Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 523)

about 2 years ago

Hello Everyone!

Sleeping in, Into the gaming zone, Shuffling flower pots, More brush clearing, A green layer & So long winter scruff!

I slept in late again this morning after gaming with my buddy late into the evening which is fine and all as long as it does not become too much of a habit. There are bound to be those nights when that will occur over the coming weeks while we are playing the online ladder but for the next week (until it starts) I really do need to keep them to a minimum.

Last night was pretty fun though because we spent a good bit of our time not even really playing the game but instead swapping ideas on strategies, character builds and generally doing a lot of theory crafting. All of which are things that I enjoy doing just as much or even more than playing the game itself and I could absolutely spend way too many hours doing just it!

I know that it might seem kind of hokey but my mind being fully consumed by the gaming world sure does not leave much room for anything else to be thought about and for someone that can get stuck in one train of thought or another... it sure has a way of disrupting all of that.

What happens is all those usual trains of thought like worrying about finances, my health or whatever become something like a 'broken record' playing over and over again in my mind. There just is not a lot of things that can actually break those cycles outside of me becoming laser focused on something else and staying that way for a while.

Although reading books used to do it the only thing that seems to work anymore is gaming and even then only when there is a social aspect to it and one that is mentally engaging on more than a superficial level. Maybe I am muddying the waters with all that but suffice it to say that I am unsure if I ever noticed just how effective at said 'disruption' all that is!

Lacking any other kind of social life I think that I just fail to get exposed to things that jostle my mind out of its well-worn ruts and as far as doing it in the gaming world goes... there are not all the hyper-personal undercurrents nor all the other hassles that I often encounter when dealing with folks. Not because of some 'magic' of the game but because of the cooperative way such interactions are geared.

I guess that the 'cooperative' part is the real clincher and why there is not much in the way of disharmony in that kind of social interaction which yeah sure does go a long way when it comes to having enjoyable experiences. That is after all the real goal (as with much of life) and no I am not talking about the shallow pursuit of pleasure but deeply meaningful interactions which resonate with joy, wonder, humor, camaraderie, shared accomplishment and all the fun things that truly matter.

It might seem like no big deal to most folks but to me it (harmonious social interactions) play a rather large part in my own decision making and well if the only way I can get it is via gaming then so be it! It damn sure is not like I have any other place to find it in my life or have any opportunities to meet new folks or heck even socialize with those that I already know.

Please do not get it twisted because I absolutely love my hermit lifestyle and in no way want to change that. For good or ill gaming has been playing that role in my life for quite some time now. That said it has become even more so since I quit going to parties, festivals and social events in general so it makes perfect sense to me that it would play such a crucial role as it does.

Alright, I better not fill this entry with too much gaming stuff but I am sure the long-term readers are well accustomed to my little phases of doing so! In about six more days I will be diving head first into the gaming world and doubt that I will 'come up for air' much along the way.

I keep debating on whether I should stop the daily writing during that time, only make weekly posts or continue on as I have been both making and publishing an entry each day. The funny thing is that I do not want to change what I am doing but I know how tunnel visioned that I become once gaming and want to avoid feeling crunched for time each day to make said entries.

We will see how all that works out but I think that if I can hold onto my sleep cycle, get my routine chores done, do the gardening, play the game and make some kind of entry each day that by the end of it I will be in much better shape mentally than if I allow myself to fail at any (or all) of those things. Its some tricky stuff but when it comes down to brass tacks... it is all about time management which is something I tend to excel at!

Okay, it is much later in the day and not long before sunset so I am back to do my routine 'wrapping things up' for the day before getting everything posted. I dunno if it is really as monotonous as it may seem but I often look forward to writing a sentence similar to the previous one each day. Maybe it is just a sign for me that the day is almost over and yeah I am often excited about that.

So, today was another productive one and I moved some of the previously planted flower pots from the edge of the pine forest to the gardening area below the shelter site. I actually used the wagon and moved most of them at once but held off on doing more until I figure out where exactly down there that I can squeeze them in.

That entire area was also a bit hard to access from the north side of the dog yard so I finally bit the proverbial bullet and cleared a fair amount of brush from the corner where it was blocking the trail. It was such a hassle going through there before that I would often walk all the way around the dog yard just to turn the water on to water the pots that I have down there.

Most of the cut brush that I produced I trimmed the smaller branches from (that were covered in green leaves) and covered one of the compost mounds with the trimmings. All the larger sticks that were leftover I tossed onto a brush pile since I do not really want them in that layer of the compost. Over the coming days I am going to continue that 'green layer' and after that I might add some sticks on before adding dirt and biochar.

All in all those projects came out good and I moved onto something that I have been procrastinating for quite some time which was to repair that damaged irrigation tube that got chewed on by some critter late last year. As I mentioned before I have wondered if I had food residue (or olive oil) on my hands that day but today I got to thinking if maybe the critter was just after the water that was inside the tubing.

Anyway, it is out of sequence but way earlier in the day right after I stopped writing I dug out my clippers, scissors and a mirror and got rid of all my winter scruff. I even went back to having a mohawk just for the heck of it even if it is a rather tame one after I ran the clippers over it several times so it was not quite so spiky!

It is always a good feeling doing that kind of thing but whoa I want to get a much better pair of clippers than the cheap ones that I have because I have to constantly fiddle with the blade position to keep them cutting smoothly. I think that all the vibration makes the little plastic 'adjustment screw' turn itself lose one way or another and it is just enough that the clippers stop cutting without also pulling hair.

Okay, I am going to call this entry good enough and get on with the editing. I hope that everyone is doing well and has a nice day/night.