Hobbies, Interests, Workshops, and Growth

[Blackhawk]

This is an official spin-off to open a great discussion to the community rather than have it be about a hiccup in my life.

A week or so ago, I had a rude awakening: the hobbies that had defined who I am for the the last 32 of my 48 years were no longer for me. I created a thread about it, mostly as a way of figuring out what was going on with my always-entertaining mind. When I started it, I thought it was a thread about gaming and super-burnout. It isn't. It's about hobbies and interests, and about how, as we grow, as our personalities, motivations, and psychological need change, we sometimes get so stuck in old habits that they become outdated and a bad fit without us ever realizing it's happened. I had a rude awakening about that - the original thread topic. But as the conversation progressed I quickly went from frustration and embarrassment to excitement. By letting go of what didn't fit me anymore, I had made way for something new! And I could - can - take that in any direction I so choose.

And that is the greatest thing to happen in a long time. And I want to talk about it, about my ideas and what I'm doing. But that thread is tainted. It started off as a stream of consciousness about a crisis, and that still lingers.

So, I decided to spin off a new thread. A place where everyone can talk about their hobbies and crafts, share their creative outlets and passions. To talk about our tools, our inspiration, and our studios/workshops/labs/work rooms/ etc. Something like the miniature painting thread, but broader, suitable for the whole range of interests OO has, from collecting to gardening to wood carving to welding to knitting to writing.

So, have at! I will be back later to toss in my one cent (I spent the other one, sorry.)

[coopasonic]

My only hobbies and interests are the ones that I talk about here, video games and board games. I highly doubt I will ever "outgrow" them. They've been with me since I was first exposed to them and I can't see anything ever replacing.

Along the way I did a deep dive into RC Cars and still have 5-6 really nice RC cars that are around 10 years old now. I have no idea if they would even work now. I'm sure I'd need new batteries and then I'd have to remember which controllers went with which and how to use my higher tech controllers that you can switch which car they link to. I should have found a new home for them when I stopped messing with them on the regular. We do have a big hobby shop fairly nearby that has sweet indoor off-road and on-road tracks. I have cars for both. The cars were way faster than my skills could handle. One of my road cars is geared for 100mph... no not 100 scale mph, it literally would go 100mph. That's a bit fast for a car that's like 16 inches long and weighs about 4 pounds. I've probably spent in the neighborhood of $3k on this stuff.

[LordMortis]

I won't say I am "out growing" video games but I am finding that I have both playing more rat-lever-pellet reward games and enjoying them less which is then seeing me question my video gaming and then not playing at all.

A rabbit hole read from the subnautica thread pretty much nailed things for me, it led me to a bit of reading that apparently inspired the subnautica design

https://magicfissile.tumblr.com/post/74 ... s-in-kleis

I think I'm going to let this bit resonate with me the next time I go game hunting to remind myself to stay away from those sorts of games.


I don't see me having much room for other hobbies until I get to that magic retirement level and then things will probably wait until I put together my life post work, cleaning and fixing and organizing things (and prioritizing people) that are being ignored for far too long.

[stessier]

I predict Meal will not approve of this thread.

[coopasonic]

I predict Meal will not approve of this thread.

As a backer of the anti-randomness movement I'd say if we responsibly spawn off new threads if a discussion around a specific hobby starts, we should be ok. Sometimes we need a more open starting point to find out we have something more specific to talk about.

[dbt1949]

I have a gazillion dollars invested in model trains and lead figures. It was hard to realize I had just thrown that money away when I lost interest. Actually I didn't loose interest so much as the ability to build and paint things and the lack of room for all these stuff when it was finished.
So now I can continue these hobbies with video games. And they don't take up any physical space.

[Blackhawk]

I have also been an 'anti-randomness' poster. But hobbies are a narrow enough to topic as it is, and we do have specific threads for specific hobbies (well, one at least.) I mean, we do have a general fitness thread, and yet still have narrow threads when justified - running, weight loss, healthy eating.

[dbt1949]

We need a sex thread!

