Limiting your OOT time.

[wacki]

I spend way too much time in OOT/politics. Last Wednesday I decided to take an OOT sabbatical and not post till Sunday. I had no problem doing this as I set a firm rule and followed it. But when I do start posting, I find myself engaged in way too many conversations and time escapes me. I simply can't afford to do that anymore as wet lab research is waning and I will start to become very busy again with computational work.

Basically, what I'm asking (for those who limit their OOT time), what are your ground rules for posting in OOT? I've been thinking about limiting my posts to Sundays only.

Thanks for any advice you guys might have.

[theBruiser500]

hey wacki i am the same way and not just OOT but about using the computer in general and want thoughts on this too. one thing that helped is only reading the forum, not posting (this really helped a surpsingly lot). maybe a rule saying you can just hang out on 2+2 for one session a day. or more generally what helps with me using my computer which i haven't done lately cause i always like to check my poker games to see if a good game is running is... unhooking my computer taking the plugs out the back that acts as a detterent, too much work to hook it up to casually browse 2+2

[sublime]

Thanks for any advice you guys might have.

get a life /images/graemlins/smile.gif

i need one also, let me know if yuo find one /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Blarg]

Cold turkey is the only way to cure any addiction for most people. Getting just "a hair of the dog that bit you" by just cutting back means you're maintaining links to the same behavior and gratification cycle, making relapses almost inevitable. The way to change a habit is to change your life.

It helps to have another habit to sink into, if you're an obsessive compulsive type or just someone who really likes to pour all his energy into whatever he does. Just make your next compulsion a healthy one. Suggestions: taking up a sport, an intellectual or artistic endeavor, or an activity that will make you money or somehow improve your life. Like collecting tin cans while cross-country skiing.

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for any advice you guys might have.

get a life /images/graemlins/smile.gif

i need one also, let me know if yuo find one /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I used to have a very good one, I want it back.

[slickpoppa]

Bison's thread inspired me. I am cutting myself off from OOT. Tomorrow

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
Bison's thread inspired me. I am cutting myself off from OOT. Tomorrow

[/ QUOTE ]

See this isn't what I want. I hope to move out to either New England or the west coast soon and it would be nice to know who the local 2+2'ers are.

[ThaSaltCracka]

just set a time, say after 9pm only or something.

[Michael Davis]

Don't do it.

-Michael

[theBruiser500]

WACKI I LIVE IN THE EAST COAST WE CNA HANG OUT!!!!

[theBruiser500]

blarg once again v. good post. do you have any more thoughts on this? i am obsessive compulsive and this is kind of serious problem for me

[wonderwes]

OOT is not a drug <sticks OOT needle between toes>

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
WACKI I LIVE IN THE EAST COAST WE CNA HANG OUT!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

NE is on the top of my list and is the center for a lot of the biotech companies. Odds are good I will be giving you a call someday soon.

[astroglide]

i really wish i could simply block entire threads from ever being seen again, or at least be seen again within a one week period. a usenet 2+2 oot would be really nice.

anyway i open EVERY THREAD from midlimit, oot, and internet (only during idol season) and quickly skim them. i use mouse gestures to close the windows (also have 'down' as a gesture to scroll to the bottom of the page and 'up' for top of page).

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
blarg once again v. good post. do you have any more thoughts on this? i am obsessive compulsive and this is kind of serious problem for me

[/ QUOTE ]

I can be very obsessive about things, too. And it can be pretty unproductive; I can put just as much work into things that are completely stupid as I do into things that really matter and that I actually enjoy a hell of a lot more. I just hate to admit defeat once I get into something, I think. I'm proud and stubborn, and usually through sheer obsessive determination I can either master something or at least become pretty passably competent in it. Not always, but I'll usually put an insane amount of effort into something that intrigues me until I find out one way or the other.

