Ikar

Regarding music, I find it difficult to put some new music tracks as background if I haven't listened to them yet, so I think the point you are making is correct that listening to music can be an activity of its own. I'm also looking forward to seeing you post some made-up joke 😄

The reason I never liked watching series or even YT videos was that it was too passive, compared to gaming or Twitch. The latter two can have a surprising amount of social interaction tied to them. Tied to that, a self-sufficient and relatively famous streamer actually has a life outside of streaming with a healthy social circle around him.

Oh, that's just my blog. I didn't post anything for quite a while now, but I have an article half-way there. I was writing about a different website 🙂

I'm a bit confused, because I am not sure if I mentioned my website here and it's not in English. Which one are you referring to?

Day 335: I commented on here a bit, read, went for a walk and did shopping, got Duolingo done, got my website up in a way I can present it already and cleaned my room. I'm gonna play chess in the evening.

Having just finished the first series, I actually did get a bit paranoid after coming back to the real world...

This thread should be in the "Troll the Community" section, not the "Ask the Community" 🙂

Honestly, I am not sure if most people actually have this kind of control over their lives. I think that if they had, what you are describing wouldn't happen. I'd even argue the weakness of the whole system as it is is that once we turn 6, we are forced to spend an increasing time at school and later on at work. But except for a few people, nobody makes that decision consciously. I think part of being a true adult is being able to redirect those 40, 50 or even 60 hours of extra waking time towards something meaningful, but also reasonably fun, even if you didn't ask for them. Survive and adapt!

Day 334: I did Duolingo, worked out, worked on my web, read, watched "The Expanse" and played a 2v2 football. Good day.

I think a well-thrown object might do the trick with mice as well. Although I never did it on my own and until the end, I have experience with terminating pigs. It doesn't haunt me, I think have a nature to withstand these things. I actually think spiders are cool 😄 Agreed on the second paragraph, just try to do our best!

The idea is that nobody has immunity for it yet and letting everyone have the virus at the same would be destabilizing not only from the medical perspective, but from the economical too. Though I think you are right on that we will eventually have "herd immunity" as the end-goal of this.

Day 333: Today I got into a series called "The Expanse", did Duolingo, got (back) on OKC and Tinder after approximately 6 month hiatus, worked on my web, played chess and chatted with one of the guys and took a walk in the evening. --- I'm gonna try to reorganize myself for tomorrow. I think the mid-day workout was crucial for me, as I like to start my days off lazy (writing here, reading, eating, Duolingo etc.), then work out, eat (have lunch), take a shower and then I'm ready to roll by mid-day/early afternoon. There's quite a large sparsely forested area I will go to meditate/exercise/walk starting tomorrow that's largely devoid of people. I can also go shopping on my way back. Sitting on my ass all day makes me do nothing all day.

Day 332: I watched a video about the climate change and its implications for my country, did the groceries, Duolingo, finished reading the article about "nuclear family", worked on my web, watched a lighthearted improvisation show with a philosophical overreach about the current situation, wrote on my blog and went outside for a walk. I didn't work out, since the gym at the dorms is closed since today. I'll start using my expander tomorrow and will try to seek some public workout playgrounds outside. --- I have to admit that the current situation is difficult for me. Therefore, I'm convinced there is a lesson in it. Not because I could get ill, but because I can't be social as much as I would normally be. I'm gonna give my social life a thought. My social life has transformed slowly. From the beginnings of confiding to my family members, through living together with my coworkers in Iceland, teaching English after my return and finally moving to the dorms in the city center. Each step brought me closer together with other people in the society. It even got to the point of me writing this earlier today: Currently, there are two guys I am aware of that I know at the dorms; the rest of the students went home, except some of the Erasmus ones. I could technically go home to live with my parents for a few weeks, but they already had flu/cold when I visited them over the weekend for lunch. I don't have my car since Friday either, because I put it into the pain shop and I'm not sure when is it going to be finished, otherwise I'd probably go a circle grandma-blood donation-brother and then headed back home with the notion of day well spent. I wrote the above quotes to my friend yesterday afternoon. I afterwards decided to sign up for volunteering in my area in case anyone in the higher-risk groups needs to get their shopping done or babysit their kids, just to make sure I channel my energy in a constructive way.

Same. I think when I was about 10 and I was on a solo vacation with my dad for a week, at some point, he told me "I love you" and gave me a pat on the back. I was so bewildered by that I just gave him a scared/confused look and said "What the hell?". It just wasn't something I would've expected from him, maybe because I didn't get to see him that often back then. When we get to talk nowadays, it's mostly about our progress in our lives, so we talk about what we did the past week. I know I can rely on him to get something done, because he's a man of action, and he can count on me in the same way. He has this primary way of showing affection.

It's alright, NMMNG isn't explicitly about where to find a date either. That's OK as well. I sometimes enjoy just watching people in groups or pairs interact with each other. Unless you start going to bars, you are probably meeting your future dates via work and hobbies. You have to choose the right venues for yourself, but you can obviously try new ones if you feel that something has sparked your interest.

@BooksandTrees It's alright. We are going to adjust for a couple of weeks. I actually wanted to write some people yesterday, yet I felt weird as to why would I write them if I normally meet them. I actually got myself into a point where I do not want to write with people I meet regularly, because the interactions are so much better in person. @Alexanderle I can attest to that relationship situation. I didn't get it back then, but anything longer than ONS spent together needs space, because there is dozen other things that (should) make "you" besides the relationship. I'm going to enjoy it once I get one again, though I hope it won't be as obsessive and compulsive as the last one!

