Getting out of a funk

masonlewisdiesel said:
Thanks for the reply, Yeah Seattle, Washington...I didnt consider that being a factor-which it totally is! The combo of the weather and the going to work when its dark, getting off work when its dark plays a huge role. Thanks for pointing that out, sometimes i'm a little blind to whats right in front of me! Merry christmas
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Hey neighbor! I’m in Issaquah! And yeah it’s dark as hell lately for sure. The big dark can be a bit rough for me through December and January. Merry Christmas!
 
I've been in a funk for two years now.

This is what I've been doing:

Play my pedals instead of building more. Play music with people, go to open mics, lift heavy ass weights, get rejected by women left and right, get a raise at work, help out my parents, rediscover cooking, get a six-pack, lose the six-pack, think of leaving Kraków, decide to stay, ignore my blood labs, try to learn the EVH tremolo picking technique and almost get it on some days, realize I'm a 48 year old exchange student who never grew up, still refuse to work more than 4 days a week.

It hasn't worked so far :)

I want to get back into building but the logistics are killing me. Ordering from Tayda from Europe is a mess, keeping track of inventory is overwhelming and my apt is littered with component boxes, solder balls and metal shavings. My landlord will need an exorcist to clean this place up when I leave. That's why I paid one month of rent for deposit when I moved in 19 years ago :)
 
AceHyzer said:
Hey neighbor! I’m in Issaquah! And yeah it’s dark as hell lately for sure. The big dark can be a bit rough for me through December and January. Merry Christmas!
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For some reason my notificatons havent been working. when I click on alerts it says no alearts, even going back to the history.

Anyways, happy belated christmas and new year! Yeah, you know exactly what I mean! I like winter and the dark, but not this much!
 
andare said:
I've been in a funk for two years now.

This is what I've been doing:

Play my pedals instead of building more. Play music with people, go to open mics, lift heavy ass weights, get rejected by women left and right, get a raise at work, help out my parents, rediscover cooking, get a six-pack, lose the six-pack, think of leaving Kraków, decide to stay, ignore my blood labs, try to learn the EVH tremolo picking technique and almost get it on some days, realize I'm a 48 year old exchange student who never grew up, still refuse to work more than 4 days a week.

It hasn't worked so far :)

I want to get back into building but the logistics are killing me. Ordering from Tayda from Europe is a mess, keeping track of inventory is overwhelming and my apt is littered with component boxes, solder balls and metal shavings. My landlord will need an exorcist to clean this place up when I leave. That's why I paid one month of rent for deposit when I moved in 19 years ago :)
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For some reason my notificatons havent been working. when I click on alerts it says no alearts, even going back to the history. Sorry for the delay.
Haha an exorcist, thats funny! I think I kinda let myself get psyched out on a project...the ol Kicad man, I knew it was a little bit of a learning curve. but fuck man, too many options(and not enough brain-power). So I just kind of went AWOL. Slowly getting back in the groove though. There seems to be some sweet PCB sellers over there in EU though....right?
 
Feral Feline said:
Life is funky when we find ourselves in a jam
On the lam from some bad feeling
Life is a chocolate bar, a broken string on a cheap guitar
Why don't you play, lookin' for a killer buzz, yeah


Can relate.
Been Funky for seemingly ages, and the furnace dying on Dec 25th early in the mourning [sic] ... I hope the Wilcox tune is up your alley and gives you some cheer.
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Joben Magooch said:
Beyond the usual self-care advice given, I find what has been helpful for me is to find something that pushes you a bit more than usual. Pedal-building, like any hobby, can become a little rote or mundane at times. For me, branching out in a way that forces you to think about it a bit more is usually a good slump-breaker for me. I also like to try and loop in some of my "adjacent" hobbies. For instance, I like to woodwork as well. If I'm feeling a bit bored or stuck, I'll hit the shop and build a new pedalboard or something to put everything on. That in turn kick-starts me to get some new builds in the mix and whatnot. Maybe take a day to setup and give some TLC to your instruments. Put in some new pickups or try a new wiring scheme. Just spitballing here, but I guess all that to say that...maybe it's just how I'm wired but I find it motivating just to feel like I'm accomplishing something or completing a task and sometimes branching out from the same repetitive stuff can help boost that feeling of accomplishment.

Another random thing I find beneficial (and again maybe it's just me) with stuff like this is to sit down and try and intentionally think through my processes in such a way that is like "how would I teach/explain what I'm doing right now to a total beginner?" I dunno, maybe that's weird, but I find it weirdly enriching to think about things in that way :P

in any case hope you are doing well and have a safe and happy holiday!
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For some reason my notificatons havent been working. when I click on alerts it says no alearts, even going back to the history.

