The commute just keeps commuting
August 19, 2024 11:41 AM Subscribe
My total commute time is 40m in AM, and 1.5h in PM (le sigh). I WFO all 5 days.
I'm not the person driving the car. There's no way to shorten the commute itself. However, screen time is hurting my eyes and audible puts me to sleep. All books, all podcasts. Zzzz. Friends don't work the same hours, so can't call them.
What do I do during this useless pocket of time(s)?
I was facing a similar issue once for different reasons - I get carsick reading in cars and/or buses, but not trains, and there was a period when one of my commutes involved a bus leg of 45 minutes' duration.
I knit, and I started just cranking out hats - a whole lot of hats. It was a small and portable project that took a comparatively short amount of time, and I just kept making hats and saving them aside. They all got distributed as gifts that year for Christmas and were a big hit.
If there is some similar handicraft you can do- knitting, crocheting, etc. - you can maybe just crank things out, and then save aside your finished objects for gifts to family and friends or as donations to charity. (There are a metric assload of groups that take hand-knit items as donations.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:49 AM on August 19 [1 favorite]
I knit, and I started just cranking out hats - a whole lot of hats. It was a small and portable project that took a comparatively short amount of time, and I just kept making hats and saving them aside. They all got distributed as gifts that year for Christmas and were a big hit.
If there is some similar handicraft you can do- knitting, crocheting, etc. - you can maybe just crank things out, and then save aside your finished objects for gifts to family and friends or as donations to charity. (There are a metric assload of groups that take hand-knit items as donations.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:49 AM on August 19 [1 favorite]
I'm not the person driving the car
That's a luxury commute. Me, I'd happily audible myself to sleep.
posted by flabdablet at 11:49 AM on August 19 [21 favorites]
That's a luxury commute. Me, I'd happily audible myself to sleep.
posted by flabdablet at 11:49 AM on August 19 [21 favorites]
screen time is hurting my eyes
Read on a paper book or kindle, if you don't get carsick.
audible puts me to sleep
Listen to music.
Write
Draw
Learn a fiber craft (knit, friendship bracelets, embroidery)
Zzzz
Actually sleep but on purpose
posted by phunniemee at 11:49 AM on August 19 [1 favorite]
Read on a paper book or kindle, if you don't get carsick.
audible puts me to sleep
Listen to music.
Write
Draw
Learn a fiber craft (knit, friendship bracelets, embroidery)
Zzzz
Actually sleep but on purpose
posted by phunniemee at 11:49 AM on August 19 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: PM is dark, no? It's late evening. Knitting/crocheting can be done in poor light also?
posted by Nieshka at 11:50 AM on August 19
posted by Nieshka at 11:50 AM on August 19
Some people find that reading on paper or e-ink results in much less eye strain than reading on a phone or other LCD display. Also before my cataract surgery I hated dark mode, but I have much less astigmatism now and dark mode on an OLED display specifically actually seems kind of nice sometimes. The new iPad Pro and most high end phones (both iPhone and Android) have OLED displays, so that might result in less eye strain than a standard LCD screen on standard/high brightness.
But if you've already tried an e-reader and the screen time you're getting is already on an OLED with dark mode enabled, or if you have astigmatism that makes dark mode impractical or uncomfortable, this comment won't help you at all.
posted by fedward at 12:01 PM on August 19
But if you've already tried an e-reader and the screen time you're getting is already on an OLED with dark mode enabled, or if you have astigmatism that makes dark mode impractical or uncomfortable, this comment won't help you at all.
posted by fedward at 12:01 PM on August 19
If you fall asleep every time you listen to a book or podcast, that tells me you're probably sleep deprived. Given that, you should probably use the time to sleep and stop considering it useless.
posted by Redstart at 12:02 PM on August 19 [30 favorites]
posted by Redstart at 12:02 PM on August 19 [30 favorites]
Sleep? I would probably sleep so I could go to bed a bit later.
Otherwise a physical craft might work if it doesn't give you motion sickness - cross stitch, knitting, crochet, small macrame, embroidery. Sketching, drawing, painting (easier on a tablet but not impossible with a tiny travel paint palette - watercolor is probably easiest). You can do all this with a book light, or reading light that hangs around your neck and shines a very targeted light, but the people I know who are practiced knitter/crocheters can do it while watching TV, holding a conversation, and dancing a gentle cha-cha so I don't think constant looking is critical once you have the feel of it. As a cross-stitcher, I need a light, but it doesn't need to be a big light.
Bonus: if my hands are doing something, audiobooks/podcasts don't put me to sleep.
With a lap desk (or, my latest discovery, a neck pillow like this in your lap), you could journal, plan, mind-dump any work stuff so you can truly forget about it for the night. Write letters, the above-mentioned sketching or painting. Paper crossword puzzles/sudoku etc.
Commuting exericises! Maybe print that out into a booklet until you memorize the moves.
Travel solitaire.
