Ask HN: What are the single person activities in Christmas and/or New Year? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What are the single person activities in Christmas and/or New Year?

59 pointsnotomorrow53 comments

If you are alone in a big city, what would be your online/offline to kill some time during Christmas/New year vacation?

Cycling locally is interesting, hardly any traffic about. You might have to take your coffee stop at a petrol station, they will be the only place open.

I found it interesting that Starbucks in my area was open until 5PM today. Sadly they were only getting time and a half, I’m told.

my food stop are at trees (persimmons, oranges), and yea cycling so enjoyable when there's no traffic

In most big cities there will be an underground trance or techno rave that goes on much longer than usual on New Year's Eve. Perhaps try one of those. No-one will care if you are there on your own and you will probably meet some great people.

I've been trying to get into the rave scene recently and I've found it a bit hard to find "underground" events as somebody not so socially adept..

Got any tips?

https://www.goabase.net/ can be a good starting point to finding events. Facebook/Whatsapp/Telegram groups (focused on music) found from your local subreddit can probably point you in some direction too. Once you've attended one or two events and gotten to known some people, they'll happily help you attend more ones, including the ones that are not advertised as publicly.

Go to bars that play techno / house. Meet people. Add bars and people on Instagram. Add djs from bars on instagram. Ask for recommendations for other places. It took me about a year to break into the underground. Most important part is to meet people at events. Be a fun person, non-needy

"Be a fun person"

Reminds me of the 2 rules for success on dating apps:

1. Be attractive

2. Don't be unattractive

Go to a nice coffee shop, get a gingerbread latte and sit by a window, watch people walking by and write (or hope a cute guy comes to talk to me ;D)

Leave one headphone out, just in case :D Hope a cute guy approaches you one day soon!

To answer the question, I've heard anecdotal stories of atleast a few of my friends, how they got "adopted" by a random group of people celebrating in the city. Always be safe of course.

FYI https://blog.race-conditions.net/ 's cert has expired, and the GitHub link under its header 404s.

Edit: realised that's a bit dry. Good luck with the cute guy and enjoy New Year's!

Powder skiing. No friends on a powder day. 1.4 m of fresh and -29 Celsius. Heated boots, snorkel system, heated vest, down coat and pants.

Where do you get heated gear?

Search heated vests on Amazon, get the ones that run off of USB charging packs.

For feet, you can do the single use toe packs or get the toe plate warmer that runs off of a lithium ion pack. These are the best: https://www.thewarmingstore.com/therm-ic-c-pack-1700-bluetoo...

A product called boot glove works extremely well too. This is a neoprene (wetsuit material) cover that goes around the boot. I use this as well as the heated toe plate.

For hands, you want a warm mitt that will stop wind and give a lot of insulation. Then add the single use hot pack.

The hardest part is the face. You don't want any exposed skin, so a face mask is what is needed. Goggle fog becomes a problem so a snorkel that expels air away from your face works well if you get used to it. You also don't inhale powder snow which is hard to deal with when it's that deep. I still carry a spare pair of goggles just in case.

The trick is to not sweat too much. Regulating your heat with a warm hood and the heated vest that you can adjust helps.

Nobody really skis when it's this cold out except for a small amount of nut cases. So you get the mountain to yourself and run after run of untracked turns. It happens every three years or so where you get this big a storm along with the cold temps.

Yeah, that sounds exactly like something that would generalize to a big city.

I guess not. But there's often a hill within day trip driving distance to a lot of cities in the north.

This is just one small thing, but you could hang out at a music store, and ask questions about instruments. Ask one of the guitar techs to show you how to play the bass, or ask the drummer guys to show you how drums work. Not spend all day there, maybe 30 minutes or an hour, but could learn a lot and might find that you enjoy one of those instruments.

1. Meetup.com - find local meetups that are doing things over the holidays. Try something new with others.

2. Go hang out at the touristy parts of your city. Dress up, treat yourself to a meal / drink / dessert in a cool place.

3. Make a list of chores - stuff that needs cleaning, fixing, and get them all done to start the new year fresh.

4. Someone mentioned going to music venues (clubs, raves etc..) - buy yourself a pair of musician's ear plugs to protect your hearing. You can thank me in a few years.

5. Go to the gym. Go to the driving range. Go to the archery range. Since you'll (hopefully) see improvements every time you visit, you'll enjoy going back :). They're also great inexpensive ways to blow off some steam.

