On 05 Jan 2022 at 09:36p, Adept pondered and said...

trait of mine. My wife attests to how I can go down the rabbit hole w an interest at the expense of many other things.

First it was Low Power Radio broadcasting, then BBS... between those I am easily able to chew up quite a bit of time.

I _like_ that sort of thing -- I think it's neat to get deeply into something, but then largely back off of it, and get deeply into something else.

Yeah, I guess it's a case of if you like something you peruse it further. Or
in the case of my LPFM station I could conceive the entire technical setup
and found enjoyment in getting all the bits of the puzzle and putting it together.

There's a ton I could do with the station in terms of music programming and additional music but at the moment my focus remains on bbsing...

E.g., in your case, you're running this message network, and if you get
to the point where it's just not enjoyable enough to be worth the work, then the network goes away and we all lose that resource.

Yeah I concede that's a risk but feel that with the additional help I gratefully receive from HUB admins the risk is fairly low at this time and if I ever really wanted to pull away for an extended period of time I would look to ask the support of a few folks to keep things running. I tend to think they would say yes.. or at least I hope they would ha! :)

But hopefully having it at a lower percentage, and giving yourself more time for other things helps retain the balance.

It's more about making sure I have time to spend with family and get some time away from behind a screen. Although when I do spend time of this stuff it's a lot of fun (for the most part).

For me, I've gone down rabbit holes of BBSing, juggling, a few computer-based art projects of one sort or another, a couple of wikis,
and a variety of other projects.

I know this feeling well. For me the juggle then becomes trying to keep things setup running ok etc. etc. and example for me at the moment is work I want to do on fsxnet.nz and also new videos for YouTube then there's the wiki etc. etc. if you think about it too much you end up getting paralyzed with inaction and a sore head :)

And I tend to poke at everything occasionally, but I do like getting the chance to stay on the steep part of the learning curve.
Though not _too_ steep. Only so many times where, "now it's time to
learn how to use GIMP!" is worth the pain.

I've used GIMP it's good, a nice free alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Have fun with that one :)

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/11/06 (Linux/64)
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On 05 Jan 2022 at 09:36p, Adept pondered and said...

Yeah, I guess it's a case of if you like something you peruse it further. Or in the case of my LPFM station I could conceive the entire technical setup and found enjoyment in getting all the bits of the puzzle and putting it together.

There's a ton I could do with the station in terms of music programming and additional music but at the moment my focus remains on bbsing...

Yeah I concede that's a risk but feel that with the additional help I gratefully receive from HUB admins the risk is fairly low at this time and if I ever really wanted to pull away for an extended period of time I would look to ask the support of a few folks to keep things running. I tend to think they would say yes.. or at least I hope they would ha! :)

It's more about making sure I have time to spend with family and get some time away from behind a screen. Although when I do spend time of this stuff it's a lot of fun (for the most part).

I know this feeling well. For me the juggle then becomes trying to keep things setup running ok etc. etc. and example for me at the moment is work I want to do on fsxnet.nz and also new videos for YouTube then there's the wiki etc. etc. if you think about it too much you end up getting paralyzed with inaction and a sore head :)

I've used GIMP it's good, a nice free alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Have fun with that one :)

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/11/06 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

GIMP is like Paint also. Very bloated but nice program.

$ The Millionaire $
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Though not _too_ steep. Only so many times where, "now it's time to learn how to use GIMP!" is worth the pain.

I've used GIMP it's good, a nice free alternative to Adobe Photoshop.
Have fun with that one :)

I've enjoyed how useful the skill has become. So, originally I wanted it for
a project where I'd put a semi-transparent layer of a checkmark or some other symbol over a photo (either something I took, or something that was an appropriate Creative Commons license).

And that was quite the struggle, for a while. But I wasn't aware of any other way of doing it, since, "need a transparent layer over an image" kinda needs
a certain sort of software.

But eventually I figured it out, got pretty speedy with that. And since then I've learned to remove backgrounds (by hand, that is), maybe do some light editing, prep photos to use them as starter background graphics for making an ANSI, and random other things.

E.g., a coworker had a kid on the way, and we took up a collection, then someone suggested getting a baby bib with our company logo on it. And the
first attempt looked... not great.

But I used the color picker to grab the company color, and made a
personalized thing that was an homage to the company and the kid, and all
with no backgrounds, so that it showed up appropriately on a black or white item.

And it was no big deal, because I had gained those skills from going down different rabbit holes.

And a lot of my projects have been like that -- something where I'm able to create something neat because I have a different combination of skills that allows me to do stuff other people would struggle with.

And, hopefully, they also have their areas that they have experience in, so that they can also do that sort of thing from time to time. I'm happy when someone brings some neat skills to the table.

And clearly the same sort of thing winds up happening with you, since, e.g., many of us are here because of the YouTube videos you did. It's neat when people make stuff and use their skills.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
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