Spending time on it, stops making it free. I’ve used Linux on off for more than 25 years now, but always switched back to Windows because in all those previous instances something weren’t working well enough on Linux. I’m not blaming Linux for this and will at some point try again as I dislike what Windows does in the background.

But my time is not ‘free’.

And practically I mostly find using Windows extremely easy. Being in IT specifically for my knowledge about Windows obviously helps there. I follow the notices they send out for my job, so know how to turn off or prevent many of the user annoyances quickly.

I guess that’s just the intentional innuendo I use about it. If you look up bjj memes (or Craig Jones) you’ll find most people preempt the jokes insecure people might make about dressing up in lycra and wrestling with other sweaty men in a padded room.

Cool! Yeah, they also have Ringen which also can be nice! I tried sword fighting a couple of times but I don’t like the competition form of it (also I’m bad at it).

I do more than playfully wrestle with my friends. As I do BJJ. I actively try to choke them out or try to break their limbs or try to tear their ligaments apart. It’s very fun for all. Though while it’s open to anyone I do get most people wouldn’t enjoy it. It’s personally physical to the extreme since on top of the close physical contact you’re also sweating all over each other to the point sweat dripping in your eyes or mouth will statistically happen at least once.

Honestly if you feel like you miss playful fighting with friends, do a trial class of it.

The physical market was long gone before Spotify happened, don’t make your legitimate complaints look silly by blaming Spotify for it. The music industry simply had no good answer to deal with digital media.

Spotify did seem to force their hand and some artists improved and adapted. And it’s never had a true monopoly with many different services coexesting and competing with it.

If you want to try one again consider Children of Hurin. Narrated by Sir Christopher Lee. It’s like getting a history lesson by Saruman.

I get that you feel this way, very occasionally I still feel that with some narrators or authors.

I had to put in conscious effort with my first audiobooks too though. All that I need now is to clearly understand the narrator and have nothing I need to actively focus on. So it’s so easy to do while cleaning, cooking, driving, working in the garden etc.

I can also just put them on when going to bed and set the timer to 15 minutes. I accept that I might have to rewind a couple of minutes. I heavily prefer it over holding a real book in my hands and ruining it in my bed.

The biggest downside for me is that I dislike some narrators, which is annoying when you know you like the author’s work.

If you like long audiobooks and high fantasy try Malazan. Fair warning that if you like it, it increases the effort you need to start your suspension of disbelief for all other books. At least it did so for me.