Mastodawn

Sometime around the 2020 era, we lost the right to be mediocre at things we love.

No longer can you just bake bread...you must start a sourdough side hustle lol. Wanna stay fit and go jogging or running? Nah, you gotta optimize your biometrics for a marathon. What my point is that every hobby has been enshittified and gentrified into a brand opportunity.

This strange infatuation with optimization culture is killing the human spirit.

So this new year, starting tomorrow, one of my resolutions is to do something bad but fun. Maybe I write a terrible poem. I like to draw and paint, so perhaps I will draw a horse that looks like a table or sing off-key in the showers or in front of my loved ones. The algorithm driving the mainstream social media wants me to be a polished product, but my humanity lives in these messy, unoptimized, cringe-inducing joyful failures.

I will try to reclaim the right to be an amateur. Will you join me?

#creativity #hobbies #art #depression #socialmedia #newyear #resolution #happynewyear #MentalHealth #Culture #enshittification #creative #design #writing #reading #books #drawing #music #gardening #nature #running #fitness

Roland Siegloff Dec 31

@pheonix Yes, let's bake sourdough bread only for our own consumption and occasionally for our lovely neighbours.

Berg am Laimerin (v2)Dec 31

@rolandsiegloff @pheonix
Since I don't have the time to regularly feed (or use) a sourdough, I replace it with yeast. (For partly rye bread add some vinegar).

Good enough.

Beelbeebub Dec 31

Try the "scrapings" method. You don't need to feed or pamper the starter. The only downside is you need to be a bit more organised.

When you make bread leave a thin coating of starter in the jar (the scraping)

Stick in fridge. Leave for upto a month.

About 12h before you make bread add 100g flour and 100g water to jar, stir and leave out in kitchen.

Starter should bubble up and be ready to go.

Repeat.

Knud Jahnke Dec 31

Doesn't that start rotting? Or does the thin layer dry out and conserve in that way?

Scott Carlson Dec 31

@knud it just dries out. And actually dried out starter can be saved as backup

Knud Jahnke Dec 31

Ah great, I didn't know this. Will try!

Scott Carlson Dec 31

@knud here's a link to a good explanation https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2015/05/01/putting-sourdough-starter-hold

Putting your sourdough starter on hold

Sooner or later, most of us need to put our sourdough baking on hold. Maybe we're going on vacation; perhaps the schedule is just too crowded at the moment for the ritual feeding/discarding/feeding/baking process. Whatever the reason, there comes a time when we need to put our sourdough starter to bed for awhile. So what's the best way to keep your starter happy, healthy, and vibrant, when you know you won't be using it for an extended period?Refrigerate it and hope? Freeze it and forget it?

King Arthur Baking

Knud Jahnke Jan 1

Very nice, thank you!

The Great Llama

@knud @Beelbeebub
My experience has been that you almost can't kill a sourdough starter stored somewhere cold. The microorganisms just shut down and go dormant until it's time to party again. It might take a couple of generations to get everything back to normal, but that's what sourdough pancakes are for.

Knud Jahnke Dec 31

@TheGreatLlama @Beelbeebub .
I had the issue with some black-ish layer of bacteria (or yeast) growing on top, so I had to clean this and regrow for a few weeks.

Knud Jahnke Dec 31

@TheGreatLlama @Beelbeebub .
I had the issue with some black-ish layer of bacteria (or yeast) growing on top, so I had to clean this and regrow for a few weeks.

Beelbeebub Dec 31

That happened to me once when I didn't use my scrapings for about 2 months. Borrowed a spoon of starter from a friend and carried on.

If you aren't making bread daily then the scraping method is alot more convenient.

The Great Llama

@knud @Beelbeebub
I've heard of folks pouring a healthy starter on cookie sheet and drying it, then storing the dried sourdough "crackers" in the freezer.

Scott Carlson Dec 31

@Beelbeebub one note, occasionally I have to do a couple of feedings in a row to increase the strength of the starter

@Beelbeebub that's more or less what I do. Sourdough starter is so much more resilient than people think. I only keep a tiny amount in the fridge so I never need to discard any when I feed it ahead of baking day.

I hadn't used my starter in 5 weeks. It took 2 rounds of feeding 12 hours apart to build it back up again to a happy bubbly starter.

This boule was the outcome. :)

@muenchnerin I just keep a small starter in the fridge, about 10-20g. It keeps very well.
The day/evening before I want to bake, I feed the amount needed, and put 10-20g back in the fridge.

Aleksandra Janusz Jan 16

@muenchnerin @rolandsiegloff @pheonix I'd disagree for rye bread, if you don't ferment you risk tummy issues. Other than that it's all fine.
Sourough survives well even for 2 weeks in the fridge, it is really tough to kill for good.