Day 331: I went to a job interview to work on a summer camp, but halfway on my way there they called me that it's cancelled, because of the even more restrictive quarantine issued by the government. I was on my bike, so I took the opportunity to stay outside for a bit longer and cycled around a bit, as I just got my bike here and I do not know the bike routes here yet. I then read and laid in bed in a state of vigilance. I did German in Russian on Duolingo and sorted out mails. I had a good arm workout and I also did squats for the first time, although it was fairly easy, since my legs were always strong. I read a part of a long article on family, messed around with my web and cooked dinner. I also felt bored during the day. I think I need a bit of time to re-adjust to the newfound situation of being less social than before. I'll figure something out. --- It is a year since my ex and I split up. While it sucked in the moment (or a few weeks), it led to a chain of events where I understood as to why the relationship ended in the way it did and where I reconsidered the very axioms of how I go about my life. That eventually brought me here about a month later. I'm grateful for that realization.

I think there are two good ideas that go with this. First one is to honestly watch yourself, just writing down what you did. Binged on a series for three hours? Good. Worked out really hard for an hour? Good. That way you know where you're at. The second one is that you are already doing what you want at any given moment. There is just the argument whether you are doing it in the best possible way known to you, because your e.g. need for accomplishment can be fulfilled in an infinity of ways. I think any motivation to get you started is a good one, whether you e.g. work out to genuinely try to improve your health or to "just" impress girls. It's hard to tell what your majority motivation is before you actually get to the point where it's no longer valid. So maybe you find a girl and you quit working out. The bad news is afterwards you played a trick on her, because a chunk of you she fell for is not there anymore. I'd argue the best way to avert that is to discipline oneself go to the gym every day regardless, but I understand if everybody doesn't have time to do that 😄

I remember I did a test named "The 5 Love Languages" some 18 months ago, but I think the landscape shifted on me so radically afterwards that the results I got from it are not valid anymore, much like the MBTI testing. I guess there is a test inside the book as well? I can confirm both the books are not actively trying to pursue you to become mean or evil 😄 All they do is to remind you to put yourself first, however it's sometimes not obvious what is the best way to do that. I think Peterson once hypothesized that, if it was a choice, losing mom or losing an arm both take a part of "you", but it's hard to tell which loss is "bigger", so sacrificing your arm for your mom might be actually putting yourself first. I also want to point out that @BooksandTrees posted a great reply, at least in my eyes.

Day 330: I read, did Duolingo, worked out, planned events for the next week, took a walk and went to the groceries. I also got my website up, even if it took me a while to get a handle on the registration, FTP server and whatnot. I went to play chess and talked with one guy I know on the dorms in the evening.

Why didn't you like the "Way of the Superior Man"? I didn't read it myself, so I can't comment on it. I read "Models: Attract Women through Honestly" by Manson and "No More Mr Nice Guy" by Glover and I like both of them, because they are not books about dating but books about life change, even if I don't follow them to the letter. They're both online somewhere. For whatever reason, this paragraph strikes me as written by someone who tries to be "too much in their head". We're animals too. We can get addicted, we want sex, food, water and sleep, regardless of what our conscious will wants. If you require your partner to be as "hardcore" into Christianity or "holy", you have to know it's a fairly exclusive condition and that it's going to take some time to find someone like that. I think people are not intentionally trying to be confusing about dating, but it just takes a lot of time/effort to figure the compatibility out. You can have a good conversation with a girl and you might not see her again afterwards. There's just so many variables to dating and relationships that rationality or logic or memory (all that is based on the emotional core anyway) has limited usefulness and it's used in a different way; i.e. noticing a girl has a new haircut or picking up some branch of the conversation you got into the last time, but didn't have time to explore it as much as you wanted to. If you like a girl, you just "know" it - you don't need to write a paper as to why you like her.

Day 329: I got up early, cooked, looked into some SEO, read, visited my family and had a jamming session with me on drums and two other guys on guitars. I also cycled about 20 kilometers.

Day 328: Yesterday we had quite the party, as it was the last one that could be legally held for the next several weeks. Going out thrice in three days in such a passion was quite the feat. Cold approaches, connecting with people and having fun - I did all of that. Now I am going to work on myself again in the upcoming days. I took a walk outside, took my car to the paint shop, had a light workout, read "The Red and the Black" and caught up with the GQ forum too. I did all that even though I felt hungover after yesterday and catching up on sleep during the day. These days I am especially grateful for my stalwart mindset and my ability to detach and also that I do not take myself too seriously. I even saw some sensible-looking posts on FB with people expressing gratitude for this newfound situation, so they could find time to go out into the nature, work out or meet the people closest to them. Life's good after all.

I guess another example that nicely demonstrates this was when there was Cold War, the socialist countries had their conscripts and supplies at the ready at all times, whereas the FGR's soldiers had their 40 hour workweeks and weekends off. Different worlds.

Peterson's lectures were very important at the beginning of my detox. It's true that he "only" puts the ideas of great philosophers into modern language, but I am of the opinion that most of how should one go about their lives in a good way is out there anyway. I started noticing this with myself as well. I am working out consistently for 10 weeks and I look better than before. I guess men can care about how they look as well! 😄