[YellowKing]

Video Games: While I hate to admit it, I find myself "growing out" of video games as well. I believe it's mostly due to lack of time than genuine disinterest, but if you're repeatedly not doing something because you don't have time for it, it kind of breeds disinterest.

Board Games: This is by far my "main" hobby these days and biggest timesink (I include miniature painting in with this). I have a weekly gaming group that meets every Thursday for a few hours, and in downtime I'm often playing stuff solo. It's also a big contributing factor to my diminishing interest in video games. I sit in front of a screen 8 hours a day for work, and I find "analog" gaming is a welcome break from that.

Ukulele: I wouldn't call this a big hobby, but one I got into enough to at least purchase a decent one. I've never taken lessons, but it was something I dabbled in pre-pandemic and really took a liking to during the pandemic as I found myself with more practice time. I'll never be super good at it because I don't have the dedication, but it's fun to mess around with.

Podcast: I've mentioned I've run a horror movie podcast for the past 4 years. I don't typically advertise it by name because I hate self-promotion when that's not the point of mentioning it. Sometimes it's great fun, like when we get to interview someone in the industry, more often it's a ton of work for little reward, but something has kept me coming back to it every week for that long.

[Blackhawk]

I've found myself video gaming less, too. I think, for me, it's two things. The first is the same reason that RPGs quit being important to me - the drive that made them so important isn't a core drive for me anymore. The second is that I've played a lot of video games. After some point, they start feeling like the same experience with a different skin. I mean, I liked Horizon Zero Dawn, but I felt like I'd played it before under the titles 'Far Cry' and 'Assassin's Creed.' That isn't a knock on the game, just that I've reached a point in the types of games I play where I sit down with a new one and feel like I've already played it.VR has changed that for me (although I have found that traditional feeling games that just happen to be VR suffer from the same problem), and I'm also looking to vary my genres a bit to mix it up.

I don't think I've 'grown out' of video games, but they're an activity now rather than the lifestyle they were before.

[Lorini]

Board games. I've been a board gamer for 60 years and don't plan to stop.

Video games. Cooling on these as well to a point, they just aren't as interesting as they once were. Since I haven't worked in 14 years it's probably mostly burnout.

Photography. Three years ago I bought a mirrorless camera and have enjoyed photography ever since. I do outdoor photography and some street photography. There's a ton more to it in both the technical aspects and the art aspects than I ever realized. Going to be selling my mirrorless camera and lenses for a Sony Xperia III when it comes out later this year, assuming the reviews are positive.

Just got into fountain pens and writing by hand. This is kind of on again off again because I'm too lazy to do a better job of perfecting my handwriting but it is fascinating.

[Rumpy]

I guess you could say mine is a niche. My Dad has long been a telescope builder, and It's kind of natural that some of that would rub off on me. In the 80's, he'd built a 21-Inch trailer-mounted telescope, which was just about the largest one on wheels at that point, and he took it down to Vermont for an annual telescope maker's convention and won several awards. We've been going there as a family ever since, and it's a convention with a long history given that in a few years, it will be 100 years old, with it having been started in 1926. In 2016, I started work on my own telescope, from the creation of its mirror to the construction of the telescope itself and took it down there in 2019 where it won awards.

[Blackhawk]

I guess you could say mine is a niche. My Dad has long been a telescope builder, and It's kind of natural that some of that would rub off on me. In the 80's, he'd built a 21-Inch trailer-mounted telescope, which was just about the largest one on wheels at that point, and he took it down to Vermont for an annual telescope maker's convention and won several awards. We've been going there as a family ever since, and it's a convention with a long history given that in a few years, it will be 100 years old, with it having been started in 1926. In 2016, I started work on my own telescope, from the creation of its mirror to the construction of the telescope itself and took it down there in 2019 where it won awards.

That's cool as hell. My favorite things in any activity are control and precision. And I can't imagine anything that would require more patience, control, and precision than making a precise instrument like that.

