My most time/money intensive hobbies are my cars and motorcycles. Rallycross (racing my '08 Subaru Legacy 3.0R) Involves a lot of replacing broken bits, preventative maintenance, and upgrades Most...
Exemplary
My most time/money intensive hobbies are my cars and motorcycles.
Rallycross (racing my '08 Subaru Legacy 3.0R)
Involves a lot of replacing broken bits, preventative maintenance, and upgrades
Most recent upgrade is a custom transmission valve body for super fast/hard shifts
Next upgrade is a tune and then headers/exhaust and intake work in a couple months
Replacing all rear suspension components/bushings soon
Racing is starting in the next couple of months, getting stoked
My motorcycles - 1969 Yamaha R3 and 1969 Yamaha YG5-T
Constant little bits of love to keep them working safely
Recently replaced some cables, speedo cable, and chain replacement/lubing
Replacing the clutch in both of them before summer
Repairing the YG5-T seat
Brakes are coming up soon on the R3
My 1992 Loyale is getting a new engine and AWD conversion
Building a forged EJ22 short block soon
Just got custom ground camshafts done
Hopefully around spring/summer I can start getting the motor/trans swapped in
1972 Opel GT restoration
Waiting for better weather, but I have all the glass and most interior removed
Very little computer games, I don't like how much time disappears. Have been playing Halo on the PC though, have about 6-7 hours in the last couple weeks.
Music - Sometimes I'll loose an hour or two just discovering things.
Just got new headphones (DT990 Pro 250 ohm) so I'm having fun with those
Setup some Google Home minis or whatever they call them, setup in a speaker group, really fills the apartment with music well. I've got big beautiful tower speakers but having a speaker in the kitchen and the bedroom really fills out the sound when I'm moving around.
Reading/audiobooks - Not as much as I'd like, but about 30-60 minutes/day
Very slowly going through The Histories
Listening to The Three Body Problem
Researching/planning home upgrades
I'm pretty basic and really enjoy mid century modern styling (of course)
Always on the look out of specific pieces, searching craigslist/ebay
Favorite score is my bentwood Laurel lamp
Finally got a TV (Samsung Frame TV). I wanted art more than anything, and the Frame TV does an amazing job of bringing the room together without making it look like a giant slab of black on the wall.
Next piece is probably a Cadovius or Cado-like wall system, hit me up if you have a hookup
Lighting is in progress, slowly upgrading to high CRI LED bulbs, probably going all Sorra bulbs this year. Would like to setup some nice track lighting, but I'm in an apartment so it's not going to be simple.
Business development - Used to be much more of a hobby
Always planning/thinking of another business to start, not running any on my own at the moment.
I used to be into electronic hardware development, never got good at it. Would like to start again someday.
Picked up golf this last year, looking forward to better weather. Still hit the range every once in a while, been about a month though.
Where do you race? Can you expand on that a bit more? It sounds super interesting, and it's not really anything I know about. Are your home upgrades all in the form of furniture / pieces? I guess...
Where do you race? Can you expand on that a bit more? It sounds super interesting, and it's not really anything I know about.
Are your home upgrades all in the form of furniture / pieces? I guess if you're renting, it would be difficult to do things like kitchen renos...
I used to golf every other week during the summer, but I haven't been in years. I was never particularly good at it - I have a monster drive, and then a crap short game, and then acceptable putting. I can play a Par 5 okay, but I can't play Par 3s to save my life.
Sure! We race around the Pacific Northwest area. I race with Northwest Rally Association, they do amazing work. Everyone is super friendly and helpful, and still nice and competitive. Nobody takes...
Sure!
We race around the Pacific Northwest area. I race with Northwest Rally Association, they do amazing work. Everyone is super friendly and helpful, and still nice and competitive. Nobody takes themselves too seriously. I wanted to do some ice racing up in Vancouver this year, but I think I'll wait till next, give the car a break. There are tons of autocross racing as well, I plan on giving that a try this year as well, I'll wait till it's warmer. That happens every weekend pretty much at multiple venues with multiple different clubs. There are track days just about every weekend as well in the area. Check out motorsportreg.com to find racing in your area if you are curious. Sometimes it is fun just to go watch and talk to people.
Yeah I am renting, so my options are pretty limited. So pretty much exclusively furniture and what not. I'd probably be able to do a kitchen if I paid for it, but mine is good enough. I am thinking of doing crown moulding at some point, maybe later this year. I have a bit of freedom with what I can do, it just needs to be repairable.
Ha that's funny, my drive is gaaaarbage (but I just started, it'll get there), but my short game is halfway decent. Par 3 is where I'm halfway decent, I'm good with my 6-7 iron, then a couple putts and I'm usually close to par. Par 5 is where I'm garbage, I can't drive far enough or consistent enough yet.
Racing sounds pretty amazing- thanks for the info! I do some similar things around my home as you do, though I think it's mostly just damage control; having three kids, we're not really...
Racing sounds pretty amazing- thanks for the info!
I do some similar things around my home as you do, though I think it's mostly just damage control; having three kids, we're not really concentrating on "nice pieces" so much as "what broke?".
I hadn't really thought of golfing in a while - I've been more into Disc Golf - but you're making me think about dusting off my clubs, evicting the spiders that live in my golf bag, and asking my dad to go out for an 18 in the spring. Or maybe... to the driving range to start, with a six pack. That might be a better place to start.
No problem! Ha yeah, I know how that goes, but I was the kid breaking things at home. I remember my dad just constantly fixing things that the four of us found ways to break. Funny, I bought my...
No problem! Ha yeah, I know how that goes, but I was the kid breaking things at home. I remember my dad just constantly fixing things that the four of us found ways to break.
Funny, I bought my dad a range gift card for Christmas, so we are going to hit the range in spring a bit. The range and a pitcher or two of beer, that's where it's at!
