I used to be a Medic and Firefighter-- in short I was an adrenaline junkie. And now I’m old and retired. And my body is bent and currently a bit broken. I seek to learn how to be dull.
Despite the enjoyment of watching the hummingbirds at my feeders and the light gardening I do. I still think I could become even more satisfied with my dullness.
Guide me to complete dullness!
There’s a japanese art of being in the forest, which sounds like what you are already doing, but it seems more OFFICIAL when there’s a foreign word for it.
Shinrin-yoku: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinrin-yoku?wprov=sfla1
Things are always better with a fancy word!
I took up the guitar. Whenever I have an urge to go to the fridge, I pick up the guitar. I learned to play, and lost 100 pounds (so far).
Awesome dude! Keep it up!
Asking for advice on being dull is next level dull
Well, Thank You for the compliment!
There are two main ingredients:
- Time
- Focus
Let’s start with the hummingbirds. Observe them. Give it time. Get rid of distractions. Focus on the birds. See how they look. How do they behave. Can you identify individuals? Do they visit at specific times? Focus on the details. Don’t look at your phone. Let the birds mesmerise you. Do they have habits? Dive deeper into the life of those birds. Become an expert.
This can be applied to just about anything really.
I don’t know man, that sounds interesting rather than dull.
Interesting to you, dull to everyone else.
Oh crap, you found a loophole! Or . . a bug, or something.
Find more plants that attract hummingbirds.
Plant them.
Watch them grow.
Now find another variety.
Watch it grow.
Hell yeah.
Edit: also. Ponder the plants. Ponder the hummingbirds. Ponder your orb.
Have you tried building a HAM radio?
No I have not. I’m not a particularly good hand with a soldering iron. Who would I talk to? But soldering might be a skill to practice. Somewhere around here, I have a couple of small Arduino boards, Zeros I think…
There are tons of web resources on building a project from scratch, with parts lists, or communities for help/support.
But I found this guys podcasts very informative for understanding all the different terms, components, regulations, and tips and tricks.
He also posts each of them on a Lemmy amateurradio group
https://lemmy.radio/c/amateur_radio
Soldering can be practised for sure. A good soldering iron makes a huge difference. I.e. my 30 year old one died, so I got an average one on amazon. I found it didn’t have enough thermal mass to keep solder flowing unless it was micro components, anything like larger wires and solder tip would cool off.
You rang? 😁 – thank you for your kind words
@Bluewing@lemmy.world, probably not dull, but I’ll carry on regardless … I started in amateur radio to get away from my day job in computing. I chose it because it was technically challenging, did science, had a large community and was something I’d come across several times in my life previously.
I discovered an amazing collection of humanity, some good, some bad, mostly amazing and a deep joy in discovering everything that it has to offer. I also have to admit that getting away from computers was clearly misquided, since there’s plenty of opportunity to integrate these with each other.
That said, there’s plenty of non computing activity to engage in. Amateurs are known for experimenting and testing. We find any excuse to “activate” (build and operate a radio station) anything, from Parks, to Peaks, from Bridges to Toilets, Carparks and Light houses (I maintain a list: https://github.com/vk6flab/activations-on-the-air)
I like to describe amateur radio as 1,000 hobbies in one, essentially it’s a glue (or an excuse) to do something, like go for a walk, camp out, do a competition, or a BBQ.
As for soldering. I’m not that great at it and my eyesight is making it worse, but a magnifying glass and a third-hand is still letting me melt components and the odd bit of solder.
As hobbies go, you can involve yourself as much or as little as you like and you’ll find people across the planet who are interested in the things you’re pursuing, plenty of opportunities to engage and have fun.
You can get started before you have a license by playing with things like WebSDR, KiwiSDR and plenty more.
If you have questions, feel free to ask.
73 de Onno VK6FLAB
Learn to revel in full metal dullness - https://dullmensclub.com/
Crack a book open. If you want to get real wild, take out a notebook and pen and write some stuff down!
Oh I read a lot. Mostly technical manuals. But I am trying to branch out into long boring novels. But it’s hard. I love reading about metallurgy and horology. It makes me excited. And I’m not sure if dull people should be excited about anything. Maybe I’m wrong about that.
I don’t like writing for 2 reasons, One-- I have filled out too many run reports. Bad vibes there. And secondly-- I’m a lefty and writing is not designed for us Bar Sinister types to do. I can’t even decipher what I wrote half the time.
Peope keep telling me to journal, too, and I can’t stand it.
