I really enjoy cable management
Hear me out. Have you ever tried naps?
Yeah. I’ve been enjoying them a lot this year
Gardening
Is your friend alright?
He looks too skinny.
Lately, I’ve really been enjoying Lemmy and posts like this. All of it makes me feel like I’m still able to surf the web like I did 5-10+ years ago, interacting with other humans on the Internet in passing rather than a botnet like so many other popular sites.
I’m also a huge fan of cable management. I love the process of cleaning up my home/office to blend devices into the space.
Sitting on the porch in the middle of the night in October/November. With a blanket. Or any other cooler month.
People don’t realize. That yes. You can bring a blanket outside. To your porch.
And no one is around at 3 am and it’s so silent and eerie. And perfect. Even in the city, there is way less people. But outside the city it’s dead silent. Like everyone disappeared.
It feels… Different than the rest of the time.
3-4 am is the most interesting hour of the day.
Try it next time you wake up with a full bladder in the middle of the night. Or have insomnia. Don’t go back to bed. Instead Grab your blanket. Step outside.
I find that my best writing happens within those hours. It is, after all, the witching hour.
There is actually some science to this phenomenon of creativity.
It’s called “aha!”. That’s the actual technical term in psychology research. With the explanation point. Aka “eureka moments.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka_effect
So basically what happens is you are at your most creative when your brain goes into the “default mode network”. Which can (simplified) be described as loose, undirected thought.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Default_mode_networkFor instance while showering. Taking the dog for a walk. Sitting in traffic. It can be any time when your mind wanders aimlessly.
The reason this increases creativity and unique problem solving is because when we intentionally direct our thinking, we box ourselves in with related concepts already associated with the idea we are working on.
To truly think unconventionally with more unique creativity, one has to stop thinking of the issue intentionally yet still have the goal of that problem in the unconscious.
It’s a difficult state to get to intentionally unless you know how your own mind works and can put yourself into an unfocused mindset intentionally.
Explaining a problem to another person can sometimes re conceptualize a problem and help solve it.
But being in a “mentally unconstrained” state is also very helpful.
I can say I often have some of my best ideas for projects or solutions to things I’ve been working on , as I’m falling asleep. To the point I have to get up and write things down all the time.
High quality ideas.
Another pattern is people can also have a lot of creative ideas when procrastinating from a task they don’t want to do.
The task at hand looms and the mind distracts itself by mind wandering. Increasing aha! moments.
I’ll think of that, thanks for the suggestion! in december 24 after Chido hit we had no AC or ventilation so I slept on the roof for a week or so. It was full moon, and I’ve never slept so well before or since
Maybe you should just sleep on the roof?
it’s impractical for a number of other reasons, but yes, it’s a good idea. When I build my house I’ll make sure there is a dedicated space
Fixing things. Doesn’t matter what it is, but I find deep fulfillment and satisfaction in taking something that is seemingly beyond rescue and bringing it humming back to life with nothing but a wrench and a little hard work.
I love taking things apart and putting them back together broken or not. 9 times out of 10 all fixing is is doing that and cleaning in the middle
I WFH, so once I get everyone else out the door I take 10 min to sit on the back porch to drink my coffee. I don’t bring my phone or anything else. Just my coffee.
Finding some downtime to just lie down with my cats and cuddle them
Also coffee
Mmm, yes… coffee. Every day. ☕✨
Love cats and miss having one, too. I imagine how nice it is to just relax and be with them.
Making and eating pretzel bread.
It’s a very temporary simple pleasure, because then I go to my doctor for a checkup and get sad because of all the pretzel bread lol
Do you have a recipe? I’ve never made it, but I do enjoy pretzels so maybe I’d like it 🤷♂️
Yeah… About that… I cook on a more conceptual level than a recipe level (not trying to sound smart, quite the opposite, it’s laziness lol)… From what I read people saying about baking being so precise it’s a wonder anything I make actually comes out good lol
It’s basically a simple yeast risen dough with a bunch of sugar as well. I use bread flour instead of all purpose as it retains more water and ends up softer. The “pretzelness” comes from a baking soda & water bath you give them before adding salt and baking. Just add some baking soda to hot water and toss them in it for a few seconds or so. From what I understand, the more basic the solution the better so people used to use Lye, but that’s kinda dangerous and baking soda does the trick.
This is the recipe I used to get the gist of making pretzels I just don’t twist them into pretzels I make rolls out of the dough.
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/24272/buttery-soft-pretzels/
I think there’s some AI nonsense going on in the beginning there because it calls out baking soda as a leavening agent but that’s not what it’s being used for in this recipe.
Baking soda is too weak. As far as I know they use sodium hydroxide in bakeries, which is kind of dangerous because it can cause serious burns on the skin. You can bake your baking soda to make the solution slightly more alkaline but it will still be a lot weaker than the stuff that’s used commercially.
Typing on a mechanical keyboard.
Care to elaborate? I tried mechanicals and they feel loud and clunky to me.
The one I’m using now is part of a batch of 4 that I found in the trash at my workplace. It’s a big Cherry G-80 which linear, non-clicky black switches.
Its a very simple, old-school “aged” white keyboard, with some marks still from mistreatment, probably when throwing away.
Typing is delicious. The keys offer a satisfying resistance until they bottom out. They register the press before that point though. They never miss, and can be silent or somewhat musical, depending on the fingers attack.
It’s truly a simple pleasure to type on it!
The susurros of people laughing and enjoying themselves nearby.
Paint by numbers! Great to just turn off brain and paint away
We bought my nieces some of these and decided we have to try them for ourselves!
Coffee. Cliché, I know, and I’m not even talking about the watching-James-Hoffman-videos-before-prepping-my-4000-dollar-espresso-machine type of habit. Just the few minutes of preparing a cup the way I like it, and finding a quiet couple of minutes to drink it.
If you want to save money while still “prepping-my-4000-dollar-espresso-machine” Espresso (or depending on skill sometimes even better), I can absolutely recommend the Cafélat Robot.
Having a clean living space
Using a wire continuity tester, and hearing that sweet beep.
walking in a forest during fall with a little weed in my system
aha ! I’ve just recently discovered the joys of getting slightly stoned in the wilderness. Last time on my way back, during rainy season, I found the path blocked by a huge zebu. Bit stressful for me, I had to dig into the bush for a way around
I’ll have some of whatever you were smoking!
What did the zebu say to you? Did it impart any wisdom?
just the usual platitudes 😅 “moo, I’m a zebu”. lol thanks buddy, I noticed. “moo, moss covers all, the edges of this kingdom may be dulled but in time it will rise again from the forest and swallow men, then we will chant as one… moo”.
yea yea buddy