Probably the easiest solution is an ebook, with a backlight or clip-on reading light.
posted by Lyn Never at 12:11 PM on August 19 [1 favorite]
Otherwise a physical craft might work if it doesn't give you motion sickness - cross stitch, knitting, crochet, small macrame, embroidery. Sketching, drawing, painting (easier on a tablet but not impossible with a tiny travel paint palette - watercolor is probably easiest). You can do all this with a book light, or reading light that hangs around your neck and shines a very targeted light, but the people I know who are practiced knitter/crocheters can do it while watching TV, holding a conversation, and dancing a gentle cha-cha so I don't think constant looking is critical once you have the feel of it. As a cross-stitcher, I need a light, but it doesn't need to be a big light.
Bonus: if my hands are doing something, audiobooks/podcasts don't put me to sleep.
With a lap desk (or, my latest discovery, a neck pillow like this in your lap), you could journal, plan, mind-dump any work stuff so you can truly forget about it for the night. Write letters, the above-mentioned sketching or painting. Paper crossword puzzles/sudoku etc.
Commuting exericises! Maybe print that out into a booklet until you memorize the moves.
Travel solitaire.
Probably the easiest solution is an ebook, with a backlight or clip-on reading light.
posted by Lyn Never at 12:11 PM on August 19 [1 favorite]
Exploring new music, maybe? Audio-based language instruction (assuming here that the active attention might counteract the sleepiness thing)? Meditation/mindfulness practice on your way to commuting slumber?
posted by wormtales at 12:29 PM on August 19 [2 favorites]
posted by wormtales at 12:29 PM on August 19 [2 favorites]
Knitting/crocheting can be done in poor light also?
Crochet would be pretty hard, I think, because there's less to guide you as to where to insert the hook each time. Knitting could be easier since you'd generally be inserting the needle into the next stitch on the other needle. If you're new to knitting it might make things harder, though - but then again maybe it's easier to get used to if that's how you learn in the first place.
Personally I'd either sleep or try wormtales' suggestions. But if you want to be productive for whatever reason, you can write (either by hand, or touch-typing without looking at a screen - you can even connect a physical keyboard to your phone and just stash the phone away somewhere): letters, todo lists, a journal, stories. (You can try doing this without writing too, if your memory is any good.) You could work out the details of some project you'd like to do. You can work on memorizing (poems, dialogues, speeches, facts) and if needed use writing to practice that. You can try drawing without looking much at what you draw - drawing is interesting in that for a lot of us, when we try to draw something it can turn out we don't actually know what it looks like exactly, because we've never thought about the details that closely. So you can try drawing as a way of finding out what images you hold in your memory and what you don't.
You can go over the events of the day in your mind and think about them more deeply than you had time to in the moment. What was that person thinking when they said that thing? Was there a different way you could have responded? What were your feelings about the results of that meeting? What did you learn from things that happened today? Etc.
posted by trig at 12:43 PM on August 19
Crochet would be pretty hard, I think, because there's less to guide you as to where to insert the hook each time. Knitting could be easier since you'd generally be inserting the needle into the next stitch on the other needle. If you're new to knitting it might make things harder, though - but then again maybe it's easier to get used to if that's how you learn in the first place.
Personally I'd either sleep or try wormtales' suggestions. But if you want to be productive for whatever reason, you can write (either by hand, or touch-typing without looking at a screen - you can even connect a physical keyboard to your phone and just stash the phone away somewhere): letters, todo lists, a journal, stories. (You can try doing this without writing too, if your memory is any good.) You could work out the details of some project you'd like to do. You can work on memorizing (poems, dialogues, speeches, facts) and if needed use writing to practice that. You can try drawing without looking much at what you draw - drawing is interesting in that for a lot of us, when we try to draw something it can turn out we don't actually know what it looks like exactly, because we've never thought about the details that closely. So you can try drawing as a way of finding out what images you hold in your memory and what you don't.
You can go over the events of the day in your mind and think about them more deeply than you had time to in the moment. What was that person thinking when they said that thing? Was there a different way you could have responded? What were your feelings about the results of that meeting? What did you learn from things that happened today? Etc.
posted by trig at 12:43 PM on August 19
I would learn tap code, Morse, and/or phonetic sign language.
posted by cocoagirl at 2:16 PM on August 19 [1 favorite]
posted by cocoagirl at 2:16 PM on August 19 [1 favorite]
I was recently reading a book on the topic of focus, and one of the interesting threads was the science behind the value of mind wandering. It helps replenish your brain's capacity for focus, promotes creative thought, etc. So, a combo of sleep + mind wandering + maybe one podcast episode (assuming there is at least one you enjoy) or music, would be plenty for the commute.
posted by coffeecat at 2:22 PM on August 19
posted by coffeecat at 2:22 PM on August 19
Is there a particular reason you want to avoid sleeping during the commute?
For screens, I turn the brightness way down and turn the blue light filter way up.
Self massage is a good option with your constraints. Maybe a head massage would help with the eyestrain.
Honestly, though, the way I'm reading this question... is something else bothering you about your commute? I find that when I get as frustrated as you seem to be here - where you've gone through every option available and nothing seems to work, and there's a problem with every solution - that there's a deeper issue at play.
posted by wheatlets at 2:46 PM on August 19 [1 favorite]
For screens, I turn the brightness way down and turn the blue light filter way up.
