We've been having a conversation about life offline on the offline bulleting board system.
offline bulleting board system
I wonder: what do we do, offline?
I'm trying to get into the flow of writing blog posts offline, but I don't think it's working.
I think what I'd like to be doing more of (what tense does one use when you think you should be wanting to do a thing but looking back over the years it turns out you never do them): making music.
I'm but a dabbler. I try to practice the alto recorder every now and then, and I have a handful of electronic instruments that I used to make super-short jingles for my podcast. The goal was to never use a jingle twice. As you can see, the fragments got more interesting over the years, but I also stopped making new podcast episodes. Too bad!
What I actually managed to do more of: running. I recently managed to run 22km. Yay me! It wasn't a race. I don't like racing and competitions. My wife loves the associated rituals, the people, the masses, the anticipation, but I like it best when I just lose myself in thoughts, low on oxygen, step step step step step and on and on.
I think I was most influenced by the book "Born to Run".
If you're new to jogging, I think there are a few principles that help:
1. better to go often for short runs than to go rarely for long runs
2. better to go so slow so that you can talk to the person jogging next to you
3. get used to run in every weather except thunderstorms and the like
Make sure to smile while you're jogging!
After a while, the benefits of running assert themselves. When I'm troubled, I wish I could go for a run. I look forward to putting on my running sandals and just go go go and lose myself.
What I'm trying to do less of: endlessly refreshing my fediverse feeds. I have three accounts, one using a self-hosted GoToSocial instance, one for English role-playing games on a Mastodon instance, and one for German role-playing games on a different Mastodon instance. There's something about social media and talking to people that fascinates my monkey brain.
I have a new laptop that I felt was going to be my "offline" laptop but it's not working out that way, sadly. In terms of getting ideas, the fediverse is still the medium where I get into conversations with people and that then has me writing longer blog posts. I don't mind this so much. Writing is learning, I guess. But it means I can't just write without some conversation preceding it.
Perhaps there are some solitary big thoughts thinkers out there. Or perhaps I've been raised in the expectation that only solitary thinkers have big thoughts. I find myself flourishing in the dialogue, in the back and forth.
#Life #Social Media