It’s not that I have a dislike of journaling, it’s just that I don’t remember to do it. And well, how do you choose what memory is THE one to write down for that day? Big memories like getting married, the birth of each of our Daughters are seared into my brain. Unless/until Alzheimer’s takes me down, they aren’t going anywhere. If and when that happens, pictures and the written word no longer matters anyway.
And those everyday memories are just fleeting moments. Here and gone in a heartbeat. And perhaps not worth the effort to memorialize for history.YMMV
My English teacher taught me “free writing”, which was basically just writing without stopping. Pretty good for unblocking your process and training the mind. That’s what I think of journaling as; but maybe I don’t have the requisite level of narcisism to find my mind droppings that interesting.
I knew a youtuber that would obsessively go through his life and work through his issues via jouranling, but I have a very poor autobiographical memory (maybe related to my limitted ability to visualize), so that’s not really an option for me…
I find writing as a hobby unsatisfying because it’s pretty lonely; even though I’m a better writer naturally than a musician, I can at least subject the suckers at the open mic night to my guitar playing and singing, and without obnoxious feedback.
technical manuals
metallurgy and horology
Accept* that you’re already prime dull. Let. It. Go. Old man
Aye. It is we who need help from you!
OP needs to learn acceptance. The dull is strong with him but he doesn’t feel it yet
I’m right handed and can’t read my writing.
Maybe a typewriter? Preferably in need of repair.
I come from a long ago time when there were no keyboards just typewriters. Vile machines they were, requiring actual knowledge of spelling, punctuation, and grammar. And your correction fluid bottle was always dry.
I’ve cleaned and lubricated a couple back in the day, but never repaired one.
I inherited an electric typewriter, IBM Selectric 2, which was the only thing that could keep up with my Apple ][-trained typing speed… but what I remember most is how dang loud they were.
Oh man, those were quiet compared to manuals. My Mother had a manual at home. I swear you could hear that thing out in the barn when it was milking time.
I can still see my Father pacing the kitchen and dictating to my Mother as she typed.
I wonder if you could dial-in your typing on the manuals to keep the volume down. From what I remember, you needed a lot of pressure and the throw on the key was pretty damn long, so if you’re typing at speed the best thing to do was building up a lot of momentum… I also wonder if there were typewriters designed to be a little easier to type with. I mean, piano keys have a pretty short throw, why can’t typewriters work the same way?
We also have to keep in mind that typing through 2-3 carbons was a use case for these guys, so they’d need to strike with more impact than strictly necessary to leave some ink.
You couldn’t type quietly with a manual or an electric. The issue is you needed to hit the ribbon hard enough to transfer the ink from the ribbon to get a good mark. Add to this the fact that with a manual, once you had gone through the ribbon the first time, you would flip the spools around and start typing again. Which needed an even healthier whack to make a mark. And if times were tough and things were hard, you might do that a third time. Or flip the ribbon upside down and type with the red ink. Ribbons had 2 colors of ink on the same ribbon-- black for regular print and a red half used for highlight or emphases.
Manual typewrites do have their own feel. Some brands do have a lighter touch than others and even individual machines would be different. Much like computer keyboards do today. As a very general rule, those machines that had a heavier feel tended to be better for carbons. Electric typewriters removed a lot the variance in feel due to the electric motor operation. And those had very short throws. I’ve only ever used a couple of electrics, both Seleletric Ball models. They would hit that sum biotchin’ ribbon like it really, really meant it. This was because they were “real” office machines and were expected to do a steady diet of carbon copies.
The real fun in office work was when you got make mimeographs. The fussiness of the setup and the mostly sketchy illegible results were always a guaranteed good time. But the buzz you could get from the transfer liquid! I can still remember that smell.
I think the “dull” metre is an external one…
I’m into all manner of exciting things that people think are completely dull if I talk about it…
Welcome to the party… (please turn the music down as you come past the stereo and can you bring less spicy dip next time please?..)
I think you are probably correct that “dull” is the projection others place upon you. And not what you place upon yourself. My postings here have been done with a tongue-in-cheek manor. Hopefully, I have brightened peoples day. If only for a moment.
Thank you for the welcome! I believe I will stick around for at least a bit. But you probably don’t want me around the stereo, I’m likely to just turn it off as I would turn it down. I really do like my quiet. And I will work on the dip thing. But to be fair, I do like me some spicy food at times.
If you are looking for displacement activities that have large amounts of slow steady methodical development of learning and new skills, with a thrilling and short adrenalised conclusion, I can highly recommend low powered model rocketry.
