It doesn't help that, in addition to taking a break from Twitch, I deleted my Discord because I don't trust the company anymore. So I've been trying to seek out other online communities on IRC, Jabber, etc. but not really finding any that click with me.

I plan to reengage with Twitch before Easter while trying to be careful about not using it as mindless entertainment or background noise.

But I also realized: I have no real-life friends that live near me. My only IRL social interaction is with my family and my church community. I love my family dearly, but we need friends, too. And I love my church community, but I don't interact with them much outside of church meetings – with the exception of occasional visits in their homes as part of my leadership role, which I absolutely love.

Online friends are great, and I have met some genuinely good people that way, but electronic interaction is no substitute for in-person interaction.

We need people. And I need to make more friends in real life.

Discuss...

#100DaysToOffload (No. 156) #faith #Lent #Twitch #family #friends #loneliness #tech

I don't even know who said it first, but it's a good axiom: the best things in life aren't things.

In other words, there are more important things than money and possessions.

I'm realizing that I've been stuck yet again in a cycle of obsessing over things like finances and gadgets and technology and collecting music.

And I've been neglecting things of most importance. Like connecting and spending time with family and friends in real life. Taking care of my mental, physical, and spiritual health. Taking time to be still – to recognize and appreciate the beauty and goodness in life.

We can't take any physical stuff with us when we're done here. But we take who we are. Our experiences. What we've learned.

We can't avoid the need for things in this life. Food, clothing, shelter. It's part of mortality.

But physical things are temporary. Fleeting. Finite. They can't bring true happiness or lasting joy.

Focus on what's really important. Things that matter. Things that bring real meaning and purpose.

Focus on things that aren't things.

Discuss...

#100DaysToOffload (No. 112) #life #family #health #intentionism #mentalHealth

Mostly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related circumstances, we have not spent Christmas with my extended family since 2019. Being able to do so this year has been a wonderful experience and a reminder to me of two things: the importance of being together with family, and the necessity of in-person human interaction.

I tend towards introversion. I don't mind being alone. I am a contemplative person and need solitude, quiet, and deep thinking to replenish myself. My initial reaction to social occasions is to avoid them. But most of the time when I push through that hesitation and go, I do enjoy them to some degree. I enjoy them even more if those social occasions are with family.

I am blessed to still have one living set of grandparents. I am their eldest grandchild, and my son is their eldest great-grandchild. This is our second opportunity this year to spend time with them, and these have been special visits. Video calls with them would not be the same – they are no substitute for sitting on a couch together talking, feeling that tangible connection that comes just from being around loved ones.

This has been a lovely time. While I am ready to return to our “regular” life, I also wish I had more time. I wish I didn't live so distant from my extended family that I only get to be with them a couple times a year. Still, it makes those times all the more meaningful.

Discuss...

#100DaysToOffload (No. 98) #family #life #Christmas

It's the first time we've traveled to be with extended family for Christmas since 2019 – before the COVID-19 pandemic. My family, along with my two brothers and their families, planned to have Christmas Eve dinner with my mother and step-father and a small gift exchange afterward.

For various reasons, one of my brothers had to cancel his family's travel plans. We were sad that they wouldn't be able to join us in-person and that we would have to go at least one more Christmas without them. But thanks to modern technology, we used my (“ancient”) iPhone 8 to do a FaceTime call with them during our gift exchange. I played cameraman as family members opened their gifts and then passed the phone around to each family member to have a quick chat.

It is true there is no substitute for in-person interaction. But when in-person interaction cannot happen, video calls can be the next best thing.

If and when I decide to stop carrying a smartphone on my person, there will be other ways of doing video calls. A laptop, a tablet, or even a smartphone as a secondary device dedicated for specific functions like that.

Because, as was demonstrated tonight, a video call was able to bridge hundreds of miles and connect our family in a way that I only dreamed of as a child watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. While I lament other technological “advances” that seem to have done more harm than good or have mixed results at best (social media), video calls are one achievement I can wholly and unapologetically support.

Discuss...

#100DaysToOffload (No. 92) #tech #smartphones #COVID19 #family

I enjoyed sleeping in a whole 2 minutes (my body usually gets me up, alarm or not). We had the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on while my wife bustled in the kitchen getting the food prepared (I made the stuffing and gravy – just add water).

