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bolido_sentimental


				

				

				
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joined 2022 September 04 22:16:05 UTC
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User ID: 205

bolido_sentimental


				
				
				

				
0 followers   follows 0 users   joined 2022 September 04 22:16:05 UTC

					

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User ID: 205

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I like your posts buddy. Please keep posting new top-levels.

I am currently reading this book. My very brief first thought was: I wish that she spent some time talking about the effects of therapy culture on adults. She does briefly, obliquely address this, but mainly to state that adults, having reached the age of majority, can make themselves crazier with excessive therapy if they want to.

Of course that's true, but I would've liked to see a greater exploration of the vastly-increased importance placed on therapy in recent years, the latent assumption that everyone needs it, its replacement of other social positions in people's lives, etc. Some of Shrier's research in the book is generalizable to that, but much of it isn't.

Thank God for Andy Murray, I guess.

That's probably what I need to do, honestly.

Any suggestions for where to start?

Yeah, I already know that. It has been many years since I saw a weight loss thread on the Internet that did not contain that advice. It's true information, I don't dispute it.

I need to do cardio for my general physical well-being. Plus I like to play sports that involve running, and doing cardio will improve my performance and endurance.

How are you finding the cardio? It sounds like you and I have both similar exercise histories, and almost exactly the same weight lol.

I have really been considering following a similar plan to you; I just find it hard to make myself do cardio because it bores me. But it sounds like between that and diet you're having success that would make it worthwhile.

With regards to the first part of your post, about dopamine - I don't have knowledge about that. I barely even have a pop-sci understanding of brain chemistry. So I make no claims about that.

But this does remind me of a subject I talk about with my friends a lot.

I am an extremely avid reader. I have never personally known anyone that reads as much as I do. I have always been this way; it's what I won in the "lottery of fascinations." Accordingly: I've never had the feeling of "I should be reading more" instead of gaming, scrolling, etc. I do those things some as well, but I read without having to make myself do it. And I don't find scrolling hyper-enjoyable compared to reading at all. I read a lot more than I scroll. I'm not making myself do that by an act of will, it's my real preference.

People have often said to me: "I should read more. I always want to read more than I do." And I get the sense when they say this to me, that they are imputing some sort of virtue to the act of reading, instead of doing other things. I think this is connected with the idea that people should be productive, that they should continually be improving themselves or producing something; and that commonly, reading books is thought of as a way of doing this.

I don't think that's untrue. I do think that it is better to improve one's self than to not do that; I think it's very easy to start doing "mindless" things and piss your life away in that way. Having said that, it's not as though reading is the only way to do that. One of my friends is a painter, and she paints often, and is continually trying to get better at it. She tries to read, and feels like she's forcing to, and I don't think that she has to do that. She could just as well not. The point is: if I tried to take up painting, I'd probably feel like I was always making myself do that, too. If you are of the mindset that people should do those improving things, painting is probably just as good as reading.

But if reading was enjoyable, and now it isn't, you can do other things as well. Personally I think it's bad to be a phone zombie, but there are probably things you can find stimulating, that can keep you away from your systems without it feeling like a huge effort. Furthermore: you may reach a point in life where you've mostly got it made (see @Walterodim below), and when you're not working, you might as well chill as you like. Only you can decide if there's anything wrong with that.

As a final thought: maybe I just haven't gotten dopamine-toxed enough to need detox, and so I can't relate to the thrust of what you are saying; but other people may be able to better.

Here in Ohio, we elected J.D. Vance, the Hillbilly Elegy guy, to the Senate.

Varg is Varg Vikernes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varg_Vikernes

I thought this was a really neat post, by the way. Thanks for putting it together.

I'd write a novel. A.J. Cronin wrote his first novel while he was recovering from an ulcer and couldn't work. I think John Braine wrote his in a hospital bed. You may never have a better opportunity to single-mindedly focus on a big personal project of that kind.

Yeah, I don't have a clear model of how people's priorities are set, but I think it happens at a very deep level over a long period of time. If you only see him sometimes, it's like you're nudging a boulder that is already moving downhill. You might be able to deflect its course by a degree or something, but by the time people are out of school and fully in their careers, we largely are who we are and it's quite hard to change it. That boulder keeps going.