I wouldn't call mid-century modern "basic" - there's a lot of interesting design involved that I've spent time looking at as part of our own home renovation project. It's kind of impressive that...
I wouldn't call mid-century modern "basic" - there's a lot of interesting design involved that I've spent time looking at as part of our own home renovation project.
It's kind of impressive that you're collecting original pieces, as the style's current popularity is pricing the classics out of reach. I've been looking for a Cadovius-style wall unit myself.
It's funny you mentioned the Samsung Frame because our 20-year old DLP is slowly dying and that Samsung was what I was pushing to replace it with. It's far nicer than a blank black rectangle, and less expensive and confining than buying a single substantial artwork.
Yeah I suppose you are right! Yeah the original pieces are difficult to collect though, the pricing is getting pretty stupid. I was looking for an Andersen or Wikkelsø coffee table, but the prices...
Yeah I suppose you are right!
Yeah the original pieces are difficult to collect though, the pricing is getting pretty stupid. I was looking for an Andersen or Wikkelsø coffee table, but the prices are a little high. They aren't crazy (sometimes they are), but just beyond what I impulsively will spend. Ended up getting a decent table/couch from Wayfair. Their designs are okay, does the job, and cost half of what I would really like. Looks half as good too though.
Oh yeah, the Frame is great, it was a huge upgrade. It's a little pricey if you look at specs and what not (which I don't really care about), but it can't be beat for the art mode. If it is in a dim room, you can tell it's a TV, but if there is sunlight in the room, it does a very convincing job of looking like a painting. I had a neighbor over and we were talking in the living room, when he left he noticed the empty TV box and asked to see the new tv and walked right by it haha. I had to stop him and show him, his mind was blown, cause he'd been looking at it earlier thinking I got a new piece of art on the wall.
If you want better quality MCM-inspired furniture, take a look at Room and Board, Joybird, and Article. The costs are reasonable for all-wood frames, mostly U.S.-made. I've got a yen for some of...
If you want better quality MCM-inspired furniture, take a look at Room and Board, Joybird, and Article. The costs are reasonable for all-wood frames, mostly U.S.-made.
I've got a yen for some of ScanDesign's current modern pieces, particularly this.
AllModern, Wayfair's modern furniture site, just has more of the same Chinese-made "fast furniture".
I really like the Frame's inconspicuous transparent cable concept. I've always hated the idea of running AV cabling inside a wall because it's so inconvenient to repair or relocate, but wall-mounted conduit looks ugly.
Can you upload your own artwork selections, or are you constrained to Samsung's stupid subscription service?
Oh awesome, thanks for the recommendations! I'll check those all out. Took a quick look at Article, really like some of their stuff. Nice designs and details. Yeah, that transparent cable is...
Oh awesome, thanks for the recommendations! I'll check those all out. Took a quick look at Article, really like some of their stuff. Nice designs and details.
Yeah, that transparent cable is fantastic. It blows people's minds that the tiny cable powers the entire TV. I'll be painting over mine white, should completely disappear.
You can upload your own artwork, but from my understanding, it won't look as good. Samsung does a bunch of custom work to each piece of art to make it look right, stuff with contrast and what not. The subscription service is really annoying, but it does offer a ton of art, and everything has looked really nice. I also messed with my brightness/color settings, made everything a touch warmer and I keep it all dim. There are separate color/brightness settings for art mode which is awesome. I do want to download some high quality painting scans and see how it looks.
Don't say those are your hobbies in a good company. You'll be thought of as a fool. If you don't have anything specialized you do regularly, say so. You'll appear more honest and sincere, which is...
Don't say those are your hobbies in a good company. You'll be thought of as a fool.
If you don't have anything specialized you do regularly, say so. You'll appear more honest and sincere, which is more important than conforming to a set of standards.
There may be something you do that you don't consider a hobby when it is. Travelling is a hobby if you do it intentionally and regularly. Sociopolitical discussions on the Internet – same deal.
Any company that thinks you a fool for partaking in social activities (Tildes) or consuming entertainment (YouTube) is certainly not "good company". There are loads of places that are dedicated to...
Don't say those are your hobbies in a good company. You'll be thought of as a fool.
Any company that thinks you a fool for partaking in social activities (Tildes) or consuming entertainment (YouTube) is certainly not "good company". There are loads of places that are dedicated to studying both of these, so they certainly have worthwhile potential.
I'm just saying this as a 40-year old man, rushing in nobly to save you from the overweening assurance one has at 25 that they have figured out the world. ;)
I know we've already gone beyond the point where I admit I'm not taking this too seriously, but here's the thing: You've taken my words out of context. What I said was "don't talk about these as...
I know we've already gone beyond the point where I admit I'm not taking this too seriously, but here's the thing:
You've taken my words out of context. What I said was "don't talk about these as your hobbies". What you're referring to now is partaking in activities without dedicating time to them specifically.
I agree: if people don't think much of you simply because you're browsing an Internet forum, there's a better company to be in.
It does still offend my sensibilities when a person is offering such browsing – no matter how good said forum is – as a hobby.
I disagree with this in spirit, but I admit that you're right if we consider the formal definition of a hobby. I think that we see hobbies nowadays as "one notch below a skill or a profession"....
I disagree with this in spirit, but I admit that you're right if we consider the formal definition of a hobby.
I think that we see hobbies nowadays as "one notch below a skill or a profession". Meaning it requires from you at least some amount of effort, and it is expected that you improve at it through time even if very slowly.
This is why in my opinion passive activities such as consuming media shouldn't be put in the same category as activities such as playing an instrument, drawing, woodworking, stamp collecting, etc.
As for having sociopolitical discussion on the internet, I suppose you can define it as a hobby as it can improve your rhetorical skills, critical thinking, and general knowledge about the topics you're discussing.
