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Coffee Is Hard

stilldrinking.org

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Re: Coffee Is Hard

#131

Post by jkoudys »

Loughla wrote: post #23
monktastic1 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the risk of sounding hippie, "tedious" and "boring" are emotional reactions to the chores, and not attributable to the chores themselves. We don't have to do that. "Everything in life is miraculous. It rests within the power of each of us to awaken from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfuln…

Not to sound too much like a hippie, either, but I learned (actually after having a kid as well) that when people talked about enjoying the ride, that's what they were talking about - the tedious stuff. I always assumed it meant travel more and look for adventure, but I have come to understand that 'enjoying the ride' in your life, not always just pursuing some next thing is about enjoying the tedium. Some of my favo…

I read this as I watched my 2 year old daughter joyfully scrub the shower with a nylon brush. She's demanded the brush ever since she watched me use it months ago.

I think finding lovely things tedious is something most of us learn, then unlearn.

Re: Coffee Is Hard

#132

Post by jkoudys »

monktastic1 wrote: post #57
Loughla wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to sound too much like a hippie, either, but I learned (actually after having a kid as well) that when people talked about enjoying the ride, that's what they were talking about - the tedious stuff. I always assumed it meant travel more and look for adventure, but I have come to understand that 'enjoying the ride' in your life, not always just pursuing some next thing is about enjoying the tedium. Some of my favo…

Are we using the same definition of "tedious"? This is what I get: Tedious: too long, slow, or dull; tiresome or monotonous. "Too" long as in "longer than I'd like." Tiresome. Monotonous. Those sound like the opposite of enjoying the ride to me!

The act itself is tedious, if that's all you focus on. Spending time together, enjoying the small little games we play, and the touches on the arm and dumb jokes that happen while we're doing something tedious, are some of the best memories. When you focus on the nothing that's happening, it's tedium. When you focus on everything around it and the break from the chaos of the rest of your day, it's still tedious, but it's also peaceful.

Re: Coffee Is Hard

#133

Post by kiliantics »

knzhou wrote: post #74
DantesKite wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting how all the tedious tasks listed are a product of modernity. Vacuuming, driving to work, flossing, doing dishes, etc. I wonder how repetitive life feels for humans who still have to hunt for their food. Not to say that we should shift back to a hunter-gatherer society, but I wonder how much of the mundaneness of life is something we brought on ourselves and not actually an implicit part of existence.

That's a totally backwards take. Most of these things are modern labor-saving devices that replaced even worse drudgery. Sweeping takes longer than vacuuming. Washing dishes by hand takes longer than a dishwasher -- especially if you don't have unlimited running water, or dish detergent, or if you need to start a fire to get hot water. Ancient Romans didn't have to deal with rush hour traffic, but research says their…

Ancient Romans were not hunter-gatherers so you are not making the right comparisons here. In fact, it's estimated that hunter-gatherers only do/did about 15 hours of productive labour a week, so doesn't seem they need our "labour-saving devices" since they already have much more free time than us.

Re: Coffee Is Hard

#134

Post by viraptor »

jkoudys wrote: post #131
Loughla wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to sound too much like a hippie, either, but I learned (actually after having a kid as well) that when people talked about enjoying the ride, that's what they were talking about - the tedious stuff. I always assumed it meant travel more and look for adventure, but I have come to understand that 'enjoying the ride' in your life, not always just pursuing some next thing is about enjoying the tedium. Some of my favo…

I read this as I watched my 2 year old daughter joyfully scrub the shower with a nylon brush. She's demanded the brush ever since she watched me use it months ago. I think finding lovely things tedious is something most of us learn, then unlearn.

It's still new and exciting when you're 2. I don't think you're unlearning loving the tedious. Things are just not tedious at that point, but fun, novel, and optional. If she didn't want to scrub the shower, she wouldn't. But we have to do it.

