AMA: Ask the Spook

[Spook of the lost]

Because I find it has the most variety, contains the largest portion of the day, followed by breakfast, and is usually followed by desert lol.

Dinners here are usually super tasty too because we all experiment with new stuff and I've gotten to try all sorts of food from all over the planet.

[Juneberry]

Have you ever eaten insects?

[Spook of the lost]

Roasted ants... They taste like peanuts

[Juneberry]

Do you prefer to drive a stick-shift or an automatic?

[Spook of the lost]

Stick shift.

I can drive both but I learned on a manual transmission and I prefer the feeling I get when I drive manual.
it's like the car becomes an extension of myself, and after a while you don't think, you drive by the feel of the engine, the sound it makes, the vibration in the shift lever/knob.

it's sorta zen when you think about it.

[Juneberry]

What else do you consider zen activities you do? :3

[Spook of the lost]

Soldering and electronic repair, tinkering, etc.

I've noticed I get so caught up in projects that time can just disappear as I become absolutely focused... to the point that I sometimes forget to eat lol.

sometimes when I'm practicing the combat forms I've learned I can get a kind of zen state from that too, the world just becomes me and the movements.

really anything that allows me to focus on it or become in a state of oneness with whatever I'm doing.

though driving stick shift is sort of the opposite in that it's subconcious and becomes an extension, but there is a huge difference between driving stick shift and driving an automatic.

the automatic I just drive while maintaining the speed limit... I frequently use cruise control on long stretches and spend more of my time focusing on getting there.

with a stick shift the drive there becomes sort of an exercise in becoming one with the car.

I still pay attention to the world around me but when I accelerate, hear the change in the tone as the car reaches 2500 rpm my body reacts, one foot on the clutch, release the other, shift the gear, and shift my feet back to gas as the tone changes to a lower RPM at the same speed.

same with deceleration and breaking only in reverse, doubly so because when you're stopped you need to keep both feet down, one on the break pedal one on the clutch until you shift it into first gear.

then it's about timing, ease off the clutch as you let go of the break, the car begins moving by it's self then you gently add gas with the accelerator opening up the fuel flow.

it's sort of like I can feel and see this as I drive, not so with an automatic which feels like I'm just letting the car drive it's self.

it's similar when I'm studying a board or tinkering with a project, as I look it over and figure out what does what the device build's it's self in my mind and I begin getting a kind of innate connection to how it all works, until I get a moment of eureka and begin trying new ideas based on what I gathered studying it.

it's like, as you study a device you slowly get an idea of how the designer thinks and you begin connecting with them understanding why something is where it is.

sort of like active meditation maybe?

[Juneberry]

I think I sorta get it and sorta don't. Hm...

Do you like cake?

[Spook of the lost]

Love it, my favorites are carrot, German chocolate, and black Forrest in that order.

I have made each of them from scratch before.

[Juneberry]

Which was the easiest to make?