In another comment I addressed this: defining "hobbies" After looking around to see if I was wrong in my understanding of "hobby", or if Fanfic was wrong, I looked at a bunch of different...
I think that we see hobbies nowadays as "one notch below a skill or a profession".
After looking around to see if I was wrong in my understanding of "hobby", or if Fanfic was wrong, I looked at a bunch of different definitions from dictionaries, wikipedia lists of hobbies, and hobby sites, and found that more people seem to use it as "something you do in leisure for fun" and not "something you do one notch below a skill or profession". I provided three examples in the comment I just linked; there are dozens more examples.
I understand that your point is that there's something extra to "hobby" that makes it more than a pastime. That could be true for the area you're in, or for your group of friends - a common connotation of this for hobbies exists and it's not wrong - but this is certainly not a uniform or even a majority understanding.
I believe most people would consider 'reading' a hobby on the same level as these examples.
passive activities such as consuming media shouldn't be put in the same category as activities such as playing an instrument, drawing, woodworking, stamp collecting, etc.
I believe most people would consider 'reading' a hobby on the same level as these examples.
Unsurprisingly my comment is mostly a joke. If you wanted a serious answer, the content I watch on YouTube tends to lean towards educational content of most types (science, business models,...
Unsurprisingly my comment is mostly a joke.
If you wanted a serious answer, the content I watch on YouTube tends to lean towards educational content of most types (science, business models, geography, economics in general and even some geopolitics and world building.) and the discussions I have/see follow this trend, with some memes from r/politicalcompassmemes and some streams from Carlsagan42, a SMM player. Unfortunately I don't play many games because my phone has no space, my PC has half a gig of RAM and people don't make games for PS3s anymore and my parents just can't pay to change that. (Now would be a good time to say I'm 14, something I probably don't stress enough.)
Unsurprisingly I don't really think these are hobbies.
You mentioned you were 14 in this thread – which is why I, an old 25-year-old man, rushed in to nobly save you from public humiliation. :P Seriously, though. I didn't have hobbies until I was 22....
You mentioned you were 14 in this thread – which is why I, an old 25-year-old man, rushed in to nobly save you from public humiliation. :P
Seriously, though. I didn't have hobbies until I was 22. You seem to be doing alright on the "figuring yourself out" front.
If a hobby is something you do, as per the topic, "for fun and entertainment", watching videos or browsing a site like Tildes, Reddit, or Fark are absolutely viable hobbies. I'd say Tildes (for...
If a hobby is something you do, as per the topic, "for fun and entertainment", watching videos or browsing a site like Tildes, Reddit, or Fark are absolutely viable hobbies.
I'd say Tildes (for depth) and Reddit (for breadth) are hobbies of mine, but my primary hobby is definitely gaming.
It's one of the nitpicks of mine that I won't let go of. Considering plain activities "hobbies" makes for duller experiences for the rest of us. Hobbies could be entertaining – in fact, no good...
It's one of the nitpicks of mine that I won't let go of. Considering plain activities "hobbies" makes for duller experiences for the rest of us. Hobbies could be entertaining – in fact, no good hobby isn't – but, like...
I enjoy sitting in my computer chair. It brings me pleasure. You could say, it entertains me. Am I partaking in a hobby of nice-chair-sitting?
No, of course I'm fuckin' not. I'm just sitting in a nice chair. It isn't involving, it isn't a matter of realizing yourself in this world. It's just plain sitting.
I'm struggling to think of a situation in which elevating browsing Reddit to a hobby ever makes sense. It's like reading books, or watching films, or reading news: just an activity! not a hobby!
Collecting rocks you think are pretty is a hobby. Making furniture out of wood is a hobby, perhaps even if you're making money out of it. Making statues out dried lemon peels is a hobby. Composing royalty-free melodies to post on the Internet is a hobby.
And yes, I'm absolutely gatekeeping this. I am a knight in shining armor, fighting against the intellectual decline arising from the Internet's growing inattention span that's reducing human beings to rambling beasts eager to prove the size of their penises to strangers... Or maybe I'm just old, lonely, and sad. -_-
Reading books is absolutely a hobby. No question about that. If just collecting things (arguably one of the most entry level hobbies there is: "I have a new thing now") can be considered a hobby,...
Reading books is absolutely a hobby. No question about that. If just collecting things (arguably one of the most entry level hobbies there is: "I have a new thing now") can be considered a hobby, then the bar is already fairly low. A hobby is simply an activity you do for fun and relaxation, and perusing sites like this most definitely fits.
then why do i feel so goddamn old See, this is where none of you have gotten on my level because for some reason, "hobbies" is "things I do" in y'all's mind – which is the opposite of the case I...
You're 25, so definitely not the first one! ;P
then why do i feel so goddamn old
browsing the internet
See, this is where none of you have gotten on my level because for some reason, "hobbies" is "things I do" in y'all's mind – which is the opposite of the case I was making.
But nah, fuck that conversation. Everyone's just gonna get further on my case if I keep going with a tagline that's somehow both a matter of public concern and too private a conversation.
I was letting this go after my first reply, but you seem annoyed about this, and I'd like to assuage that if possible. The reason that we all seem to think of "hobbies" is "things I do" is because...
See, this is where none of you have gotten on my level because for some reason, "hobbies" is "things I do" in y'all's mind – which is the opposite of the case I was making.
I was letting this go after my first reply, but you seem annoyed about this, and I'd like to assuage that if possible.
The reason that we all seem to think of "hobbies" is "things I do" is because that's what a hobby is.
Merriam Webster: a pursuit outside one's regular occupation engaged in especially for relaxation
Cambridge Dictionary: an activity that someone does for pleasure when they are not working
I think that you're attributing more to the word than is there. That's okay, but it's important to understand that a lot of other people don't have that same connotative understanding that you have. I do not want to put words in your mouth, but I'd guess that you would say that hobbies have some intrinsic positive value to them that makes them worthwhile? I think that's an interpretation that's interesting, but not the generally accepted one.
