• Activity
  • Votes
  • Comments
  • New
  • All activity
  • Showing only topics with the tag "casual conversation". Back to normal view
    1. The Proverbial Pen #2

      Thanks a lot for the responses yesterday. I'm glad to be on Tildes, this seems to be a very vibrant and happy community unlike many others! Today is the second post in a series (hopefully) of...

      Thanks a lot for the responses yesterday. I'm glad to be on Tildes, this seems to be a very vibrant and happy community unlike many others! Today is the second post in a series (hopefully) of writing exercises to get rid of my writer's block.


      Today is the second day of my battle against Writer's Block. A very basic question I want to ask is what exactly is writing inspiration and where does it come from? If it comes from within you (as many claim) then why doesn't it always keep flowing like a river, why is it so scarce a resource? The mechanisms of subconscious mind are probably too complex for even the mind itself to work out!

      What I've found though is that it's much easier to do freehand writing or writing nothing in particular (as I'm doing now) but it gets a bit tricky when you want to write about something specific like an article or research paper or a book. That's when you must start worrying about the content quality, research material, story background, plot, etc. But even freehand writing is a great exercise I think to flex your writing muscles at frequent intervals and ensure that they stay in order.

      Of course, other antagonists like lethargy, procrastination, impostor syndrome, self censoring, etc. are always waiting in their closets to jump out and play their part in the battle! These are like natural foes. Whatever you do about them, they'll always lurk back in some form or other given the right environment! Especially in 2022 when oodles of great literature already exist on any given topic, the pressure to perform on a writer is tremendous. Wiser, smarter and more intelligent people than me already seem to have written whatever there is to write about literature, mathematics, computer science, physical sciences, social sciences, etc., what exactly is there left for me to write anyways? So the impostor wonders aloud!

      When all else fails, the pundits ask you to "write about yourself" or "write about your own experiences". That's easy to say actually but my own life has been so mundane and ordinary (just like most other people's, I suppose) that there is hardly anything inspiring or worthwhile to get out of that. They say "open yourself up" but what if there is nothing inside but just a hollow and empty shell when you open up? My life has been one of the most "typical" or "average" as I'd put it whereas writing is supposed to be creative and extra ordinary.

      Another obvious source of writing is reading. They say the more you read, a better writer you'll become as you'll keep adding to the raw material to pick from. I have a good collection of books and I used to read a lot many years ago, an activity which has reduced a lot lately due to work and other factors. Just like writer's block, I also seem to have gotten myself a "reader's block" if there is such a thing!

      As I keep battling with the proverbial pen day after day, I hope something good will come out of it and I might become a better writer than I presently am. Today is just the second day, I just hope I'll be able to keep up with this pace and write daily. Please wish me luck! Thanks for reading.

      5 votes
    2. Let's talk gaming on Linux

      Assorted questions. As always, don't feel like you have to treat them like a quiz and answer them one-by-one (though you certainly can), but more like jumping off points for discussing whatever...

      Assorted questions. As always, don't feel like you have to treat them like a quiz and answer them one-by-one (though you certainly can), but more like jumping off points for discussing whatever you feel is relevant:

      • Who here games on Linux?
      • How long have you been doing it?
      • What is your setup like? Full-time Linux? Dual booting? GPU Passthrough?
      • Which distro do you use, and why? Did gaming-related factors have an influence on that choice at all?
      • What are some of the positives about gaming on Linux?
      • What are some of the drawbacks/frustrations?
      • What are some of your favorite native Linux games?
      • What are your thoughts on the main gaming platforms' support or lack thereof for Linux?
      • Do you personally feel a friction between open source philosophy and playing closed-source games?
      • Do you think that Valve's Proton initiative is a help or hindrance for Linux gaming?

      Share anything else you feel is relevant as well. I'm mostly interested in hearing what other people's experiences are.

      Also, I debated whether to put this in ~games or ~tech and ultimately decided on the former, but if it's better placed in ~tech I'm fine with that.

      26 votes
    3. What do you want someone to ask you about?

      Did something cool recently, and no one’s bothered to ask? Got some stuff on your chest, and no one’s checking in? Super passionate about a niche topic that not too many people think of? Toss your...

      Did something cool recently, and no one’s bothered to ask?

      Got some stuff on your chest, and no one’s checking in?

      Super passionate about a niche topic that not too many people think of?

      Toss your question-hopeful here, and let someone pop it!

      37 votes
    4. what’s the most drastic choice you’ve ever made in your life? how’d it turn out?

      gotta have a body here, but i don’t want to run into that former askreddit problem, so here are some of my favorite bodies instead: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_of_Allen...

      gotta have a body here, but i don’t want to run into that former askreddit problem, so here are some of my favorite bodies instead:

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_of_Allen

      https://open.spotify.com/artist/3xYXYzm9H3RzyQgBrYwIcx?nd=1

      http://classics.mit.edu/Antoninus/meditations.html

      https://www.wikipedia.org

      19 votes
    5. For those getting ready to go back to school: how do you feel about it?

