Do you learn anything or just wasting your time?

[PuppyHome]

Nah, not giving up @CaffeineAddict .

One more relapse and I'm a goner. I know that.

EDIT: Doing really well. haven't felt this good and healthy in 40 ys.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

One more relapse and I'm a goner. I know that.

Sure, abstinence consists of physical abstinence and psychological abstinence.
Physical ends up in relatively short time, few weeks to few months, once it's over it it's all easier to hold.

But psychological abstinence is tricky in that makes you think "one shot won't do anything to me", don't fall for that trap, it's what made me start smoking again even though I was good to quit for good.

 

[PuppyHome]

But psychological abstinence is tricky in that makes you think "one shot won't do anything to me", don't fall for that trap, it's what made me start smoking again even though I was good to quit for good.

Yup, that is the sneaky part of addiction. Quicksand.

 

[MikeRocor]

Thank you to all of you have shared your experiences with addictions. Congratulations on achieving X amount of time clean, whether that time is measured in years, days or hours. While substance abuse (aside from sugar!) is not my struggle, I attended a church based 12 step program (Celebrate Recovery) for a couple of years while dealing with some other issues and seeing how the friends I made there -were- dealing (both successfully and unsuccessfully) with substance addiction really opened my eyes.

I had previously had no personal experience with such things and almost no experience even among my social group. Not that some of my friends weren't using, but more that I didn't actually see the issues they had in dealing (or -not- dealing) with it. I encouraged my two eldest ("squeaky clean") sons, when they were young adults, to attend some meetings both so that they could hear first hand the stories of people going through addiction (and recovery) and so that they could, perhaps, develop a better understanding and empathy for those struggling with addiction. As a "bonus", the program helped them deal with some internal issues they were facing. Sadly, my own internal issues largely remain, though at least I'm more aware of them.

 

[Rocketing-warp9]

Sadly, my own internal issues largely remain, though at least I'm more aware of them.

It's alright. I go through something similar often. You got this my friend!

 

[MikeRocor]

Curious do you guys learn anything new whether Linux related or anything else in respect to IT or just wasting your time?
Do you read any books, practice terminal etc?

What are your reasons not to learn? life? lack of time? too old for this sh* or something else?

---

To start first, I used to read PDF books before, plenty of them, but due to motivation loss this stopped.
However noticed it's a real waste to time not to learn anything, it's not good for brain to do nothing, it feels like going out of date, so I'm considering to start learning something like before despite all excuses not to.
Who doesn't have excuses? hah. we all do.

I think I've mastered Linux in those 2.5 years since my switch, but now there's emptiness.
However I've got 3 new books totaling in some 1.5K pages downloaded and waiting to be read, what's missing is still some motivation.

I'm not currently on a quest to learn about a specific field (no particle physics or quantum theory for me) but, as they say, "you learn something every day". On a good day, you learn two things. I suspect that when I stop learning, it will because I'm dead. I'm hoping to put that off as long as possible.

But lately, yeah, there has been a lot of time wasting, but with plenty of learning thrown in.

When I was younger, I used to pickup new programming languages as a hobby - sort of a mental exercise - and that often led me down some really satisfying (and long) "bunny trails", one of which was my career in consulting and programming.

Motivation is key, and lately I haven't had much of that, so even the learning sometimes seems like wasting time and there's clearly something wrong with -that-.

What are the three new books you have waiting? I have a lot more than three books waiting for me - mostly ones relating to things that I expect to want to learn at some point (Python, Powershell, tcl/tk, "Mr. Food Cooks Like Mama", etc, etc), but for which life hasn't prompted me with sufficient motivation. Just kidding about Powershell - yes, I have the book, but no, I don't expect to ever waste time on it.

Edit: removed a bunch of (mostly) duplicate text

 

[PuppyHome]

Sadly, my own internal issues largely remain, though at least I'm more aware of them.

Sorry to hear that man. Positive thing is you are AWARE of it. So when ever it plays up you'll see it coming from the front and isn't sneaking up on you from the back.

