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I rebooted my social life

takes.jamesomalley.co.uk

21–30 of 433 posts

Re: I rebooted my social life

#21
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The critics said his writing was clumsy, ungrammatical, repetitive and repetitive. They said it was full of unnecessary tautology. They said his prose was swamped in a sea of mixed metaphors. For some reason they found something funny in sentences such as “His eyes went white, like a shark about to attack.” They even say my books are packed with banal and superfluous description, thought the 5ft 9in man. He particu…

So he just writes poorly and people are angy he still got rich because people like his books? I feel like including him in a list next to Hitler is a bit... much.

An alternative is that he isn’t on that list because he’s a bad person, like Hitler. He’s on a list of people GP doesn’t want to read. He doesn’t want to read Hitler because Hitler is a bad person, he doesn’t want to read Dan Brown because Dan Brown’s prose is clumsy and not worth reading, and he doesn’t want to read Ayn Rand for both reasons. (Sorry for the dig at the end. I think that’s funny).

Re: I rebooted my social life

#24
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So he just writes poorly and people are angy he still got rich because people like his books? I feel like including him in a list next to Hitler is a bit... much.

An alternative is that he isn’t on that list because he’s a bad person, like Hitler. He’s on a list of people GP doesn’t want to read. He doesn’t want to read Hitler because Hitler is a bad person, he doesn’t want to read Dan Brown because Dan Brown’s prose is clumsy and not worth reading, and he doesn’t want to read Ayn Rand for both reasons. (Sorry for the dig at the end. I think that’s funny).

I'm just offended because I used to enjoy Dan Brown :( (not sure I still do; haven't read any of his as an adult)

Completely agreed on Rand though.

Re: I rebooted my social life

#25
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The critics said his writing was clumsy, ungrammatical, repetitive and repetitive. They said it was full of unnecessary tautology. They said his prose was swamped in a sea of mixed metaphors. For some reason they found something funny in sentences such as “His eyes went white, like a shark about to attack.” They even say my books are packed with banal and superfluous description, thought the 5ft 9in man. He particu…

So he just writes poorly and people are angy he still got rich because people like his books? I feel like including him in a list next to Hitler is a bit... much.

There was a brief period where ignorance reigned and Dan Brown was considered an actual historical writer. That drove a lot of book sales, when in fact Dan Brown doesn't write anything remotely historical.

Re: I rebooted my social life

#26

What if you have a community but it's boring and uninspiring? It's always the same shit, STEM nerds, who can only talk shop, tech, video games, sports and bitcoin/crypto/libertarianism/ancap stuff. I mean, I've moved like 3 times in the span of 7 years and every time I end up in the same kind of community. Also, no women. :(

You can have more than one community. Find some new ones. Look deliberately for a different kind of community. Take dance or art classes at your community college. Join a sport club. There are lots of options.

Re: I rebooted my social life

#27
post #2

My partner and I were discussing our need for “third spaces” this week. We’re homebodies, and enjoy being home. However mundanity of wake, work, hobbies, sleep in the same place every day is getting to us. It’ll be a slightly different approach to the other though. For me, I want to start playing some tabletop games (war games and/or RPGs) at my Friendly Local Game Shop. I think these types of interactions are import…

My wife and I go to co-working spaces a couple of times a week (on separate days and different co-working spaces), despite both working fully remotely. This is our solution for a "third space".

This gets us out of the house, gives us some time away from each other and kids, and gives us some interaction with some other people (who work for completely different companies) but are kind of like colleagues in terms of gentle office banter, water-cooler chats, etc.

I know loads of them by name, who they work for, what they do and there are occasional bonus interesting chats where some aspect of our two industries/jobs overlap slightly. There's one person who is just starting out doing something similar to a niche job I did 15 years ago, so it's great to speak to him and act as a kind of mentor.

Fully remote work is great, and I could be a happy recluse, but I'm all for more in-person interaction during the working day. Next job I think I'll go back to hybrid with 1-3 days in an office if possible.

Re: I rebooted my social life

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whats wrong with Dan Brown if you don't mind me asking?

> The critics said his writing was clumsy, ungrammatical, repetitive and repetitive. They said it was full of unnecessary tautology. They said his prose was swamped in a sea of mixed metaphors. For some reason they found something funny in sentences such as “His eyes went white, like a shark about to attack.” They even say my books are packed with banal and superfluous description, thought the 5ft 9in man. He particu…

I enjoy his books, I am currently reading one I read 10 years ago again in spanish, which I am currently learning as a language. I mean, this is fiction, the other authors are about politics and society. Why would I give a shit about how rich or what an asshole of a person an author is, to enjoy reading his fiction?

Re: I rebooted my social life

#29

What if you have a community but it's boring and uninspiring? It's always the same shit, STEM nerds, who can only talk shop, tech, video games, sports and bitcoin/crypto/libertarianism/ancap stuff. I mean, I've moved like 3 times in the span of 7 years and every time I end up in the same kind of community. Also, no women. :(

Get a new hobby out of your compfort zone? (Should imply some human interaction e.g. Reading Club, Team sport, Language Exchange...)

Re: I rebooted my social life

#30

What if you have a community but it's boring and uninspiring? It's always the same shit, STEM nerds, who can only talk shop, tech, video games, sports and bitcoin/crypto/libertarianism/ancap stuff. I mean, I've moved like 3 times in the span of 7 years and every time I end up in the same kind of community. Also, no women. :(

If everywhere you go stinks, look under your own shoe.

If you move somewhere, and find the same circles why are you surprised that you’re still not happy?

> also, no women

Social groups aren’t just a place for unhappy people to meet a partner. I’d look inwards first.

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