes from (A) the fact that they're softball big so you can get a proper amount of filling in (B) they do egg wash on the outside, and also some butter type stuff, and definitely sugar, and I'm not sure what else but by howdy they sweat the tops (C) the pastry is light. Hawaiian roll light. Hawaiian roll sweet, too, which allows you to contrast the filling. I've done prosciutto in omelets and I gotta say I'd rather saute some black forest ham. It isn't as salty. But goat cheese goes with prosciutto, mozz goes with prosciutto, an aged cheddar goes with prosciutto, havarti sure as shit goes with prosciutto, iberico goes with prosciutto. I mean, it's basically pretense bacon once you cook it.
Mornin, states. Currently sitting in the ICE from Regensburg to Passau, writing the Berlin trip report. (It's coming, I promise!! Just a bit difficult to find time since I'm still unterwegs.) Thankfully, we booked 8 seats together and 2 separate, so I'm next to my prof enjoying a bit of a break from the others' chaos. It's been... a lot. I like most of them as individuals, but when 10 non-native German speakers spend all their waking hours together, it not only becomes annoying, but also actively harms my language skills. (We become an echo chamber of grammatical errors and broken German.) And we're on the road for almost another 3 weeks. (Anyone in Austria, Berlin, or Leipzig, shoot me a message if you wanna meet up!) So I'll be doing my best to split off from the group as much as possible :) Fortunately my prof is very understanding, so it should be better from here on. On a larger timescale, I don't want to go back. Or, at least, if I have to go back, I want to come back to Germany after graduation. That is, however, made difficult by the fact that I'm also less and less interested in anything resembling a stable job, and definitely anything resembling sponsorship for a work visa. So we'll see where that goes.
Best of luck. I hope you find a way.So we'll see where that goes.
I've started playing LISA. Really digging it so far; it is even more surreal for me as Olathe is a stone's throw away from here. Very undertale and/or earthbound feeling. I also gave Forza 7 a shot, and hated it. Speaking of things that are a stone's throw away, turns out that the library from our defunct anarchist infoshop survives. Gonna go check it out while I'm on vacation in two weeks' time. Hopefully the weather will be nice out, didn't really go out much over the winter compared to the past. Got sick after my first freezing bike ride, and just said fuck it. I used to not give a shit about the cold, since the trailers at work were freezing anyways. But they fixed the heaters, set them to "inferno", and left them on well into the 60's. In light of warm weather happening earlier and earlier every year, we've got a buncha tomato and thyme sprouts going. Kale is doing well in the planters, and there is a packet of borage seeds sitting on the counter that need to get going. Picked 'em up from the public library (along with the tomato and thyme seeds). Apparently bees like borage? Never really seen it before.
Our garden was taken over by triffids last year. They were huge, looked kind of like celery but their stalks were not tasty. Then they shot seed all over. Because I'm in Los Angeles during harvest time, it comes down to my overworked wife and eager child to deal with the garden. Which is why I didn't discover that the triffids were parsnips until the edible parts had turned to oak. We got some damn parsnips this year, I tell you what. I be pullin' those things when they're edible.
also fun fact if you make soups - you can sub in parsnip for carrot in your mirepoix for creamy soups so that you don't have orange bits floating around.
Battening hatches for the fourth nor'easter of the season. Made beef stew last night, and got home early to clean up the apartment for the wife. Let's hope this is the last bit of weather...otherwise Shani might lose it. I got approved for an innovation grant on a summer project I'll be working on anyways - a good win. Even better is that I got my little sister an internship at Harvard! If there's something redeemable about living in this windswept, snow-covered desolation of a city, it's the local universities. She'll be rocking around this summer, tinkering with toys that her state school down south can't afford. For kids who grew up not even expecting to go to college, this shit ain't half bad :)
For spring break, I paused my semester-long project of not drinking alcohol. Last weekend I headed up to New York to visit friends and we went out to some bars and clubs. It was fun, but... deeply demoralizing. I didn't realize how little I missed berserk drinking and staying up all hours of the night. Not to mention spending hundreds of dollars. Back on the wagon, and couldn't be happier about it. Riding out the snowstorm hitting the eastern seaboard in my house. I have to write a paper on a completely open-ended prompt dealing with constitutional law. The assignment is so open-ended that I can't even pick a topic, even after spending the last day and a half reading. Halp me snowy spring break gods.
Not to claim you’re unoriginal...but I’ve been reading a lot about people quitting alcohol for a while in the last four or five months. Read a column about it this morning, even. Is the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon rearing its head or is there genuinely a trend happening?