      The question is open to anyone attending any level of school in any capacity. How are you feeling? What are you excited about? What are you nervous about? What are your goals? What are you hoping...

      The question is open to anyone attending any level of school in any capacity.

      How are you feeling?
      What are you excited about?
      What are you nervous about?
      What are your goals?
      What are you hoping to get out of your education?

      14 votes
    6. Let's talk about musicals!

      The thread about The Wizard of Oz helped me realize there were other musical fans here, and rather than go offtopic in that thread I figured I'd make a whole new one for discussion. Topic is:...

      The thread about The Wizard of Oz helped me realize there were other musical fans here, and rather than go offtopic in that thread I figured I'd make a whole new one for discussion.

      Topic is: musicals. Anything and everything. Tell me about your favorites, the shows you've been to, the songs that make you cry, the numbers you've performed at karaoke, what a talent Sarah Brightman is, how much you had to pay for Hamilton tickets -- whatever! It's all fair game!

      19 votes
    7. What is your alcoholic drink of choice?

      I thought it'd be fun to have a casual conversation about what we like to drink. If that's not appropriate for some reason please let me know. I've switched from beer and whiskey to Tangeray and...

      I thought it'd be fun to have a casual conversation about what we like to drink. If that's not appropriate for some reason please let me know.

      I've switched from beer and whiskey to Tangeray and (diet) tonic and really feel less hangover when I drink (for whatever reason). What is your current go to on a Friday night?

      22 votes
    8. Let's talk about recent good experience

      Hi! Would you like to talk about something good that happened to you recently, or something you did, or something you witnessed, for which you felt good afterwards? I'll begin with mine. First of...

      Hi!

      Would you like to talk about something good that happened to you recently, or something you did, or something you witnessed, for which you felt good afterwards?

      I'll begin with mine. First of all, I was happy to receive e-mails from friends. We're keeping long-distance friendships alive. I felt thankful to my friends.

      Another things was this. Some time back, I tentatively ordered a book online for international shipping to my home address by plain mail. I then lost the hope of receiving it -- silly me, there were no mailboxes in the apartment building! But today I somehow found the mailboxes and I even re-discovered the key to mine, which I'd forgotten and left among my belongings. And I was really delighted to see the book was resting safely in my mailbox. I was happy to be proven wrong. :)

      What about you?

      26 votes
    9. How's your day going?

      How's it going? What's the best thing to happen today? What's the worst thing to happen today? Why did it happen? I made good progress on angular components for work. Figured out how to test...

      How's it going? What's the best thing to happen today? What's the worst thing to happen today? Why did it happen?

      I made good progress on angular components for work. Figured out how to test mocked http requests.
      Worst thing is that I should've left about an hour earlier from work. But at least that means I can leave earlier tomorrow.

      18 votes
    10. Yesterday I walked 2 km to the store and today I can feel it in my glutes ()

      ...I clearly haven't been doing a lot lately... It's a good feeling though, knowing that you accomplished something, no matter how small that thing is. I've had a hard time the past several years...

      ...I clearly haven't been doing a lot lately...

      It's a good feeling though, knowing that you accomplished something, no matter how small that thing is. I've had a hard time the past several years but yesterday not only did I go to the store, I also managed to change the sheets and wash all my clothes, and even cleaned the kitchen and scrubbed the sink from all the hard water deposits.

      It's a good feeling and so I don't know why I don't do those things more often... I guess it's just easier to watch TV shows, movies, and play Fortnite all day long.

      I have been on break from school for over a month now, and have another entire month left before it starts back up again. I'm 25 so you'd think I'd've gotten used to it by now - but nope. It's still ridiculously hard to stay motivated and to keep going with a proper, healthy routine day-to-day.

      14 votes
    11. How was your weekend?

      Good morning everyone! It's Monday morning and the weekend is over. How is everyone doing today? How was your weekend and is there anything you're looking forward to this week? I did a post like...

      Good morning everyone! It's Monday morning and the weekend is over. How is everyone doing today? How was your weekend and is there anything you're looking forward to this week?

      I did a post like this last Friday and people seemed to like it. After talking to @PBuddy I decided to do posts like this at the beginning and end of the week to see if we can get people familiar with each other. I love Tildes but it's too new and too spread out for a small communities to start like you'd see in some subreddits. Let me know what you think!

      10 votes
    12. How's everyone's day going?

      Hey guys I'm just joining Tildes after that last invite wave. I'm sure there's a lot of others just like me trying to get used to the site and I figured this might be a good start for people. How...

      Hey guys I'm just joining Tildes after that last invite wave. I'm sure there's a lot of others just like me trying to get used to the site and I figured this might be a good start for people.

      How is everyone's day going? Any big plans for the weekend?

      24 votes