I’ve progressively levelled up my design, construction and painting skills, and the 10-90second flight at the end is quite a rush when you find out if your all your work passes the ultimate test from the laws of space and time, or if you’re about to instead learn something to take into the next build…
Plus, there’s usually plenty of rocketry clubs scattered around with amazing people to help on the journey…
Horology is hardly dull. We all have to do something. No shame in it.
I know right? The gears and flat springs at that size are marvels of man’s mind and craftsmanship! I do enjoy building model air powered steam engines in my shop though. It’s been a few years since the last one. Perhaps I should start designing a new one again.
Paddle boarding if you’ve got a calm body of water nearby? It’s like a nice little hike but on water, easy on knees, gotta have a bit of balance though. Talking about hiking, how about hiking?
The lake I live on, and the surrounding lakes are too big and rough for paddle boards. And at my age, my balance is what it once was either. I do have a boat, but I haven’t put the lift or boat in the lake this year. I’m waiting on knee surgery and walking is somewhat painful right now.
More reason to work on your balance. You can buy (or better–build) rocker and wobble boards with varying levels of instability (stay safe!) to make washing the dishes more interesting.
I have been giving some thought to balance exercises. But I got to get my one knee fixed first since I tore a meniscus shoveling snow this spring. On the upside, I now have a matched pair of knees-- balanced in all things, as it should be. The indications of joint deterioration in the knee are very concerning to me. I maybe need to start searching ebay or marketplace for a low mileage artificial knee replacement.
It’s been putting a real crimp in my walking the old logging roads and spring foraging in the forest.
If you can find someone to install a knee you get yourself, you can try liberating some from the underground. Titanium lasts forever, seems perverse to bury people with perfectly usable joints.
I’ve never asked why they do that. As a retired medic, there must be a medical reason. But, at least in the rural areas I worked, many dead people simply never get to the hospital. As a medic, I’ve called my share of dead people. When that happened, I would call dispatch and tell them there would be no transport to the hospital. And then law enforcement and the local funeral home would be dispatched to the scene. The cops had paperwork to do for county records and the funeral home would transport the dead. So unless the cops thought there was something that needed to be investigated, there would not be any autopsies done. The death certificate was done by the dead persons doctor as reviewed from medical records. Even I could give a good cause of death. In a small community, where you work on family and friends, I probably had already scraped you up a couple of times and was familiar with your illness.
And if a hospital sell them more than once, think of the pure profit!
Remember how mad the music industry got when CDs came out, because a CD could change hands several times with no degradation, unlike with LPs and tape cassettes that got worse with every play? And now software is a license; even if you have all the install files, you might not be able to get verified by a server to install it.
Just saying, our late-stage capitalist system is moving away from ownership, and part of that is taking away the right to transfer ownership.
For medical stuff, it’s already a closed market. You can’t sell anything medical without violaiting a federal law and the marketplace administrators banning your account (I tried unloading some pet medications on a freecycle group once)…
I’d also say that people might be squamish to remove Aunt Gladys’ hip; though maybe if funeral homes want to make more money, they can lobby for their right to strip us down for parts.
You sound pretty well positioned to find yourself a used knee, though, I bet you already know where you can find one if you think about it.
Grab a knife and start whittling / building a pallisade to protect the dock.
I do a bit of whittling. I make a few walking sticks to give away every year at our county fair. 3 or 4 of us old guys make some, and we put them in a big barrel at the gate, and they are free for anyone who needs one.
Learn gentoo, use it as your daily driver, for Adrenalin rush: never make a backup!
That way lies madness!
I’ve briefly tried Gentoo, no. Just no, thank you.
Video games?
I do not have the patience or perhaps even attention span to play video games.
What you don’t have is interest. There are games for everyone these days if you care to look.
You are right, I don’t have much of an interest. I’ve tried them off and on over the years. And outside of the odd game of solitaire in KPatience, I just can seem to focus on them. There are too many other things to stimulate my mind. Perhaps it’s because I come from a time long before computer games were a thing.
I do appreciate your concern and advice though. You are most definitely a fine person.
I used to be obsessed with video games but slowly lost interest in them in my 40’s. It might be an attention span issue, but the novelty of most things is a lot less at my age because I’ve already played out the mechanics that interested me… kind of similar with movies, too, things get a bit too predictable. Last truly surprising thing i saw was an anime with naked dumb giant cannibals; then there was a movie about a teenage cello player deciding if she wanted live or die; surprises are few and far between, though there is still pleasure in a well-told story.
