How much free time do you guys get?

[random_soldier]

Yes, that's how it works -- and I'm asking you in order that I may understand where your opinion comes from and also to help correct your misperceptions, which is what you said was the reason you started the thread. I'm trying to help. Really.

Outside of the first world. Compete or die is the motto in some of the harsher places over here. I come from one and friendship is usually almost always for personal gain. This doesn't relate exactly. It's just to give you an idea of the cutthroat environment. Maybe I am exaggerating but it's more apparent when you get around to more civilized places in the world and see the disparity.

Yes - there are some people who deify one or two favorite celebrities, but that doesn't mean most people deify most celebrities.

You've forgotten Hitler then. And there are politicians like that that still exist out there. They'll practice their corrupt ways, pulling the wool over people's eyes, using the age old method of divide and conquer, put a crazy new spin on religion and more to get what they want. And still people mourn the passing of these individuals to the point of committing suicide or maybe they'll build expensive shrines for them before or after they are gone, with money that they could have used to feed the poor.

These people aren't quite in the same vein as celebrities but they are (in)famous and you know when people start making holy grounds in one's name they've pretty much become a godlike figure.

Right -- so I think we should agree that scientists aren't anywhere close to the level of deification of other celebrities. So I'm not sure why you have this idea that they are near deified.

Except the regulars on Nat Geo and Discovery and all the others coming for radio shows and talk shows regularly. Well I suppose they don't have sacred grounds in their name, so I'll give you that.

No, it's great -- that's self-awareness and it is as rare as it is important. I hope we've helped dispel these odd perceptions!

I just asked a simple question. Where do you guys get the time to play video games or watch cartoons, movies, shows, etc., because I did not expect some of the regulars to have the time or taste to indulge in them. I was expecting some responses telling me how they make the time or why they have those tastes. Instead the discussion veers off into giving me therapy what with every other poster asking me why I thought what I thought and that I need to reexamine those thoughts. Was all that necessary? A simple, "It ain't so bad. All I do is so on and so forth." would have sufficed to dispel my odd perceptions.

You don't have to give up all else in your life in order to become an expert in a field. I can't operate well when I spend too much time focused on my field. I start to feel unhealthy, depressed, lonely, frail, etc etc. I need to take time to sleep in every now and then. I take a little time to get cardio workouts in (I built a retaining wall with granite boulders last weekend by myself. I was out of breath for about 6 hours.). Exercise increases dopamine levels in the brain (helping focus). It also promotes overall health, which is a common trait among experts that I work with. We all have hobbies outside of our field that promote overall health. Mountain biking, triathlons, marathons, motocross racing, rock climbing, paintball, etc etc. The top guys in my field have hobbies outside of work, and they are actually top guys in their hobbies as well.

I once had a job at which I did hard manual labor for 84 hours per week. I was 18 years old and the job was in a ductile iron foundry. That is 12 hours per day for 7 days per week. It required a minimum of 9 hours of sleep if you wanted to make it through the next day without losing your edge too badly. I also had to spend more time eating, because my food intake increased to about 6000 calories per day. I got about 1 hour of free time every day, and that was usually spent cleaning the house or paying bills etc etc.

When I went to college, I brought those work habits with me. However, I had usually completed all of my work for the week before noon on Wednesday. That left a lot of time for hobbies and coming up with various schemes to accomplish various goals without spending all of my savings.

Sometimes I wish I had certain hardships. Maybe I would've been better off like yourself.

 

[mheslep]

... one of the top 10 TV shows for the past few years is The Big Bang Theory, which portrays physicists and engineers (men in particular) as socially inept jackasses.

Not just Bang. All top TV shows with male characters portray some (occasionally all) of them as socially inept, malignant, eccentric, incompetent, relevant to female characters.

 

[xxChrisxx]

I just asked a simple question. Where do you guys get the time to play video games or watch cartoons, movies, shows, etc., because I did not expect some of the regulars to have the time or taste to indulge in them. I was expecting some responses telling me how they make the time or why they have those tastes. Instead the discussion veers off into giving me therapy what with every other poster asking me why I thought what I thought and that I need to reexamine those thoughts. Was all that necessary?

Its not a trick, its not a magic secret. The non flippant answer really is: Work time is for working, home time is for me.

Frankly having children is more of a black hole for free time than working ever was.

 

[random_soldier]

Thank you! That's all I was asking for. I didn't know it was not magic.