[Rumpy]

Yeah, it does. When it comes to the mirror, there's a very controlled and precise process one needs to do. Most of it these days can be done with machines, but the purist will do it by hand, and it does take lots of patience, and grit (no, literally, grit measured to certain microns, cerium oxide being popular), and it can be a painstaking process. Personally, I found it to be relaxing as it put me into a sort of zen state. And afterwards, when the whole project is done, there's a sense of accomplishment like no other, that you can view the sky through an instrument you made, and you feel a connection to the sky.

Have some pictures of it here:

[Unagi]

It’s beautiful.

aaaallmost inspiring

[Z-Corn]

I churn through hobbies. I learn all I can and then tend to move on.

[Scuzz]

I play video games probably 1-2 hours a day still. For now anyway it is how I relax, and other than sports I consider TV a waste of time.

When I tire of gaming I love working in the yard. Tinkering outside is also very relaxing for me.

[The Meal]

I predict Meal will not approve of this thread.

I'm down with this thread!

As a backer of the anti-randomness movement I'd say if we responsibly spawn off new threads if a discussion around a specific hobby starts, we should be ok. Sometimes we need a more open starting point to find out we have something more specific to talk about.

Exactly. A thread about the concept of hobbies is great. If folks start doing deep dives about specific hobbies all in a big jumble, though, then I'm less thrilled.

I have also been an 'anti-randomness' poster. But hobbies are a narrow enough to topic as it is, and we do have specific threads for specific hobbies (well, one at least.) I mean, we do have a general fitness thread, and yet still have narrow threads when justified - running, weight loss, healthy eating.

Totally.

[The Meal]

After spinning my career off track for a handful of years, I'm back to gainful employment in a meaningful way. And when I didn't have occupational influences taking up significant brain cycles, I was able to lean into the hobbies I enjoy; now I find that the influence of work is cutting into not just my hobby time, but also the enjoyment of that time while it's happening. I'm not sure that I'm on the track for lifestyle upheaval that's been central to Blackhawk for these past few weeks, but it is something for me to think about.

Still, I'm spending downtime enjoying watching NHL playoffs, playing turn-based RPGs (Solastica is all that!), and getting some face-to-face time with friends from fully-vaccinated homes over the poker table. These first two items are definitely squeezed in as I have the energy, and since live poker is a scheduled event, I tend to follow through on attendance even when I'm not "feeling it" in the moment. It's a bit of an odd thing at the moment as the crew has been playing along together online (so most of our pandemic lifestyle stories have already been shared), and folks aren't really doing much in the way of extra stuff in their lives quite yet. I'm certain that comradery and conversation will return to pre-pandemic levels, but the process of getting there has been... odd.

[gbasden]

I play video games probably 1-2 hours a day still. For now anyway it is how I relax, and other than including sports I consider TV generallya waste of time.

FTFM. I have no idea why I don't prefer to watch most TV or movies, but I seem to prefer video games where it is interactive. I also like board games and woodworking in my downtime. I'm working with my friend on a walnut and maple chest of drawers and then will be building a gaming table once that's done.

[Blackhawk]

So, have at! I will be back later to toss in my one cent (I spent the other one, sorry.)

I know, I know! I'm doing it. Quit nagging me. Stupid brain.

So, anyway. Hobbies! I don't have any. Isn't that awesome!

To be fair, that isn't exactly accurate. I still have video games, but like I mentioned earlier, that's become more of a sideline than the lifestyle-encompassing hobby that used to define me. An miniature painting isn't dead to me, but is on hiatus until I cleanse my palette ( ) and come back to it as a different type of hobby (as an artistic hobby rather than a gaming hobby.) But this whole thing started when my hobby cluster collapsed. I won't retread the whole of the other thread, but if you're horribly bored, you can read it for my journey and how I suddenly found myself disenhobbied.

tl;dr - My old group of hobbies no longer fit who I am, so I retired from them.

So, this frees me up in an awesome way. I have the opportunity to try something new. First hitch: I don't know what. Practically everything I have done for fun in my life has been based on drives, needs, and the psychology of the teenaged version of me. What does adult, near-50 me actually like? What gives me satisfaction? What are my drives? I have no clue.