By early afternoon everything was ready, we loaded it all up into the SUV and drove over to my in-law's home 15 minutes away. There we met my wife's family and her aunt and uncle and who were also visiting and enjoyed a lovely meal and good company for several hours. We came home happy and well-fed.

The out-of-the-ordinary thing happened this morning. I got a text message from a good friend I've known for over 20 years. His wife has been battling cancer for a little over a year. After a valiant fight, she entered hospice care a couple months ago. Today he informed me she had slipped into a coma from which she will not wake. They are preparing for her passing.

Despite the heaviness of heart for my friend and his family, today's festivities with my family were that much sweeter. I held my wife a little closer, sat next to my son a little longer, enjoyed my interactions with extended family, enjoyed delicious and plentiful food a little more than I otherwise might have done.

I have so much to be thankful for on this almost ordinary Thanksgiving.

Discuss...

#100DaysToOffload (No. 59) #life #family #gratitude

Thankfully, I managed to keep a journal – mostly written and some dictated on microcassette tapes – for a good portion of my time serving as a full-time missionary in Brazil from 2000 to 2002. I'm thankful for what I managed to record, because despite thinking there was no way I could forget the details of such an impactful, life-changing experience, I realize just how much I have forgotten whenever I review my mission journal.

I have managed to fill one hard-bound hand-written journal volume since then, but have spent most of the time paralyzed with the decision of how to keep a journal moving forward. There are so many ways of keeping a journal today, each of them with their own unique advantages – and drawbacks. I've tried continuing with a paper journal, keeping a digital journal of basic text or Microsoft Word document, and even making digital audio recordings. Those attempts fizzled out soon after they started.

The past few weeks, I have felt a renewed urgency to record the events of my life – to share what I've learned and what I'm learning, both temporally and spiritually. I remember my parents keeping journals when I was growing up. My great-grandfather didn't keep a journal, but he did take the time later in his life to collect old photos, use his 1953 Royal Quiet Deluxe typewriter to write his and his wife's life histories, make photo copies of everything, and put them together in spiral-bound booklet that he distributed to his family. I consider my copy of this booklet to be one of the most precious things I own. I have digitized it to ensure its contents are preserved and accessible for future generations via FamilySearch.org.

After thinking again about how to keep a journal going forward, I decided to try a smartphone app I tried years ago called Day One. I've been writing in it the past few days using the free features available. I have enjoyed it so much that I decided do a free 7-day trial of their “Premium” subscription ($35 USD/yr), which gives you access to some great features, including integration with IFTTT which, if I set it up properly, should automatically pull in this very post as a journal entry!

Other features of the Day One app include the ability to include photos, make audio recordings, sync content securely between devices, and export your journal into various formats, including PDF.

Another feature that I really like is the ability to have Day One print (for an additional charge) actual, physical books of your journal entries. So if you want, you can enjoy the benefits of both digital and physical journal keeping.

I'm really going to make a valiant effort to develop a journal-keeping habit this time. I want my posterity and relatives to know me and, hopefully, find strength and learn from my own life journey.

At the very least, I hope I can be more consistent with keeping a journal than with blogging!

#100DaysToOffload (No. 14) #tech #life #family

Topics of Focus

#faith – thoughts related to my religion #tech – self explanatory

Other Topics

#100DaysToOffload #accessories #AI #automobiles #Bandcamp #books #business #cassette #charity #Christianity #Christmas #ChurchOfJesusChrist #climate #community #compactDisc #contention #COVID19 #decentralization #DigitalMinimalism #economy #electronicMusic #EveryDayCarry #eWaste #family #FOSS (free-as-in-freedom and open source software) #friends #gratitude #haiku #health #hobbies #HomeOffice #humor #intentionism #internet #laptop #LessConvenient #libraryMusic #life #Linux #loneliness #media #meditation #mentalHealth #misc #movies #music #news #nostalgia #physicalMedia #planning #poetry #politics #privacy #prophets #retro #smartphones #SocialMedia #synthwave #travel #TV #Twitch #unity (not the game engine) #Utah #vaporwave #writing