just another day

[jazzfish]

Blarg rant DST rant blarg. Sign the petition.

We've been keeping a change jar since we got here. It's a pretty big jar, and we've filled up maybe 5 cm (2") of it. Extrapolating out, it's going to take us over a decade to get it most of the way full. Since Canada abolished the penny awhile back there's going to be a clearly demarcated stratum at the bottom with copper intrusions, and then the rest of it will be pure silver coinage. (Loonies and toonies aren't "change," they're oddly-sized bills.)

March seems to be music month: Tylan (formerly of Girlyman) in Seattle next Sunday, a UK band called Veronica Falls the Friday after, and then back to Seattle for Antje Duvekot the next day. Busy busy.

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After having it open in a browser tab for a week or more, I finally played Depression Quest yesterday. It's a choose-your-own-adventure type of thing from the point-of-view of someone who's depressed. As you get more depressed, some of the choices are struck out & not available to you. Highly effective, slightly terrifying. [Via Zarf, I'm pretty sure.]

(Also, Boggle the Owl. DW feed at boggletheowl_feed.)

Via thanate, Procrastination is Not Laziness, which explains a great deal about where my procrastination habit comes from. O brain, you are not as helpful as you think you are. From the comments on either that article or a related one, I'm experimenting with the Pomodoro technique, which consists mostly of doing things for 25 minutes and then not for 5 minutes. Initial results are promising but that could be the standard "any change in process will result in temporary improvements" thing. Will see.

And after a dull grey morning the sun is threatening to come out.

Comments

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Wow, Depression Quest was easy. I wish it was ACTUALLY that easy to deal with.

[jazzfish]

Seriously. Also: having everyone around you be supportive (with the possible exception of your family, I didn't try them) makes it a lot easier as well.

I suspect it ought to be treated more as an experience than a game: deliberately making choices that you're pretty sure won't help makes things exponentially worse.

[zargon.livejournal.com]

Huh. Sounds like I should try it some time, y'know, when I feel like bothering. ;)

[jazzfish]

Heh.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Also -- Pomodoro works pretty well. Well, my version isn't as efficient as what they suggest for normal people, but, on a good day, I can manage half an hour on, half an hour off, for six or even eight hours, for three to four productive hours in a day.

I suggest making sure you've got an actual wind-up mechanical timer that goes TICKTICKTICKTICKTICK rather than a digital sort of thing. It makes a difference.

[jazzfish]

Good to hear! Yeah, I tried the '25 on 5 off' for four cycles and I was completely wiped out at the end of it, good for staring at dinner and not much else.

I picked up a timer app: it doesn't have the physicality of the winding motion, but it does tick for me. I'm pleasantly surprised at how non-intrusive it is: I had a couple moments of "must work faster/harder" panic but mostly it faded into the background.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I think that those sorts of things are aimed toward "normal" people. And that they must be adjusted as necessary. I can't do "25 on 5 off"; I can't always do "30 on 30 off", although that's way, way more likely. But "normal people" levels are unsustainable for me.

So I adjust. The way I look at it: "If it ain't sustainable, you ain't gonna sustain it." Best bet is to find out what you CAN do, and do THAT.

Of course you should every once in a while try to see if you've gotten better at it -- I think this IS like exercise where you DO get stronger. But also like exercise, everyone's top possible performance is different.

I think the thing is to do your best. Not the OTHER guy's best -- YOUR best. Your best is going to be more than the other guy's in some things, less in others. That's not worth worrying about; all you can do is YOUR best.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

Is there any way to turn off the music?

[jazzfish]

... maybe? I generally have my speakers off, so I'm afraid I didn't notice it.