For what it's worth both reading and social media are in wikipedia's compiled list of hobbies.
I'm hoping that breaking down what we're both talking about when we refer to hobbies clears up any misconceptions we have about what the other means. I'll also stipulate that if we use what I've put forwards as your definition of a hobby, then your point is certainly correct; if someone asked me "what do you do in your spare time to amuse and better yourself" I would not answer with "spend time on social media".
I would argue that many people don't mean that (and I certainly didn't mean that) when they ask what your hobbies are.
My hobbies are drawing, writing, crocheting, knitting, sort of sewing and I'm starting to get into very, very amateur botany (thanks Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't) as well as rock hounding? I'm...
My hobbies are drawing, writing, crocheting, knitting, sort of sewing and I'm starting to get into very, very amateur botany (thanks Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't) as well as rock hounding? I'm not sure if that's the proper usage of the word rock hound.
I've always loved rocks and am reigniting my passion for them in trying to learn how to identify them and just learning about them in general! I think it's very fun and I have a geode my dad gave me probs 15 years ago and my dumb child self thought painting it with glittery nail polish would make it prettier. It didn't. So I'm looking into ways to clean the pos off.
Ask me about my lapidary hobby/side business some time. You can do very cool things with rocks and not too much equipment, or a club of enthusiasts with shared workspace. [Yes, that's me showing...
Ask me about my lapidary hobby/side business some time. You can do very coolthings with rocks and not too much equipment, or a club of enthusiasts with shared workspace. [Yes, that's me showing off some old work.]
The local jewelry and bead supply store started offering classes for lampworking glass beads and cabochons. I was mildly interested, but it's a very expensive craft and I didn't think I'd ever...
The local jewelry and bead supply store started offering classes for lampworking glass beads and cabochons. I was mildly interested, but it's a very expensive craft and I didn't think I'd ever have the space for major flamework. When I went to check the workshop out, it turned out they were also offering lapidary classes; there's some overlap in equipment for cutting, grinding, and polishing. One cabochon-making class later, I was completely hooked and working on my own stone designs during rental hours.
Over the years, I've picked up a Genie grinder and 10" diamond saw, which can handle commercial-scale artisan work.
The quickest and least expensive way to get started is with a rock tumbler, as @aphoenix mentioned above. Tumbling maintains the natural shapes of small stones; basically, it's a series of operations where you tumble for a while with coarse, finer, and polish grits until the stones are shiny.
A cabochon-making machine uses a motorized arbor with separate wheels, each embedded with a different grit (usually in succession from coarsest to finest), so that you can polish a pre-shaped stone quickly.
Depending on where you are, there's usually a rock and mineral club or gem society within reasonable distance. Most of these clubs maintain a small workshop or have a member who offers lapidary classes. It's also a great way to learn about stones, rock-hounding, and geology from the old-timers. I've got a very active local club now and I'm looking forward to joining their organized collecting trips.
If you're very interested, the William Holland School offers relatively inexpensive, high-quality training from beginner to advanced professional. I haven't been there myself, but everyone I've spoken with who's taken classes there loved it.
I've played a little with flint-knapping for fun, which is the truly old school method of stone shaping.
This is excellent information, thank you! I'm pretty far for Georgia, however this might be a nice trip/vacation for my SO and I. I'll also look and see if my area has classes in lapidary, I think...
This is excellent information, thank you! I'm pretty far for Georgia, however this might be a nice trip/vacation for my SO and I. I'll also look and see if my area has classes in lapidary, I think it'd be something I could greatly enjoy.
I'm familiar with flint-knapping! I have a minor in anthropology and had to take some archaeology classes for it. Very fun that you've been able to mess around with it.
I believe that is a perfectly cromulent use of "rock hounding". One of my wife's uncles is a geologist and has an amazing collection. I always want to take pictures and share, but he's very...
I believe that is a perfectly cromulent use of "rock hounding".
One of my wife's uncles is a geologist and has an amazing collection. I always want to take pictures and share, but he's very reluctant to do so.
Last summer my family did a workshop on rock polishing that was really interesting. Do you have any interest in that?
That sounds amazing! I would love to learn about rock polishing! I have some (assumedly) quartz I found this past weekend that I'd like to polish up a bit. Wow that's so awesome you guys got to do...
That sounds amazing! I would love to learn about rock polishing! I have some (assumedly) quartz I found this past weekend that I'd like to polish up a bit. Wow that's so awesome you guys got to do a workshop on that! I need to look and see if my area has anything like that.
Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't is one of the great underappreciated YouTube channels right now. It's so good and so weird. You want authenticity? There's no one more authentic than him cussing up a...
Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't is one of the great underappreciated YouTube channels right now. It's so good and so weird. You want authenticity? There's no one more authentic than him cussing up a storm and talking about gentrification as a background to the magic mushrooms he found, or being sweet to an albino trash panda. You want botany? He's got it for you in spades.
Yes!! He's so great. I absolutely love his take on urban spaces and how he talks about the issues there in a very real and fun and still informative way. He's very engaging. My SO actually told me...
Yes!! He's so great. I absolutely love his take on urban spaces and how he talks about the issues there in a very real and fun and still informative way. He's very engaging. My SO actually told me about him and I was so delighted with his channel, I love his videos.
He posted a list relatively recently of books he recommends. I plan on going through the list and finding the ones I can through the library and what not.
Almost a year ago I came across some cannabis seeds, and since it had recently become legal I decided to germinate them and just see what happens. I bought a grow light, some pots and soil and set...
Almost a year ago I came across some cannabis seeds, and since it had recently become legal I decided to germinate them and just see what happens. I bought a grow light, some pots and soil and set it up in a spare closet. Then I started reasearching how to grow and it quickly became a bit of an obsession.
