4 ms·

I'm a week into a month-long time off (which I really needed) and can add a few suggestions: * Put your phone away * Read a silly book for pleasure * Watch c

I'm a week into a month-long time off (which I really needed) and can add a few suggestions: * Put your phone away * Read a silly book for pleasure * Watch children playing, and play with them if you can * Take a long walk, try not to retrace your steps * Get some sun (maybe on a walk), and then take a nap * Appreciate something mundane

h2odragon 4y ago
> Watch children playing, and play with them if you can Puppies, kittens, and baby goats work too; and are less likely to spark misunderstandings that can lead to legal difficulties.
- WesolyKubeczek 4y ago
  > less likely to spark misunderstandings that can lead to legal difficulties If you tend to look at things like that, better be careful with those baby goats.
- samb1729 4y ago
  Just make sure you don’t have a moustache and you’ll be fine
  - dubswithus 4y ago
    I won't be able to find the tweet but there was a woman that was watching children playing behind a fence from the sidewalk and was asked to leave. I forget the exact details of how it escalated. It's so weird in America sometimes. In other countries no one even notices you.
    - jdthedisciple 4y ago
      Not true. Over here in Germany I was once out working out at my usual calisthenics ground where sometimes a lot of children and parents come by as well. So some of these kids started talking to me asking random questions and stuff and I chatted back and one of their mothers came up to me like I was some pedo harrassing her little ones and screamed at me to stop talking to them. And it was in broad daylight as well, with many people around! Sad times for men, in this regard.
      - mynameisash 4y ago
        > Sad times for men, in this regard. My wife absolutely loves kids. Being with them and working with them is her career and passion. She will frequently say things about kids to which I respond "another thing I can't say, as a man." It's all in jest, but there's also truth to it. She says something inoccuous that really can't be misconstrued, but if I said the exact same thing, I would at least get interesting looks if not downright condescending glares of "stay away from my baby." It doesn't bother me, but it is an amusing and also unfortunate double standard.
      - Glawen 4y ago
        The fact that it is in Germany doesn't help as German parents do not want any adult taking to their children, god knows why. But it is true that it is sad times for men. We are automatically classified as pedo if we interact with children, noone trust us.
    - spencerchubb 4y ago
      I know exactly what tweet you're talking about I feel like I would be wary about someone watching children play, but I don't know if that's rational.
- ninesnines 4y ago
  I would definitely suggest baby goats: my family used to have them and they were the best “time wasters” :) especially if you give them a trampoline
hotpotamus 4y ago
I would say that everyone should watch and understand Office Space, but I did watch it and didn't really understand it until I lived it - I thought it was a comedy just because it's funny, but really it's a Gen X cautionary tale about burnout that I was too inexperienced to understand. The quote from the movie that you reminded me of was "I did nothing and it was everything I thought it could be." But the creator, Mike Judge, (of Beavis and Butthead fame) worked in early-mid Silicon Valley - he understood the culture he was skewering.
- bityard 4y ago
  I watched Office Space when I was younger and believed at the time that it was a gross over-caricaturization. It was a comedy movie, after all. No _real_ company could ever be that demoralizing to work for, there's no way you could put that much cluelessness, self-interest, and passive-agressive managerial evil into one building and not have it spontaneously combust, right? (Which I guess it did in the movie.) Until I got a job in a mid-size financial services company. It was all that and a whole lot worse. It was literally forbidden to pin Dilbert comic strips to your cubicle wall. Not _any_ comic strips, only Dilbert ones weren't allowed. Up all night fixing an issue in prod caused by someone else? Tough, better be in your chair at 8:00 a.m. like any other day. I lasted 10 months. It was horrible, but I don't actually regret it because it made me appreciate the value of a _good_ workplace run by and staffed by intelligent well-meaning people. Which still isn't as common as it should be, but definitely exist.
hirundo 4y ago
This is an extreme level of productivity from an advanced not-doing-much perspective. Consider my Dad's old cat. Dad used to complain about how lazy the cat was. It would curl up on Dad's lap, on the recliner in front of the TV, right after breakfast. Then it would stay there all day, for program after program, with few interruptions until bedtime, when the lap went away for a few hours. Damn lazy cat, Dad would say. That was years ago, now both Dad and the cat have found a way to do even less, and it's too late arrange an award from the Institute.
- jerkstate 4y ago
  Thanks, I aspire to be doing even less - I'll take the cat's example over the next week (or whenever I get around to it)
  - thfuran 4y ago
    Everyone is bound to do even less in the end. Most don't aspire to it.
nuclearnice1 4y ago
Top HN comment for idle relaxation is a TODO list!
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- bongobingo1 4y ago
  It's a nice list but I can't really tackle it as is, probably I'll make an idle-todo.app first, then I can really get started on my idle relaxation.

h2odragon 4y ago

> Watch children playing, and play with them if you can Puppies, kittens, and baby goats work too; and are less likely to spark misunderstandings that can lead to legal difficulties.

