Doom scrolling has to be the number one hobby of online people in 2025. Countless hours spent scrolling down a feed or the For Your Page takes its toll. I know I'm guilty of this. I also know that it is terrible for my mental health. I've written about this before. So how do I deal with time when I want to zone out, but don't want to doom scroll?

For me, this last week, I replaced doom scrolling with reading. This is an odd statement for me. I'm not a great reader - I haven't been since college. Double majoring in History and Religion killed my desire to read. Once I learned I could toss a book to the side if I hated it, I could start reading again.

Why is this important? Because I need something to stimulate my brain. For the last few years, scrolling Facebook or TikTok accomplished this. But the constant news from DC overtakes everything. This causes a huge amount of cortisol to flood my brain, causing stress instead of the needed downtime I need.

Instead, I'm reading a bit more every day. I'm reading "Those Devils In Baggy Pants," a first-hand account of the 82nd Airbourne during World War II. Ross Carter wrote the memoir in a wonderful conversational tone, making it an easy read. I'm also reading "Horus Rising" from the Warhammer 40K fictional universe. Neither of these books is high art, but both are enjoyable.

Refereeing Update

Why do I bring this up? Because it's important to exercise the gray stuff. This is especially true as I head again into another Soccer Season. Tonight opens the first tournament of my year, with two matches and then at least nine more over the next two days. The brain is a muscle like the legs and chest. And I'm sure that doom scrolling does not help stretch or work that muscle. But we must strive to learn something daily.

I have also been doing Middle School Volleyball matches to help supplement the purse. It’s an enjoyable experience. Otherwise, I did a couple of indoor matches last weekend and my first outdoor match of 2025. Keeping moving and keeping active is my strategy to maintain my mental and physical sanity in this timeline.

I’m also really considering doing another weekend in the life of a tournament official video. The first one didn’t seem to do well - but I am willing to try again.

German Football Weirdness

Speaking of footie, a friend sent me the oddest headline I've ever read. This comes from the Kreisliga C division, an 8th-tier professional league in Germany. The Latin Times reports"German Soccer Player's Child Bites Referee's Testicle Forcing Game to Be Canceled." The story is as bizarre as it sounds. The Referee was checking the sides in for the match when one of the player's kids chomped down on his left testicle. And of course, he sends me this headline just before I open my season!

Woodworking Update

Nothing of note to update on this front. Without a dedicated space, it’s hard to get motivated to do anything, and the two potential spots I have for a dedicated space need a ton of work to get them ready to go. The most likely spot will get attacked this spring as we try to clean it out and ensure that the floor joists and floorboards are safe - as it sits over a cellar dug before the US Civil War. I am planning on making some chopsticks on Sunday to do both some YouTube ASMR content and to offer them for sale. I will be making these out of whatever blanks I currently have cut so I’ll list that in the video.

That said, watch for a new video on the YouTube channel, with a short dropped on the TikTok and the Reels.

Take care of yourselves, and I’ll be back next week with more mental health, sports, and woodworking takes.