I used to be a Medic and Firefighter-- in short I was an adrenaline junkie. And now I’m old and retired. And my body is bent and currently a bit broken. I seek to learn how to be dull.
Despite the enjoyment of watching the hummingbirds at my feeders and the light gardening I do. I still think I could become even more satisfied with my dullness.
Guide me to complete dullness!
Oh I read a lot. Mostly technical manuals. But I am trying to branch out into long boring novels. But it’s hard. I love reading about metallurgy and horology. It makes me excited. And I’m not sure if dull people should be excited about anything. Maybe I’m wrong about that.
I don’t like writing for 2 reasons, One-- I have filled out too many run reports. Bad vibes there. And secondly-- I’m a lefty and writing is not designed for us Bar Sinister types to do. I can’t even decipher what I wrote half the time.
Peope keep telling me to journal, too, and I can’t stand it.
It’s not that I have a dislike of journaling, it’s just that I don’t remember to do it. And well, how do you choose what memory is THE one to write down for that day? Big memories like getting married, the birth of each of our Daughters are seared into my brain. Unless/until Alzheimer’s takes me down, they aren’t going anywhere. If and when that happens, pictures and the written word no longer matters anyway.
And those everyday memories are just fleeting moments. Here and gone in a heartbeat. And perhaps not worth the effort to memorialize for history.YMMV
Accept that you’re already prime dull. Let. It. Go. Old man
Aye. It is we who need help from you!
OP needs to learn acceptance. The dull is strong with him but he doesn’t feel it yet
I’m right handed and can’t read my writing.
Maybe a typewriter? Preferably in need of repair.
I come from a long ago time when there were no keyboards just typewriters. Vile machines they were, requiring actual knowledge of spelling, punctuation, and grammar. And your correction fluid bottle was always dry.
I’ve cleaned and lubricated a couple back in the day, but never repaired one.
I inherited an electric typewriter, IBM Selectric 2, which was the only thing that could keep up with my Apple ][-trained typing speed… but what I remember most is how dang loud they were.
Oh man, those were quiet compared to manuals. My Mother had a manual at home. I swear you could hear that thing out in the barn when it was milking time.
I can still see my Father pacing the kitchen and dictating to my Mother as she typed.
I wonder if you could dial-in your typing on the manuals to keep the volume down. From what I remember, you needed a lot of pressure and the throw on the key was pretty damn long, so if you’re typing at speed the best thing to do was building up a lot of momentum… I also wonder if there were typewriters designed to be a little easier to type with. I mean, piano keys have a pretty short throw, why can’t typewriters work the same way?
We also have to keep in mind that typing through 2-3 carbons was a use case for these guys, so they’d need to strike with more impact than strictly necessary to leave some ink.
You couldn’t type quietly with a manual or an electric. The issue is you needed to hit the ribbon hard enough to transfer the ink from the ribbon to get a good mark. Add to this the fact that with a manual, once you had gone through the ribbon the first time, you would flip the spools around and start typing again. Which needed an even healthier whack to make a mark. And if times were tough and things were hard, you might do that a third time. Or flip the ribbon upside down and type with the red ink. Ribbons had 2 colors of ink on the same ribbon-- black for regular print and a red half used for highlight or emphases.
Manual typewrites do have their own feel. Some brands do have a lighter touch than others and even individual machines would be different. Much like computer keyboards do today. As a very general rule, those machines that had a heavier feel tended to be better for carbons. Electric typewriters removed a lot the variance in feel due to the electric motor operation. And those had very short throws. I’ve only ever used a couple of electrics, both Seleletric Ball models. They would hit that sum biotchin’ ribbon like it really, really meant it. This was because they were “real” office machines and were expected to do a steady diet of carbon copies.
The real fun in office work was when you got make mimeographs. The fussiness of the setup and the mostly sketchy illegible results were always a guaranteed good time. But the buzz you could get from the transfer liquid! I can still remember that smell.
I think the “dull” metre is an external one…
I’m into all manner of exciting things that people think are completely dull if I talk about it…
Welcome to the party… (please turn the music down as you come past the stereo and can you bring less spicy dip next time please?..)
I think you are probably correct that “dull” is the projection others place upon you. And not what you place upon yourself. My postings here have been done with a tongue-in-cheek manor. Hopefully, I have brightened peoples day. If only for a moment.
Thank you for the welcome! I believe I will stick around for at least a bit. But you probably don’t want me around the stereo, I’m likely to just turn it off as I would turn it down. I really do like my quiet. And I will work on the dip thing. But to be fair, I do like me some spicy food at times.
If you are looking for displacement activities that have large amounts of slow steady methodical development of learning and new skills, with a thrilling and short adrenalised conclusion, I can highly recommend low powered model rocketry.
I’ve progressively levelled up my design, construction and painting skills, and the 10-90second flight at the end is quite a rush when you find out if your all your work passes the ultimate test from the laws of space and time, or if you’re about to instead learn something to take into the next build…
Plus, there’s usually plenty of rocketry clubs scattered around with amazing people to help on the journey…
Horology is hardly dull. We all have to do something. No shame in it.
I know right? The gears and flat springs at that size are marvels of man’s mind and craftsmanship! I do enjoy building model air powered steam engines in my shop though. It’s been a few years since the last one. Perhaps I should start designing a new one again.