You gotta do what you love

Lately I’ve been posting a lot on my Mastodon about things I dislike, such as dancing. I figured I should share some things I actually enjoy, rather than being a constant hater.

Below is a non-exhaustive list of things I like and in no particular order. I am also skipping some things I talk about frequently, like:

• Homelabbing
• OSS
• Linux

I also love my family and do everything I can to be around them all the time. This is a list of other things I love.

Organizing and creating systems

I am the Hermes Conrad in your life. I love to take chaotic data, teams, or projects and deeply organize them. Then, once everything is in the right place, create a new efficient and effective system that is accessible to anyone. In my work life I have taken disorganized teams and created a highly tuned system that are completely run by a single Australian man.

This is why when I worked in marketing I ended up spending most of my time in data governance. Our success depended on clean and consistent data. This is my personal life as well. Every file on my phone, desktop, laptop, and NAS are meticulously organized.

Being the helper

I love to the be helper who is behind the scenes assisting you to be the best at what you love. I’m doing the dishes and cleaning up waste while you cook. I’m raking beds and pulling weeds while you prune the garden. I’m writing the notes and running the tests for your web project. I’m charging your devices and putting them back so when you reach for them the battery is full.

I love to watch you be the best at what you do.

Live in silly town

I like to be silly. Whimsical. Ridiculous. I love Monty Python, MST3K, and watching so-bad-they-are-good B-movies. Let’s be completely unserious for as long as possible.

I think this is why I became addicted to memes.

I love to say the thing no one expects. I frequently talk about farts. I yell out strange things in public to make you cringe and then laugh. I ask everyone ridiculous questions. I provide too much information.

This applies to silly food as well. Cheeseburger? Boring. Burger with macaroni and cheese and a fried egg on top covered in gravy? Sign me the fuck up.

Be outside

I love to be outside. Love is an understatment. I cannot exist indoors. I crave to be outside at all times. Hiking and camping are nice. But, I don’t need to be doing something to be outside. It doesn’t need to be nice weather. I simply need to be outdoors.

I love the feeling of dirt and grass on my bare feet. I love to sit on a bench and watch the birds and the bugs. I pickup cool rocks and sticks. I examine the bark of a tree. I lay on the ground and watch the blue sky. I sit with my eyes closed and absorb the breeze. I love to pick up insects and examine them. I love flowers.

Temperatures

I love the feeling of cold air. I want the temperature to be cold, while I sit warm under a blanket.

Narration

I love audiobooks. Not a full audio production with multiple actors performing along with sound effects. I love a good narrator. This is difficult because of my hearing loss and it is getting harder and harder to continue to love audiobooks. But, I love any book with a fantastic narrator. I have more narrators I love than I do authors.

Live music

I don’t listen to much music nowadays. But I love live music. I like to watch musicians perform. I like the loudness. I like the swell of a good crowd. This doesn’t only apply to concerts at large arenas. I love to listen live music at coffee shops, street corners, bars, festivals, fairs, and backyard parties.

To teach

When I was young I wanted to be a elemetary to junior high teacher. Life took me a different direction. But, I still love to teach and have done it in every job I’ve had, seeking roles that include me putting on seminars or training sessions.

Quiet

I like to sit quietly with my hearing aids off and just be with myself. I drive with no music. I go on walks with no headphones. I dig holes 6 hours a day with no distractions. I like stillness. I like the sounds of the world to disappear.

Galleries

I love to view art. I love to absorb art in a quiet setting, letting the my brain meander through the emotions of the piece. I don’t want anyone to explain it to me, I love to find what the art means to me. I want to slowly walk an art gallery in silence.

Maps

I am obsessed with maps and will stare at them for hours and hours. I like to follow the roads and see what small towns dot the path. I like to see how the landscape changes and how that affects rivers, lakes, and even the weather. I like to read the funny city and street names. I like to look up the history of the places I find on the map.

Weather

I love to learn about and experience weather, which obviously goes hand-in-hand with my love of being outdoors. In particular I love extreme weather.

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