What It Really Means To Be Real, i.e. What Gear Do We Actually Use

I just quit my stressful day job in favor of uber driving, and my overall mood has improved drastically... I don't think people realize just how much slaving away at some place you hate for years on end destroys your health. Mental and physical. I was always tired, even though I barely did anything. The driving isn't forever (just until my film career gets more stable, which will be soon), and puts miles on my car, but it's a million times better than what I was doing, and for me those psychological dividends are incalculable. The kicker is, most people don't even realize how stressed they are, it's so normal for them... the mind finds ways to cope, but it just builds a giant barnacle around itself that rots you from within.

I also started jogging 5 days a week several months ago which has kept me pretty fit and contributed to the increased positive mood. As well as doing 1 minute of planking every day, toning the stomach. Pretty great for that actually. Jogging is actually alot easier if you break it up with walking... I jog 3 minutes then walk for 2, wash rinse and repeat for 30 minutes.

Audio had been a respite from my daily trips to the meat grinder... you pay your bills but sacrifice chunks of flesh (metaphorically)... now audio actually feels more joyful. Just listening to BF2/Black Widow/HD650 most of the day today, and a few hours ago I actually went to the movies! Which doesn't sound like much, but I'd been so miserable, taking a trip to the cinema was like climbing a hill... too much, the job had destroyed my willingness to even take a fun outing on my days off! That's what the meat grinder does. Even though the movie was terrible and I walked out after an hour, I felt good, because I went to a theater I'd never visited just to try it. Those kind of "risks" were unthinkable just a few weeks ago.

The point is, Marv's right.... find out what's either contributing to or destroying your mental health (which leads to the physical) and take measured steps to correct the balance. Making some asshole CEO and a multitude of execs happy with ancient Rome levels of wealth while you slowly dissolve away into nothingness like Thanos' snap, holding up that pyramid is.... just the saddest f'ing thing I can think of right now.

Audio (and movies) shouldn't be a respite, it should be icing on the cake.

But anyway, I use the same speakers Marv does... JBL monitors, with a JBL nanopatch volume control fed by BF2. Headphones are HD650 and HD600 (by way of the venerable @Erroneous and @famish99 until I can get my own pair) into Black Widow. I use the JBLs mostly for movie watching out of my LG B8 55 inch OLED (a TV that has brought incalculable levels of joy over the years) because I live in an apartment.

 

JBL-305P MKII on the desktop- Mild EQ fed by ifi Zen Dac and HP small tower. Tidal and JRiver thru ReapEQ.
Thanks to @purr1n 's common sense posts about them over the years. And yes, I tried the bigger 308s, not worth it for me.

JBL-Studio 570's in the main/TV setup with Prism Lyra and Yamaha SA-301 Integrated fed by mini HP computer and JRiver running ReapEQ plugin for the music.

Quite a few room sonic accoutrements, to tame ceiling and first reflections, as well as back wall. Quite enjoyable for a lot less than I have spent on a main setup over the decades.

 

I’ve always managed to stay pretty healthy by having passionate hobbies that conveniently provide me with plenty of exercise. I’ve played competitive tennis and table tennis since high school (over 20 years) and also play in an ultimate frisbee league in the summer and winter. If you ask my wife, I’ve got too many hobbies. I always tell her “you’d have divorced me by now if I didn’t get out there and do active stuff all the time.” I’d be miserable to be around, that’s for sure. My hobbies keep me sane. Music helps as well!

 

Thanks for that link, a lot of info and still a bit confused. I'm a little under 5'10" and shrinking gradually it seems. My rides will be short and include some curb hopping, so I wonder if I'll miss having a kicktail. I've been totally out of the scene for over 30 years, so have no idea what modern skateboarding involves. I really enjoyed pumping, but never had the right board for it. The guy mentioned "switch pumping" and when googling that I found some videos of "extreme pumping" that looks like more than I'll ever get into.

Given the above, what would you recommend?

(Maybe this should be a separate thread or PM)

Edit: maybe this Gaia would be better suited for me as an all rounder.
https://pantheonboards.com/product/pantheon-gaia-complete-freeride-setup/

 

I just became a dad a year and 10 days ago at the age of 56. Not sure getting back into skateboarding at almost 58 is a wise move ...

It might be skate and die

And I don't have a secret stash of Vicodin.

 

If your neighborhood has urethane wheel-friendly infrastructure, then longboarding is pretty neato. I took up electric longboarding 2 years ago and it has been one of the better decisions I've made.

Basically esk8 is more accessible to pick up than analog longboarding and generally is more gentle on the joints. It can, however, be more dangerous as electrons will propel you way faster than what's safe for a newbie (or a human in general). E-boards can be equipped with 5 - 9" pneumatic tires, making them more forgiving to road conditions and some can even tackle forest trails.

