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I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

theguardian.com

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Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#221

Post by taneq »

cldellow wrote: post #133
robbrown451 wrote: post #123

Does it strike anyone else as oddly ironic that he is so sad that people don't go to the effort to hear the cuckoos, and yet he basically doesn't want to experience... well, pretty much everything. It's great he's happy with the life he has chosen. But I personally find people who are even slightly like that (i.e. closed off to new experiences) depressing to be around. My parents are kind of like that, and have been…

I read that differently from you. I think he's sad because they _do_ go to the effort of hearing the cuckoos, but they're rushing. They're not fully present, and so they don't get the full experience. He, by contrast, is very present in the things he does. That he doesn't choose to do many things is a different topic.

Is it different, though? Can you do things that deeply without limiting the number of things you’re doing?

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#222

Post by refactor_master »

throwawayboise wrote: post #160
SturgeonsLaw wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must be young if you think that dying in your 60's is a long, well lived life. The retirement age is around 65 (depending on where you live and work). Surely you want some time to live life without the obligations of work? Otherwise what is it all for?

As I have gotten older and felt the speed-up in the passage of time, I realize a few years one way or the other won't matter. You'll reach the end of your time before you know it either way. The key is to be satisified with your life now, not waiting for some "later" that will be over and done with far too quickly.

I can definitely feel when I break out of the routine once in a while. A weekend feels like an entire week. Now with corona and winter I can barely recall what I’ve done for the last 6 months, if not just work.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#223

Post by galangalalgol »

fastball wrote: post #154
steve_adams_86 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me it seems he’s saddened by knowing the beauty that they’ve missed out on for such trivial reasons of impatience and rushing through their lives.

I mean, everybody ever is gonna miss out on the vast, vast, vast, vast majority of beauty this world has to offer. Even if you were immortal and could teleport you'd miss out on most of the beauty.

I think maybe by trying to experience many things, those people end up having experienced nothing deeply? And his advice would be to pick one or two of those things and really dig in.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#224

Post by alisonatwork »

snoshy wrote: post #197
alisonatwork wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree. I recommend decreasing your gadgets to just a phone (for when you go out) and a tablet or laptop for home. That is, no TV, no stereo, no games console. Assuming you live on your own, you can do all the same things you did before, just move your laptop screen to a comfortable distance. I suppose you could buy headphones if you also want loud audio, but personally I prefer to go out to a bar or nigh…

That's certainly one kind of minimalism, but I think it goes well beyond what GP intended. While your comment and lifestyle seems earnest, it's a bit too far for most given the GP context, in the sense that rather than minimizing the time taken to do routine things, it optimizes many of them out entirely to the point that it does not appear practicable for most (ex. mattress being the only furniture). Such things can…

I tried living without a mattress for a while. It wasn't super comfortable but it wasn't really a major problem till winter, at which point I realized I would need some more insulation, and a mattress seemed like the best bang for the buck. I might be able to make do without if I lived in a warmer place. Right now, though, the place I'm renting came furnished, so it's not an issue.

(Bonus with a furnished place - I don't need to worry about the kinds of bills that the OC was talking about because one flat monthly payment covers rent, water, electric and internet. My only other bills are phone and media/content subscription services, all of which are also flat rates, set up once and paid automatically.)

For me simplifying my life doesn't mean living with nothing at all, it just means living without unnecessarily complicated or laborious things. Clearly different people will draw a line at different places.

The point of my previous comment was more that it doesn't hurt to try eliminate things from your life, if it seems they're just a hassle. Who cares about the social conventions? I think a lot of people find themselves caught up in the rat race and take part without really thinking about why they're doing it, or whether it actually is worth all the effort. It turns out you can forego a lot of things and, actually, life isn't all that bad. That's especially the case if you are earning a decent salary, so you afford to can go out and treat yourself whenever you feel the urge. I think now is probably a better time than ever before to live simply, because we have immediate access to all the world's knowledge and art from a tiny computer in our pockets.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#225

Post by Xplune13 »

megablast wrote: post #184
montenegrohugo wrote: post #7

There is value in finding your place in life and being content with it. Yes, you might be able to change it, perhaps to conform to more traditional standards of 'success', but why bother if you're happy as you are? If we humans optimize by happiness, then we should have nothing but envy for a life like Wilf Davies leads.

