How's that time reassessment going?
Earlier this week I wrote about my habit of staying up too late when I have the house to myself, losing track of the time and shorting myself on proper sleep.
Joel wrote a reply to that post: RE: Reassess time spent enjoying luxury
I admire Joel's ability to operate on minimal sleep - I used to be able to function this way, often sleeping late on a Friday to wake up at 5am and head out the door to work at McDonald's for 6am Saturday. But I was in high school and university back then. I'm 41 now.
But that is beside the point. In his post, his problem is with algorithm-induced scrolling, specifically with YouTube Shorts. He finds value in his hobbies, but frequently finds himself without time for them because he gets lost in repetitive scrolling.
Joel tagged me in a Mastodon post to share his article and he had a conversation with another fellow, and in the process shared an older post here:
The constant need for a source of entertainment
Both of these posts reminded me of my other hobbies making physical things: puzzles, LEGO, custom notebooks. I don't prioritize these during the summer while we're busy with softball, gym nights, and travel, but in Fall and Winter I try to spend at least one night a week working on these projects.
Why this comes to mind is that Tuesday night I made a custom miniature baseball scorebook for scoring the games I play in MLB The Show 24. I didn't think twice about it. I wanted to make the thing and I set aside time to do it. It spent half an hour at most, not including short breaks in between steps in the process.
I'm proud of this small thing I made, and Joel's posts today reminded me of other things I enjoy doing. I now remember I have a LEGO set in the basement waiting for me to build. I'll work on it during tonight's Sens game.
An update on my plans to prevent my leisure time from cutting into sleep:
My plans are working beautifully. Tuesday night, I structured the evening around the Sens game. I made a delicious pizza for dinner, complete with those new Cavendish air fryer chips1.
Wednesday, I dedicated another movie night to Sneakers (1992, dir. Phil Alden Robinson)2. I played Star Wars Outlaws for a short while before and after the movie. In both sessions I had a time limit - for the first, I had an appointment at 6:30. For the second, I set 20 minute timer.
I kept playing for another 10 minutes after the timer stopped, but was still upstairs by 10:30. I watched an episode of Star Trek Lower Decks3 and was asleep shortly after 11pm.
I think I've done well. Tonight will be another Sens game, after which I will go upstairs by 10pm. Tuesday night the game was done around 9:45pm so there's a chance I might have time for a short gaming session.
I have other things planned tonight. I need to pick up some wiper blades I ordered from Canadian Tire, as well as put gas in the car. Gas is cheaper in the evenings so that's something to do during an intermission, and pick up the wipers on my way home from work.
Before the game I will play a baseball game, make dinner, and then build my LEGO set while I watch hockey.