Sharp Leaves Dec 31

@rolandsiegloff @pheonix I'd add, sourdough in general will blow your mind with what it can do. You don't have to have amazing technique to create an amazing starter.

Natural winemaking is the same. Grapes literally ferment themselves, all of this BS about buying special yeasts off Amazon is completely unnecessary. We chose grapes for a reason.

It may not be professional, but when you realise the organisms themselves do the heavy lifting, your world will crack open like an eggshell.

Roland Siegloff Dec 31

@BoysenberryCider @pheonix Yes, sourdough is a fascinating thing. It has been helping me bake my daily healthy bread with little effort for more than 20 years now.

@rolandsiegloff oh hi neighbor! 🍞
@pheonix

@pheonix Doing what you do with feeling... Is what matters.

@pheonix I already am! With my amateur drawing thread pinned to my profile 😁

Lydia Conwell Dec 31

@pheonix Our right to be shit has been enshittified.

Looking for explanations…Dec 31

I’m starting art classes in a few weeks. My goal is to learn a few things I can then use to enjoy myself. I might be better than mediocre. I might not. I really don’t care.

Mike 🇬🇧 🇪🇺Dec 31

@Susan60 @pheonix Don't worry, I've been drawing and sketching for about 20 years - I steadfastly refuse to consider it to be Art but I enjoy doing it, and I really don't care if anyone else likes it because it's for me and it's mine.

Windy city Dec 31

@MikeFromLFE @Susan60 Engaging in art is all time favorite activity of mine and I never really cared because that's besides the point, I love doing it for the art itself 😎

Looking for explanations…Dec 31

@MikeFromLFE @pheonix

Someone told me as a child that I wasn’t good at art. I don’t remember who it was, but for some reason I took it on board. (I now know that I’m autistic, & if this person was someone whose opinion I saw as having some authority or expertise, that might help to explain why I accepted this as fact.) But an artist has commented on my compositions in photos & I adore colour & form.

@pheonix Absolutely!

Schwalbentenor Dec 31

@pheonix I startend this year by cooking for myself and replacing fancy ingredients or just leaving them out all together. I also use cooking books to not get distracted by videos, ratings and reviews. I'm not even mediocre but it's fun!

^[[200~Michael Dec 31

@pheonix Taking the trash out is "leg day", too!

Alexander Bochmann Dec 31

@pheonix This has been going on for a long time - like, don't be a "casual" gamer, you're in the way (or prey) for competitive people. And then everything was gamified, in the sense of being made measurable and turned into a competitive ranking (including social media).

I mean, sometimes it is fun to be in a competition, or getting (measurably) better at something - but if it isn't ... just don't?

🇨🇦🇩🇪🇨🇳张殿李🇨🇳🇩🇪🇨🇦Jan 1

@galaxis @pheonix One of the reasons I don't like places like Reddit is the whole votes thing just turns the place toxic as people compete for fantasy Internet points.

The Fediverse version of Reddit also has this flaw, but you can at least turn off the point counts.

Jonathan Sullenberger Dec 31

Windy city Dec 31

@pinoycelt love it!

Jonathan Sullenberger Dec 31

@pheonix Thanks, that is really the best drawing I can do. If it's a matter of life and death and I have to play charades, count on dying😄

FossThought Dec 31

@pheonix I think you hit the nail on the head. 2020 was when the pandemic lockdown stuff began. We were all stuck in our homes and the economy was stressed. That's probably why there was an emphasis on monetizing things you can do at home.

TC Won't Give In To Lies Dec 31

Plenty of people still make so-so bread or write bad poems.

The difference is the social media noise that overhypes everything - and adds pressure to every aspect of life with unrealistic, curated fantasies.

We need to focus on rebuilding our IRL lives and relationships.

@pheonix There's no place for this self-pity.

Doing things for fun was never a right that was taken from us. This is something that people can only take from themselves because they are chasing money.

Nobody was ever stopping anyone. Don't blame your own failure as artists on a nebulous "them".

bookworks 💙Dec 31

@yora @pheonix ‘Failure as artists”? I don’t think you at all understand what the post is about!

Agree. No hobby can ever be enshittified, and it can only be gentrified if the tools required have become expensive.
If someone is concerned about what other people do in the context of a hobby (or anything that is supposed to be diversion), that person is ruining their own life for themselves.
Don't create stuff with the expectation to show it off. It's that simple.

@pheonix i'm an amateur at almost everything I do, so that should be easy enough :)

I totally agree, the hustle culture is dumb. Just have fun and that should be enough reward for doing things.

A-nom-nom-nom-aly BSC SSC Dec 31

I've been saying this for about a decade or so now. I think it applies here.