Everyone has a cross to bear. No one is exempt from some sort os 'issue'. Nothing is perfect, including us.
We don't have to be perfect, 'alright' is the highest level we can reach. And that's ok.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

Motivation is key, and lately I haven't had much of that, so even the learning sometimes seems like wasting time and there's clearly something wrong with -that-.

Yes, without motivation it's pain.
But motivation can be gained if you set yourself some goals that you'd want to achieve.

What are the three new books you have waiting? I have a lot more than three books waiting for me - mostly ones relating to things that I expect to want to learn at some point (Python, Powershell, tcl/tk, "Mr. Food Cooks Like Mama", etc, etc), but for which life hasn't prompted me with sufficient motivation. Just kidding about Powershell - yes, I have the book, but no, I don't expect to ever waste time on it.

When I was still using Windows was learning assembly as a continuation of C++, however since switch to Linux the book I was going through is MS specific so I had to quit, it was useless/impossible to continue on Linux, and found no motivation to start all over again with some Linux specific book.

Until now ofc; but sadly there is no good book on assembly for Linux (most are for 32 bit programming or too short), so I'm reading 3 of them in parallel because each explains some stuff that the other does not or not in detail:
book1 book2 book3

Not a single one of these 3 is detailed enough to read on their own, it sucks, need to search the web every so often.

---

PS is likewise not very useful for Linux, you can use it ofc. it's cross platform, but there's not much point since we have bash and plenty of commands that can be used in a script.
Python is far better to learn.

Don't waste your time indeed with PS, if I knew I'd switch to Linux one day I could have saved my self so much time.

 

[The Duck]

What I'm learning nowadays is how to part or re-purpose or trash stuff I've accumulated over the last fifty years and it's not easy to do.

Okay the above has nothing to do with Linux although the thread topic is assumed about Linux although not specific about Linux.

As for Linux I learn the bare basic minimum of what is needed to keep my Linux updated / secured and maintained.

Nothing more is needed imo unless the user wants to be a Linux guru which I've never wanted to be.

Plain and simple I'm a computer user and nothing more so no desire to learn something I'll never ever use.

My 2 cents.

 

[MikeWalsh]

@CaffeineAddict :-

I've always been of an inquisitive nature. You could see where I was heading when I used to pull stuff apart as a youngster, just to see what made it tick....

Weren't so hot at putting 'em back together, though!

I LIKE learning stuff, whether or not its relevant to my life. I'm a treasure-trove of useless information.

I wouldn't describe myself as a terminal jockey - I'm not one who likes to do everything that way - but I do spend more time there than I care to admit, due to my scripting things for the Puppy community. I tend to research stuff "on-the-fly" as I'm building things.....and the terminal is a good place to test stuff out.

My Bash scripting is slowly improving over time, though I have nothing pressing to make me need to "cram". I just pick stuff up as time goes by.....at my OWN pace.

As for coffee, heh; my mug pretty much says it all. It's a big pint one, and the logo says "I run on coffee". Describes me to a tee.

I don't care if it's scalding hot or stone cold, I'll still drink it. I have a mug on-the-go, somewhere, 24/7...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

@PuppyHome :-

No addictions here, thankfully; I guess I've been pretty lucky in that respect. I never developed a liking for booze, 'cos I hate having a foggy, fuzzy head. (I went out on a pub-crawl with some mates in my early 20s, celebrating summat or other....I forget exactly what now). I woke up the following day with an almighty splitting headache, feeling as rough as I don't know what, and swore to myself, there & then, "never again".

If that was what it did to me then I had no time for it.....and I could think of plenty of better things to spend the readies on. I'm also lucky in that I've always been pretty laid-back anyway; nothing EVER "stresses me out", 'cos I simply refuse to let it. "Life's too short", 'an all that, y'know?

I also dabbled with weed at odd times during my 20s & 30s, yet never felt like I simply HAD to have a daily "fix". It also never led to any kind of overarching 'need' for owt stronger; with me, if it was available, and I was 'in the mood' and wasn't busy with anything, I'd take a few tokes.....if it wasn't available, I felt no real need to go out and 'score' some.

'Twas a case of take it or leave it, TBH. I'm glad it went no further; my last joint must have been all of 14, 15 years ago, I guess.