WesolyKubeczek 4y ago
> less likely to spark misunderstandings that can lead to legal difficulties If you tend to look at things like that, better be careful with those baby goats.
samb1729 4y ago
Just make sure you don’t have a moustache and you’ll be fine
- dubswithus 4y ago
  I won't be able to find the tweet but there was a woman that was watching children playing behind a fence from the sidewalk and was asked to leave. I forget the exact details of how it escalated. It's so weird in America sometimes. In other countries no one even notices you.
  - jdthedisciple 4y ago
    Not true. Over here in Germany I was once out working out at my usual calisthenics ground where sometimes a lot of children and parents come by as well. So some of these kids started talking to me asking random questions and stuff and I chatted back and one of their mothers came up to me like I was some pedo harrassing her little ones and screamed at me to stop talking to them. And it was in broad daylight as well, with many people around! Sad times for men, in this regard.
    - mynameisash 4y ago
      > Sad times for men, in this regard. My wife absolutely loves kids. Being with them and working with them is her career and passion. She will frequently say things about kids to which I respond "another thing I can't say, as a man." It's all in jest, but there's also truth to it. She says something inoccuous that really can't be misconstrued, but if I said the exact same thing, I would at least get interesting looks if not downright condescending glares of "stay away from my baby." It doesn't bother me, but it is an amusing and also unfortunate double standard.
    - Glawen 4y ago
      The fact that it is in Germany doesn't help as German parents do not want any adult taking to their children, god knows why. But it is true that it is sad times for men. We are automatically classified as pedo if we interact with children, noone trust us.
  - spencerchubb 4y ago
    I know exactly what tweet you're talking about I feel like I would be wary about someone watching children play, but I don't know if that's rational.
ninesnines 4y ago
I would definitely suggest baby goats: my family used to have them and they were the best “time wasters” :) especially if you give them a trampoline

hotpotamus 4y ago

I would say that everyone should watch and understand Office Space, but I did watch it and didn't really understand it until I lived it - I thought it was a comedy just because it's funny, but really it's a Gen X cautionary tale about burnout that I was too inexperienced to understand. The quote from the movie that you reminded me of was "I did nothing and it was everything I thought it could be." But the creator, Mike Judge, (of Beavis and Butthead fame) worked in early-mid Silicon Valley - he understood the culture he was skewering.

bityard 4y ago
I watched Office Space when I was younger and believed at the time that it was a gross over-caricaturization. It was a comedy movie, after all. No _real_ company could ever be that demoralizing to work for, there's no way you could put that much cluelessness, self-interest, and passive-agressive managerial evil into one building and not have it spontaneously combust, right? (Which I guess it did in the movie.) Until I got a job in a mid-size financial services company. It was all that and a whole lot worse. It was literally forbidden to pin Dilbert comic strips to your cubicle wall. Not _any_ comic strips, only Dilbert ones weren't allowed. Up all night fixing an issue in prod caused by someone else? Tough, better be in your chair at 8:00 a.m. like any other day. I lasted 10 months. It was horrible, but I don't actually regret it because it made me appreciate the value of a _good_ workplace run by and staffed by intelligent well-meaning people. Which still isn't as common as it should be, but definitely exist.

hirundo 4y ago

This is an extreme level of productivity from an advanced not-doing-much perspective. Consider my Dad's old cat. Dad used to complain about how lazy the cat was. It would curl up on Dad's lap, on the recliner in front of the TV, right after breakfast. Then it would stay there all day, for program after program, with few interruptions until bedtime, when the lap went away for a few hours. Damn lazy cat, Dad would say. That was years ago, now both Dad and the cat have found a way to do even less, and it's too late arrange an award from the Institute.

jerkstate 4y ago
Thanks, I aspire to be doing even less - I'll take the cat's example over the next week (or whenever I get around to it)
- thfuran 4y ago
  Everyone is bound to do even less in the end. Most don't aspire to it.

nuclearnice1 4y ago

Top HN comment for idle relaxation is a TODO list!

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
bongobingo1 4y ago
It's a nice list but I can't really tackle it as is, probably I'll make an idle-todo.app first, then I can really get started on my idle relaxation.