23 Comments

Related hard to the fit-throwing part. I’m the same way! One of the reasons I love Liz Lemon so much with her BLERG! and NERD RAGE! outbursts.

I start a lot of things, sometimes simultaneously. I get inspired or am procrastinating something else or get bored with what I was doing. There’s an audio trend on Reels right now about starting new projects despite multiple unfinished projects languishing and I’m like 🙋🏼‍♀️. So yeah, I quit a lot of things.

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Jen- I meant to ask: what is Reels?

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Reels is Instagram’s version of TikTok, with trendy audio and visual filters.

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Fun read. You’ve inspired me. I also write, but I keep my work stuffed in my computer. Maybe I’ve found a legitimate reason to quit doing that!.Thanks, Steve (and Hammer) 😜

-Leanna

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I like how you squeezed in "legitimate" in your comment there! All subtle and not with blaring lights, which is how I like to point out my cleverness....Yes, Substack is great for new and older writing. I have repurposed older essays and so do a lot of people here. Be ready for your time spent reading and sleeping to disappear when you do this though! Unless you are a better time management person than I am.

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I'd love to be able to say my music career went nowhere because I gave up before trying everything, but in fact it went nowhere because I didn't try the one thing that might have helped: practicing! As for the outfit, I have (distant) relatives who dress like that, so who am I to make fun? And no, I don't have any Hammer albums. I got shouted at enough as a kid, so no way was I going to buy an album that consisted of a guy shouting at me for 45 minutes.

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I'M TEMPTED TO RESPOND IN ALL CAPS to emulate you being shouted at, but that would be mean....yeah, practicing....why can't we be naturally amazing at everything and thus not need to use up so much valuable time practicing?

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I have a history of joining-to-quit: tennis lessons, tai chi, yoga, couch-to-5K, the gym. Hmm. There is definitely a pattern there! Great post - and great clothes!

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Thanks -- I'm thinking a modeling career to supplement my dog walking. Joining to quit, yep, relatable. I like to think of it as: joining to become minimally competent and then finding the next thing to up my abilities just enough to move on to the next!

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Well, ever since I learned to sew cloth squares together........Oh, comfortable QUITTING! I coulda sworn I saw an "L" in there! Oh, well.....for the comment section of another Earworm & Song Loops! I think I'm envisioning the Weird Al video we never saw (perhaps as a companion piece to his "Amish Paradise"): MC Samuel: "Too Legit to Quilt."

Thank goodness you actually called for puns! You know I wouldn't have even tried one had you not asked!😁So, I have always hoped for "The Throbbing Thumb Tour": Nine Inch Nails touring with Hammer and Tool. They could've served screwdrivers between acts, with special drink glasses hanging from a peg board in a makeshift garage!

Timed with the Band Aid effort, I'm thinking marketing slam dunk! As for your outfit, nice...you're a braver man than I! I wanna hear all about that orange wall, though!!

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I, of course omitted the silent U (you) from my pun request. I didn’t want U (you) to get a big head and hoped others might attempt something punny as well. But it’s gonna be hard to beat the Weird Al version, “ 2 Legit 2 Quilt.” Kind of surprised it hadn’t happened back in the early nineties.

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I like to quit before I try everything - profound words. I feel these in my bones. I’m also a multihyphenate generalist and was just describing this to someone. A “Jill of all trades” a master of none. Also connect to the clumsy meal prep thing and making it into a colossal thing. But that’s more other things these days I can’t recall which of my parents did this but one of them had to right? How else do you learn this? It’s not all wiring.

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I relate to the Jill of all trades thing.

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You could learn bad and good habits from your partner, from your kids, from your friends.... those are parental influences are certainly much deeper and harder to avoid.

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I recently made the decision to quit one of the pickup soccer groups I'd been playing with. I'd been playing with them for years, but it had become increasingly difficult after blowing out my knee in 2020 (0/10. Do NOT recommend). Plus, the late start meant that I was more or less pulling all-nighters, and I'm way too old for that. I stuck it out for as long as I could, but when the guy that founded the group handed it off to someone else, I took that as the final sign it was time to let go.

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Soccer is a tough sport to play with an aging body. Just the idea of all that constant running tears me out. I play coed softball, but that is 50% drinking beer and 50% holding the beer while you play in the outfield, so it’s not too taxing on the body. So props for making it that long! Also, you say it’s drop in soccer, so you could always go whenever you’re not having to work soon afterwards!

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lol at drinking a beer and holding a beer!

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Thanks! I’ve got a pretty good track record of making bad decisions. Lol. Two nights back to back on turf was just a bridge too far…

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One thing I’m glad you don’t quit… writing! Fun piece!

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+1 for this! ❤️

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Thanks, Felicia! I’ll never quit writing as long as I have my hands or a phone with voice dictation!

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Rockin the Hammer pants! I too wish you still had the framed plaque…what a great coworker!

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I know, right? The thing is, it was a prank too. We would prank each other all the time. She was always taking it way further than me. Thanks for reading, Christie! Portland visit soon!

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