11–20 of 87 posts
Reading and fiddling with MIDI gear. Mostly soft synths, although I did get some cheap hardware synthesizers (and an OP-1, which is tremendous fun but definitely not cheap). I do game a bit, but not as much as I would like to.
Running - I enjoy it but do not recommend it. While it keeps my fitness up I often end up with one pain for weeks. Playing the piano - a great diversion, it doesn't take too long to be able to play chords and sing along to your favourite tunes. Writing short mysteries - inspired by Two Minute Mysteries. I write short mystery stories where the rest had to solve the story. I put them up online and occasionally someone…
I think just a walk a day at minimum can help people in so many positive ways. Need to think about a problem? Walk. Stressed? Walk. Need to get more fit? Run.
Reading - lots of philosophy, sociology, economics, even some theology - anything that triggers my neurons HIIT, 10ks, resistance training, Yoga Mindfulness and meditation Painting and drawing, visiting art galleries Weekend travel Playing musical instruments very badly Similarly started feeling that I was overdosing on tech and becoming a bore with too little perspective and a lack of emotional empathy, so I made a…
Which do you feel had the most impact on growing empathy?
Reading feeds my empathy by helping me to build and maintain a broad perspective; practising mindfulness helps me to apply it.
Many say that even reading pulp fiction can help to build empathy, so you probably need not read philosophers and economists if that's deterring to you; I can't personally testify to that though because fiction doesn't really hold my interest.
I have a shirt that combines tech + dance hobbies. It says "" on the front, and "" on the back.
My dance friends know what "lead" means, but don't know what the extra symbols mean.
My tech friends know it's an XML element, but are unfamiliar with the tag.
Reading and fiddling with MIDI gear. Mostly soft synths, although I did get some cheap hardware synthesizers (and an OP-1, which is tremendous fun but definitely not cheap). I do game a bit, but not as much as I would like to.
Any music you can share? (if not that's fine too) what games have you gotten into?
Strangely, I've always found it easier to tell people I invent my own languages[2]. If I accidentally admit to the poetry thing then people start asking me questions and wanting me to look at their poems, whereas leading with the conlang thing generally encourages them to slowly back their way out of the conversation.
[1] - Of course I wrote my own website to host them - https://rikverse2020.rikweb.org.uk/
[2] - The need to show the world my conlangs is what got me into web development in the first place. So something good came out of my weird hobby - https://gevey.rikweb.org.uk/
Writing short stories. Reading a short story by Clarke as a kid is what set me towards science and tech in the first place. I don’t like showing them to people I know and usually just prefer to put them up somewhere online completely anonymously.
Fishing’s great, if you can find somewhere to do it.
Day-sailing is the best. A sailing class and small dinghy isn’t that much iirc, but if you can get your hands on a larger vessel there’s nothing better than the feeling of being on open water. If I couldn’t do tech or anything aerospace I’d 100% be in a maritime profession.
I throw pottery and give 100% of it away
But I learned a new phrase today!
And sounds like fun. Also for the recipient!