# The boredom poll



## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Just wondering what's the opinion / life experience of TC members with regard to boredom. Do you know the experience of being bored without end? Do you regard boredom as belonging to human nature? Do you know people who do *not* know boredom? Is boredom/ _ennui_/spleen/ _Langeweile_ the root of all evil?


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

When I turned 17, two things happened in my life: I listened to Mahler's 1st symphony (Concertgebouw, Haitink) and at the same time the gnawing juvenile experience of boredom left me. Somehow I got acquainted with something that defeated boredom, something that set me free.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Being retired, fighting boredom can be a serious issue. I read. I listen to a lot of music. Watch Cable News. Go for long walks. 
I go away for 8-10 days at a time on guided tours. And of course, there's TC, which tends to fill up more time than I usually intend to on any given day or night.

Therefore, I am never bored for more than a few minutes, if that.

Retirees MUST find things to occupy their time. Chronic boredom, isolation, and inactivity could become a killer.


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## Granate (Jun 25, 2016)

September has usually been my "boredom" month. I usually had ran out of ideas after the summer and a month before university.

But that was before classical music and challenges.

I've felt bored the most when I didn't know what to design for covers or labels. I usually never come up with the thoughts of... "Let's watch InDesign/Illustrator video tutorials!" "Let's try to learn how to use custom brushes!" And instead I usually am like: "Hmmm, what Schubert symphony recordings would be worth listening?" "Can I even like Schubert?" "Will I finally like Jochum's Dresden Bruckner cycle if I listen to it for the fifth time?" "Look! 'Break the News' with Tracey Ullman!"

It's not that I am bored, it's that I don't make the most of my time, I think...


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## Granate (Jun 25, 2016)

TxllxT said:


> All we like sheep


My parents hate sheep and think they are stupid.
It's a "team" thing. We have too many cows.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

No. I have music, books, the world around me and my own thoughts to keep me entertained. I am familiar with the experience of _impatience_ - standing in line in a grocery store and wishing the other customers would move their butts faster. But that is an entirely different thing.


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## Desafinado (Apr 13, 2014)

There was a time I thought I'd never be bored again. Turned out I was wrong about that.

Now I find myself wanting more excitement in my life, but not many avenues to find it (at least for the time being).


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## Dan Ante (May 4, 2016)

It now takes so long to finish a job around the house that my list of things to do gets longer, retirement is great but you must try new things to keep the mind active, my first computer at 68 no wait was it 67 oh it does not matter, I also took up Russian again having last used it 40 years ago, and of course a musical instrument can be a lot of fun learning. So bored...not on you nelly.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I used to and still can get bored. It is a sickness of the mind. You can feel you’re in a prison. Sometimes finding stuff you don’t think wil be fun can actually liberate you, if you run out of things you want to do. I don’t see how boredom can be a root of evil on its own. What beats my boredom the best is driving to some places I’ve never been, but everything has to be taken in moderation.


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## Granate (Jun 25, 2016)

Granate said:


> [...] "Will I finally like Jochum's Dresden Bruckner cycle if I listen to it for the fifth time?".


By the way, it's happening!!


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## Dan Ante (May 4, 2016)

Granate said:


> By the way, it's happening!!


How on earth can you listen to 4 or 5 cycles of any works if you don't like them.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

Yesterday we stopped reading Dostoevsky's 'Crime & Punishment' at the passage where he describes Raskolnikov's dream about the terrible beating of an horse. Dostoevsky is describing this tyranny in such details, that we were left in shock. But then he starts to repeat himself, as if to press his point on us, readers who are slow to understand, again & again. All of a sudden we felt as if Dostoevsky is a sadist, both with regard to the subject matter he describes as with regard to us, his readers. And all of a sudden there is this void of disinterestedness: My wife and I are bored to continue with reading this novel. So the famous novel returns to the shelves and we are looking for a more caring author.