I’m constantly reading about growing cannabis, watching cannabis growing videos on youtube, listening to cannabis grow podcasts in my car, when I’m not actually with my plants.
Recently I’ve been reading about organic growing and soil biology, and while I feel like I only partially understand it, its super interesting and fun to put into practice.
The funny part is I’m not a huge cannabis user. An ounce would probably last me a whole year and I usually get a couple ounces from each harvest. So I end up giving lots of it away to friends and family.
I know a few people who are the same way - they got into growing, and it exceeds their consumption significantly. I have a few other friends who enjoy that greatly.
I know a few people who are the same way - they got into growing, and it exceeds their consumption significantly.
I have a few other friends who enjoy that greatly.
One of the great things about any kind of gardening is that it really doesn't take vast amounts of knowledge and effort to get bountiful harvests from many plants - cannabis, tomatoes, beans, and...
One of the great things about any kind of gardening is that it really doesn't take vast amounts of knowledge and effort to get bountiful harvests from many plants - cannabis, tomatoes, beans, and the infamous zucchini, for starters. Giving away your surplus is a time-honored tradition that binds communities together.
Well in California they might decriminalize magic mushrooms after the 2020 election. They’re another fun cultivation hobby if you want to try something new! Look up “PF Tek”.
Well in California they might decriminalize magic mushrooms after the 2020 election. They’re another fun cultivation hobby if you want to try something new! Look up “PF Tek”.
I have my two biggest hobbies at the moment. The first is language learning. I'm a god damn linguaphile and a half. I've already written about it earlier, but in short: my native language is...
I have my two biggest hobbies at the moment. The first is language
learning. I'm a god damn linguaphile and a half. I've already
written
about it earlier, but in short: my native language is Russian;
I know English relatively well; I've learned Esperanto and
German over the course of my life. My plan for 2020 is to get as
far as I can into Tatar (my other “native” language) and
Japanese.
The other hobby, which is also my job, is computer programming.
Again, I've recently already
written
about my plans for 2020, but in short: I program in Go, C,
and Shell, and want to expand my knowledge of the
Pascal/Oberon family of languages. Perhaps I could add
Ada to the list.
I used to love learning new languages, but it's another hobby that has fallen by the wayside in the last decade for me. I'm mostly limited to English and French now, though I can survive on...
I used to love learning new languages, but it's another hobby that has fallen by the wayside in the last decade for me. I'm mostly limited to English and French now, though I can survive on vacation if I go somewhere that speaks spanish. My daughter is in the process of learning the common romance languages; she can speak conversational French, and can be understand in Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian. I've thought about trying to pick up some more so I can keep up with her, but haven't had time.
Pascal is one of the earliest languages I used. Well over 20 years ago, I made a really terrible flight sim in Pascal. It was a ton of fun. I agree that simplicity is great. I'm similarly excited about Go, and have been using it more and more, though Python is still my language of choice.
Edit: I followed up bit missed asking a question! What is it about go that you love?
Very cool on the language learning. I considered that a hobby for quite some time with my native language being English but also knowing Spanish, Japanese, and a bit of Mandarin. Japanese is...
Very cool on the language learning. I considered that a hobby for quite some time with my native language being English but also knowing Spanish, Japanese, and a bit of Mandarin. Japanese is honestly where I ended up burning out as I was constantly trying to prove myself by passing the top level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Failed it 3 years in a row (the last time by 5 points) and thought it was just time to move on in life.
If you're a beginner with Japanese, I recommend getting the two Genki books and working through them. My school used Genki and recommended also using renshuu.org (created by a former student) for vocab quizzing. Once you have the basics, definitely throw yourself into situations where you have to speak the language and listen. Obviously being in Japan is the best way to do that, but if you can find some local Japanese language exchange groups, that works too.
My list goes through cycles: I focus on one of the things, and it becomes the thing I do, and the rest are relegated to hobbies that I indulge in with some regularity. Once that thing exhausts...
My list goes through cycles: I focus on one of the things, and it becomes the thing I do, and the rest are relegated to hobbies that I indulge in with some regularity. Once that thing exhausts itself, GOTO 10.
I used to do a fair amount of photography, but at some point I stopped. I have a lot of decent equipment as well, so I'm not really sure why; probably time and inclination. My first date with my...
I used to do a fair amount of photography, but at some point I stopped. I have a lot of decent equipment as well, so I'm not really sure why; probably time and inclination.
My first date with my wife was a "photo date" where we both took cameras out on a walk and photographed things; the second date was a comparison of our photos. It was pretty great.
Whatever I have on the smartphone at the time. It's not a matter of even amateur pride – certainly not enough for me to go out of my way and by a decent standalone camera. I take photos that I...
Whatever I have on the smartphone at the time. It's not a matter of even amateur pride – certainly not enough for me to go out of my way and by a decent standalone camera. I take photos that I think are nice, without much regard for its eventual quality.
Buying a standalone camera is low on my list of things to buy with spare cash, but it's there.
My first date with my wife was a "photo date" where we both took cameras out on a walk and photographed things; the second date was a comparison of our photos. It was pretty great.
Paragliding is my escape from being bound to this planet by two feet every waking moment of my life. There's a whole third dimension up there and it's such a beautiful place to spend time. Every...
Paragliding is my escape from being bound to this planet by two feet every waking moment of my life. There's a whole third dimension up there and it's such a beautiful place to spend time. Every time I launch, especially if it's from a new location, I still get butterflies. I enjoy that feeling and I hope it never goes away—it makes you feel a certain definition of the term "real". You could fuck it up. You could badly injure yourself. But you won't, because you trust the skills you've learnt and the decisions you make as a paraglider pilot.
Some of my best memories remain epic day adventures where we've hiked up a mountain and flown down. Nothing is cooler than being the guy landing in a town/city park, people watching you land, after you've just taken off from the top of a peak several miles away.