And, it turns out, the question was the answer. Finding out! It would be foolish to sit here, right now, and decide who I am. My chances of being right without going through the process are slim to none. So what I make answering the question the hobby and let it grow on its own? You know, just sort of wander out the door, follow my nose, and see where I end up.

So, I'm going to become a collector. I'm going to collect skills, and I'm going to collect knowledge. I know this: What I do want is to create things. I don't know what that means, but I know that I want to start with ideas and have the result be things. Whether that means a painting, a piece of furniture, a sculpture, a device, a program, a diorama, a book, a video, or something else entirely I don't know. I've always been a jack-of-all-trades, and I'm going to embrace that, embrace my autodidacticism.

So, I've been working on a list of skills. A list of things that sound like they'd be fun to do. Not hobbies, not professions, not targeted toward specific projects, just skills. I'd love to be able to sculpt. I'd love to be able to paint. I'd love to be able to work with wood - carving, carpentry. I'd love to be able to build basic electronics, if not for their own sake, then to integrate into other projects. I'd love to write. You get the idea. So I've taken these things, turned them into a list (sculpting, painting, carving, woodworking, metalworking, soldering, electronics, writing, using color, mold making/casting, sewing, etc.) It isn't about useful, it's about skills that I look at and think, "That looks cool! I want to try that!" I've also got a number of subjects on the list, historical periods, academic topics that I'm interested in. I've always loved linguistics. And anthropology. Certain historical periods. I'm de-prioritizing some of those that up by those that aren't realistic for me (such as those that require significant space, and/or expensive tools and materials - metalworking, for instance, probably woodworking.)

I've also been looking at those that have prerequisite knowledge and skills. I've come up with a couple of core skills that are shared between a lot of others. Sculpting, paint, using color, and several others on my list are all learned through drawing. A number of them require a better understanding of math than I possess. I will start with those, and just sort of see where things lead. I will likely add things to the list as I go, and I will likely realize that there are some that just don't interest me that much and push them aside. Again: there is no grand plan here. I'm just choosing a starting place and following my whims, with the caveat that I will pursue those that I choose with some degree of dedication until I feel I have what I need from them, then move on to the next. It will be directed by interest, not expectation. I don't plan on devoting a fortune to any of them as I go. If I'm lucky, then at some point I'll hit on something that will really click with me and I'll have a hobby I can invest in, and if not, I'll have enough to keep me busy and active for years. I'll enjoy the journey and not worry about the destination.

So, my hobby, for now, is learning and collecting skills.

I've jumped into a (free) online course called Learning How to Learn that I saw recommended over and over and over. It's 15 hours and it is all about the process by which we learn, and how to take advantage of that. It's got a solid foundation in science, and is taught by a professor of engineering from Oakland Universtiy and a professor of neurology from the Salk Institute. So far it's been worth the time investment.

I'm getting set up to take the course on drawing from https://drawabox.com/ , again, a course I see recommended over and over across different disciplines. It's self paced, cheap, and very highly regarded. Plus it doesn't require much of an investment (some pens and printer paper is all that's really required early on - they specifically tell you to avoid sketch books.)

I'll also be brushing up on my basic math and pushing it a little further. This has always been my weakest subject (I took algebra twice, and never did pass.) This was mostly due to a combination of uncaring teachers, bad approaches to teaching, and frequent moves while growing up. I've gotten past most of my math anxiety over the years, but still lack the skills. From what I've seen, the ability to handle basic algebra should be enough to see me through. I know that what I need is understanding, not just memorization of processes. I've got a very straightforward, literal mind, and it always rebelled from the mathematics that were removed from the everyday world. American schools don't do anything to help students make the jump from working with numbers to working with the idea of numbers, which is why algebra has been shown to be the number one academic reason that kids don't graduate high school or drop out of college. My thought here is Khan Academy (because it is free, and widely recommended.) I still have research to do on how to achieve understanding.

I'm actually excited to be doing all of this.

[Lassr]

Have some pictures of it here:

I've been looking to buy a telescope, but none look as good as that. Very nice.