I think the trick is in making the right choices what to become obsessed with. Being totally centered on productive things makes billionaires, great artists, great lovers, great sportsmen, great scholars; obsession with the ephemeral creates imbeciles. Of course getting too carried away can kill you, but getting at least a little carried away is usually pretty central to any kind of great accomplishment.

Is there something you would really like to accomplish? If so, plunging into that instead of things that don't really contribute to your life could kill two birds with one stone, eliminating deficits and building positives all at once. Sometimes bad habits get eliminated kind of by default because we just run out of time to do them anymore.

Here's an idea. Think about things you might want to do, but also things you might want to do a little bit less, but feel you need to do a little bit more. It sounds extremely strange and is not most people's cup of tea, but "food for the soul" challenges can be broadening and life-changing, giving you a different way of thinking about yourself. There are things you'll need to draw on your obsessive nature just to break even on, to counter a lack of inborn natural advantages. Usually these are the things we naturally want to stay away from, so we never develop ourselves in those areas.

I followed that path a few times and have sopmetimes sought it out, to make myself a better person. Growing up, I asked myself all the time if I was really being honest to myself about the way I felt and thought about things, and asked myself what my fears truly were, and whether I could do anything about them. I asked myself what I was really scared of -- physically, socially, intellectually. Scared to think about deeply, scared to do, scared to acknowledge as a problem or a cause of unhappiness. And I picked some of the more interesting of those scary things and did them! It taught me a lot about myself and made me a much broader person. For me, three of those things were public speaking, martial arts, and card counting(because of the math, which I'm not good at) Not only did I not have any talent for those things, but I possessed an incredible, almost personally defining lack of talent for them. Almost perversely, I became fairly accomplished at them, and gained both skills I valued and new, drastically different ways of looking at myself and my abilities. Perhaps most basically and affirmingly, I realized my great ability to do things I was terrible at and found really incredibly difficult and even harrowing. That's good to have in your corner at the tough junctures in life.

There are probably many interesting and productive ways to apply yourself to your life. You just have to ask yourself honestly what you want, and, curiously enough, it may not be what you're good at. Now that I read that thread in the high stakes forum about your amazing poker progress, I can see that you've clearly got the ability to do what's necessary to succeed in difficult things. I'm sure you could apply your dogged hunger to master things to other things as well.

Personally, I think a well-rounded person should have intellectual, physical, and artistic aspirations, and maybe spiritual ones if you're into that, or else some part of you will always be and feel stunted, and you can't help but wind up the lesser for it. Ever feel like learning to paint or play a musical instrument, like getting really good in a sport, like really gaining a great deal of knowledge and understanding of history or literature or philosophy or some intellectual subject, or feel like learning a spiritual discipline such as yoga, meditation, or something suitable or equivalently satisfying in Western spiritual traditions?

[astroglide]

do you honestly feel like you've gotten anything other than pride or whatever out of the politics forum? i can't imagine there's anything in there for me other than that so i don't read it.

[ThaSaltCracka]

its not bad to read, but sometimes actually discussing things theres is counter-productive, IMO.

[Dead]

There are too many conservatives in the politics forum.

[theBruiser500]

you open every thread in OOT and internet? jesus

[theBruiser500]

astroglide what can you get out of the internet forum, or for that matter reading EVERY oot thread when some are obviously stupid?

[ThaSaltCracka]

the liberals are far more annoying though.

[Dead]

You are one of us.

One of ussss....... http://www.sputnik.com.mx/images/upload/toy-story-aliens%5b1%5d.jpg

[ThaSaltCracka]

who me? a liberal? dude.....

[Dead]

anti-iraq war, anti-Bush, pro-choice, anti-death penatly, etc.

Face it, you're a liberal.

[ThaSaltCracka]

anti-iraq war
not neccesarily anti Bush
pro life, but not my decision
anti-death penalty

anyways, those are only 4 issues, I lean far more on the conservative side when it comes to most financial and domestic issues. Either way, when it comes down to it I am an independant. I would never want to hinder myself and my choices because of a party line.