It's part of the reason I quit work. I got sick of spending nice days inside an office when I could be outdoors flying.
Hey! Woah! Okay, so I've been interested in potentially getting into paragliding a little. I do a lot of motorcycling/trackcross/rc truck/quadcopter/stuff and I've been REALLY excited by the...
Hey! Woah! Okay, so I've been interested in potentially getting into paragliding a little. I do a lot of motorcycling/trackcross/rc truck/quadcopter/stuff and I've been REALLY excited by the prospect associated with some of the electric paragliding rigs coming out.
I live in a condo with no garage and limited space, so I have to go pretty minimalist in everything I do that takes up space, and while I am not totally sold on the current generation of electric paragliding rigs, I think it has a lot of potential for both cleanliness (can't really keep gas stuff inside w/o shed/garage) and space-saving. Sooo.... have you looked into any of these? One I saw looks kinda quad-copterish but folds down.. They all seem to be really expensive (like 4-5k) right now. I expect that that will come down eventually.
Also in general, how did you get into it? What resources did you pursue? Personally I live in the northeast, so it's probably like a 1.5 season window, so I don't think it's particularly popular. What advice would you give to someone starting out?
I've flown small planes in the air before, for brief periods (no license, so no takeoff/landing - just friends and lessons which I had to abandon due to cost at the time), but that seems much more.. structured and less potentially nerve-wracking. What were you into before you started, and how did you get where you are?
Mainly GoPro footage from a helmet or foot mount! Although I recently purchased a chase-camera (basically a giant badminton shuttlecock which attaches to your glider's trailing edge) which gets...
That is... amazing. I know that you complained earlier today about writing high-effort posts that got little interest, but I would love to see a writeup about paragliding with a bunch of photos. I...
That is... amazing.
I know that you complained earlier today about writing high-effort posts that got little interest, but I would love to see a writeup about paragliding with a bunch of photos. I would definitely read it and appreciate it... and hopefully comment on it! I'm not trying to pressure you into doing so though, but if it was ever something that you would consider doing, that's definitely something that I think would be awesome to see in this group.
I was incredibly unhappy with my boss and the dysfunctional nature of the company I worked at—so I quit to start my own business with a friend which is currently still in an incubation phase; I...
I was incredibly unhappy with my boss and the dysfunctional nature of the company I worked at—so I quit to start my own business with a friend which is currently still in an incubation phase; I have enough money to survive and try to accomplish something of my own for a few years. I wouldn’t call myself “wealthy” by any definition however.
I grew up playing piano and studied it in college, and even played professionally (read in bars with my mates) for a while. I hadn't had a piano in many years, then last year my spouse suggested...
I grew up playing piano and studied it in college, and even played professionally (read in bars with my mates) for a while. I hadn't had a piano in many years, then last year my spouse suggested we get a digital piano, so we did. I've been playing it here and there. I enjoyed learning Maxence Cyrin's piano cover of the Pixie's Where Is My Mind?.
About 10 years ago, my spouse bought a cello as a prop when selling our condo, and when we moved into our new place it was just sitting there taunting me, so I took lessons for a few years. I can squeak out a tune on it from time-to-time. I wish I did more of it, but it's difficult to fit it in.
I got into photography to learn more about my job and ended up liking it a lot. I'm currently getting into astrophotography. I'd like to be able to do some deep sky photography, but it takes some equipment I haven't yet acquired and you need to be in the right place in the middle of the night, which is usually when I'm catching up on my sleep.
And of course, I program for fun in addition to doing it as a full-time job. I've been experimenting with generative art. I haven't produced anything I like yet, but I'm sure it will come in time.
We got a digital piano shortly after getting married, and it has been an amazing addition to our home. Personally I find that as long as the keys are weighted right, it's not sufficiently...
We got a digital piano shortly after getting married, and it has been an amazing addition to our home. Personally I find that as long as the keys are weighted right, it's not sufficiently different from playing a "real" piano, and the benefits are great (portability, headphones, always in tune, etc).
That's a beautiful cover - thanks for sharing.
If you're ever up for sharing any of your generative art, I'd love to see it, and I'm always interested in having a look at the repo for art as well.
I considered ironically not responding to this. ;) Thanks! I think one of the relatively consistent things I've read recently about Tildes is that people want there to be more discussion about...
I considered ironically not responding to this. ;)
Thanks! I think one of the relatively consistent things I've read recently about Tildes is that people want there to be more discussion about non-tech things, and this seemed like a pretty good place to see some of that happen. I'm always interested in learning more about what people love to do, so it has been a super interesting thread to read and participate in.
How long have you been playing Piano? Do you have any particular songs that you're working on? Do you have any weightlifting or jogging goals that you're working towards? What sort of coding do...
How long have you been playing Piano? Do you have any particular songs that you're working on?
Do you have any weightlifting or jogging goals that you're working towards?
Yeah, it's one of my favorites, and every time someone mentions Rachmaninoff I can't help but rewatch it several times. :P Igudesman & Joo are hilarious, incredibly talented and have a lot of...
Yeah, it's one of my favorites, and every time someone mentions Rachmaninoff I can't help but rewatch it several times. :P Igudesman & Joo are hilarious, incredibly talented and have a lot of similarly brilliant bits. E.g. I Will Survive
Can dating be a hobby? Cause if so, that is my current hobby. I study the subject, I apply what I learn, and sometimes my dedication brings results. I think it's a hobby. It takes a sizable amount...
Can dating be a hobby? Cause if so, that is my current hobby.
I study the subject, I apply what I learn, and sometimes my dedication brings results.
I think it's a hobby. It takes a sizable amount of effort - at least for me.
I think hobbies can be whatever you make of them! Alas and alack, I haven't dated in years, though I guess I still take my wife out on dates. I don't envy people these days and all the (I'm gonna...
