I discovered that I can never initiate conversation or contact; but if something compelling enough comes up to me then I may reach out, though to what end who's to say.
Avoiding people by default makes life easier... less opportunity to burden yourself or others

>>597
Wasn't US a place where people make small talk with strangers?
Avoiding all strangers sounds tough.
I also often avoid talkative people irl though.

>>601
You have a point on it being tough.
This self-imposed isolation isn't doing too well, because I think a lot of what makes life interesting is synthesizing your interactions and experiences from others.
May as well embrace the downsides, but tread wisely.

>>615
Now that I memorized US states, I wonder if people's talkativeness varies with states.

>>728
It's a valid question.
It's easy to clump all of USA into one nation, but it's more like each state is its own weird nation.
Maybe that's diminishing because of the global culture takeover (ty internet)

For example, when I moved to Seattle, I couldn't quite pick up one what was the social norm.
I was cordial but when communicating with coworkers something felt off.
It's like the misted air made the invisible wires between others soggy and prone to break.

Doing coworker "parties" or "get togethers" had this feeling where you're futility accepting pointlessness.
The shared silence was amusing too.


Shucks, there was another next to me who also moved in but it just never CLICKED.
Something just didn't make sense.

In other outside-of-work-meetups the demographic was international, and that's how Seattle is, it attracts people around the world because of money
And just going to these meetups of newly-arrived people felt so icy and it's quite amusing in retrospect.
The wires between others just don't match up.


I wonder how often others feel that disconnect in more homogeneous countries. I would imagine in cases like Kansai vs Tokyo, or Dublin vs Belfast, but what do I know

>>759
Thank you for sharing interesting stories!
I knew almost nothing about Seattle. I googled Seattle to learn more about the culture and found the word Seattle Freeze.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Freeze

>>784
Yep, the Seattle Freeze is true, true, true.
Though I wouldn't expect it to be any other way.
Creating and maintaining relationships gets harder and, at times, makes far less sense than in youth.
C'est la vie.

Today I was forced to go to a "team building".
I hate being among people and trying to not look like someone who's being physically tortured.
Sorry for bothering you, I just want to die now.

>>823
Team building is the worst.
Nothing like sitting in a dead silent restaurant making small talk about mountains.

>>823

>>823
>"team building"
What "activities" did you do with your coworkers?
Did you play a board game?
https://www.themuse.com/advice/team-building-activities-games-for-work-office

>>830
You're expecting too much corporate culture here. Here it's like go to a restaurant, and maybe do some bullshit before, like go to paintball or an escape room.

>>831
>paintball or an escape room
I've never done either in my life. Did you do them?

>>833
Yes. Might be fun if you like being around people. If not, not that much.
Paint ball hurts when they shoot at you, and everything will be painted in weird colors, even behind that protective outfit. Escape room is like the video game, except you have to deal with 3DPD.

I feel like the only three or so friends [online] that I still have are drifting from my life. One friend has gotten into carpentry or something and is quite busy with it, and isn't talking with me that much. Another friend asked me to watch a movie with him but I refused because it looked boring and explained that we don't share similar tastes in movies and ever since then he started to avoid me. Another friend is trying to distance because he realized that he can't share his emotional problems with me because I don't properly empathize with him so it makes him feel like he's talking to a wall [I'm asexual].
I don't know what to do, and I feel like I'm still holding on to these dead ends that I'm desperate to fix. All of this makes me feel lonely.

>>1093
That makes sense!

>>1093
Sad.
I don't know how to prevent people from drifting apart.
I can only suggest trying to enjoy movies you don't like really or to pretend to be intrigued in small talk you aren't interested in actually.
But I know things are not that easy or simple

>>1093
The only thing to miss about having general friends around your age is the feeling of vitality and being "with" things (which dissipates anyways)

What do you think is the last imageboard post you'll ever make?

>>1465
Smart post!

