Just some thoughts..
Taking a break from some studying that I haven't been pursing as intently as I need to.
As you might expect from my entry about not sleeping when I have the chance, I was pretty tired in the last few days. Even a bit irritable as a result over their course. I think it wasn't just the lack of sleep this week, though that was a definite factor. I'd really been concentrating about everything into my major assignments - presentation, take-home exam, other exam, thesis, presentation #2. Even a lot of my free time was directed - what will refresh me enough in a short time for me to get back to work? And then I was (mostly) done and left without that strong sense of purpose. I spent some time pretty much deliberately wasting time, arguing with myself over what to get with my book gift cards, and then started settling back into things at a more even pace.
Digression 1: for me, a lot of time-wasting comes in the form of the internet. Pretty sure I'm not alone there. But sometimes it's easier to find something that just barely entertains me and look at it for a long time instead of something I will honestly and thoroughly enjoy, and doing that for a little bit. That's pretty vague, so I'll explain.
Satisfying: taking my RPG books and/or a blank sheet or paper and brainstorming, coming up with a set of ideas and interesting ways to apply the rules in the book.
Not satisfying: reading other people argue about rules.
But I do the second more than the first. Even though it's frustrating. I think it's because the second takes no initial investment, and can be done indefinitely. With the first, I will eventually run out of ideas and have to move on to another idea or some actual work. The end point is built in, at least in my mind. (The exact same thing applies for reading a good book, but I was trying to keep the comparisons closely related.)
So you keep doing it, maybe feeling entitled, and the hours drain away..
I think this applies to television watching as well, honestly. And the really confounding thing is that something that would be very enjoyable can become just that sort of time-sink, no think second category if you only use it to avoid work or thinking about something that you should be doing.
Well, at least for me.
Anyways! More even pace. The other thing was that, yeah, I think there's a bit of built in recharge time after exerting yourself a lot for a period of time - even if it's mostly mental effort and time discipline. Also, that first burst of freedom (comparatively) is intoxicating.
On another note, when I really had to relax efficiently (I know it's a weird term, but it's how I think of it..) I found myself returning to a lot of old interests. Final Fantasy music, DnD night, Magic cards, even some animu. On reflection, I think some of my dad's advice was right. (It typically is.) We got in too much of a rush to get rid of those things, and .. didn't have much to replace them. We refers to the sempai, in this case. I mean, we discovered how much fun alcohol can be, but it's not like we have to shift out old interests to make room for new ones. There might be less time, but there's no need to swear things off entirely.
So I am also trying to balance my weird interests better now. I've said that before, too, but I think I am doing better than I usually do.
It also helps that it's spring and I love spring. Spring and autumn are probably my favorite seasons. I like winter for a while and summer's alright if I can escape the heat, but those transition seasons are the best. They just smell good.
On the note of animu, Jill and I finally finished Death Note. No spoilers here - I enjoyed it a lot. The first half is better but the ending, especially the last episode, is pretty satisfying. The whole thing remains mostly believable due to its excellent presentation. I'd watch it again sometime down the road, and recommend it to almosy anyone without reservations. Definitely one of my favorite shows.
I also squeezed in another episode of Gurenn Lagann. I'm loving it, as well (though it's completely different) and can't wait to watch more. The show is so fast and bright compared to most shows it's hard not to like. Definitely looking forward to having some more time and finishing this up.
I'm also back to stockpiling books, but when does that really change? I'm mostly grabbing fantasy, occasional reference books, and cookbooks now. Sometimes RPGs as well. I really try to like horror and mystery books, but I have to be in exactly the right frame of mind to read them, and that doesn't come around too often. I have a much higher tolerance for fantasy cliches, I guess - even Forgotten Realms books don't bug me much, sometimes. And Ravenloft just hits the spot every so often. But bad horror can be so awful, and it just bugs me until I can't read it. Jill suggests that even in bad fantasy there's dragons and shit fighting. While in bad horror, there's just .. things that aren't scary at all, implausible deaths, and subpar writing masquerading as dialect.
I dunno what that's about, but there's taste for you.