I think hobbies can be whatever you make of them!
Alas and alack, I haven't dated in years, though I guess I still take my wife out on dates. I don't envy people these days and all the (I'm gonna say it) newfangled ways that they have to interact with each other.
The main difference is that in the old days I knew I was expected to open/close doors, pull chairs, walk on the outer side of the sidewalk, pay the bill and make sure my date arrives safely at...
The main difference is that in the old days I knew I was expected to open/close doors, pull chairs, walk on the outer side of the sidewalk, pay the bill and make sure my date arrives safely at home.
Nowadays, some women still expect me to do all of those things, while others may consider me a sexist pig for doing the same.
Hand-holding was a nice and pure expression of endearment, nowadays it can easily be read as a way to force your will unto a woman. And some women still want to hold hands!
Merely asking what are the preferred behaviors is no good, it'll kill the seductive mood in a heartbeat.
It's a bit nerve-wracking.[1]
Everything else is pretty much the same. I always used technology to get dates, starting with IRC. So Tinder is an evolution, but I never approached women in real life anyway.
[1]To be clear: feminism is not at fault here. The issue is a minority of women that adopt seemingly feminist views without understanding the nuances of this important and necessary movement.
Dating, regardless of the gender involved, is like any other social skill. It mainly requires deep attention, patience, practice, self-confidence, and the cultivation of skin thick enough to...
Dating, regardless of the gender involved, is like any other social skill. It mainly requires deep attention, patience, practice, self-confidence, and the cultivation of skin thick enough to handle rejection, but thin enough to maintain care for the feelings of the other person involved.
I won't deny that the complexity of male-female relationships has been made more difficult by the Internet's ability to sort people into opposing frightened and frustrated tribes, but dating also presents the opportunity to just be a person face-to-face with another person. I'm happy you're still engaged enough to call it a "hobby", but maybe connection, and not seduction, is the more meaningful goal.
I agree with almost everything you said (and when I don't, it's mostly semantics). I don't think the Internet is to blame. I have similar issues with dates from the "real world". The set of...
I agree with almost everything you said (and when I don't, it's mostly semantics).
I won't deny that the complexity of male-female relationships has been made more difficult by the Internet's ability to sort people into opposing frightened and frustrated tribes
I don't think the Internet is to blame. I have similar issues with dates from the "real world". The set of behavior rules used to be fixed, but every social change requires some readjustment on social norms.
I don't wanna back to a time when it was easier to know the default male behaviors to follow, because the progress on gender roles greatly surpasses any discomfort I may experience when it comes to dating.
Feminism, and all the advances that came with it, is extremely beneficial for both woman and men. As a heterosexual man that is far from being a stereotypical alpha-male, being able to express myself while retaining my gender identify is a godsend.
I'm happy you're still engaged enough to call it a "hobby", but maybe connection, and not seduction, is the more meaningful goal.
I understand this term got a bad rep because of the awful (awful!!) PUA community, but here I use it with a broader and older meaning: any kind of rhetoric that attempts to persuade (as in opposition to manipulate) someone of your own attractiveness, including but not limited to sex. My goal when dating is not sex, but intimacy and connection. Sex just happens to be a very enjoyable expression of intimacy.
I'm just reckoning with my experience as a prima facie (it's complicated) woman, and conversations with female-identifying people of my acquaintance. Much of the time, we have to deal with people...
I'm just reckoning with my experience as a prima facie (it's complicated) woman, and conversations with female-identifying people of my acquaintance. Much of the time, we have to deal with people for whom sex is a destination, not part of a larger sphere of intimate relations.
I think that how I and other women behave has been strongly informed by online feminist sub-cultures, masculine sub-cultures, and the new risks posed by stalking tools. As you said, the social norms are still evolving. There is a "yes, all men" bias problem, as well as greater or lesser needs to prove security and Independence before engaging in dating a man. It sucks, and yet somehow people fumble their way towards each other anyway.
You're entirely right. I'm entirely sympathetic with the female perspective. Many of my fellow men do not help, and I'm frequently ashamed by their behavior, which harms both women and other men....
You're entirely right. I'm entirely sympathetic with the female perspective. Many of my fellow men do not help, and I'm frequently ashamed by their behavior, which harms both women and other men. This is a complex issue, for which I don't see a short-term solution. Only time will allow for this new form of gender expression to conform into a set of behavior that avoids a greater portion of communication mishaps.
On the other hand, it's gotten a lot more acceptable for women to seek out and build hook-up cultures, too. I'm guessing that there will be an eventual convergence of all the beneficial and toxic...
On the other hand, it's gotten a lot more acceptable for women to seek out and build hook-up cultures, too. I'm guessing that there will be an eventual convergence of all the beneficial and toxic behaviours, regardless of gender identity, but on balance, everyone will behave a little better.
I see. Never thought of that. That is very good. IDK if that's exactly what you're referring to, but I find it very positive when women feel comfortable to state very clearly what they want (or do...
On the other hand, it's gotten a lot more acceptable for women to seek out and build hook-up cultures
I see. Never thought of that. That is very good.
IDK if that's exactly what you're referring to, but I find it very positive when women feel comfortable to state very clearly what they want (or do not want!)[1]. As a men, it saves me the trouble of investing time with someone with radically different interests, while making it easier to find those that will most likely enjoy my company.
As I like to say:
when you state your desires, they're more likely to happen
And, if theirs (or ours) wishes must certainly not happen, at least we'll know it beforehand, preventing mishaps and saving a lot of trouble.
Glad to do it, my friend! Preface I'm 37 and have been dating since 16. I'm not a "professional dater" by any means, but I learned some things along the way. A few of these things where adapted,...
Can you talk more about this? I think it would do me good to do the same thing. Is there any book you recommend?
Glad to do it, my friend!
