Gaming World Forums
General Category => General Talk => Topic started by: bonzi_buddy on June 01, 2012, 09:20:48 am
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GROAN, it has come to this. i know you might not know any answers but: my problemo is that uh when i want to spend time pleasantly, i try to do things i enjoy, ne? so i do music composing, take walks in nice nature or take a walk to reflect/think things... but i also read manga (couple of them are good, the rest is garbage BUT i still do it regardless!) and play something like civi 4 althrough it's semi-broken and as any waste as any games. and now i'm planning to do dota and grroooaannn.
help me out bros/gidgets!! what do you do in your leisure time... cos i want to be either productive or improve something in myself with it! or get a good experience out of it. you can't really draw or compose/make music when not feeling like it (save improve physical skills by repeating scales and whatever) and games really don't fit that bill in any way (save board/card games but you can only do that in social settings). man i just don't want to put time into useless stuff!! so idk just tell me what to do/what do U do/how do you allocate your free time anyways, do you even have or want free time gulp....
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If you're able to keep yourself busy, that's great. I made a list of "things to do when bored", because occasionally I literally have no idea what to spend my time on so I end up refreshing dumb websites. The list contains USEFUL THINGS but also personal projects that I otherwise don't spend enough time on.
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If you're able to keep yourself busy, that's great. I made a list of "things to do when bored", because occasionally I literally have no idea what to spend my time on so I end up refreshing dumb websites. The list contains USEFUL THINGS but also personal projects that I otherwise don't spend enough time on.
!!! this sounds incredibly smart/useful, i probably would have come up with something similiar in the summer (i'm hell-bent on figuring out my use of time and i had plans for the summer). do you have any ideas for ol buddy?? that i could get into as well
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I don't know, you have to use something that works for you. Also sort of depends on what you want to spend your time on. Maybe that's a good idea, to first make a list of things you want to achieve/do/make during the summer, and maybe to sort of cut those things up into smaller tasks that can easily be done in at most a few hours time. But that might be too much work/planning. Depends on what you prefer.
Most people don't like planning things out but it can be pretty helpful and it can make tasks appear less daunting, meaning it's easier to get started on them.
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making a list of goals is a good idea, but for you bonzi I'd be careful with programming your funtime. doing things methodically/mechanically or without motivation are big contributors to the brain molt
I don't think I'm too successful at having fulfilling days and not wasting time, but for me it's a combo of setting myself up for a good time and trying to realize when I'm not being productive before it goes too far. I'm prone to spend time uncomfortably sitting in my bed in my lounge clothes, browsing dumb sites and refreshing my email or playing video games. instead of doing that, I make myself get up and be presentable, go somewhere, make/get something good to eat/drink, and that's what helps me stay productive and keeps me from being a stale egg. also realizing when you're not really making any use of your free time, in terms of recreation (in the original sense of the word) or productivity. though this is kinda a skill you have to develop if you don't have it already. also when you have someone close they can be pretty good at keeping ya active
keep up with the activities in nature, maybe supplement the manga with some lit if you haven't already..GULP what am I saying, stay, stay my Alyosha! how hot you are! it is only a suggestion from a stupid malted head
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I kind of LIKE planning and making lists so. They are for me in of themselves enjoyable free time activities. I'm a super nerd though and 70% of the lists I either lose or just end up never using.
Like I have a notepad file open right now that is my TODO file that I just occasionally go to and edit to organize my plans for the day.
As for things to do, if you have pets you could give them some attention (walk the dog, play with the cat/ferret). I agree with early, reading some non-comic non-manga books would also be a good idea.
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Goofing around in roguelike things on the off was probably my favourite game-related activity of the past five years or so. I don't do it much anymore but it's the only one I'd like to take up again. Something like Stone Soup felt like this oddly humble, empty experience where you drift through infinite mysterious passages killin+eaten+banging up against mysterious systems you barely understand, "just like real life". For such a brutally technical game it feels kind of surprising to me that it's one of the few I've played where you don't have to embrace kind of dubious ideals of control or narcissism to get into it or get something from it. Cool exploration feelings. You don't need me to tell you this...!
Reading booke is good, it's sort of similar to rogues I think (entirety of Western Canon rears back in disgust but fuck em) because you have to stay at least somewhat engaged and alert and can't drift into total stupor but at the same time you're not being drawn into this hysterical, unbearable battle for Your Precious Attention or emotional validation or being shoved through hoops so that an author can be sure that you're paying reverent attention to their super experience. You can get into a fugue state without feeling like it's wholly wasteful or passive or that you're being the worst, stupidest version of yourself.
I like taking walks in a nearby park ;) last time i was there i saw some deer and a squirrel and a crow and a bunny ;O please spend some time in your local park or vale. I think this is better done on impulse so you don't drift into pettiness or smallmindedness about it though (Ugh These Joggers).
I opened a pak of modelling clay for the first time in a long while recently and was surprised by how completely absorbing / fun the experience was. I haven't tried it again yet but it felt really great and energising, that kind of furiously absorbed goofing that happens when you're a kid filling up notepads with comics. I enjoyed making lots o things (slow, devastating pan over ravaged desk piled high with sloppy, deformed bart simpson heads (various expressions))
It's all I know.....................