I hear you about the movies. It took awhile, but I came to a realization that Hollywood hasn’t had a new idea since the advent of the talkies. They just recycle and rehash the same old same old. Instead of horse operas we now have space operas. Now, they aren’t even bothering to try. They just stack sequels and reboots 100 feet high and just expect us to like it.
As far as tastes and hobbies, things change as we get older. It’s a natural part of aging. Don’t be sad you don’t really game anymore. But rather enjoy those memories of the fun you had when you did game. And pursue those things that hold your interest now with the same zeal!
That’s not hollywood, that’s humanity. We only have so much going on in our personalities, and whatever stories we tell have to to be relatable somehow. It would be perfectly possible to come up with a novel story, but it probably wouldn’t have any emotional resonance.
Horse opera to space opera is pretty hilarious, though. I’m spending more time with some older music–from the 1940s and 1950s. I firmly believe that 90% of everything is crap, and always has been; looking through the past is an almost automated “best of” filter.
That said, modern industry has some of its own tragic quirks; for instance, Netflix demanding its writers create shows assuming that people are only half paying attention (second screen viewing), or now AI’s ability to simulate music, at a time when the art of learning ANY skill, much less a musical instrument, is dying…
Thanks for the kind words about gaming; it was a struggle, because I loved how involved I got with it, but I’ve accepted it’s probably not going to happen again and it’s time to move on to other hobbies.
There is something for everybody, my friend https://agar.io/
Have you considered a 2nd career in Emergency Management? It’s an armchair sport for adrenaline junkies.
I’m damn near 70 now. It’s only a couple of years away and a paying job with regular hours? No thanks! Besides, I was the emergency management director of our small town for about 6 years. But since we didn’t have any townwide emergencies during my benevolent reign, it was indeed a dull extra job that had no salary. Though I did spend most of my time wearing that hat rewriting and updating many of the protocols. Since no one had done so in 40 years. So that’s a tee shirt I got already.
3 Pro tips for those interested in such a job,
-
Never go to a small town city council meeting and complain about the lack of preparedness for ANYTHING. You will quickly find it’s you who will be doing the preparing to the tune of the railroad vote that is about to run you over…
-
If you really need help call the local Methodist Minister. Turns out, they also have large emergency books with names and phone numbers to gather help from other Methodist churches. They will gladly come and help you clear damage from yards and streets for free. You can mobilize an amazing number of people willing to help with the cleanup.
-
When the emergency hits, close all roads in and out of town. Let no one you don’t know in. Armed guards if you have to. Scammers abound and are waiting for this exact moment to prey upon people who are in shock from the disaster. Keep them OUT!
****Bonus Tip-- Be wary of the Red Cross. They are of the firm belief that they know more than you do about what your town and people need. And they ain’t got time to listen to you. They are the Pros and you aren’t. And it’s often an all or nothing package with them. Do as they say, and only what they say, when they tell you.
-
There are two paths you can take my friend. Either;
Lean fully into the current humming bird and gardening things. Become so brilliant at them that the day to day actions of them are boringly simple to you or,
Do a wide variety of minor and ultimately almost useless tasks. Examples of this would be; making sure you have organised all your nails, screws and other fixings correctly. Optimising your WiFi network. Building a bin store. Framing some old pictures. Etc.
I hope you find the one that fits you best.
I’m not quite on a first name basis with the humming birds yet, but I’m getting there. I also have a few yellow warblers and goldfinches that visit. But they are very antisocial and standoffish. I did locate a ruffed grouse nest in the far corner of my property. I counted 16 eggs in her nest. I’m hopeful that at least half of them hatch, and she can carry 3 or 4 to adulthood. I usually have a clutch of mallards under my dock every year. But I haven’t seen any just yet. It was a very late spring here though so the hatch is a bit late.
If you talk to my Wife, (Grandma), she will tell you I do a lot of useless things around here. And that I should do more sweeping and vacuuming and less time fishing as a rule. But she still enjoys the fish, berries and mushrooms I forage out of the forest every year…
Backyard chickens?
The pair of eagles that nest in my trees would absolutely be in favor of that! I think the pine martins would find chickens to be a tasty treat also. And perhaps the wolf pack that travels through my trees and lake shore in the winter might hang around for a bit also. As it stands now, they just pass through in the night.
Yeah, that makes it a difficult proposition for sure.
Then again, at least you get to see such things, so the lack of chickens is worth it!
I think so!
