Social Supplements
When I quit drinking, I lost access to my primary source for socialization. Turns out, when you drink, you do things. There's always your local haunt, or a faraway dive bar. Breweries, so many breweries. Parties, cookouts, work. There are millions of things to do while drinking, which are all otherwise significantly less fun without the fun punch. Add in your personal internal motivators why to do it, which is literally any reason you can think of, and you have the perfect recipe for disaster debauchery.
I miss all those inconsequential conversations and observational quips you experience at a bar, party, or fire gathering(?). What do you call it? A group of people sitting around a firepit (or other burning something) drinking beer, chatting the night away? Back home we would have bonfires, but those were larger in scale and involved a pyre to usher in the Gods of teenage lust. Not a suburban prefab fire circle. We'll just call it white people shit. Moving on.
I've been unintentionally antisocial for nearly two years because I can't find a new tribe.
In lieu of a new tribe, I've decided to invest in some old, potentially fleeting interests with absolute caution and procrastination. First, Legos. Lots of Legos. Then 2026 began, and with my rose lenses removed, I realized Lego is just another massive corpo enemy not worthy of my money. That place literally shits bricks yet charges astronomical prices for brick shit, all while targeting children (duh) and old dipshits like me getting bit by the nostalgia bug (also duh).
Then the guitar. I used to play creatively. Self taught after the super-hip friend of my Dad's who played in a band insisted we stick to elementary school music room jams for SIX WEEKS. At $15/session x 2 per week in 1995?! Good thing ya boi had that route money! I wasn't seeing the value, the guy was weird, and being locked in a small closet in the back of a music store with him twice a week at 14 years old kinda sucked. He had some good stories about my grandad, and that was the only reason I didn't give up after the second session. Could've all just been bullshit to steal my hard worked earnings for all I know.
Guitar is still going well, and if you're interested in learning an instrument, no better time than now. I've created a personalized trainer in Gemini that provides on-demand lessons on the techniques I want to practice in the genres of music I prefer to learn. It's conversational, clear, and serene. Entirely at my pace forever, without any nagging reminders, unnecessary criticisms, or guilt. Seriously, if you have access to an LLM, doing something like this makes learning music a breeze. I may go piano next.
The latest pacifier to my midlife meltdown is a racing wheel. Vroom vroom.🫤 I'd be lying if I said it wasn't the coolest fucking thing I've ever used in gaming, and with VR? Goodnight baby. I have over 300 hours in Gran Turismo 7 on a controller.😱 Tooks, what the fuck is wrong with you, man? You slept on this thing for too damn long! Muffin took to it like a carpenter bee to an untreated plank of pine, logging enough time to master it enough to improve a few of her license times to gold. I drove on it for maybe a total of two minutes before I dropped out, grabbed the lappy, and ordered another. Vroom vroom. 🏎️😐
Quick aside, if you're in the market for a Logitech wheel, specifically the G29 like I purchased, buy it refurbished through Logitech. The first I purchased was through Logitech's Ebay store. Listed as refurbished - excellent and included a 1 year warranty for $150ish. Arrived in pristine condition, not in original packaging, but included everything, even all the clear stickers covering scratchable surfaces. Impressive. Instead of going through Ebay for the second, I decided to go straight to the refurbished wheel teat and hit up Logitech's store directly. There they have refurbished G29s for $200, and if you have an .edu, you get an additional discount. I work at a university, and just like other online retailers in the tech space, the .edu verification process is super quick and easy these days. For Logitech, it was just name, university, and my .edu email. Click and done. No going to email to verify, no photographic proof required. Seems like it's just a checkbox technicality, but I'm not complaining. With shipping, the second wheel came out to be roughly $170. These things retail for $300, and retain their value relatively well, so anything near 50% off for unmistakable from new refurbished is a smash & grab deal if ever I saw one.
Two hours later, I bought two cockpits.
To be continued...