Special Interests?
There are 3 Youtubers who seem to have closely overlapping interests to mine; they circle around the same sorts of technologies which I find myself continually returning back to:
- Jeff Geerling (in an alternate universe, we could have been twins)
- Chris Barnatt of Explaining Computers
- LeePSPvideo
So basically linux, Debian, computers, networking, servers, etc.
There is always some evolution happening amidst all that, which is interesting.
I don't think I'll ever grow tired of it, but I've gotten much better at *slowing it down*. I've gotten better at writing out an idea for a project, then sleeping on it, before proceeding. Or talking myself out of an idea, subjecting it to scrutiny: why would other people think this was a bad idea, such that the idea is actually quite whimsical or irrelevant?
So I've learned to cool down the obsessiveness, into merely an interest. The ability to put the idea down, then return to it later if it still seemed like a good idea, took me many years to develop - it was *really* difficult. Meditation in no small part helped me to do that, and it was a sea change in my emotional well-being - finding happiness and joy in the meditation - which allowed me to make that shift, and ease up the grip on the obsessiveness.
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"The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they've found it." - Terry Pratchett
It's sort of annoying because of I could sustain that level of interest in one subject for longer I could've been an expert in something and that might have led to a decent career.
As it is I just end up knowing more than the average amount about some very disparate subjects, but not enough to be useful.
I relate to that 100%
When I get interested in something, I buy a textbook and search the internet and ask Grok about it. I really want to know everything about it as quickly as possible. In the end I get completely exhausted and loose interest.
Then the next thing comes.....
I just need to slow down and learn that stuff .. but I can't .. everything has to be fast and now .. I want to be an expert on that topic in 1 week. That's why I am no expert in anything

It's sort of annoying because of I could sustain that level of interest in one subject for longer I could've been an expert in something and that might have led to a decent career.
As it is I just end up knowing more than the average amount about some very disparate subjects, but not enough to be useful.
I relate to that 100%
When I get interested in something, I buy a textbook and search the internet and ask Grok about it. I really want to know everything about it as quickly as possible. In the end I get completely exhausted and loose interest.
Then the next thing comes.....
I just need to slow down and learn that stuff .. but I can't .. everything has to be fast and now .. I want to be an expert on that topic in 1 week. That's why I am no expert in anything

Relate to this too. I have my main interest but then I get these related interests like this, that take over my brain for a few weeks or months. Then I lose interest.
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Referred for ASD assessment.
I kind of find systemd okay, I just rolled with it, but then I wasn't in deep enough for it to make a big difference to my usage. A few years ago I realized Arch Linux was no longer for me as I just didn't have the time, energy, or interest to maintain my system. Been on Fedora since. Using Linux on my home PCs for 24 years now, lol. Seems a long time.
Ziggy Stardust
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

Joined: 4 Nov 2024
Age: 53
Gender: Male
Posts: 66
Location: Western North Carolina, USA
David Bowie is my biggest special interest for the past several years. I just love listening, looking at, reading about anything that is related to David Bowie! I also have a small collection of knives and watches that I enjoy arranging perfectly by size and gazing at the aesthetics of them. Solo extended backpacking has been a special interest for most of my adult life. If left to my own devices I would talk only about these things, but most people have no idea what I am talking about nor do they have more than a passing interest in most things, from what I can tell. So, I have learned to shut up and keep quiet.
I kind of find systemd okay, I just rolled with it, but then I wasn't in deep enough for it to make a big difference to my usage. A few years ago I realized Arch Linux was no longer for me as I just didn't have the time, energy, or interest to maintain my system. Been on Fedora since. Using Linux on my home PCs for 24 years now, lol. Seems a long time.
I used Fedora for some time. I generally went through many distros.
Currently I'm on Manjaro ... I'm quite happy with it.
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