6. Go to a wonderful coffee shop or an amazing old bar. Take a notebook. Find a spot with a great view, order a drink, and write - reflect on the past year, and maybe make some plans for the new one :).

Bake a cake or some cookies, find your next fire/police station and bring it to them. It will brighten up their day.

Along those lines: Get a Santa hat and a red pillow case, gather up socks, underwear, blankets, sanitary items, gift cards, candy, and walk around the city and give it to the homeless you come across.

Pick the fire station to dramatically reduce the chances of being shot accidentally.

I beat FTL on normal

Mantis rush is OP

as a ship or vs against? i played with the default ship and luckily didnt get rekt by things boarding

My fav ship to play is the Mantis ship that has a quad teleporter built in. It's stupid good.

Teleportation is OP because when you kill everything on the ship, the scrap recovered is significantly higher than if you blew it up. Allows you to progress much faster.

Another undervalued tech is hacking. With the right timing it's the best upgrade in the game.

FTL is crazy hard, bit there are some general strategies that you can play to regularly beat the game. I'm not saying you'll win more than you lose, but it's totally doable to unlock all ships and all modes.

I did some live-stream programming this morning. It's something I started trying out recently. There were a few people to chat with, and I made a little progress on a personal project.

Awesome! You mean, you stream your programming. I've been wondering for years whether I should give it a try. Is it also helpful, or just fun to kill time?

Ive also wondered about this but it seems so intimidating to code in front of strangers

idea: next time you get asked to do leetcode, tell them they can join your livestream where you work on your own project.

It has its positives and negatives - but I'd say mostly positive.

It's a little difficult to hold conversations with chat while trying to remember what I'm doing with the program. It also feels a little awkward talking to an empty chat (which is what to expect when first starting out). You potentially need to handle spammers and trolls.

On the positive side, I've watched other streaming programmers, and met programmers in chats. We've shared ideas with each other, and it's giving me new ideas and interests. And, it gets me out of my comfort zone, which is the only way to grow.

If it ever becomes more pain than pleasure, I can always stop.

Have a link?

The channel is https://www.twitch.tv/codingwithscott. I don't have a schedule yet, especially with the holidays, but I'm going to try to stream at least a few times a week.

Go watch a movie, or at least this is something I would do before COVID. I haven't been since COVID started. The Coen brother The Tragedy of Macbeth is now showing.

Coen singular, in this case.

That’s why I said Coen brother. :)

I'm about to go watch the sunset with some snacks. Though to be honest, the main thing is just getting out, rather than what I do specifically once I'm there.

Just do what you usually do, I mostly just wake up everyday and decide what I want to do at any moment, and just do that.

But if you want to make your christmas/new year special, I'd say go someplace in your city where they conduct plays/actings, usually they are pretty fun to watch alone.

I'm going to one on 31st December too :D

If you're willing to share your time and talents, there are organizations in some larger cities that offer volunteer opportunities with no commitment. For instance, New York Cares https://www.newyorkcares.org

If I was in my old apartment(s) in downtown Seattle today, during COVID, I’d probably be up on the rooftop with a small cooler of beverages, warm jacket, and a good pair of headphones.

Pre-COVID, I’d be somewhere like the 5 Point Cafe or another dive bar.

Or, I’d be working on one of my hobbies.

Hurricane! Damn that place was a dump. Miss it.

I just got back from picking up litter, though I do it every other day too. People keep picking up the habit, so it's spreading. I've been on TV twice for plogging too.

Everyone thinks it will be dirty and ineffective, but then finds it oddly satisfying.

People keep picking up the habit? If that was intentional, nicely done.

And even if the pun wasn't intentional, good on you for picking up...

Playing Age of Empires IV :D

Ice skating is a great time, especially if you can get to a larger, less stuffy park district rink and bring a puck and hockey stick. Regional limitations may apply.

Reflecting on what the human needs for surviving and thriving are, which ones am I not meeting, don't know how to identify, don't know how to meet, and how can I start meeting them sustainably.

You could visit a museum or a zoo. You could go for bike rides, runs, or long walks. If I were single in Manhattan, I'd run and walk.

I usually go to the movies. You can often times find theaters that are empty, which can be a good thing right now

I second this, especially now that Matrix Resurrections is out. :-)

Anything really. You're single, which means you're unrestrained.

shopping at IKEA - very festive and hardly any people around!

Netflix and sip

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