>>1465
I don't think my last post would be something special.
I don't believe those who declare like "this is my last post!" can actually manage to stop coming back to imageboards

I suppose, I would make my last post without knowing it and then get busy irl or accidentally die or just lose interest in imageboards gradually at some point
It's scary that we'll never know if missing posters just walked away or died

>>836
gunsarekool

>>1597
You did nothing wrong!

>>1513
>can actually manage to stop coming back to imageboards

Very true. The pressures which push someone to start going on imageboards don't magically go away.
How else to waste some time between shows and work?

>that we'll never know if missing posters just walked away or died
Maybe in the afterlife there'll be an imageboard to reconnect with long lost posters

Almost done programming a feature, and then one more after that, and then maybe one more for the day.

Then I need to engage in some Chinese...


Acquiring the phonetics of Chinese has been interesting.
The umlaut especially since it doesn't exist in English.
Looking forward to wearing a 長衫 when I earned it
出来るどうかな。。。

God has ordained that I lose the last place to express myself.
But perhaps in another lens it was a containment zone.
I am out of quarantine now.

>>1777
I still tread carefully posting my schizoid tendencies on my website.
So far it's working out all right

Sometimes I think about making a youtube channel.
I tried recording some audio for one video I was making, but after enough re-recording and manicuring you think, "why am I even making this video"

I ran across an interesting quote today which clarifies why one would post for posting sake, rather than to spark conversation:

> Don’t write to persuade, write to refine.
> Don’t speak to others, speak to hear yourself.

風調雨順

Texting is too stressful, so are any DMs
Not sure why others endure such anxiety for such little gains, but nevertheless perhaps there's something to still "miss out" on
Oh well, slowboards and tea is more relaxing

Hello friends

I've been lagging on my language studying... but at least learning how to relax more.
You'd be surprised how relaxing has become a lost art.
It's a horrible travesty that majority of people cannot stand to relax (read: sit alone quietly)

>>1786
>I tried recording some audio for one video I was making
What was the video about?

>>1802
It was a video essay as to why I would be shutting down my website in favor of starting a YouTube channel but then I failed
Wish I got up at like 5am everyday.
You can't fail when you get up at 5am.

>>1800
>at least learning how to relax more.
It's said that we need to make time for our default mode networks

But I tend to find myself learn languages when I'm spacing out, like I look up the sky and then start wondering how I call it in Spanish (cielo?) and remember your idiom 风调雨顺
This is not like language learning but just my predisposition to keep getting distracted

>>1837
It's good you have such curiosity though.

I posit there's a direct correlation to a lack-of-curiosity and a dull outlook

Made a makeshift temporary flood detector for my basement that looks suspiciously like something it isn't, hope the post won't get deleted for that. Originally wanted to repurpose an old wardrobe alarm to save on batteries but that would have been more work and I am lazy I kinda wish I didn't have an use for it but the weather forecast is unforgiving.

>>1896
Great!

>>1896
>Made a makeshift temporary flood detector for my basement
What steps will you take when it alerts you a flood is happening?

>>1898
In full honesty, put rugs under the door, barricade the door with sand bags and pray the level doesn't raise even further. In my case the basement is accessible both from the outside and from the inside. My worry was the outside door leaking water inside as it is the lowest part of my house.

Thankfully the alarm was not needed this time and a single 9V battery surprisingly lasted 2 whole days. Will return to regular bunny-posting shortly.

>>1907
Great!

>>1896
Cool! I'm not knowledgeable about DIY electronic gadgets
Do you often build stuff like that yourself? It must be fun

>>1907
>Thankfully the alarm was not needed this time
Glad to hear that!

