2024-08-22 Life offline
=======================

We've been having a conversation about life offline on the offline
bulleting board system.

I wonder: what do we do, offline?

I'm trying to get into the flow of writing blog posts offline, but I
don't think it's working.

I think what I'd like to be doing more of (what tense does one use
when you think you should be wanting to do a thing but looking back
over the years it turns out you never do them): making music.

I'm but a dabbler. I try to practice the alto recorder every now and
then, and I have a handful of electronic instruments that I used to
make super-short jingles for my podcast. The goal was to never use a
jingle twice. As you can see, the fragments got more interesting over
the years, but I also stopped making new podcast episodes. Too bad!

What I actually managed to do more of: running. I recently managed to
run 22km. Yay me! It wasn't a race. I don't like racing and
competitions. My wife loves the associated rituals, the people, the
masses, the anticipation, but I like it best when I just lose myself
in thoughts, low on oxygen, step step step step step and on and on.

I think I was most influenced by the book "Born to Run".

If you're new to jogging, I think there are a few principles that
help:

1. better to go often for short runs than to go rarely for long runs

2. better to go so slow so that you can talk to the person jogging
   next to you

3. get used to run in every weather except thunderstorms and the like

Make sure to smile while you're jogging!

After a while, the benefits of running assert themselves. When I'm
troubled, I wish I could go for a run. I look forward to putting on my
running sandals and just go go go and lose myself.

What I'm trying to do less of: endlessly refreshing my fediverse
feeds. I have three accounts, one using a self-hosted GoToSocial
instance, one for English role-playing games on a Mastodon instance,
and one for German role-playing games on a different Mastodon
instance. There's something about social media and talking to people
that fascinates my monkey brain.

I have a new laptop that I felt was going to be my "offline" laptop
but it's not working out that way, sadly. In terms of getting ideas,
the fediverse is still the medium where I get into conversations with
people and that then has me writing longer blog posts. I don't mind
this so much. Writing is learning, I guess. But it means I can't just
write without some conversation preceding it.

Perhaps there are some solitary big thoughts thinkers out there. Or
perhaps I've been raised in the expectation that only solitary
thinkers have big thoughts. I find myself flourishing in the dialogue,
in the back and forth.

​#Life #Social_Media ​#Social_Media