I used to be into military scale models many years ago, then when I had kids I stopped because kids think they are toys. I think I have done two in the past 20 years, before that I did like 20 in 10 years. I still have a case full of models I have not started, maybe some day.

I still play videos games, but I seem to be more picky these days about what I start and finish.

Used to board game back in college and tomorrow night I will be joining my first D&D adventure, yes, I have never played D&D.

Disc golf is my sport/hobby that I still play. Original golf is too rough on the bulging discs in my neck I played once last year and it was awful so those days are probably over.

Found this pic I made many years ago of some of the models I displayed in my office.

[Default]

FWIW, I'm the closest thing there is to an "expect" on Guild guitar amps. Work destroyed the time to engage in hobbies, but, as the timer is ticking on retirement, I'm backing away from the workload and trying to get back to doing the things that make life worth living.

[Rumpy]

Have some pictures of it here:

I've been looking to buy a telescope, but none look as good as that. Very nice.

And it's not for sale I've found that those who build their own tend to be very passionate and I've seen some pretty wicked stuff over the years including one that designed to look like the Dr Who Tardis. Of course, I've also seen more joke stuff too. Years ago, two people built one out of a watermelon, and one made out of Lego. These were all functional too.

But that's what's great about building one. You get to build it out to the specs you want and have it totally be your own.

[Daehawk]

I really should dust my telescope.

I used to build WW2 fighter planes as a kid. In my teen years I shot them all down with my bb gun. Sigh.

[Blackhawk]

I used to be into military scale models many years ago, then when I had kids I stopped because kids think they are toys. I think I have done two in the past 20 years, before that I did like 20 in 10 years. I still have a case full of models I have not started, maybe some day.

In the years before D&D took over (with a bit of a gap that included buckskinning and fly tying), scale models were my life. I loved building them for years, especially as a kid in the 80s when 'army stuff' was pure cool. The only thing holding me back these days is the knowledge that I'd be building them and putting them directly into a storage box.

Then again, maybe I could implement the 'container system' for something like that (a container holds a certain amount of stuff; when a container is full, you have to take something out to add something new.) Give my self a specific number of shelves (say, two) on which I can display projects. That's my container. If it gets full and I want to add something new, something else comes off. It would give each item a 'display life', and favorite items could stay longer.

[malchior]

I like many here am into video games and have remained so for over 40 years. Same thing with board games but not in group settings since before the pandemic. Hopefully that'll change soon.

My main pandemic hobbies have been my games, TV, movies, reading, and music including playing my guitar. I'd probably say I play it a few hours a week with the balance between the various media consumption venues.

I've also been improving the outside area of my home. I'm spending a couple hours a day fixing pavers, landscaping, and now the pool/gazebo area. A lot of work but worth it. I usually transition to working outdoors around now until it gets ridiculous hot in August.

[Lassr]

The only thing holding me back these days is the knowledge that I'd be building them and putting them directly into a storage box.

Yep, I have a large box in the attic with all my other models packed away in newspaper, except a few I display on my bookshelf in my man cave. But any new ones built now means I'd have to retire one of my others to "The Box"

[Blackhawk]

I just thought of something I'd like to make. A few years ago I bought into Gaslands (sort of a Mad Max style Car Wars/Interstate 76 style miniatures game played with kitbashed Hot Wheels/Matchbox cars.) By 'bought into', I mean that I bought the $15 book and laid claim to the big container of unused toy cars that my kids had in the closet (long since outgrown.) I never went further because my gaming situation changed, and it was a tough game to solo (I understand that there is a revised version of the rules that makes it more practical, but I never checked into it.)

Anyway, I was pondering and had a thought: do the Gaslands modeling, but start with scale model car kits (not intended for the game.) That would be a ton of fun. It would be from a kit, but it would be customized from the get-go rather than just built according to the instructions. It would combine scale modeling, use my painting skills, and help guide me toward fabrication skills at the same time. That could be worthwhile.

And as I think about it, I've still got the toy cars, and Matchbox cars are one thing that is relatively easy to display. They aren't huge, and they're popular enough as a display item to make it easy to find a medium sized, wall-mountable display case for cheap.