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I opened a pak of modelling clay for the first time in a long while recently and was surprised by how completely absorbing / fun the experience was. I haven't tried it again yet but it felt really great and energising, that kind of furiously absorbed goofing that happens when you're a kid filling up notepads with comics. I enjoyed making lots o things (slow, devastating pan over ravaged desk piled high with sloppy, deformed bart simpson heads (various expressions))
this is p. much why i like lego so much because i can just sit down in my floor and build whatever the heck feels good to build and it's the most chill feeling in the world and it's fun to see what you can come up with
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. . . i'm astonished...!! you guys/gidgets rules, keep em coming/like no need to force but i'd be interesting to hear how everybody handles this (what does eg afura dietcoke use their free time etc). as a prize so far, a handsome orangutan goldeneye image: see that my cool cyberpunk anime george clooney there? imagine that the blue thing on his neck is a big towel. he's holding it with both of his hands after a good sauna. wow, what a good sauna after some good walk in the nature! now you can't unsee it, You Grow A Pair Of Antennas...
Idk, yeah i uh lemme think. Basically, thanks for these ideas, really. I... think i'd like to become more involved physically ne? I mean i just realized some day that jesus, i've been playing diablo 1 and civilization 4 and besides that both (well, games are usually) are real "brain molters" (bow to earl's word prowess), they don't really improve anything anywhere in anything? They're just tests on how long can you stand putting same coloured slips into their respective boxes... so since i've gotta somehow spend my time fulfillingly in-between tasks and studying...
idk i agree on all points so far but! idk for sure why yet but i was thinking something different for the ideas, something next level something "FROM THE TRUE MAN'S WORLD". idk how to explain it but hell, if i start a topic then i better finish what i start... like no, i don't disagree with your points but i got that familiar looming feeling in the specific part of my brain that means that something bothers me in this/there's something i haven't realized yet and i'd need to reflect on it hard... anxiously bothers me... but i know that it will take time and i'm kinda impatient with this 'cos it seems to be something that needs a lot of hard thinking done in time, ergo asking you guys.
like for example: the lit, lego and clay stuff are really good ideas holy heck. i'm in general horrible with lit because when i start something... i really don't eat or drink barely or kinda sleep yeah but i have no good sequencing routines on lits, i get violently sucked in. but i i like lit specifically for those reasons catamites...but they don't really improve any skills, i wonder why i got fixation on this?! groooaaann, must reflect...
and uh i've kinda played in my mind about legos that... i think they're pretty neat?? like i think uh here's a true story from childhood: my mom looked mona lisaly over me when i was playing with dublos/legos (look at the boy go) so she went to do some errands elsewhere. this was probably around the time i got my first legos/dublos. when she came back, she was shocked/freaked out as she step into the room, a man sized robot was looming over her next to the door, haha it's a calvin and hobbes situation isn't it... i'd imagine it looking sideways like a uh egyptian wall art and 8^8 face, arms extended in air in hitting position... though it was probably a kid sized though i bet...
but yeah, like you can do all kinds of architechtural things with legos but man don't we do that shit all the time in every platform anyways, it's kinda suffocating. i kinda start warming on the idea of creating huge OBJECTS/like things that look like they're molded from clay or some substance. i guess you could call it a way to express yourself. this kind of an idea of huge lego rock/object... groan, i'm sorry you had to follow my rambling, it's not really too interesting once i fall in love with my voice, *spit*!
EDIT i think partially the reason i'm doing this because i recognize like BAD ROUTINES. i -routinely- go to internet or to games or manga or whatever in hopes of stimuli or for a push for shove and obviously it's never going to come! so i'm planning with starting with replacing them with healthier routines first to improve my use of time for now... something that i would eventually feel comfortable with being part of my life so hopefully i can kick off the rest of the internet save sw or other compulsory short accesses to internet and "be done with it" as they say... plans, plans... well, okay the internet part is semi-bullshit as i don't have any clear opinions of that but surely you agree, kamehamerads, that time spent on digital shit isn't time well spent...? i ask you dear read- aaa im doing it again, okay so but you know!
this is why i also think sw is probably better off with some goofy frontpage with like posts taken from sw cos there's zero work aside from posts taken from eg esoteric dumb topic and idk some fools are bound to step into the forum eventually! and it should be really easy to manage in terms of content creating, community image/summary, managing, advertising etc.
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I'm making some structural life changes in the next few months to help me create a life that makes more room for the good bits and less room for the bad. I'm going to China next month and I'm not going to take my laptop, and that is 50% of the problem right there. After being there for a few weeks and having some big changes at home when I return, like being a single person, living in a new place and getting a new job which will force me to be awake during the day, I hope I'll be able to get out of this impact crater sized pit I have been resting comfortably in now for close to a year.
The idea of writing down a few things I could remember to do when I am being inactive but willing that Dada mentioned sounds good. Just a few things I should always think to do but often forget, not an exhaustive schedule or anything like that.