 

Actually, I'm not that concerned. I'm reasonably fit and active, so casual boarding shouldn't be a problem. It'll also give me a funner way to get home from the car detailing service after dropping it off, rather than using the city's bike rental thingy.

This is more pertinent. I sent them an email to ask about the Gaia. Will report back.

Look like there's barely enough tail to get any leverage, definitely not enough to hop off/on a curb.

I don't have a secret Vicodin stash, but I do have enough play money hidden away to cover this. Usually it's for audio stuff, but whatever, eh?

 

Learned that this year. Spent better part of a decade being the #1 oh-shit number for transmission issues at a regional TV facility.

Early on, PTSD was so bad I'd wake up at night with my heart racing because I thought my phone was ringing. Managing that was by fixing the big technical problems then, when I had enough social credit, telling the company to f**k off and let me have my weekends (and they did)

Thought I was OK, but 2023 has been a swamp drain. I realized my historical "I'm not stressed" state was really "just not super stressed." I attribute surviving this long to not getting married or buying a house. Think if I'd done either really bad physical things may have happened to me. I'm very, very alone but I'm immensely grateful I haven't simply died from all the pressure. I also spend huge sums to eat healthy.

 

I haven't been super stressed at work, even though my "department" has been short staffed for years. I've managed by outsourcing tasks I can't handle myself.

But there's been some recent restructuring and the work I do isn't being recognized or valued by my direct superiors. They gave me a bogus shit performance review based on future expectations of what they'd prefer I do, rather than what I've actually been doing. I found out about this days before leaving on vacation. Luckily, the other guys on my team have my back and we put together a plan to transfer me to another department. We'll see what HR says when I get back. In the meantime, I've decided that if they don't give me what I want, I'll tell them to go f**k themselves. I luckily have the luxury of not needing the income from this job. It's very empowering, but I realize most people are not in this position. So I've not been stressed one single bit and have been enjoying my long (Covid) delayed vacation.

Hope everyone else is managing to keep things under control and staying in a happy place.

 

Restructured...know what you're going through. You're basically the tween foster kid that they can't figure out. Hang in there. There are other things elsewhere in motion, and you just need to wait for that next wave that comes along for that epic ride.

Speaking of which, enjoy the skateboard, but use a helmet. And don't get fancy--just enjoy the ride.

 

My endgame (I swear--for now) gear:
Pi2 AES
Gungnir with Cinemags
ECSB
VO

But to be honest, it's sometimes a hassle, because I really need to get things set to listen to the system, and I'm really just too busy with life these days to do that. The music is beautiful, but probably not worth the effort on a daily basis. That is reality.

What I have next to my bed (more usage than the "main" rig):
Pi2 AES
Soekris
Mag Pi
7hz or PortaPros

I could do better, but this setup is more discrete and works for me. Again, reality.

Everyday:
Podcasts from my mobile device to wireless Jabras.

If I feel like listening to music, an AK DAP with CA IEMs. But I have to consider the hassle of carrying a fairly heavy DAP with me around. I'll likely bring this on trips for relaxation, but rarely for commutes because it's just too noisy all around, and I'm moving if not on public transportation.

TV:
Sonos Beam (from long ago) and Ones because the built in speakers of my old TV is not great.
The Sonos system was good at the time because it allowed me to play kids or holiday songs around the house. More importantly my wife and kids know how to turn it on without having to fire up the "hifi" turn on sequence (and the reverse shut down). Also, I try to keep it simple because my living space is small.

 

@purr1n As someone who only has lived in CA the past 10 years, what is the California of the 70s and 80s that has been lost and no longer exists? And on a deeper level, were those things actually as awesome as you remember or were you just young?

And second, this is a good thread. On the idea of people filling holes in their soul with audiophilia, I have a friend who made a lot of money in crypto and has been doing exactly that for several years. He admits it frequently.

 

The next step will be retirement and Mr Mom duty. We're moving (back) to Canada and I might go first with the kid and let my wife be the "shuttle astronaut" flying back and forth as her job plus side gig pulls in the big bucks. Or we'll all go together if she can finally detach from the pull of the $$$.

We'll kick the tenant out of the property we bought in Ottawa. My wife visited in fall and thought it was beautiful. I kept telling her winters are f'ing cold and a PITA, but she wouldn't listen. So imma have to deal with sub zero and snow and shit after living in almost sub-tropical Taiwan for the past 20 years. Oh well, better than worrying about that asshole megalomaniac Xi invading to "take back" the renegade island (that never belonged to "communist" China). And it'll be easier to get the SFD-1 repaired

 

Ottawa is beautiful, but Vancouver (also beautiful) might be a good staging location since it's balmier. However, it's probably also the most expensive city in the world.

Also wanted to add, with global climate change, living the sub-tropical lifestyle may not be that great.