There's more used booksales coming up in a month and I can't wait. I have a problem.
As you might expect from my entry about not sleeping when I have the chance, I was pretty tired in the last few days. Even a bit irritable as a result over their course. I think it wasn't just the lack of sleep this week, though that was a definite factor. I'd really been concentrating about everything into my major assignments - presentation, take-home exam, other exam, thesis, presentation #2. Even a lot of my free time was directed - what will refresh me enough in a short time for me to get back to work? And then I was (mostly) done and left without that strong sense of purpose. I spent some time pretty much deliberately wasting time, arguing with myself over what to get with my book gift cards, and then started settling back into things at a more even pace.
Digression 1: for me, a lot of time-wasting comes in the form of the internet. Pretty sure I'm not alone there. But sometimes it's easier to find something that just barely entertains me and look at it for a long time instead of something I will honestly and thoroughly enjoy, and doing that for a little bit. That's pretty vague, so I'll explain.
Satisfying: taking my RPG books and/or a blank sheet or paper and brainstorming, coming up with a set of ideas and interesting ways to apply the rules in the book.
Not satisfying: reading other people argue about rules.
But I do the second more than the first. Even though it's frustrating. I think it's because the second takes no initial investment, and can be done indefinitely. With the first, I will eventually run out of ideas and have to move on to another idea or some actual work. The end point is built in, at least in my mind. (The exact same thing applies for reading a good book, but I was trying to keep the comparisons closely related.)
So you keep doing it, maybe feeling entitled, and the hours drain away..
I think this applies to television watching as well, honestly. And the really confounding thing is that something that would be very enjoyable can become just that sort of time-sink, no think second category if you only use it to avoid work or thinking about something that you should be doing.
Well, at least for me.
Anyways! More even pace. The other thing was that, yeah, I think there's a bit of built in recharge time after exerting yourself a lot for a period of time - even if it's mostly mental effort and time discipline. Also, that first burst of freedom (comparatively) is intoxicating.
On another note, when I really had to relax efficiently (I know it's a weird term, but it's how I think of it..) I found myself returning to a lot of old interests. Final Fantasy music, DnD night, Magic cards, even some animu. On reflection, I think some of my dad's advice was right. (It typically is.) We got in too much of a rush to get rid of those things, and .. didn't have much to replace them. We refers to the sempai, in this case. I mean, we discovered how much fun alcohol can be, but it's not like we have to shift out old interests to make room for new ones. There might be less time, but there's no need to swear things off entirely.
So I am also trying to balance my weird interests better now. I've said that before, too, but I think I am doing better than I usually do.
It also helps that it's spring and I love spring. Spring and autumn are probably my favorite seasons. I like winter for a while and summer's alright if I can escape the heat, but those transition seasons are the best. They just smell good.
On the note of animu, Jill and I finally finished Death Note. No spoilers here - I enjoyed it a lot. The first half is better but the ending, especially the last episode, is pretty satisfying. The whole thing remains mostly believable due to its excellent presentation. I'd watch it again sometime down the road, and recommend it to almosy anyone without reservations. Definitely one of my favorite shows.
I also squeezed in another episode of Gurenn Lagann. I'm loving it, as well (though it's completely different) and can't wait to watch more. The show is so fast and bright compared to most shows it's hard not to like. Definitely looking forward to having some more time and finishing this up.
I'm also back to stockpiling books, but when does that really change? I'm mostly grabbing fantasy, occasional reference books, and cookbooks now. Sometimes RPGs as well. I really try to like horror and mystery books, but I have to be in exactly the right frame of mind to read them, and that doesn't come around too often. I have a much higher tolerance for fantasy cliches, I guess - even Forgotten Realms books don't bug me much, sometimes. And Ravenloft just hits the spot every so often. But bad horror can be so awful, and it just bugs me until I can't read it. Jill suggests that even in bad fantasy there's dragons and shit fighting. While in bad horror, there's just .. things that aren't scary at all, implausible deaths, and subpar writing masquerading as dialect.
I dunno what that's about, but there's taste for you.
There's more used booksales coming up in a month and I can't wait. I have a problem.