Happy new years,

That second paragraph! I think I kinda let myself get psyched out on a project. instead of taking a deep breath or whatever I decided I should probably go off the rails for a bit. What your saying makes sense, what also helps it turning my monitors off so I dont get cracked out on the internet. The damned algorithm had me! I'm trying to mess around with Kicad, it would be cool to have a couple boards made. Thanks for the kind words!
-Mason
 
I just finished the Voodoo redux and the vibe has some nice tricks and Si FF cleans up extremely well. I think you’ll like the pedal, it’s a fun build.
 
Gordo said:
I just finished the Voodoo redux and the vibe has some nice tricks and Si FF cleans up extremely well. I think you’ll like the pedal, it’s a fun build.
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Nice!! Thats what I wanted to hear! Any tips or advice on that one? what enclosure did you use? I know a guy named art who is doing like exact clones with the foot controller, he made some pcbs so i picked one up to do at some point. I love using the foot rate control on these!

This is his pcb. im stoked to try it. Any other vibes or jimi type pedals you recommend building? already did a FF and Octavia

I like the 2 and 3 combos those are cool!

Art's pcb s-l140.jpg s-l1600.jpg
 
Nothing fidgety about the build, but I did buy the ldr/led set from Barry. I also ordered the drilled and UV printed box from Tayda so I kept this build as easy as I could. Was intended to be a nice brain clear and turned out to be a cool pedal to boot. Still waiting on the enclosure.

I’ve built every vibe I could get my hands on and every single one of them sounds completely different. Much like the originals I’m afraid.

The coolest one I’ve heard (and now own) is the Doppler Vibe
. I never get much of a chance to use it in a live setting but it’s still become a permanent fixture on my board.
 
That build/board looks so legit. My original was huge and fairly noisy but there was nothing else like it and I’d kill to get it back. Or at least I’d like to kill whoever stole it.
 
Hey OP, I grew up in Vancouver. The winter darkness/rains is for real.

Anyway, I think the suggestions to not fight the break and also get some exercise/eat well is a really good one. Take a walk, take a hike into those beautiful rainforests.

Other than that, I recommend reading the build reports subforum. Also, I would recommend a PTP build--it's oddly extremely gratifying.
 
Going outside and touching grass can be awesome, but I think it's more important to be able to know yourself well enough that when real depression strikes you can ask for outside help. Losing interest in your hobbies is a big one for me. Nothing wrong with asking for help, it can be tough but it's so worth it. For me it has come in waves my entire life and it's taken til being almost 40 to realize the symptoms because as men (which this hobby mostly is built of) we have been conditioned to suck it up, man up, etc whatever bullshit has been fed to us forever. You aren't alone.
 
Nostradoomus said:
Going outside and touching grass can be awesome, but I think it's more important to be able to know yourself well enough that when real depression strikes you can ask for outside help. Losing interest in your hobbies is a big one for me. Nothing wrong with asking for help, it can be tough but it's so worth it. For me it has come in waves my entire life and it's taken til being almost 40 to realize the symptoms because as men (which this hobby mostly is built of) we have been conditioned to suck it up, man up, etc whatever bullshit has been fed to us forever. You aren't alone.
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I don't think I'm depressed but I'm 48 and pretty much alone all the time because my friends all have families or partners. It sucks. Don't be me.
At least I'll die in a classroom or playing music. Not too bad.
 
Gordo said:
Nothing fidgety about the build, but I did buy the ldr/led set from Barry. I also ordered the drilled and UV printed box from Tayda so I kept this build as easy as I could. Was intended to be a nice brain clear and turned out to be a cool pedal to boot. Still waiting on the enclosure.

I’ve built every vibe I could get my hands on and every single one of them sounds completely different. Much like the originals I’m afraid.

The coolest one I’ve heard (and now own) is the Doppler Vibe
. I never get much of a chance to use it in a live setting but it’s still become a permanent fixture on my board.
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Thats for the video, thats the meterial I like to check out. Hey on your tayda UV did you take the document off of Berry site? the layout.
 
andare said:
I don't think I'm depressed but I'm 48 and pretty much alone all the time because my friends all have families or partners.
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Hey, I've been a science nerd and introvert/loner all my life, yet I still need social interaction to feel fully alive. Work on making new friends if you can, find something you have a passion or interest in, and do spend some time w/ people who also like it. E.g., exercise, volunteering, playing music, WHATEVER. Also eat healthy food, too. And talk to your doctor, I myself now use modest anti-depressants - it's just about the setpoint for your brain chemistry, nothing to be ashamed about. I wish you good luck. I always remind myself of the saying "it's not the falling down that matters, it's the getting back up".

And it also is winter, as others here have noted.
 
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