Activity obsession Aug 26, 2024
Activities, experiences, and hobbies can be grouped into the following categories: 
  • have done, would do again
  • have done, would not do again
  • have never done, would do
  • have never done, would never do
There are certain things you can be "into" but not into.  Like I've played golf and gone snowboarding a bunch, and I would do those things again, but I'm not actively pursuing any opportunities at the moment.  Similarly, there are things I've never tried but would be willing to, like maybe pottery or meat smoking.  I'm open to the idea. 

But then there are other things that if you're "into" you're into.  Hunting and fishing are two things that most people don't dabble in.  Those who do dabble, don't dabble, they're obsessed.  No one who's into fishing is only into it a little.  I find that distinction interesting.  It either says something about the attractiveness of the activity, or maybe the drive of the individual.  Or maybe it's just a weird lizard brain thing. #lifestyle
Spending time Aug 24, 2024
The way I spend my time can be broken up into work, hobbies, chores, and time-wasters. 

Work takes time, is sometimes enjoyable, but primarily provides a benefit.  Work is what I do for money.  Depending on the person and the job, the level of enjoyment and the level of benefit may be higher or lower.  But the way I think of it is this:  Would I be doing this if I didn't get paid?  If not, then that's a job.  If I enjoy it but I don't get paid, that's volunteer work.  If I don't enjoy it and also don't get paid, that's slavery (avoid that if possible). 

Hobbies take time, are enjoyable, and provide a benefit.  I've settled on a handful of hobbies that I rotate through but keep coming back to:  hiking, playing video games, making music, writing code, reading books, and watching TV/movies/sports.  You could argue that things like playing video games and watching TV are too passive to count as "providing a benefit," but I would counter by saying that it only looks like that from the outside.  Certain video games are challenging and frustrating and require planning and precise execution.  Completing a certain section or achieving a certain end goal can be extremely fulfilling and memorable.  The same goes for watching TV, movies, and sports.  Certain art can challenge your preconceptions and make you think differently about people, places, and situations.  Sports offer the potential to witness greatness and feel part of a larger community.  These all count as hobbies in my book.  Certain hobbies, like writing code, sound suspiciously like a job.  The key difference is that hobbies largely don't earn you money.  Otherwise they'd be called a job.  I suppose you could argue that it can still be a hobby even if it earns you money, but that's blurring the lines and I'm not about that. 

Chores take time, are NOT enjoyable, and yet provide a benefit.  These include mowing the lawn, washing the dishes, doing the laundry, changing sheets and towels, cleaning floors/carpets, and essentially all home improvement projects.  When I do these things I always think about how much it feels like I'm wasting my time, and yet they definitely provide me with a direct benefit.  My daughter said, "Oh, Daddy can clean the dishes; he loves to clean," and I had to emphatically assure her I in fact DO NOT like cleaning, but I like when things ARE clean. 

Time-wasters take time, are enjoyable, but provide no benefit.  Pretty much all social media falls into this category, as do memes and silly videos and stuff like that.  Time-wasters are important in my opinion, because wasting time is a significant part of being a human in the modern world.  I almost can't imagine what people used to do to waste the few minutes or hours they had between work, hobbies, and chores.  I guess they did mostly the same sorts of things as today but in a slightly different form:  Read trashy magazines and engaged in idle chit-chat with people nearby. #lifestyle
Definitional context Aug 5, 2024
If a word has entirely different meanings depending on the context in which it's used, and most people don't know or can't remember which definition applies to which context, that word probably shouldn't exist.  Words are supposed to simplify ideas, so if you have to define a word every time you use it, it's not working.  See also:  Unnecessary acronyms #language