It'd be interesting to see in what sense the trend is increasing. I posted about it in January to Hubski though there weren't any bites. My increased awareness happens to coincide entirely with meeting people in their thirties--so slightly older than me--who also gave up alcohol. And it's for random reasons why I've been meeting with slightly older people. Most people my age or younger are still entirely balls to the wall with drinking.
Leaving to Berlin and eastern Europe for a month on April 9th. I'm in this wierd limbo state I hate, where i've tied up all my loose ends and unfinished projects a little too soon. And now it feels like there is no time to start anything new. But I got to push past that stupid state because I still have many week before we leave. I kind of want to shoot some Montreal stuff for my vlog but the city's looking gross as the snow is melting... I have to figure something out.
ButterflyEffect: Do you have any recommendations for 8000-10000' summits that are well tracked but not necessarily extremely busy? And non technical (scrambles are ok)? As a bonus, maybe something that would benefit from camping one or two nights? Also, what are the good summer months for mountain hiking in the Cascades? I assume it's winter until May and spring until July?
It's more like mid-June to mid-September. I'll start thinking on the rest of that, are you looking for summits specifically in the Cascades?
I'm open to anything. It's possible I just end up back in New York hiking the same areas in different ways, but I'm trying to see what's out there and considering higher elevations to push myself.
Dude the north cascades are the shit. A lot of them aren't near that high, though. Here is your guru.
Wow, yeah, I think I'll order both north Cascades and the backpacking one. I'm also considering the Angeles National Forest. Mount Baldy/San Antonio is 10,000' and seems to be reasonable and should be nice in spring.
Yeah, I'm a fan of green, but I figure I could expand my bounds a little bit. If I end up hating it, at least I can cross it off my list more definitively. The pretty parts of Washington are much more what I know I like. 
Well I just closed about eight tabs on my browser at work about New Mexico mountains. I should probably do some actual work.
The first reverse image search hit on that is a website protesting a power line. That might be a perfect location. I'll have to see what information I can find. Those mountains look to be around 10-12,000' from a quick skim of the Google topography map. Some of the shorter ones could be a perfect stepping point for me. How's the area west of Los Alamos? The Valles Caldera looks nuts on the topography map.
That's Black Mesa. You need to add "New Mexico" to avoid Half-Life references. It's sacred. You need permission from the Santa Clara Pueblo if you want to climb it and I don't know if they do that anymore. Before the Internet, we were told that Valle Grande was the biggest caldera in the world. Apparently it doesn't even rate. That was okay because back Old Man Baca or one of his ranch hands would shoot at you if you crossed the barbed wire to check it out so the place could be Shangri La and you'd never know. We used to drive through on our way to Jemez Springs all the time but it was fuckin' no man's land. Now? Now it's a national park. It's also where Walt Longmire's cabin sits. I don't know what I'd tell you about the hiking nowadays. Most of it has burned two or more times since I left. I can tell you it's pretty fuckin' weird when your roommate texts you a picture of one of your old high school party spots because he's shooting a Chris Helmsworth movie there.
I'm trying to sprout apple seeds. I don't really know where I'm going with that project, but once I transplant my succulent into a bigger pot, I'll have a spare small pot. Apples come with free seeds, so I'll see what happens.
Each apple variety is a from grafted clones of a single tree, and I think the sprouted seeds can be very different from the parent. Some people grow them as bonsai too.
I did read that! My experiment is more about whether I can grow a plant from seed and less about the fruit.
Fun. My experience with growing from seeds is limited to packets of flower seeds.
