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Coffee Is Hard

stilldrinking.org

191–200 of 232 posts

Re: Coffee Is Hard

#191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>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.

"tedious" and "enjoyable" are not inherent properties of things or events, they're states of the observer.

Things aren't tedious, you the observer put the label 'tedious' on them and then yearn to get away from them.

Since you are actually vacuuming and not putting it off or paying someone else to do it, this is unhelpful labelling which only serves to make you less happy. You may as well consider it a new instance of vacuuming never seen before and look for the differences and seek to enjoy it, as considering it the same vacuuming event as last time copy-pasted and look for the similarities and then call them boring. If you have to pass through it either way, why pick the interpretation which makes you feel worse?

Like "you never step in the same river twice" because the water changes, and you change, you never vacuum the same room twice.

Re: Coffee Is Hard

#192
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!

It takes as long as it takes, how long you'd like it to take is a thought you can change. If you change your thought to want it to take as long as it actually takes, it stops being tedious?

Re: Coffee Is Hard

#193
post #6

As a geek and a fan of 80s-90s PC games (not just Sierra but also LucasArts adventure games and so on), this was a super entertaining read on its own; but I also enjoyed some of these insights about life in general from it: > Living is mostly a series of repetitive and unrelated tasks. It makes sense that the most tedious things to code are the tedious things that just have to be done. There are no life lessons or gy…

At the risk of sounding pretentious, I gameify all those chores and try to do them more perfectly each time I do them. I find this especially effective filling up the dishwasher more perfectly optimizing the layout each time. I guess I approach these chores like Zen gardens. Anyway that’s how I tricked my brain into turning the chores into quality time. ;)

Lol — I always joke with my partner (an artist) about how much chaos he brings when he loads the dishwasher.

There’s a proper way!! I swear it!

Re: Coffee Is Hard

#194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You say "makes life enjoyable", but I read "Stockholm syndrome". To me, it's a kind of mind hacking that I'm both unable to do and, deep inside, feel is somehow "wrong". > I know that after flossing, I'm good to go to bed. I know that when I'm tired and done for the day, I'm good to go to bed. Flossing is a maintenance chore that's needed only because our teeth aren't good enough (and can't be made good enough, yet)…

A dental technician once asked me what I did for my job, and upon hearing my reply said, "Well, as an engineer, you really should have a better concept of how to floss than you apparently do."

And now you’re the floss master!

Re: Coffee Is Hard

#195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

"tedious" and "enjoyable" are not inherent properties of things or events, they're states of the observer. Things aren't tedious, you the observer put the label 'tedious' on them and then yearn to get away from them. Since you are actually vacuuming and not putting it off or paying someone else to do it, this is unhelpful labelling which only serves to make you less happy. You may as well consider it a new instance o…

“If you’re bored then you’re boring”

Re: Coffee Is Hard

#196
post #20

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…

I would also recommend his story about acid to anyone https://www.stilldrinking.org/the-episode-part-1

Wow, that was a ride. I could think of worse things to do in a Friday night than read that for the past three hours. Thanks for linking. I'm now much more interested in reading the book and the rest of his blog.

Re: Coffee Is Hard

#197
post #6

As a geek and a fan of 80s-90s PC games (not just Sierra but also LucasArts adventure games and so on), this was a super entertaining read on its own; but I also enjoyed some of these insights about life in general from it: > Living is mostly a series of repetitive and unrelated tasks. It makes sense that the most tedious things to code are the tedious things that just have to be done. There are no life lessons or gy…

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…

When I feel myself lapsing into grumpiness at the mundane nature of everyday life I sometimes manage to help myself by attempting to picture the theoretical ideal life I am not living, and then reflecting on the absurdity of wishing things were different. Should it involve: not having to do boring tasks? Being a bit taller, funnier and better looking? Being super rich? Being the most powerful person on earth? Being an omniscient, transcendental super-being, free of time and space, able to manipulate entire galaxies on a whim?

Everyone is missing out on something; everyone is a prisoner of circumstance.

Re: Coffee Is Hard

#198

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…

It's Noware -- https://www.amazon.com/Noware-Peter-Welch-ebook/dp/B077TZRNL....

> This is the story of a boy, a girl, a phone, a cat, the end of the universe, and the terrible power of ennui.

Re: Coffee Is Hard

#199

I really like this guy's writing and am grateful that he shared some of the coding challenges. I'd really like to be able to program games like this, and while I'm not a programmer, I'd like to learn how. In TFA he shares some of the code to check the coffee "state": >'LOOK AT COFFEE MAKER': () => { if( State.scene.state.coffeedrunk ) { return "The coffee maker has done its job and mercifully drained the last life ou…

If you want to create a game you could go with GameMaker or Construct 2 or Adventure Game Studio (if you want an adventure game like SQ1 that he's describing). These are applications that provide you with an interface you can interact with, along with an associated programming language in order to make things happen. So you can draw levels and place objects with your mouse, and then make them move with a script. Game…

Nuclear Throne is the best example of a solid game made in Game Maker that comes to my mind.

Looks like Spelunky, Undertale, and Hyper Light Drifter were as well.

Re: Coffee Is Hard

#200
post #50

Always pining for more adventure games that remind me of the Sierra/LucasArts games of my youth. Can we start a thread here of great modern examples? I recently played Machinarium, and enjoyed it a lot. My wife and I played it for many evenings on the couch, and computer games are not her thing at all. I'm finishing up Infamous Machine on my Android phone. It's a fairly silly, small game, but a direct homage to Lucas…

Milkmaid of the Milky Way
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