Vanth

RSS reader -> skim headlines -> open the full article from maybe 10% of the headlines -> skim the first paragraph to see how clickbaity the headline was -> read through the full article on maybe 50% of those.

And this isn’t just global and political news, I follow science, tech, sports, and other niche interest news this way too.

Some days I just listen to NPR’s Morning Edition podcast snips. Double speed. Skip over any with a title that doesn’t interest me.

And finally, I discard any completionist feelings. My RSS feed will never be all caught up. My podcast queue will never be empty. That used to bother me but I have some tools to manage my stress over it a bit better now.

Yeah. After a mediocre first date where he showed signs of a quick temper. We had no friends in common, no overlap in any social circles. I really did not want to deal with his likely negative response to me telling him I didn’t want to continue talking to him, so I didn’t. His second text after I didn’t respond to his first within ten minutes told me I was correct.

Maybe once a month, almost always at Walmart. I don’t know why.

A smashed avocado and a tuna packet on a tortilla is a phenomenal hiking lunch when I need a lot of calories without blocking up my mojo with a brick of a protein bar.

A mentor once gave me an exercise to identify my “core values” or goals or motivators. Out of a list of 60, the task was to narrow down over time and conversation to my top 5.

E.g., I value financial stability. Not to be confused with other values of earning high compensation or achieving lofty corporate positions and recognition.

It helped me frame for myself that I’m going to work to be comfortable and stable and beyond that, my motivations lie elsewhere, like spending time with friends and working on personal projects. There are people who put greater value on achieving a high salary or earning the c-suite title or having their names on patents; that’s perfectly valid and great for them, it’s not me and that is also ok.

There are tons of similar exercises online. If it sounds like something that might help you define your perspective on work differently, to narrow it down to you instead of getting overwhelmed with the whole world’s problems, please look into it and good luck.

Thank jeebus you didn’t have to get married to the type of men in the community/cult we grew up in and pop out babies.

Idk, I’m too chilly to think about it. Can you turn up the temp of my brain vat bath?

I can’t even tell if you’re a human or a chat bot.

What do you mean “going too far”? What are you planning to do?

Just like any hobby or leisure activity, my interest peaks and wanes. Marie Kondo said it best, “if it’s not sparking joy, yeet it out the window”.

Pretty sure that’s exactly how she said it.

Personally, I tend to enjoy listening to audiobooks over reading. I keep a looooooong list of books that look interesting so I can pick a title when I feel like reading. Note, I don’t call it a “to-read” list because I am not going to read them all. I will never read everything on the list unless I stop adding to it at least ten years before I die. And that approach to a to-read list does not spark joy. From the get to, recognize this is not a list to ever be “completed” by design.

I don’t watch television in a way that exposes me to commercials. Same with YouTube and Spotify.

I fast forward through ads during podcasts assuming my hands are free enough to do so, but will listen through them if I’m driving. I don’t absorb much from them, I’d be hard pressed to recall any I heard even within the last hour. I think I’ve been hearing one on repeat lately about subscribing to a service to tell you what services you’re subscribed to; couldn’t tell you the name of the company though.

I’m not familiar with how they work or what kinds of data they track and return.

Uh, they track menstrual cycles. So unless you have a thing that runs on a roughly 21-35 day cycle, there’s not much dual use to get from a period tracking app.

Are you trying to think of an alternative use for when cops try to use the app data to prosecute a woman when she miscarries? There are probably some plants that need to be watered ~monthly. Like a cactus or succulent.

Indoor climbing gives a big, wide-open, brightly lit area that scratches my itch for being outdoors.

Hot yoga burns out any chill I have.

Trying my darndest to keep a very consistent sleep schedule. January is my toughest month usually, and my friends know when I say my bedtime is 10pm I mean it. New Years, parties, travel, whatever be damned.

Edit: oh, new this year is a weighted blanket. That’s the “cozy” bit compared to the above. I like the weight without having to add 5 quilts that are just going to make me sweat.

A friend invited me on vacation with her family. They are very wealthy compared to me. It was clear up front that lodging and meals were covered by them, but I was hazy on everything else. It stressed me out so bad.

Do I want to go with them to do some Expensive Activity? Of course, but am I paying for it? Can I afford it? Even if I can, do I want to spend my limited money on that? Do they see me as a freeloader? How are these other not-rich friends navigating this because no one ever seems to talk about money? Fortunately, my friend saw my stress and had a discrete conversation with me where we set some guidelines.

Repetition. Be it in written, audio, or video form, repeating in until they’re saturated in it.

I wouldn’t. But you do you. It would be interesting to hear how well an IRL campaign would work to get users on the Fediverse.

Whoooosh.

Idk what the mod team’s philosophy is on incorporating member feedback vs shaping it to mod teams vision, but fwiw, here’s mine.

I don’t want to see every other post being about Trump either. But I also want conversation to happen. The compromise solution seems to be a mega thread; conversations continue without flooding everyone’s feed. For however this temp rule is in place, delete offending posts and redirect to the mega thread.

So 2015. What’s next? Crossfitters are obnoxious?

A sheep, a drum, and a snake fall off a cliff.

Bah-dum-tsss.