>In my case the basement is accessible both from the outside and from the inside.
What do you use your basement for?
Basements are hardly seen in houses in Japan probably because of the humid hot weather in summer

>>1926
Not too often. But there are times when I suddenly get into the mood and make a bunch of stuff. And yes, automation is fun for my lazy soul

>What do you use your basement for?
Space in our basement is mostly taken up by our three freezers. There's your explanation as to why floods are kinda a problem. Running multiple freezers is for some reason cheaper than buying and maintaining a commercial one. Besides that it's used to store pickled goods so that they last longer. We also keep old and torn apart clothes in the basement for spares and rags as well. We have jars of pickles from 2019 that are still edible.

Humidity is definitely a problem in basements and cellars here as well. We don't store anything prone to humidity (such as computers or books) in the basement as we aren't monsters.


Went mushroom picking today as it was raining heavily the whole week. Even in close vicinity there were too many Prague cottagers to have any peace. Public TV reporting ruining everything once again. (the previous statement was a joke.) Good thing they are extremely bad at searching and picking, still plenty of left for me Pictured is most likely fly amanita, an arguably bad addition to your meal. Mostly as it's poisonous

A question for everybody: Do your use mushrooms in dishes? Are there any particular edible species that one can find in the wild? Is it even legal to pick wild mushrooms in others forests where you live?

>>1935
Smart post!

>>1935
>Space in our basement is mostly taken up by our three freezers.
Many freezers!
I'm glad your basement didn't get flooded with them

>Went mushroom picking today
Mushroom picking is so cool!
I always want to stumble upon cool-looking mushrooms but I have no idea where I should look for. The same goes for cool insects

>Pictured is most likely fly amanita
You took the picture?! I know the species but I might have never seen it firsthand

>Do your use mushrooms in dishes?
Sometimes I buy them at the supermarket

>Are there any particular edible species that one can find in the wild?
In Japan, maybe shiitake, shimeji and nameko are popular I guess?

>Is it even legal to pick wild mushrooms in others forests where you live?
In general it's illegal to do it without permission but there are parks and forests where mushroom picking is allowed

I have been resuscitating a pixiv account of mine I neglected for years and painted some pieces to feed it.
I'll keep the account secret here but I feel like my painting skill somewhat improved

>>2031
You can't mention you paint and not show us anything! That's cruel!

>>2032
Big if true!

>>2032
I'm willing to flex my painting skill for this place too.... if I get any good idea to paint

I'll try to make unnoticeably slight improvement to some of the banners I painted

I've been learning Japanese lately but I hit a roadblock; I've fully learned hiragana and katakana but I feel stuck when it comes to kanji and vocabulary.

>>2047
Do you accept submitted banners?

>>2053
Beefing up vocabulary takes forever but it could be one of the most fun parts in learning languages
Thinking and expressing thoughts in newly learned expressions or different languages can conjure up one's another selves

With regard to kanjis, I remember I enjoyed learning them as a kid. But it was clear I was a weird child

>>2054
>Do you accept submitted banners?
You mean you are asking if I'm open to adding user-created banners to this site?
There's already been one from this post >>1345

Since I value original contents, dedicated banners created with paintings you painted yourself or photos you took yourself will be welcomed

But personally, I'm not really impressed with the stuff like grabbing some random copyrighted work on the internet, inscribing a logo on it and saying "it's our banner now"

What made you ask me the question?

>>2058
I wanted to make one for ikouchan, or even potentially trade. Your emoji menu inspired me to add one to my own imageboard.
So you like flowers, eh?
I hope my phone camera is equal to the task... It's unfortunate, but my wisteria tree has stopped blooming by now

>>2090
Off course!

>>2090
>I wanted to make one for ikouchan, or even potentially trade
Cool!

>So you like flowers, eh?
I like flowers but the main reason I take pictures of them is that it's easy
I always wish if I could take many cool pictures of birds far away or hiding insects
This is a swallow picture I took recently

>It's unfortunate, but my wisteria tree has stopped blooming by now
That's very unfortunate!

There's a very pretty prarrie behind my house, and while walking it today I found a bunch of property line markers. Soon it'll be more pointless subure. Makes me violently angry.

>>2126
Excellent!