This has been a week of self-discovery. I seem to be an HSP — a Highly Sensitive Person. Part of the reason I was unwilling to accept it from the beginning was the corny name. Then there's the fact that HSP sounds like ADD: that is, an umbrella diagnosis with little basis in reality for people who don't fit in with the societal order. I'm still skeptical, but what I read about it describes my experience awfully well. Being an HSP means that I'd find it very difficult to timely process unexpected criticism. It has to do with a lot of things, but mainly — with the bluntness and the lack of nuance to certain responses I might get. Give me data ("here's what, here's why, here's how"), and we'll talk. Make it personal ("you're a dick"), and there ain't no conversation to be had — even though I try. I thought I was just weird. Turned out, there's a reason, and that reason's existence justifies me being myself. There's a sense of liberation in finding out your condition is not unique. There's a note on my smartphone. I wrote it after going out in the street at 2 AM, unable to sleep from being sick with cold. It's the most honest thing I've written in ages. It reads: - I dont wanna learn languages - I dont wanna be a teacher? - I dont wanna tattoo - I dont wanna stay at the uni - I need purpose In order: I got it into my head that I'm interested in learning languages for some reason. Latest events prove that it isn't the case. I still find languages interesting (and I do speak English), but making it into a life goal seems unappealing. That I'm going to need to pass a foreign language exam at the end of the semester complicates matter. This semester sees us studying Economics. The lecture is first thing in the morning on Monday, and it's an exercise in anger management every time because of the teacher. That night, I started reflecting upon my future career, and I recalled wanting to teach children more than just a foreign language. I want to tell them about the rules of engagement in an unfamiliar and harsh world that their parents are unlikely to part with. Then I looked at the Economics teacher and the way she dispenses her "wisdom" (like how men can't be trusted and, therefore, women should always be a bit bitchy, in a "can't handle at my worst, don't deserve at my best" kinda way), and the thought horrified me. I absolutely do not want to be anything like her — and if that's my destiny, then I'd rather not teach at all. Things settled a bit since then and I realized that I don't have to be like her, but the thought will stay with me for a while. I wanted to get a tattoo on my left arm to celebrate the personal growth as well as getting out from under my parents' wing and stepping forth to become my own man. Been dreaming about the tattoo — this particular design — for maybe a year or two. Last week, after asking around and reading about, I'd set up an appointment with a respected local tattoo artist. The night before, I realized, quite vividly, that I do not want a tattoo. I like the idea, but I don't want to wear one. There's something disconcerting about committing my skin to a permanent story. The thought of having spend any more time at the uni, doing things I don't want and performing to a certain level, earns me the blues. I feel stuck in a cubicle-esque existence, doing work that dries my soul out. It's telling that any day I decide to skip nowadays feels like a breath of fresh air that fills me with joy and desire to do good by my life. That said... I feel like I'll be better off with the diploma, because at least it will serve a formal certificate of my skillset, which would (hopefully) make it easier to find a job. I have less than a year and a half until that. I'd rather persevere than regret later. "Purpose" might not be accurate. I need the kind of drive that makes me people do stuff they're passionate about. Right now, everything in me says "Be lazy", and I find it hard to resist most of the time nowadays. It probably has a lot to do with the uni situation, but isn't it possible to work on something good in the meantime? Someone shared The Oatmeal's piece on creativity on Hubski recently. Whoever you are: thank you. I needed to read that. Oh, and Rosa's not dead.
I think we do teens and young adults a real disservice when we say they have to pick a job, pick a career, pick an academic pursuit because it's super important and what do you want to do for the rest of your life? That model may have worked if you graduated in 1958 but not if you're fucking interesting. Not if you have any dreams. Not if you have any ambition. It's better to understand that you need to pick something to study in college because it'll determine what you can do well for the next three or four years, and if that something will lead to something else you can do well for three or four years after that so much the better. My father-in-law is an organic chemist. He's done blood chemistry and blood testing products his entire career and I've got his 1973 thesis sitting on my shelf. My father did engineering, then did biology, then taught physics and mechanics in Brazil, then was a radiation tech for an air force hospital, then did environmental monitoring, then did information security, then did IT, then did GIS for like SWAT teams and shit. And both of them look on me and my wife with envy. Don't be lazy, but don't be afraid of figuring out what makes sense now because the future is gonna mess with ya. The better you can roll with the punches the longer you get to keep playing.
That's the part I'm wrestling with. Remember how I was exciting about NaNoWriMo, and you told me that it sucks, and then you told me what real writing's about? (Your writing, but whatever) I wanted to write then. I wanted to make it work. I'll make uni work. I'll drag it till eleventh hour, I'll cry as I type out the thesis, but I'll make it work. What the fuck do I do in the meantime, with the things I care about?Don't be lazy
Find the small victories and add them up. Winning by inches is still winning. So long as you end up vaguely more ahead every afternoon than you were that morning, you can look back six months later and see how far you've come. The trick is to not fixate on the horizon.
Thank you. It will serve me well to keep that in mind. Now — just to find a way to keep it there.
Checklists. Write one every night of stuff you want to get done in the morning. Ryan Holiday suggests an index card and a sharpie - then you aren't tempted to write too much. Start the morning by looking at the index card. Take it with you if you have to, but check off the boxes as you go. End of the day, look at your index card. If the task was important, put it on the new index card. If it's not, forget it. Move on. Don't let it drag you down. But keep the index cards. Look at them every month and recognize that you did all that.
I’ve actually started a mini journal in a similar vein. At the beginning of the (work) day, I ask myself what two things matter today. Then, at the end of the day, I write down two things that contributed to making the day great, as well as the stuff that is on my mind. Despite it only taking a minute or two, it is surprisingly effective at getting me in the right mindset for the day and being happier with how the day went.