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## Granate (Jun 25, 2016)

Dan Ante said:


> How on earth can you listen to 4 or 5 cycles of any works if you don't like them.


Because many here praise the Jochum Dresden Bruckner Cycle (and also the Wand Köln cycle) and I fail to love the tiniest bit of them both. Who is wrong here?

I can listen (maybe because I have the time and work from home) up to 15 cycles of 10-11 cds in a month. If I do challenges of 40 cycles I begin to go numb.


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## Granate (Jun 25, 2016)

Dan Ante said:


> How on earth can you listen to 4 or 5 cycles of any works if you don't like them.


You just described my first reaction to the Bach cantatas. I just listened to 10 Gardiner CDs and stopped and never look back (yet). That's one I don't like. But I do love Bruckner symphonies.


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## Dan Ante (May 4, 2016)

Granate said:


> Because many here praise the Jochum Dresden Bruckner Cycle (and also the Wand Köln cycle) and I fail to love the tiniest bit of them both. Who is wrong here?


No one is wrong it is a matter of personal taste, there are works/composers that each one of us either does not like or find boring, who is to say that is wrong or you need to put more effort into it.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Yes, I get bored when I listen to music that I dislike.


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## Dan Ante (May 4, 2016)

ArtMusic said:


> Yes, I get bored when I listen to music that I dislike.


Why listen to it then, put on some country and western


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

ArtMusic said:


> Yes, I get bored when I listen to music that I dislike.


And only lasting 4'33"


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

TxllxT said:


> Yesterday we stopped reading Dostoevsky's 'Crime & Punishment' at the passage where he describes Raskolnikov's dream about the terrible beating of an horse. Dostoevsky is describing this tyranny in such details, that we were left in shock. But then he starts to repeat himself, as if to press his point on us, readers who are slow to understand, again & again. All of a sudden we felt as if Dostoevsky is a sadist, both with regard to the subject matter he describes as with regard to us, his readers. And all of a sudden there is this void of disinterestedness: My wife and I are bored to continue with reading this novel. So the famous novel returns to the shelves and we are looking for a more caring author.


You lasted longer than I did with that book. It gave me a headache after 50 pages. There whole atmosphere of that book is very oppressive.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Pugg said:


> And only lasting 4'33"


Indeed! Also get of performing the piece myself.


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

I like the funny description of boredom in the novel Catch 22. People who get bored live longer, not in years, but because the body measures time by complex chemical reactions in the brain. People who are not bored and having a good time don't live as long as one who goes through life bored everyday, although they may have both lived the same amount of calendar years.

That was why the main character in the novel always wanted to hang around people who bore him.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

I want to retire so I can get bored on my own time....................


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> I want to retire so I can get bored on my own time....................


OTOH, you are getting paid to research the history of the Community Forum. That's not bad, is it? :lol:


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Klassik said:


> OTOH, you are getting paid to research the history of the Community Forum. That's not bad, is it? :lol:


Yep, it works for me (11 work emails today)


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## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)

how can one be "bored" with being on the "talk classical" board with opera-classical music-non classical music-song of the day-clowns. all the interesting posts by the members! great stuff and comments. also concerts-sports-hockey-s...uumm-horseracing-politics-food-wine tasting-cherry beer. wondering where members went!!


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

^ And how many 4'33" Jokes is it possible to post in one day


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## Dan Ante (May 4, 2016)

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> ^ And how many 4'33" Jokes is it possible to post in one day


 433 .....................


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## Capeditiea (Feb 23, 2018)

:3 i am only bored when i am inbetween works, watched all the anime i have to watch, feel ennui, and want to hang out with humans... the last part is rare. 

but i usually just start a new work... and thusly i get busy again for the next 8-13 days. 

but right now i am not currently bored... since i have three things i am doing. (not at the same time...) 
1. Watching some anime
2. Reading things on TC
3. Reading Manga. 
4. Studying Medieval Music
5. Working on Op. 4


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