Fixing up houses. Carpentry, drywall etc. It's immensely satisfying.
Ask HN: What's your greatest enjoyment in life?
61–70 of 244 posts
Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest enjoyment in life?
#62Rock climbing, especially here in BC. I’ve dedicated much of my life to it. I was walking out of Skaha Bluffs around a week ago and realized I hadn’t been that happy in months.
Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest enjoyment in life?
#63Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest enjoyment in life?
#64Spending time with my family. I used to enjoy programming (the alone on a greenfield project hacking kind) the most but things change as you get older.
Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest enjoyment in life?
#65Easy one for me. Dancing to reggae music in front of a very good sound system. It's a fantastic sensation. Your entire body vibrating, compelling you to move in harmony with everyone else in the dance. It's the closest to a religious experience I ever get. This video pretty much sums it up: https://youtu.be/AvKTMv4E09Y?t=99 Yes you need ear plugs.
Similar for me, but Drum & Bass or (nu-)metal. And most definitely seconding good earplugs.
Metal gigs with good moshpits and great crowds... If someone falls over, three people are hauling them back up onto their feet. Everyone looks out for each other.
Skindred do the "Newport Helicopter" where everyone removes an item of clothing and swings it around their head. Slipknot do a thing where everyone crouches down and then jumps up at the same time. It sounds stupid, but the whole crowd, already buzzing, exploding in unison is amazing.
Some of my gig buddies have tinnitus because they didn't look after their hearing though. Always earplugs.
Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest enjoyment in life?
#66I'm about to be a dad this year. Every day as the date approaches, I am getting more excited and scared at the same time. Never felt anything like this. I recall the pure happiness without an ounce of worry when I was a kid, and I also get happy that I might have a chance to give this to my kid. At the same time, I feel a lot of pressure that I will fall short of being a good dad. I am yet to experience being a real…
It might be. The child lasts far beyond 20 years and within that time frame there will be ups and there can be downs. Really bad downs. A child can grow up to hate you, be your enemy, become a criminal, become addicted to drigs. It is not a guarantee for happiness. Statistically speaking though, when measured scientifically people in general are actually found to be overall less happy with kids. This is the scientifi…
> But when you ask people directly whether or not they're happier with kids, they almost always say they are. It's as if they aren't fully aware about how unhappy they are with the kids.
It's as if having kids rewrote the utility function of the person, introducing a bug to pass the test suite ("self satisfaction") to allow for a wider diffusion of the behavior ("I'm so much happier now, trust me it's wonderful!"), yet in a flawed way (i.e. that's not robust to scientific inquiry, as you observed)
Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest enjoyment in life?
#67If we’re talking strictly about material goods, and excluding relationships, I’d have to say coffee.
It’s almost a meditative practice. I only drink one cup a day but there’s nothing else that really comes to that moment. Preparing it. Taking in the pleasant aromas. The warm feeling.
Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest enjoyment in life?
#68When someone I care about has a problem and I’m able to fix it. Nothing else feels quite as awesome or meaningful. Conversely, nothing else feels quite as terrible as when someone I care about has an unfixable problem.
How about when the job is bs? Like, they don't really need it, but they want it, and the whole process will be an excessive mess and expense, and they are definitely laying a foundation for future suffering, but their mind is set.
Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest enjoyment in life?
#69Falling in love and spending the rest of your life with that person. I came close but after 6 years, I realized it wasn’t my person. However, I did realize that’d be the most joyful activity.
Ditto. Fifty-two years and counting.
Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest enjoyment in life?
#70Right now:
- BBQing. My partner is vegetarian so I drastically reduced the amount of meat I'm eating. A few weeks ago, I finally made the jump and bought an electric BBQ. Eating a good piece of meat from the butcher on my balcony is amazing
- Tinkering with a Raspberry Pi after years of not doing anything technical
In general:
- Dancing at a concert/music festival
- Listening to music and find new favorites that I'll end up listening on repeat
- Being on a beach in front of the sea, ocean, taking a breath and feeling more alive than ever
- Riding a motorcycle in the spring/summer. I'd love to try an electric one.