Re: Coffee Is Hard

#135

Post by halleonard »

gameguy43 wrote: post #12

Amped to see Still Drinking on HN again. If you enjoy devouring this guys writing, buy his book, “And Then I Thought I Was A Fish” (I think it’s the “novel” he references the game being based on?). I really really liked it. Link at the bottom of the original post. The other book is just a collection of blog posts. It’s /okay/. But I really really liked ATITIWAF. The kind of book that makes you want to try your hand a…

That book is so crazy good! I started reading and read it all the way through in one setting and then passed it off to all of my friends. Remarkable writing and I also felt it to be quite wise.

Re: Coffee Is Hard

#136

Post by nateburke »

“You are the master of your universe, and yet you are dripping with rat blood and feces. Your enormous mind literally vegetating by your own hand. I have no doubt that you would be bored senseless by therapy, the same way I’m bored when I brush my teeth and wipe my ass. Because the thing about repairing, maintaining, and cleaning is it’s not an adventure. There’s no way to do it so wrong you might die. It’s just work. And the bottom line is, some people are okay going to work, and some people … well, some people would rather die. Each of us gets to choose.”

—the psychologist from ‘Pickle Rick’

Re: Coffee Is Hard

#137

Post by fizwhiz »

rconti wrote: post #115
Loughla wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to sound too much like a hippie, either, but I learned (actually after having a kid as well) that when people talked about enjoying the ride, that's what they were talking about - the tedious stuff. I always assumed it meant travel more and look for adventure, but I have come to understand that 'enjoying the ride' in your life, not always just pursuing some next thing is about enjoying the tedium. Some of my favo…

The parent post, and your reaction to it, reminds me of the two days after my wedding. We were rushing to get everything ready for the wedding. Picking up supplies. Moving into a house near the venue for a couple of days. Doing the wedding itself, packing up, getting home the next day. Obviously it goes without saying that the weeks leading up to the wedding were busy, just a little bit more so than every week before…

Thanks for sharing that; it certainly put a smile on my face :)

Re: Coffee Is Hard

#138

Post by knzhou »

kiliantics wrote: post #133
knzhou wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a totally backwards take. Most of these things are modern labor-saving devices that replaced even worse drudgery. Sweeping takes longer than vacuuming. Washing dishes by hand takes longer than a dishwasher -- especially if you don't have unlimited running water, or dish detergent, or if you need to start a fire to get hot water. Ancient Romans didn't have to deal with rush hour traffic, but research says their…

Ancient Romans were not hunter-gatherers so you are not making the right comparisons here. In fact, it's estimated that hunter-gatherers only do/did about 15 hours of productive labour a week, so doesn't seem they need our "labour-saving devices" since they already have much more free time than us.

Well, OP was complaining about modernity, so I compared to what came right before modernity. Hunter-gatherers might have actually had it better, under some measures -- but the world can't support that many of them.

Re: Coffee Is Hard

#139

Post by dsfyu404ed »

felipemnoa wrote: post #124
Loughla wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to sound too much like a hippie, either, but I learned (actually after having a kid as well) that when people talked about enjoying the ride, that's what they were talking about - the tedious stuff. I always assumed it meant travel more and look for adventure, but I have come to understand that 'enjoying the ride' in your life, not always just pursuing some next thing is about enjoying the tedium. Some of my favo…

>>that when people talked about enjoying the ride, that's what they were talking about - the tedious stuff It sounds like a rationalization to me.

This. That said, there's some tedious things that are enjoyable when done occasionally.

Re: Coffee Is Hard

#140

Post by amatecha »

jschwartzi wrote: post #91
throw0101a wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sisyphus may disagree. :) * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus

The horrifying aspect of Sisyphus is that he is doomed to do it for all eternity. Whereas we have only a limited time to cherish or despise every carpet vacuumed until we die. I believe that we transcend the mundane every time we embrace it and truly live it instead of wishing desperately to be doing something else.

Yup, every time I have some horrible/menial/stressful task to complete, I think "I appreciate the opportunity to even experience this moment and witness the dream of existence". I mean, maybe not with that wording, but that approximate sentiment of, I get to exist and experience all that entails, and I can appreciate it even if is "not enjoyable" at that moment. Of course that only really works for things that aren't truly terrible, but I think in general it's a good perspective to take!
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