(Yes, I smoke; I was a heavy smoker when I was young, often over 2 packs a day. It was largely down to boredom; I was doing repetitive work, in a well-ventilated area, and everybody else where I worked was also a smoker. Go figure.

I still smoke now, but I've cut right down to perhaps 4 or 5 a day. Looking after Mama doesn't leave me much time to get bored!)

My only real addiction, I guess, is life itself.

(shrug...)


Mike.

 

[The Duck]

I quit smoking after every cigarette lol

I was counting too, the longest ever was 2 months, still not sure how I managed for so long.

I stopped smoking five years ago and it's not an easy thing to do.

I stopped by cutting back on a daily bases one less cigarette a week at a time.

When I got to the point where I was down to a few cigarettes a week I stopped.

I won't lie I miss smoking or miss having something between my fingers when stumped on something.

I can say cigarette smoke stinks nowadays.

Alcohol, drinking more than usual lately however I can be without it if I want.

Wife and I eat lunch and drink now and then at the local bar.

Don't ask me about coffee, I eat coffee hah.

I also like coffee.

I'm having coffee as I type.

I'll drink coffee throughout the day.

I wish you good luck, most important is to not give up, if you give up subsequent attempts may be harder, at least I feel so with cigarettes.

I with everyone with any addiction or habit which they are trying to kick all the best as it's not an easy thing to succeed at based on my own experience.

However one views it day by day or step by step keep moving forward.

 

[beanburrito]

Don't ask me about coffee, I eat coffee hah.

Ever try chocolate covered espresso beans? Tasty.

 

[MikeRocor]

Ever try chocolate covered espresso beans? Tasty.

Heading out to the grocery store for a gallon of milk now... and now I'll be checking if they have chocolate covered espresso beans. Pretty sure this store won't have them, but it's worth a try.

 

[The Duck]

I usually drink my coffee black.
Although I will add this now and then.

 

[Smilax]

Gonna print this out and keep it in my wallet.

well done, man!

If that works for you, I'd be honored. If you're like me, you've done coronary damage and will need to keep an eye on that forever. It's manageable. I'm at the point I can't imagine ever taking another drink, even got through a couple family tragedies and never considered it because I knew it would only make things worse. You're brilliant, you can do this.

 

[Smilax]

abstinence is tricky in that makes you think "one shot won't do anything to me"

Truer words have never been spoken.

 

[MikeRocor]

Heading out to the grocery store for a gallon of milk now... and now I'll be checking if they have chocolate covered espresso beans. Pretty sure this store won't have them, but it's worth a try.

They didn't have any.

 

[MikeRocor]

since switch to Linux the book I was going through is MS specific

The best assembly language book I found was based on a non-linux OS and much of the material was OS-specific but many of the higher level concepts probably still apply - which is a good thing since both CP/M and the Z80 are kind of passe' these days.

 

[PuppyHome]

If you're like me, you've done coronary damage and will need to keep an eye on that forever.

Noted!

Thing I noticed now I'm sober and clean from substances my senses start working again. taste is better, seeing more colors, hearing is better. Everything is just better.

Still have a long way to go. Sometimes I' still look back yet keep walking forward. What I'm looking back at is not pretty. Never going back there.

 

[Smilax]

Never going back there.

Always remember what that looked like.

I did a lot of physical damage. I worked hard and played hard, and took that old saying to the extreme. From 1985 until my son was born in 1995, I never took vacation or holidays. "Weekends are made for COMPSURF" was my life. In late 2000 we sold the company and I took a salaried position with a large organization that was moving off of NetWare. The offer seemed too good to be true at the time, and it was, because they didn't know where they were going. The next 15 years probably cost me 10 years off the end of my life. My only relief from work was alcohol.

I can proudly declare this to the world, or God, or whomever--I never, ever went on site while drinking. Never once accused of drinking on the job. I never got a DUI, never failed a drug test. But every window of opportunity, I'd take to the extreme. I built and rebuilt a lot of servers in my home lab in the middle of the night with one eye closed so I could focus. And be on site at 6am Monday morning bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to train & troubleshoot.

The question was recently asked, paraphrasing, what do you do to keep learning? Now that I'm sober, I can sit on my front porch and learn lessons from 20 years ago that I missed at the time.