Deep Thoughts with Der Meister

[der meister 3,187]

The VHL Conference Finals are well underway at this point in an extremely tight matchup between the Seattle Bears and the Calgary Wranglers. Two of Calgary's victories came in double overtime, which is assuredly a rare feat. Heading into game 6 tonight, Calgary has a three-game to two lead over Seattle, but it really is anyone's game.

 

I found myself reflecting on a number of things over the past few days, including my time spent in simulation hockey leagues. I have found the experience alternatively enjoyable and infuriating, the user base incredibly friendly or obstinately malignant, the effort required trivial or daunting. Looking back at it, these sim leagues are very much a microcosm of life, and I'm honestly not sure how I feel about that. One of the appealing factors of fake hockey leagues, for example, is the escapism, but really, how much escapism is there? Ultimately, the escapism seems to be rooted entirely in randomly generated statistics, a concept and a sentence that both make me feel like my energy might be better served elsewhere.

[JardyB10 4,865]

I've reflected on escapism in general a fair bit lately. Partially because my partner's primary hobbies are generally more "productive" or "valuable" than mine. She likes to do art (drawing and a little bit of music) and gardening and hiking/walking/running. I conversely have spent periods of my life watching sports or tv shows or gaming (though I do like physical activities, I just don't prioritize them the same way). There is a bit of a dissonance when I see her hobbies yield tangible results (a beautiful drawing, a physically healthier life) while mine really don't, though we participate in our respective hobbies for the exact same reasons.

 

Professional sports, video games, movies, entertainment in general - are all such dominant industries in our world. I'd argue that escapism and/or distraction is the #1 produced thing in the world, or at the very least must be one of the most economically driving "industries" in the world. Which feels kind of wrong given that the world in general could probably use more care and attention than ever before. Though as I say that, it's also not healthy to individually reflect too much on the state of the world, given that we're not overly empowered or incentivized to do much to change it.

 

For its part, I think the VHL is a pretty swell hobby, as at the very least it really does facilitate creation, not to mention socialization. Ultimately, regardless of how "useful" or "productive" the things we choose to engage with are, I think the main consideration should be if those things are bringing some kind of joy or fulfillment to our lives. Given that we are somewhat at the mercy of the world around us (in fact, I'd say that life is as "entirely rooted in randomly generated statistics" as you can get), the best we can do is make the journey feel as worthwhile as we can!

 

Anyway, this was my own pseudo-related deep thought rant.