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[jojoceanman]

I've been trying to find ways to relax. I'm not really any good at it. Just came back from being at sea for two weeks, isolated from society. It was extremely pleasant.

[ and around this point there some links to show photographs he had taken. all very pleasant... if you ignore the starfish eating a fish at the end. ]

Now I'm back and I find myself lost in society and its stresses. I work 12 hour days and sleep about 6 to 7. Research is my only outlet, my field being in Marine Biology. That and watching too much true crime dramas, but watching serials about betrayal and murder might not be a healthy way of de-stressing. Allegedly.

So I'm fielding suggestions. I'm sure you're all a very calm and collected bunch who can be of help.

[ ... ]

On an unrelated note: fish don't smoke. And never will. Evolution doesn't work that way.

[ callout because that's just one of his recent stresses. ]

Comments

[jojoceanman]

Only in theory. Your commitment is endearing. If you had to pick a subject to buy a print of, what would it be?

[aloadeddie]

I'm more of an urban environments kinda guy.

[jojoceanman]

Architecture. I don't get the appeal myself. It's just buildings, isn't it?

[aloadeddie]

I know a couple people back home who would take serious exception to talk like that. You're lucky they're not here. Tip for the future: make sure you're not talking to an architect before you say stuff like that.

[jojoceanman]

I suppose it would be the same thing if you said "what do marine biologists even do? Just play around with dolphins all day?"

[ he wishes. ]

[aloadeddie]

More or less. You know the buildings we live and work in can have a psychological effect on us, right?

[jojoceanman]

I never considered that. For me, home and work are just where I am in the moment. But I don't prefer pondering on deep thoughts. [ most times, those things trouble him, and he has enough trouble trying to feel normal without them. ] You must think about this a lot though. Are you an architect, a doctor, or just someone with a lot of time on your hands?

[aloadeddie]

Neither, just intellectually curious. And, as I said, I spent a lot of time around architects and psychologists back home. You pick things up.

[jojoceanman]

Architects and psychologists, two fields with nothing in common, though you relate the two. Tell me then - what kind of effect is present psychologically, from one curious man to the other.

[aloadeddie]

Two of my best friends were an architect and a psychologist. They were married to each other. That's the relationship.

But it's easy enough to look up the psychological effects of architecture. Who doesn't understand that a windowless cement hole is depressing, while an airy warm room with big windows is cheerful? It's not complicated.