Self massage is a good option with your constraints. Maybe a head massage would help with the eyestrain.
Honestly, though, the way I'm reading this question... is something else bothering you about your commute? I find that when I get as frustrated as you seem to be here - where you've gone through every option available and nothing seems to work, and there's a problem with every solution - that there's a deeper issue at play.
posted by wheatlets at 2:46 PM on August 19 [1 favorite]
If you're falling asleep to all books and all podcasts... you may just be one of those people who falls asleep in the car (I am too!). Or as noted elsewhere, you're overtired and you need the sleep! I'd embrace it... keep a travel pillow and eye mask with you and catch up on the zzzz.
Or drink a ton of water ahead of time and your bladder will make sure you're not able to sleep.
posted by cgg at 3:25 PM on August 19
Or drink a ton of water ahead of time and your bladder will make sure you're not able to sleep.
posted by cgg at 3:25 PM on August 19
Listen to music and look out the window. Think of it as a meditation exercise.
posted by shock muppet at 3:41 PM on August 19
posted by shock muppet at 3:41 PM on August 19
Knitting/crocheting can be done in poor light also?
Knitting can be done in complete darkness, my grandmother used to do it all the time.
posted by Mitheral at 4:23 PM on August 19 [1 favorite]
Knitting can be done in complete darkness, my grandmother used to do it all the time.
posted by Mitheral at 4:23 PM on August 19 [1 favorite]
if just starting knitting, try jumbo needles & thick yarn: the thicker the yarn, the faster it goes. also, a circular needle (2 needles joined with a cable) can be easier to hold on to than two separate ones
posted by HearHere at 4:49 PM on August 19 [1 favorite]
posted by HearHere at 4:49 PM on August 19 [1 favorite]
When I had a similar commute (but had to drive it), I worked through a whole bunch of the Great Courses college-courses-on-CD. Each one was good for a month or so.
Professor Greenberg’s music history ones scratched the itch for me… some talking, some Mozart, some more talking.
posted by graphweaver at 6:23 PM on August 19
Professor Greenberg’s music history ones scratched the itch for me… some talking, some Mozart, some more talking.
posted by graphweaver at 6:23 PM on August 19
If you find it difficult to stay awake, have you had a sleep study to check for sleep apnea?
posted by TimHare at 10:22 PM on August 19
posted by TimHare at 10:22 PM on August 19
I'm with the "if you're sleepy, you should probably sleep" crowd, but if you'd rather not, then: Get yourself a kumihimo disk kit and learn to make Japanese braided cords. If you can see your hand in front of your face, you've got enough light to be able to use the disk. And the "teeth" around the edge of the disk hold the threads tight, so it doesn't matter how bumpy the road is.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 1:50 AM on August 20 [1 favorite]
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 1:50 AM on August 20 [1 favorite]
After dark, a small headlamp on a headband will shed light on any crafty stuff you do without reducing the driver's ability to see the road. You can get good ones for short money at any decent outdoor equipment outfitter.
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 6:30 AM on August 20
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 6:30 AM on August 20
Man I would get back into music. Listen to old favorites, some new Top 40 stuff, chase down obscure bands in a genre you like, ask your friends to recommend stuff. Music is great for car trips.
posted by restless_nomad at 8:40 AM on August 20 [2 favorites]
posted by restless_nomad at 8:40 AM on August 20 [2 favorites]
Can I ask some questions about your commute specifically:
1. Why is it longer on the return trip than on the outbound trip?
2. What IS the means you are using? You only say you're "not driving". So is it a train, bus, carpool, etc.? You've suggested that it's dark at one point, but in my experience even on buses at night there's still some way to give yourself light, so I'm genuinely confused.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:44 AM on August 21
1. Why is it longer on the return trip than on the outbound trip?
2. What IS the means you are using? You only say you're "not driving". So is it a train, bus, carpool, etc.? You've suggested that it's dark at one point, but in my experience even on buses at night there's still some way to give yourself light, so I'm genuinely confused.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:44 AM on August 21
The return trip is longer, generally, in my city because rush hour at night is worse than morning rush hour.
Have you tried reading on a quality, dedicated e-reader? It's different than screen time on a phone. They're light and the size of a paperback and the layout and lighting make them gentler. It's easy to be less twitchy. This might work if you have some authors you really enjoy.
How about listening to new music? You could do a whole album home every day.
posted by bluedaisy at 12:01 PM on August 22 [1 favorite]
Have you tried reading on a quality, dedicated e-reader? It's different than screen time on a phone. They're light and the size of a paperback and the layout and lighting make them gentler. It's easy to be less twitchy. This might work if you have some authors you really enjoy.
How about listening to new music? You could do a whole album home every day.
posted by bluedaisy at 12:01 PM on August 22 [1 favorite]
I use this rechargeable necklace light to read or knit/crochet/embroider in low light situations. Has various settings and doesn't impact anyone around me.
posted by reksb at 12:55 PM on August 22 [1 favorite]
posted by reksb at 12:55 PM on August 22 [1 favorite]
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posted by Sparky Buttons at 11:48 AM on August 19 [10 favorites]