Examples of Gaslands cars.

[LordMortis]

When I was young, I wanted to design and make papermache castles as a hobby. After I retire and finally clean and repair and maintain way too much neglected stuff around the house, I may take the dreams of my pre-adolescent self... I might just watch too much TV and play too many video games. I wonder where I'd get the newspaper.

[Kurth]

My new pandemic hobby has been woodworking. It's something my dad has always done, and I have a ton of tools he's handed down to me. I made a gaming table a year or so ago when the pandemic started, and since then, I've done a couple of bookshelves as well as some storage solutions for the garage/shop. Now, I'm working on a shoe storage bench to try to address the never ending pile of shoes my family leaves in front of our door and that I trip over every night when I'm taking the dog out for her walk.

The bench is coming along nicely, but, knowing my kids, I'm less than optimistic it will actually solve the shoe pile problem!

[LordMortis]

Now they'll creep out even further from their pile up place because something will be blocking where they usually overflow from.

[Blackhawk]

When I was young, I wanted to design and make papermache castles as a hobby. After I retire and finally clean and repair and maintain way too much neglected stuff around the house, I may take the dreams of my pre-adolescent self... I might just watch too much TV and play too many video games. I wonder where I'd get the newspaper.

If you want to take it in a slightly different direction, here's your guy. I've been following his work for years, and I give him five stars. It requires minimal tools and upfront investment, and the materials cost incredibly little (90% of this stuff is made with standard insulation board that costs about 50 cents per square foot.)

You could make most of his stuff with a utility knife, a $15 sheet of foam, a ball of aluminum foil, a $5 yard stick, a $10 jar of Mod Podge, and five bucks worth of craft paint.

[ImLawBoy]

I pretty much do nothing. I read (not as much as I'd like to), watch some TV (not enough to keep up with all the hot new shows), and watch sports (OK, probably too much of this). With kids aged 11, 6, and 6, I just find I don't have time to do anything like a true hobby. Maybe when the kids age I can get into gaming again or something.

Does OO count as a hobby?

[Jeff V]

Too perpetually exhausted for much of anything. Computer games it's the same ol' games all of the time, I just don't have the energy to learn shiny new (nor the money for it these days). I had my bike out once this year, in before times, I'd be approaching 2000 miles by the end of a normal May. Not sure if walking a lot and listening to audiobooks counts, but passive things like is the best I can manage.

[Madmarcus]

Examples of Gaslands cars.

The cars look cool. I'm not into painting small things like that but I can see the combination of hunting for cool base cars, modding the cars, and painting would be great fun.

Car Wars was great fun back in college but I don't think I could get a group together to play an updated form now.

[Blackhawk]

I've fallen away from TV lately, too. I used to keep a dozen series going in rotation, but these day? I'll get a 'bingeworthy' series that releases on a streaming service with ten episodes, and it takes me two months to finish. The majority of my TV watching these days is documentaries. If nothing else, there is rarely a plot to keep track of from one to the next, so you can watch three seasons, wander away for a month or two, come back and jump right back in without missing a beat.

I've been the same way with films. I think I've finished three films on my own this year (the first two Harry Potter films and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.) I've been in the middle of The Music Man for three weeks now. I've watched a few films with the family (we just did Wong Fu a couple of days ago), but those are more about the family event/meal than they are about the film.

[Jeff V]

Car Wars was great fun back in college but I don't think I could get a group together to play an updated form now.

We did some beta testing for Steve Jackson Games back in the day. It was fun.

[Zarathud]

Come to Chicago once I get the new Car Wars sets. My HS game group played with a home brew rule set of car Wars/GURPs or Paranoia.

[Blackhawk]

The cars look cool. I'm not into painting small things like that but I can see the combination of hunting for cool base cars, modding the cars, and painting would be great fun.

Part of the appeal is that the general types of creative skills that I want to learn play into this. Finding and working with materials, fabricating my own parts (weapons, etc), possibly mold making and casting, that sort of thing.