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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3314 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for March 3, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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If you had more free time, for instance say we took @orthoxerox’s policy prescription and make it illegal to have full time dual income, say you could only work 20 hrs a week, what would you spend your time on?

For the purpose of this, assume that you would make the same amount of money working part time (or if your spouse worked full time you'd make the same as a dual income household.)

I would consider actually having kids myself, volunteering, trying my hand at starting that blog I’ve always meant to. I’d do more cardio, cook more, take my pup on long walks. I dream of it…. Alas.

I’d play a helluva lot more golf.

Good question! I don't have an answer lmao, even though I'm effectively unemployed for a couple months every year in my current career, not exactly what you're talking about with a 20 hr work week (when I am working I'll put in 50-70 hours in a week, which I'm more or less fine with). I still earn enough money to keep myself comfortable and content (no spouse or kids) while still putting away about 1/4 my net every year, though I earn wayyy less than I'm guessing most here do, at least in part because my job is specialized if unskilled labor. Never went to university as I thought I was supposed to pay for it, baka that I am.

I could enumerate things I would want to spend my time on, but I'm afraid my real life would look more like @FiveHourMarathon's example. Now that Lent has started, I decided I would try and quit scrolling through Reddit and similar sites until Easter. I think I might have to extend my pledge to YT as well, it's a bloody time sink.

The site move here actually helped me quit reddit - one of the best decisions I've ever made. I was addicted to Reddit for like a decade, but trust me man it is so worth it to quit. I finally have free time, feels like I've emerged from prison or quit a 20 hr a week job or something. Highly recommend.

This was in many ways life in April-May 2020 for me, and what I found was:

I read more, but not as much/not always the type of quality things I would have liked to. I found a crate of vintage Playboys and read them straight through, which was interesting and funny from an archeological perspective (and, you know, tits) but the complete works of Plato remained doggedly unfinished.

I worked out more, but not as hard as I would have liked to. I would spend hours in the gym doing stuff like German Volume Training or heavy bag rounds or swimming laps. And I did improve on those things, got up to a full mile swim, but I didn't hit the PRs I wanted.

I tried various self improvement hobbies that failed, like learning Spanish. I showered a lot, often multiple times a day, because if I felt at all dirty why not. I developed the odd habit (I've held onto to a large degree) of changing clothes for every situation to the exact ideal outfit for working out/walking the dog/lounging around the house/going into work for something/etc

Overall I came out the other end a little better educated and in a little better shape, got the best tan of my life, not to the extent I could have. the overall impact was that I wasted a lot of time.

Overall I came out the other end a little better educated and in a little better shape, got the best tan of my life, not to the extent I could have. the overall impact was that I wasted a lot of time.

Interesting! I've had similar experiences in the past of 'wasted time' but I still think leisure and having time to understand your own failure modes is important, as long as it doesn't get you into a rut.

I had a similar period last year for about three months, and managed to spend most of my days doing yoga/meditating/taking walks in nature.

I still spent time reading/playing video games/wasting time, but it was actually incredibly healing for me. I made more strides in handling my chronic pain in those three months than I had in the previous five years. I had no idea that the grind of working a stressful job full time had contributed so much to my mental/physical issues.

Then again, I work in sales and typically put in more than 40 hours, so I'd imagine many programmers here that have cushy 15 hour workweeks can't relate. No offense to y'all, I'm honestly jealous I don't have the skillset.

My answer might be pessimistic but I do technically have a fair amount of "free time" Given I am working part-time right now.

I waste a lot of time, let that be on the Motte, scrolling Instagram reels, or jerking off. I do some "productive" things like coding pet projects, lifting for an hour or two a day, going on long cycling sessions, and hobby related cooking. But all in all excess free time is only a blessing if you are cushioned with plenty of income to supplement that or ensure a safety net, which is not the case for me, I am struggling to eat/sleep due to job related worries/stress (Economy is in the gutter where I live in the field I specialize in, thanks Chinavirus).

Hey man, spending time on the Motte isn't a waste! We're sharpening our writing skills and forming community and stuff... ;)

I might change the top post, but what if you could work part time with full time compensation?

but what if you could work part time with full time compensation?

Try to achieve peak physical form.

And that means training with full effort for maximum muscle gain (along with a stack full of supplements, and top-shelf whey protein, and potentially some sort of exogenous testosterone supplementation to achieve upper-bound natural T levels); cardio, flexibility, etc. And cooking nutritionally dense meals with little regard for cost to facilitate the physical training. My current diet and supplement stack is not totally tuned in because things get expensive fast. E.g grass-fed organic beef costs just about 3-4x as much as regular beef.

This would be great, I'd love to be able to join something like that. All the groups I've looked at like Toastmasters or Free Masons seem to be a mockery of what they once were.

On the topic of coordinated effort, you might like Scott's look into the Fabian Society.

Probably a lot of money saving time intensive hobbies would get a lot more popular. Gardening, sewing, canning extreme couponing. There are a lot of ways to turn extra time into money without turning it directly into revenue.

If do a lot more woodworking and rather than buying lumber I'd be scouting firewood giveaway ads and fallen trees to cut for their wood. I'd like to say I'd garden, but I'm actively bad at that so it probably wouldn't be a good use of time in which a resource tight world.

Ironically, I'd probably have fewer kids than me in this world. Comparing my dating history with the descriptions of others when the topic arises, I'm left wondering whether a six income may have been the only thing that made me an attractive mate.

Probably a lot of money saving time intensive hobbies would get a lot more popular. Gardening, sewing, canning extreme couponing. There are a lot of ways to turn extra time into money without turning it directly into revenue.

What if you assume that you made the same amount as you would've working full time, but only had to work part time?

In that case it's be more fun hobbies still woodworking, but also gaming and fishing.

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