Anyway, I think about this kind of thing a lot lately and while the improvements haven't come into effect yet for me the decisions have been made and that makes me feel a little better. I don't have much to add right now other than I...I get it.
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this is why i also think sw is probably better off with some goofy frontpage with like posts taken from sw cos there's zero work aside from posts taken from eg esoteric dumb topic and idk some fools are bound to step into the forum eventually! and it should be really easy to manage in terms of content creating, community image/summary, managing, advertising etc.
afaik the plan is to move us to the latest version of IPB, which has a feature that basically lets you promote topics to being front page articles? it's got tons of cool stuff like that and it's basically REALLY GOOD for making forum content really readable so uh yeah ! ! !
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Luckily I was around to see your post Bonzi. I'm not here very often anymore. Anyway, I work full-time in a job I enjoy but I'm also traveling. The main thing which I spend my free time on other than socializing is music writing because that's my passion. I'm a trained journalist but I really want to be a music journalist so I'm lucky enough to write for an amazing website and I'm being mentored by an extremely talented writer who does stuff for Rolling Stone. I feel very lucky to have a passion and I'm pretty ambitious, so whenever I have spare time I'm usually writing and doing something which develops my skills and pushes me closer to a personal goal of mine. I'm usually planning an interview or going to a concert or something... (sorry if that sounds like I'm bragging, but I'm not/you asked and it makes me excited haha)
Also recently I started going to the gym, which I have never done before cause I'm lazy and like drinking but it's actually not that hard and you feel great afterwards. Reading and walks in the park are good ideas too. Also traveling is one of the greatest things you'll ever experience. It all depends on the person but generally.... something creative, something outdoors, something which helps you grow as a person and something social. These are all good things.
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Afura
Yeah, thanks for bothering to tell me about this! It's nice to hear that you are getting somewhere or living the life closer to what you want. I can't compose music all the time and all of sudden i realized that there wasn't much to look forward in my daily life so y e a h. I like that you are doing what I'd like to do uh structurally (do something that improves your in an area that helps you achieve something else), even if it's not possible with everything.
If there's something you might need to be mindful then it's how much do you apply the journalist into your own identity... it's kind of hard to explain but there have been several events in my life where I had lost the ability (oftentimes forcibly/without my consent) the ability to do music and it was devastating/cripling to myself but most of the pain came from removing that some kind of 'value' or worth from yourself as a music maker/musical person. It's kind of related to my still unhealthy self-image (and i'm working on it) but i have no doubt this wouldn't happen to anyone else really, considering how much people put emphasis in their personality/build their self- and social image on What They Do (and how good they are at it! at least in impression). It's the whole invicible audience thing in your mind, who is observing you/envaluating you in your mind or potentially in real life etc.
afaik the plan is to move us to the latest version of IPB, which has a feature that basically lets you promote topics to being front page articles? it's got tons of cool stuff like that and it's basically REALLY GOOD for making forum content really readable so uh yeah ! ! !
yeah sounds like what i was talking about but i want to clarify that i'm not thinking dada as some kind of work mule/slave for greater cause/health and sanity comes first.
all responses are good/i think it's a good topic?? or subject or whatever and maybe worth something to ramble about/in in the future
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yeah sounds like what i was talking about but i want to clarify that i'm not thinking dada as some kind of work mule/slave for greater cause/health and sanity comes first.
uhm i am u'd better get to work dada or else u'd better watch ur back . . . . . . . . i;m coming 2 get u
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sorry bonzi_buddy his sanity is... too far gone...
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I fucking think about this stuff all the time man, I don't think I really got that across at all when I posted. I am waiting for my trip to China to see if I can just meet people, and have experiences which amount to more than 'I went to a place, and I was alone there for a while and that was not the worst'. I need to just go there and not use drinking to pretend I'm living and see if I can get into some real life for once because I can't do this hit refresh, read a post, hit refresh life for much longer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I guess the good news is that I am actually getting bored with with and not just dismayed at the emptiness now. When it's dismay, there's a kind of sense ah fuck it, let's rot today. Being bored is different, there's more hope for boredom. And the attraction to retreating into my head is fading as I realise that there isn't actually anything in there because I haven't put anything there yet, so I'm basically just retreating into nothing and I've got to be smarter than that, got to be, I'm not this awful person who does that. So, the time is coming up and it's all up to me.
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Stay in a hostel and make sure it's a dorm, check tripadvisor for reviews saying its social and you'll definitely meet people! Everyone talks to each other in those places, just say hey to people immediately and you'll be fine!
And yeah I know what you mean for sure Bonzi.
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I'll probably alternate between dorms and private rooms - I don't want to spend my time in my room or anything, but I know I don't really like dorms that much. Plus I don't want to be around drunk people at night. I figure I'll hang around lobbies and stuff, in the mornings and afternoons to eat and have coffee. I'll try to get places with those kinds of spaces for meeting people to go do things with, you know, trips to sights and whatever.
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Yeah that's a good idea, plus you can also stay in dorms that only have like 4 beds so it won't be filled with drunken teens.