As for what to do there - again, it’s your call. Generally they have several flavors of weight machines, cardio machines, free weights, usually some kind of aerobics space.

You set your own goals and routines. In contrast with something like school, no one’s going to force you to exercise. You have to want to - whether that’s for the fun of it or to achieve some health result.

Gyms also tend to offer classes, or personal trainers you can hire if you want more structure.

You’re absolutely correct that you can do all that at home. Will you? I find that going to a place puts me in the right state of mind to do the thing. They do have a lot of equipment available, but you can mostly replace it at low cost by running outdoors or buying a few dumbells.

Likewise for the costume - when I started going, I was very worried about making sure I had gym shorts and running shoes and a sweat wicking shirt and a gym bag. I got that stuff and it did help, just mentally put me into the place for it. But after a while I realized I could just go in casual clothes (though my gym bans jeans) and it’s fine. Up to you what’s more motivating - workout clothes or reducing friction by wearing what you’ve got.

Memory has a way of being fuzzy and inaccurate. Probably not my actual first experience of it, and I’m probably combining several different occasions…

But I remember a new desk with a computer set up in the living room. My parents or brother set me down in front of it and asked what I wanted to look for, I could search for anything. The first thing that came to mind was to look for Zelda, so I got them to type in Zelda Link’s Awakening for the search engine. I ended up on a cool little fansite, and learned about the bomb arrows trick.

I always thought Regin Smidur by Týr captured exactly the kind of vibes I’d expect from Viking metal. But I’ve never known what the lyrics are about, and probably don’t want to.

If it ever does calm down and stabilize, beware. That means something expensive is about to break. It’s always something!

But really, it does get a lot less hectic after you close, get utilities and address records sorted, finish any big upfront renovations you want to do, and get most of your stuff unpacked.

I think so. If you’re a human and you’re not a jerk, then interacting on a platform you want to see flourish is a good idea.

It might fail. Any given platform may fail despite many people’s efforts to make it work. But that’s not a good reason not to try.

Yep, and you can grab an extension like Enhancer for YouTube to get customized looping behavior too.

There are lots of great things to do, but most important is to build a habit and keep working at it. Engage with the language every day, and work up to consuming content designed for native speakers.

Duolingo and similar apps are helpful, but don’t put all your eggs in that, or any single, basket. Also do Anki or some other flashcard thing. And at the very least a beginner textbook or grammar guide is good to have. Early on, mix time between textbook, apps, ‘comprehensible input’ videos. Work your way up to reading, and look for graded readers to get started.

(Also, as Duolingo gets worse, consider alternatives like Memrise and Mondly. Or even paid stuff like Busuu, Lingq, Pimsleur, Babbel, Rosetta Stone. Also, your local library may give access to Transparent Language or Mango. Although of course I can’t vouch for most of these personally.)

Another rec: check out [email protected] for a cool community. Good place to ask questions and get support.

There are probably a ton of cool learning resources specific to your target language. Look online for communities around it.

Yeah! Songs are a good addition to learning activities. You learn several words deeply, with great repetition, and it’s fun.

But I agree you need to be looking at lyrics and using a dictionary. It can be too easy to just listen to songs as music, and not get any language-learning out of it.

No. 1990 was, and will forever be, about 10 years ago.

I can see an argument for it. The Internet was widespread and accessible to common people, but governments and major corporations hadn’t really figured out how to completely abuse it yet.

But the real thing is probably that the peak of culture is probably based on whenever a person was between 5 and 25 years old. For most I think those were the good old days, no matter when they actually were.

A couple ideas:

One of the best things you can do to be active is walk/run/use cardio machines for long stretches of time. So,

• Get some wireless headphones and catch up on some podcasts, albums, or audiobooks you’ve wanted to check out.
• If you have a convenient way to set it up, you can try to get an excercise bike or treadmill in front of a TV screen, and watch or even game while you’re active
• Find some trails nearby. It’s more fun moving around if your focus is on sightseeing and exploration, instead of exercising

But also, gamification can be fun. Stuff like,

• Last time I did 3 sets of 12 reps of 100 lb, can I do more this time? Get an app and keep track, aim to increase either reps or weight when you can
• Last time I went a half mile in 20 minutes, can I do it faster this time?
• Yesterday I walked for 5 minutes, can I handle 6 today?
• Can I piece together a workout from some exercises that I don’t hate? One that gives me push/pull/legs? One that covers certain muscle groups? That planning can be kinda fun
• Likewise with diet, get a calorie counter app and try to eat with intention. Think of it like a strategy game for min/maxing numbers. Can I get a slight surplus? Deficit? Can I get xyz grams of protein a day, or stay below xyz grams of sugar?

Vim has that same kind of tutorial, that you can access right within the application. Such a nice feature.

I didn’t know that about Inkscape, now I really want to try that one.

It can feel a bit lopsided - if I’m having a conversation about some divisive thing, and grant a point, even a small one: the other person will probably keep harping on the thing I was wrong about. Meanwhile, that person will never admit they were wrong about anything.

It’s a symptom of treating these conversations like debates. After you ‘lose’ a couple, you’re conditioned not to give an inch.

I had bats a couple years ago too. Was near mating season when we realized, so had to move fast. Found out because we’d hear them flying around inside the walls upstairs.

We had to get one way doors installed as well, though ours were temporary and they just did their best to seal up the roof areas where they got in. Came back a while later to make sure all the bats were gone and clean out guano.

It’s zero effort to turn on the signal. I say do it every time you’re planning to turn or merge. Why not?

I guess sometimes if I’m behind a bunch of cars in a turn lane, I’ll wait until I’m up near the front and about to actually turn.

I have one of the Galaxy Flip phones.

I really hate the idea of my phone just being a glass rectangle touch screen. I don’t like the current options for physical keyboards, so flip is at least some weird tactile hardware gimmick I can go for.

drawabox was already mentioned, I’ve always heard good things and the first few lessons seem approachable.

https://www.ctrlpaint.com/library/ is another one I’ve heard good things about, though it’s focused more on digital painting.