[Dead]

I don't hinder myself because of a party line either.

I'm more than happy to vote for a Green Party or Socialist candidate if I find the Democratic party candidate to be too conservative.

[ThaSaltCracka]

FWIW, I use to be very liberal when I was 18-20.... now that I am 23, things have changed, and I don't see any reason why they would change in the future.

[Dead]

I'm 20 now. I went through a conservative phase for about 6 months, but I've been a liberal for as long as I can remember. I grew up with it.

I don't buy into the whole, if you're 20 and not a liberal then you have no heart, if you're 40 and not a conservative then you have no brain thing.

[ThaSaltCracka]

me neither, I was just saying my stances have changed.

[astroglide]

almost all of them i skim and close within a matter of seconds

[JaBlue]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
WACKI I LIVE IN THE EAST COAST WE CNA HANG OUT!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

NE is on the top of my list and is the center for a lot of the biotech companies. Odds are good I will be giving you a call someday soon.

[/ QUOTE ]

umm silicon valley = center for biotech companies

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
do you honestly feel like you've gotten anything other than pride or whatever out of the politics forum? i can't imagine there's anything in there for me other than that so i don't read it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ughh... wrote a big long post and then computer decided to reboot.

Astro, my answer is "beyond a shadow of a doubt". I have changed my stance on many issues thanks to that forum. You just have to turn your thread/poster reading selection into an art form. There are a ton of crazies in there. Still that forum is one of the best places to get both sides of the story. No news outlet is completely "Fair and balanced". Some are better then others and the politics forum really helped me realize that. I mostly lurk there now but occasionally I will engage in a debate.

Some of the good posters in politics.

Zeno
John Feeney
sam h
Dynasty
adios
Utah
lastchance
elwoodblues
Nicky G
MMMMMMM

and a few others.

I do say that I will ignore a lot of people. It helps me sort through a lot of the lesser posters endless rhetoric.

[Shajen]

Wacki,

FWIW, I do understand your need to stop posting so much, but I'm gonna be honest, you're one of the better posters in OOT.

As far as your issue, I only post at work, and only when I'm not busy. If I get busy, OOT goes away.

Not anything ground breaking, but you gotta prioritize bro.

Anyway, good luck.

[theBruiser500]

cyrus and natedogg??

[Stuey]

Nice post.

Check this one out Finding a Balance in Your Life (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=2085778&page=0&view=colla psed&sb=5&o=14&fpart=1)

Seems several of us have these issues.

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
FWIW, I do understand your need to stop posting so much, but I'm gonna be honest, you're one of the better posters in OOT.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is that your way of telling me not to stop?

Thanks for the kudos though.

[ QUOTE ]
As far as your issue, I only post at work, and only when I'm not busy. If I get busy, OOT goes away.

Not anything ground breaking, but you gotta prioritize bro.


[/ QUOTE ]

True, I just lose track of time way too quickly.

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
cyrus and natedogg??

[/ QUOTE ]

Cyrus is an interesting character. He is definitely well educated, but at times I've wondered about his cognitive ability. He seems to intentionally forget about historical events or any factor that goes against his point of view. He is notoriously bad about this when it comes to anything anti-french or anti-socialism. Cyrus has abilities, but at times I've wondered if he likes to be a troll. He refuses to admit he is wrong when proven so and will continue to argue his stance to no end. I will read Cyrus's posts if I want an in depth detailed analysis of a situation from both sides, but tend to skip over his on all other situations. I'm not the biggest fan of his politics posts, but he is a great person to get love advice from. Who would of guessed that about a frenchman.... /images/graemlins/wink.gif

Some of the posters I listed are skipped by me as well. Many of them spend way to much time countering trolls of the forum. Adios and sam h are two that I never miss as they rarely post but have great content when they do.

Natedogg has had some good posts. Although I haven't analyzed his posts thoroughly enough to comment further. I haven't read enough of his posts to see if he can admit when he is wrong about something he feels passionately about.