Life Update: Old Tech, Big Ideas, and Getting Involved
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May 18th, 2025
Man, do I feel lazy. It's been about nine days since I've updated the site, and while that may not seem like a long time, I feel like I've been slacking off pretty badly. I've been up to a lot of stuff this month; I've watched a few movies, read a book or two, and took a couple of trips with friends. I have a lot of stuff I could write about, but being completely honest, I've been battling some pretty bad burnout for most of the month. After being out of town for two weekends, my job switched me to longer shifts for a week, leaving me with very little free time to do any writing or thinking. Between the time crunch and the sheer amount of things going on, my ability to put any words down has been completely shot. That being said though, this weekend marks the end of this very busy patch of life, and I can finally start to put my thoughts out into the void again. So, yay for that!
With all that out of the way, what am I up to at the moment? Other than gradually writing about the things that I've watched and read recently, I'm changing up a few things at home and in my life. In my last blog post, I wrote about how I felt like I was addicted to my smartphone and wanted to cut myself off from endlessly checking it and scrolling sites. My current phone will be paid off in about a month and a half, so I've started to get things ready for when I make the switch back to a flip phone. This mainly means that I've started using certain things that my smartphone eventually replaced over time. I got myself an older radio alarm clock, put more emphasis on a physical calendar and actually writing notes by hand, and I'm looking into getting an MP3 player to use while I'm at work. I've also gotten back into buying CDs and vinyl instead of using my phone to play music, which is probably the most enjoyable change so far. My girlfriend and I recently made a trip to an antique mall, and we managed to find the same model of CD player that my parents had when I was a kid. We set it up in our kitchen so we can listen to music while cooking, and it's been so much fun to actually buy albums and have another collection that we can build and enjoy together. It's felt pretty nice to wean myself off of my phone more and more, and I can't wait for the day to come when I can finally get rid of the thing. Once it's gone and I've lived without constant internet access for a month or so, I'll write a post describing what the change is like and if my concentration has improved or not.
Other than those changes, I've started to get into a little bit of philosophical content in my free time. My girlfriend introduced me to the channel Unsolicited Advice, and I've been listening to him cover various thoughts of philosophy and ideas while I'm at work. I could never get into that type of thing when I was in school / college, since I've always been much more interested in the universe outside of Earth instead of how humans think. However, not only has a lot of this content gotten me to use my brain a little bit more, but it's started to make me rethink how I feel about philosophy in general. It's been very interesting to hear different people's ideas about what they think is important in the world and human society, and it's such a great change from listening to drama slop and random bullshit. Some of the most interesting topics to me have been absurdism vs. nihilism, the role that religion / belief in a higher power can play in a modern-day society, how humans can create our own definitions of good and evil, and many others. I've been so impacted by some of this content that I made a trip to my local library and checked out a copy of Albert Camus' The Stranger, which will be my next read after I finish my current book. As someone who genuinely enjoys learning, opening myself up to actually considering these types of thought instead of brushing it aside has been a very rewarding experience.
As for one final change, once I get my flip phone and get a better handle on my focus, I'd really like to volunteer at my local library. I used to go to it all the time when I was in school, but as I got older and found it harder and harder to read, I would only go once a year or so if I needed to print something off. I remember the shelves being completely filled with thousands upon thousands of books, but during my last trip, I noticed a lot more empty space on the shelves than I remembered before. I'm not sure if that's a consequence of digital media or not, but regardless of the cause, I don't like seeing it and I hate the thought that my library may be struggling. I genuinely feel that libraries play an important role in our lives and communities, and it's important that we use and support them to keep knowledge and connection open to as many people as possible. I'd love to be able to reach out to people and create a little bit of fun in life through learning and community building. Hell, maybe I could even convince more people to step away from online life and re-emphasize the real world and what it has to offer. That's a pipe dream at the moment, but I am committed to getting involved as much as I am able to.
I think that about does it for what's on my plate at the moment. I have about six or seven movie and book pages that I plan to write, as well as another blog post before the month is over with. So, I'm gonna get back to work and taking life as it comes. Until I write again, take it easy!