151–160 of 305 posts
As of now, I'd split my time between a couple of things:
(1) In winter and autumn, become a part-time psychologist to help reduce some of the mental pain that people go through.
(2) In spring and summers, go for weeks-long hikes in nature, become a part-time hiking guide in the mountains. Help maintain the trails, mountain-hut infrastructure, and take people on hikes. Simply, be more in nature.
Luckily, today I can still enjoy some of these: study cognitive science as a hobby, and hike in nature in my free time.
Anyway, for the record, I would be recording my lifetime backlog songs I've written. And probably re-recording in different styles. And perfecting every one, no more of this 'good-enough' demo stuff. I'd get all the needed gear and software, and have no more excuses. I've actually already started to do this, at the detriment of my actual career...sigh.
EDIT: now that I read the OP's question more closely, I guess the answers are skewed towards practical things that would make the world better...but impractical things like creative music and abstract art also make the world better, so I'm sticking with my plan!
This is me. Fortunate to be able to retire at 55, programming my whole life, I love my career even when particular jobs had their issues. So now I work on projects I want to work on, no commute, no 20-person meetings. I'm currently working with a team that's recreating the Prodigy online service servers in Elixir. Having a blast, and I have my next project already in mind, also in Elixir or some other BEAM language.…
Thanks for sharing. I really look up to people like you as I'd like to semi-retire around 55 too (13 years from now on). I have a question for you: How do you assess your learning ability at 55? Let me explain -- I'd like to pursue studies in some Physics topics when I semi-retire (I can't do that now due to lack of time), but I'm not sure whether my brain is up to the job then. I know you are not studying Physics, b…
I’m mid 50’s. I had perfect 20/20 eye sight until about age 50, and now I can’t read almost anything without reading glasses - it came on quickly, but doesn’t seem to be worsening. I’ve always been a perfect speller (for the vocabulary that I use), but I’m finding I misspell 1-3% of what I type now (not typos). I’m also starting to misread headlines which I never did before (inserting words, misreading a single critical word, etc). It does feel like a tiny bit of haze is setting in, and I feel like this is probably normal.
General infrastructure that benefits humanity in a goal agnostic way, e.g., related to energy or compute seems like a meaningful thing to get behind. This could be novel technology or logistics and efficiency improvements, but these are things that can augment everyone's ability to do the things they want. Socially, there are a lot of things that seem "silly" (euphemistically), and it's a blight on civilization that…
I am quite surprized how few people are proposing to make art or music. Is this why artists/musicians can't make money, because so few people enjoy it? I always thought it was the digitization and easy access that allowed us to enjoy these things from our homes (instead of going out to clubs), but maybe not. Anyway, for the record, I would be recording my lifetime backlog songs I've written. And probably re-recording…
I am quite surprized how few people are proposing to make art or music. Is this why artists/musicians can't make money, because so few people enjoy it? I always thought it was the digitization and easy access that allowed us to enjoy these things from our homes (instead of going out to clubs), but maybe not. Anyway, for the record, I would be recording my lifetime backlog songs I've written. And probably re-recording…
Working on legal software as an underpaid, overworked, and abused (not joking) dev has been a real drag and it's taken a toll on me mentally and physically.
I've also realized that firefighting is my true calling. So I've been trying to turn things around; Working out, finding classes to re-up my certs, and giving myself a lot of mental space.
I'd love to go back, my local station is mostly volunteer so I'd never make much money. But maybe I can use my new tech skills to create tools that help firefighters help people as a little side gig.
You ask one thing in the title and something else in your text. I'm answering only the question in the title. As of now, I'd split my time between a couple of things: (1) In winter and autumn, become a part-time psychologist to help reduce some of the mental pain that people go through. (2) In spring and summers, go for weeks-long hikes in nature, become a part-time hiking guide in the mountains. Help maintain the tr…
I am quite surprized how few people are proposing to make art or music. Is this why artists/musicians can't make money, because so few people enjoy it? I always thought it was the digitization and easy access that allowed us to enjoy these things from our homes (instead of going out to clubs), but maybe not. Anyway, for the record, I would be recording my lifetime backlog songs I've written. And probably re-recording…
If you expand your definition of practical, it becomes quite practical!