If you have a hobby, something that you enjoy, that brings you pleasure... If that hobby is legal and harms no one else... You go an enjoy the fuck out of it.

If anyone... and I do mean ANYONE, tries to make you feel small because of it... if they tell you it's childish, that it's silly, pointless, a waste of your time. If they insult you, are derisive about it... That person... Is a wanker.

They think that everyone should only do things that they approve off, they're judgemental arseholes and you don't need people like that in your life.

@Anomnomnomaly and if you have a hobby, don't try to make money out of it, because then it becomes work and you'll have to find a new hobby.
In fact, a hobby can cost money. The worth of the hobby is your well-being, not a monetary return, or even skill improvement.
@pheonix

Dave Slusher - SFFH Jan 1

@FiXato @Anomnomnomaly @pheonix

I forget who's quote this is, probably someone's dad.

"Be very careful about making your hobby your profession. You still have a job but now you don't have a hobby."

Lynn McAlister UE

@Anomnomnomaly @pheonix I wish I could like this multiple times!

Adam Jacobs 🇺🇦Dec 31

@pheonix Way ahead of you there. Have you ever seen the way I run?

HiddenPineapple Dec 31

@pheonix My "solution" was to find hobbies that requires patience like mycology. There's some bliss in doing something I know 14 year olds on TikTok don't have the patience to appreciate nor the attention span to learn how. Saying that out loud makes me worry for the future but I'll take a win where I can.

Chozari 賈 (she/her)Dec 31

@pheonix I totally did this with my sketches. Some of them come up ok, some are so terrible, but it’s not the point, and I was sharing one each day there for a while no matter what it was. And it really helps me. Good on you for saying this. I agree lots and lots.

MH Thaung Dec 31

@pheonix Absolutely! I'm a pathologist and *can't* be poor professionally without causing harm. So I also write fiction, as I can afford to be bad at it without consequences (other than maybe a wee bit of embarrassment, but that's nothing...)

Windy city Dec 31

@mhthaung Oh don't worry, I find writing to be very soothing and it sort of lets my inner most thoughts flow in a way that I can't otherwise figure out. I write and then I discard 90% of the stuff in notebooks stacked away...the process itself is incredible! Thanks for sharing 🥰😎

Robert Böttner Dec 31

@pheonix @lenzgr Completely yes. And everything we try and learn is always a path. If you stick to it you will automatically become better or it will become easier and you will enjoy it more. This way, the path suffices as there is no real endpoint anyway, no matter how “good” you are. If you get stucked or if it is not enjoyable anymore, walk back, try a different direction. Matching things will find their way.

James 🦉 #FBPE 🇪🇺Dec 31

@pheonix There's a collage club near me I went to for the first time recently and whooweee was I bad! 😂 Sooooo bad, I mean I really sucked. But it was so much fun! And a lovely, warm, bright, tactile, digital free experience in these winter months.

Windy city Dec 31

@freequaybuoy that's the spirit! 😎

BeeCycling Dec 31

@pheonix After trying and failing to crochet a cardigan this year, I've accepted that I'll always be fairly mid at crochet, mostly because I can't be arsed with all the extra malarkey, like figuring out gague, and doing blocking etc. But I enjoy doing it because it's relaxing. I'm pretty good at making simple things like beanie hats and berets, granny squares and scarves. That's all I need to justify continuing to do it.

Ari "Two Foxes" Jackson Dec 31

@beecycling @pheonix All I ever really learned to do was granny squares, but with those, you can make blankets, shawls... anything flat, really! They go a long way!

BeeCycling Dec 31

@arisummerland @pheonix I managed to make a decent sized blanket with a bazillion granny squares. It weighs a ton, LOL.

Ari "Two Foxes" Jackson Dec 31

@beecycling @pheonix Ooooh, bonus that it is a weighted blanket! 🤣

QuokkaMocha 🏳️‍🌈🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇺🇦🇬🇱🇵🇸Dec 31

@pheonix It's the whole idea of "if you can't monetise it, it's rubbish and a waste of time", which basically just needs to get in the bin. But I know I'm still really bad for thinking "oh, can't put that anywhere, it's not 100% perfect". Which is sort of a leave over from my mum not accepting anything as good, but also related to this idea.

I am basically mediocre at most things. So what I will try to do is reclaim the fun even when I am a bit crap at something.

Heather 👻Dec 31

@pheonix TV Programmes have made everything a competition when it never was. Pottery. Sewing. Knitting. It's frustrating. It was never a race or a competition.

Buca Chow Chow Dec 31

@Akki @pheonix needs to be more Bob Ross than Beat Bobby Flay I’d say.