Sure, but you don’t do it by never leaving home and never trying anything differently.

That is according to your definition of "living life and being happy". The person in the article is clearly happy and has found his place in the world that he's happy with. For that, he has found the thing most people miss out on or just don't get. Leaving home just for the sake of it, more so if you're just happy wherever you are is just wasting time.

I would like to travel the world because that would give me the happiness this person has found just by staying where he is. That doesn't mean he should change his way because my definition of being happy is different that his.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#226

Post by graderjs »

robbrown451 wrote: post #123

Does it strike anyone else as oddly ironic that he is so sad that people don't go to the effort to hear the cuckoos, and yet he basically doesn't want to experience... well, pretty much everything. It's great he's happy with the life he has chosen. But I personally find people who are even slightly like that (i.e. closed off to new experiences) depressing to be around. My parents are kind of like that, and have been…

Is his way better? Nah, it's just what he prefers. But he's smarter than them, because, he doesn't try stuff he's not committed to. He just keeps doing what he loves. But they try things, but don't commit to it, and so they miss out. His ROI is higher. He invests in 5 things, and they all pay off. The cuckoo "fly overs" make a bet on the cuckoo, but don't persist enough to see it pay off. We can definitely learn something from this guy, in our "ephemeral age".

As Dang says about attention on HN: people give it their all, only the moderators do that, and that's what keeps the place from descending into madness. But everyone else can only give a part of their attention to HN. Fair enough, but you need some people giving it their all if you want HN to be good.

Caveat is, he's probably great at narrating his solitary life and justifying his seclusion. We don't hear from him about all the stuff that isn't great. It's possible there's lots of that stuff, too :) ;p xx

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#227

Post by aeternum »

dinamic wrote: post #183

My great-grandfather was traveling to USA for work back in 1912. He came back after 6 years and settled in his village becoming its head. Almost everybody in my family knows this story and it's indeed fascinating, because at that time people rarely moved anywhere. And now we are fascinated by a man living in the same place all his life. It's funny how the concept of norm changes in 100 years.

A man living in the same place all his life has no basis for comparison. I would be more convinced that your great-grandfather's village is something special since he experienced elsewhere yet still returned.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#228

Post by davidedicillo »

Beside when I travel, I have only had 3 type of breakfast for the past ~35 years. First 20 milk and cookies (a specific type from a specific brand), then honey bunches of oats with almonds for another 13 years, and the past couple of years I switched to a different brand with less added sugars.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#229

Post by gabaix »

culturestate wrote: post #213
wombatmobile wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I know exactly what the parent comment means. Well, firstly, there was a misunderstanding in the parent comment, but ignoring that, I understand you are saying that you derive enjoyment from new experiences, which you have actively sought out for at least a decade, and don't enjoy the company of people who are not like that. But do you mean to say that you wouldn't enjoy meeting an old Welsh farmer who is not like…

No, it's nothing like that. I was referring to this... > people frantically trying to experience "new" things as an effort to quiet the constant agitation of their souls ...and pointing out that there are different kinds of, I guess, opportunistic openness. One is the normal, well-adjusted kind where you say sure, let's try some Chinese food or hey, I've never been to Wales, should we go to Cardiff this weekend? It's…

Calling it the Anthony Bourdain version resonates so well with me. He was someone I admired and pity at the same time. Looking back you can see the deep sorrow in his documentaries.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#230

Post by mod »

smcameron wrote: post #209

> I’ve never had Chinese, Indian, French food. Why change? I’ve already found the food I love. Jeeeeeeeeezus. That's some pathological parochialism right there. Try some new things, you might find some new things that you love that you didn't know you loved. You're rejecting Chinese food. You're rejecting Indian food. You're rejecting French food. And you're expecting anyone to take your opinion seriously? GTFO of to…

Have you tried eating the same thing every day?

You might find that you love it and didn't know you loved it.

You're expecting anyone to take your opinion seriously?

...etc

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