new media who dis

[chickentimeschickenways]

Rearranging my guts a bit after news of Tumblr's imminent implosion. It was the first social media I really made friends on, starting in 2010, and I learned an awful lot about how to be a person on the internet there. Trash? Why, yes, of course, but it was my trash, and it saw me through eight rather tumultuous years. My twenties were not smooth sailing, I fear.

I am currently in an ongoing wrestling match with myself to be more outward-looking, or at least a bit more plugged into reality. I've never *not* ruminated, of course -- what good are first thoughts without second and third ones? -- but at the moment I have no savings and am careening from one paycheck to the next, so the consequences of a doom spiral seem somewhat more dire than usual. Which is to say: I am hoping that I can avoid the pitfalls of my erstwhile Tumblr here, and all those sorts of entries where I navel-gazed and self-loathed with the very best of them.

And, well: I moved 1400 miles from home, at great inconvenience and expense to myself, in hopes of finding a place that felt less like a straitjacket. It seems I should at least *try* to create the conditions for myself to thrive.

Trying to get a trip planned to Ireland for a week and change (not sure how much change) for August 2019. The details are not very exciting; ideally, I'd like to hit up Worldcon for a day or two, meet a forum friend in Dublin, shoot across to Galway to visit Ye Olde WWOOF Farm, and do a couple of day hikes, probably also in Galway.

I don't know how getting time off will be (technically I don't have vacation until August 20th), and I don't know how the money will be (right now tickets for the right bracket are $600, meh.) Right now I'm having a hard time being excited about anything, if we're honest, but I suspect by the time the winter is over things will have eased up in my small subterranean haven of grumpiness.

Comments

[sebenikela]

i feel you on the navel-gazing. and I mean...what is the correct amount of navel inspection? like, understanding How My Brain Works is useful, excessive rumination is not, where is the point where you switch from one to the other?

BRAINS MAN IDK <3

[chickentimeschickenways]

ARGH. And then sometimes I feel like I give my neuroses more power by articulating them clearly. . .

The line between "I'm going to let this emotion go instead of obsessing about it" and "I'm going to repress this emotion instead of processing it" is NOT PARTICULARLY CLEAR, in my opinion.

[sebenikela]

RIGHT? there should be some kind of idk buzzer that goes off like "you have Experienced this emotion sufficiently, please move on now"

also a "move on now" switch

I would like to file several bug reports

[obstinatecondolement]

I also may or may not be going to World Con (seems a shame not to when it's right in my own backyard) so I might see you there?

[chickentimeschickenways]

Perhaps! Even if I don't get to Worldcon, I'll definitely be swinging through Dublin in either late August or September, so there may be other opportunities to meet as well!

[obstinatecondolement]

Absolutely!