Or, with a Geordie accent: tee hee hee I can see how that works. Making only two things your focus makes things that much clearer.in a similar veen
It's easy to feel compelled to do work when there's an external force binding you to it (even if your reluctant). However, finding that drive becomes harder when the only person you're responsible to is yourself, even for the things your passionate about. I was in a somewhat similar position to you. I finished with academia and found that, even though I loved music and had spent years studying it, I could never convince myself to do the work. I would just waste my free time in the usual ways. What worked for me is a slow but steady commitment to building self discipline. So at first I committed to doing just 10 minutes a day. Then once that became easy, I raised it to 30 minutes, then to an hour, and so on. Gradually, the urge to work became habituated. Hard work is still hard, of course, but the act of dedicating time to it became a natural feeling. This process is made easier if you have a schedule. I started this whole process around July 2016. In January of this year, I tracked 91 hours of my free time that were put towards productive pursuits. You can't just wait for true inspiration, motivation, or whatever name you wish to give to it. It does not inherently exist at a base level. If you think of it coming and going as it pleases, you will sink into apathy and inaction. It is born from the work you do on a daily basis and is perpetuated through dedication to your goals.
Hey, I took my time before reading what you said. I'm glad I did: after what kb and veen said, this sunk in better. First of all, I'm so glad that you found what works for you. I'm always happy to hear that other people make good of their time on this planet. It's inspiring, too. I hope you keep sharing your progress: it helps people like me feel better about my chances. I have a question, though. Have you ever felt, after you first, second or N-th 10 minutes were up, that you could just do more? If you did, did it feel, next day, like you can't mount that mountain anymore because you're not up for X times more than what you've initially set for yourself? That's what always gets me with things like this: I come by a decent measured progress schedule, stick to it for a while (the most I've managed was three weeks, after which the mountain failure feeling set in) and fail when the next obstacle seems insurmountable, even though I've managed so far. Or, do you ever feel overwhelmed by the responsibility or the perceived pressure of "having to" do something to continue the chain of habitual action?
I probably did a bit of a disservice by focusing so heavily on time. Simply committing to putting in the hours is a good motivator when you're looking to get the ball rolling, but it shouldn't be used as a singular measure of success. I've had plenty of days in which I've barely done half of my 'quota'. That could be seen as a failure when looked at in isolation. But when widening my perspective and considering what I've actually achieved, I'm generally satisfied. And really, it's only when you're not satisfied with what you're achieving that you need to question whether you're trying hard enough. It goes back to what kb and veen said, in that you need to recognise your victories and successes as well. If don't, you'll risk focusing on the wrong things and burning out. I like what Leonard Cohen said: That's what I think about. Have I achieved something today? Have I redeemed it from being wasted? If I have, great! Keep grinding. If I haven't, what can be done to change that? Putting in more time is the usually the answer to that question. And that action will be accompanied by victories to recognise.[Writing] begins with an appetite to discover my self-respect. To redeem the day. So the day does not go down in debt. It begins with that kind of appetite.
Ohmahgod, the comedy. Only FirebrandRoaring would start a conversation saying that he's going to be a dick (i.e. literally, "May I be a dick?"), and then take offense when someone says, "Yeah, you're being a dick. I don't talk to people like you." geee-ZUSS!Make it personal ("you're a dick"), and there ain't no conversation to be had — even though I try.
I mean, his wording was weird here but you’ve just become one of the website’s bullies since you decided he was ThatFanficGuy. If you already know you don’t enjoy engaging with him then why do it ? It’s honestly just cringey to have message threads talking about somebody when they can see it. I don’t think Hubski was ever supposed to resemble the hallways of a junior high.
I don't know who ThatFanficGuy is. From what a quick search has shown me, he was around while I was lurking - seems contentious. I've got no stake there, and I'm sorry if I've stumbled across something sensitive in Hub-history. FR's recent comments rustled my jimmies, and I talked about it to him - nothing more.
Should you delete your account in a huff and come back expecting a fresh start only to do the same shit? He's blocked. If he stayed the other guy he'd still be blocked. And I'd never've gotten to the point where I would do that. This could have been avoided if he'd been honest. He's that guy. The odds are incredibly in favor of that theory. Or there's an epidemic of hypersensitivity in Russia.
My message was about you. You have value here but you’re also a part of every single thread that’s only value is putting somebody else down. If I engaged you in conversation and then stopped I wouldn’t feel it appropriate to just continue the thread with somebody else talking shit about that person. Imagine in this thread he responded to me and instead of engaging you anymore I just started talking shit about you with him instead. You might not care that much, but I doubt it would make you feel good and it would make me look bad.
I asked you to do better in another thread. Are you going to reply?
Of course not. Because you're a coward. You sit behind the white screen typing shit that makes you feel big, but come time to answer for your words, your ass is under the fucking bridge.