It's good that you're trying, though. If he hits some kind of rock bottom, it might be at that point that he actually reflects on the things you've said to him.

How shit of an idea is just quitting your job without a replacement job to go to?

I've done it. I don't think it's as big a deal as it's made out to be, if you are a competitive applicant. It sounds like you have the kind of skills where recruiters are probably hitting you up on LinkedIn all the time. So I'm sure you'd be able to get a job. Which is all you really need to know. Don't just sit there and suffer, you only have one life to live.

The part where Stallone is frozen in a block of ice, in cryo-imprisonment.

I will have to research that. I know Chrysler was at the end, but I'd be surprised with regards to Ford. They sold many millions of sedans in the 90s and 2000s.

I've often felt that a significant part of the defeat of the Big 3 was just mind-share. I daily a Buick from the 2010s, and it has met my needs in every way. I've never had to put it in the shop beyond tires, fluid changes etc. It's a great car in general. But by the 2010s, the battle was already lost - there was no car that Americans could put out that would displace Toyota and Honda in the minds of the American public.

On Reddit, if cars are mentioned in any thread, you will never see a recommendation other than Toyota or Honda. It is 100% lockstep. Even if you could get 90% of the reliability from an old Ford Taurus at 50% of the cost, the hive mind has decided. I do get that - I've ridden in a Pontiac Le Mans. I've driven a Plymouth Volare. They fucked up for decades. But I hated it when the Big 3 bailed out of the sedan space, just because there are far fewer options now; and by the end, the cars were quite good.

He's still active on Reddit under the same name, if you want to reach him.

Near the end of the second-best-known Richard Yates novel, The Easter Parade. Yates is a very fluid, readable writer and I think he improved in this respect after Revolutionary Road.

Comments:

  • People familiar with TRP would recognize so many things in this novel. If you read this, think about concepts like "holding frame," "alpha widows" etc. It's fascinating.
  • Some of the scenes with the mother evoke a positively Ballardian horror.

Can confirm. For a while I worked in a factory making dish detergent. 12-hour shifts, on your feet the whole time, doing repetitive tasks, never seeing the sun.

On the other hand, I got really trim working there; and I had a lot of time to think, which I did like. But yeah, life would stretch out awfully long if you had to spend it there.

Rivethead is a phenomenal book by the way. I've never seen a clearer picture of what life was like for an American factory worker before full globalization.

Can someone explain to me: engagement rings, wedding rings, and wedding bands?

In the normal course of events, how many total rings are involved? Which ones are meant to have big gems on them, and which ones aren't?

Are there some sort of trends in what they're made of, what gems are common to use, etc.? (I've only ever heard of diamond, but I really don't know.)

I guess following on from that: is it really a common action to do the one-knee, surprise, "Will you marry me?" thing? Would you or did you do this? If you are the recipient of a wedding proposal, how would you want that to happen?

I remember those days.

I don't know what goes on behind the scenes, but I imagine it's not easy to have to ban someone you've worked with for so long. Frankly I had long hoped for this to happen, but it's still not without pathos. I didn't talk to him much, but I've been reading HlynkaCG comments for like a quarter of my life at this point.

This was the right choice, given what he was doing to discussions. It's been years since he was a genuine contributor, rather than a drive-by "you're wrong but I won't explain why" poster.

He was much better back in the Reddit days.

I think a major motivation there is that, for people who have kids, there is a portion of the trans activists who will directly try to influence your kids in their direction; if you are unlucky, your kid could suffer serious consequences. It's one of the aspects of the culture war that has the potential for the most direct, severe personal impact, even if the absolute odds may not be that high. I would be against it even if it were a rightist point.

By contrast, nobody's trying to secretly circumcise the kids. (Or if they are, they're doing an incredible job keeping it secret.)

I remember that. I thought it was @Amadan.

My dentist doesn't do any of that stuff, man. I just get cleanings and get occasional cavities filled. I have a 10+ year old crown that he could easily say, "Oh wow, yeah, that's beyond it's useful life" and I'd go with it. But instead he says, "It's still looking good, we'll check on it again next time." I don't think I've ever been there longer than one hour.

It doesn't have to be like that. Try a new dentist. Ask people you know to refer a good one.