Preface
I'm 37 and have been dating since 16. I'm not a "professional dater" by any means, but I learned some things along the way. A few of these things where adapted, others came from trial and error. Regardless, 99.99% of books on dating advice targeted at males are misogynistic PUA crap such Neil Strauss The Game and the Mystery Method. Unless you wish to become a terrible human being, you should not read them.
In fact, after reading many dating books for men, I can only vouch for one: Models: Attract Women Through Honesty, by Mark Manson. This book reinforced so many of my intuitions on dating that, instead of quoting it, I'll just give you the gist in my own words and append a few criticisms to the book at the end.
Be true to yourself
After being cheated on in a very aggressive fashion at the age of 18, I was a walking cliche. I thought the cure to my pain was drowning in a sea of meaningless sex. If incels existed back then, I might have become one. Somehow I thought it made sense to hate all women because of the mistakes of a single one. For some years I was an asshole and my attraction techniques where a consequence of this.
I was narcissistic and insecure and did things like always waiting three days before making contact and never answering a text before a 3-hour delay. I rarely showed my true feelings or complimented women for their qualities, making great efforts to display a strong "alpha" personality that had little to do with my own.
Deep down, I was the same sweet, caring, and loving guy I was of before, but, because I was displaying a false persona, the women who fell for me did not appreciate my real characteristics.
As a consequence, I was never satisfied and the sex only ranged from acceptable to good. From the woman's end, things were great (at least for a while), because I was the one straining all my mental capacity to uphold a personality that simply did not exist.
It did not take long for me to cease to be a proto-incel: it's simply a very irrational position that tends to wear off by itself. But I still sustained the "alpha-male" shtick for years to come. Only recently, with the help of therapy and some very smart women that quite literally figured me out, I understood my position in this whole shtick. The woman who fell for me before might have been attracted by my narcissistic persona at first, but that is not why they stayed. Every man has its style, and mine is not Humphrey Bogart. I'm more of a Woody Allen (the character)[1]: neurotic, romantic and endearing. I realized it was my weakness, and not my fake persona, that was responsible for all my success. And communicating my feelings and intentions was my greatest strength.[2]
Know what you want
From what I wrote, you can clearly see that having sex with lots of women is not my goal. If that is your case, my advice may not be very useful apart from stressing that you should know your goal. It may seem obvious, but you should make sure that what you're looking for is exactly what you want, and not what you think you should want. This goes for everything. Like men? Go for men. Like women? Go for women. Love fat chicks (my case) or fat men? Go grab your big love! BSDM? Roleplay? Traditional relationships? NO relationships? Whatever you want, there's probably someone out there wanting the same thing. It may require some searching, but everything worthwhile requires effort and dating is no different. Don't waste your time with people your not really interested in. There's nothing worse than being rejected by someone you never really wanted.
Rejection is the price of success
Strategies that guarantee anything more than 33% of success are either sexist/manipulative (and you shouldn't want to be like that) or false. When you're looking for a job, you put your CV out there. Of course, you wanna get a great job right from the start, but you know that is not realistic. So you adjust your expectations. A certain degree of anxiety is inevitable: you're human, after all. But you make an effort to put things in perspective. After each rejection letter, you remind yourself there are plenty of other opportunities out there. Why can't you do the same with dating? The answer is simple: dating is way more personal. Nevertheless, you're the one in charge of your life, and you know your self-worth is not to be determined by anyone else[3]. And, when you're rejected from a job, you certainly won't say all companies are "ugly bitches" that don't deserve you, nor will you stalk the company online or in real-life. You'll respect the companies right to choose the candidate most suitable to their needs, and move on. Maybe this interview taught how to do better next time. Rejection always hurts, it is a consequence of being invested. And you'll always make mistakes — everyone does — but instead of pathetically mulling around you’ll focus on continuous improvement.
Polarization is the name of the game
Polarization is how Mark Manson calls the act of making clear to a woman (men/whatever) that you’re invested in her. It’s not the same as bluntly saying "hey wanna fuck", or "I think I love you" or "I'm in love with you, wanna have dinner?" Or anything to that effect. You can and should be subtle, but in a way that is not subtle at the same time? Hahaha. Here's how I asked out my last date via WhatsApp (met her on Tinder):
Hi! I find you beautiful, interesting and smart. I'd like to go out with you.
I said what was on my mind. Everything I said was true, open and clear. This woman knew I was asking for a date, she knew I was very interested in her, and, when she said YES, she knew what she was getting into. No half-truths, not insecurities, no fucking games. Notice that was also polite and not at all creepy. It's not that hard. And the advantage is: so few men do things like that, that you're likely to stand out.
But what if you're talking to a woman that do like to play games (likely a narcissistic)? In that case, the games will become very clear and you'll have a chance to pass on the opportunity (that is what I do).
And what if a woman rejects your proposal? Great, than! You saved yourself from a terrible date with a person who had no real interest in you!
What if she say yes? Well, now you have a date to go to ;)
That's why, after the initial conversations, I always polarize: it's a great way to show the other person that you are interested and get a response that will make it very clear where you stand.
About the book
If for some reason my mini-review sounds too negative, that is a mistake on my part: even if I disagree with it in many counts, this is by far THE best dating book for men and you should definitely read it.
I just finished Attract Women Through Honesty, the dating-advice/self-help book by the author of The Art of Not Giving a Fuck. It does contain good pointers and reinforces many of my intuitions. At the same time, books like that make me sad about humankind (all genres). The things we look in our partners reflect how selfish and primal we still are, and the whole thing about not showing "neediness" (short for weakness...) is a curse to every man. The book makes great efforts to show we should show our emotions and demonstrate vulnerability, but only in a way that actually enhances our perceived strength.
So this a book that proposes a new masculinity that is updated to the current times and is enhanced in many ways, only to defend a new form of virility that ends up reintroducing many of the failings of the dated and misogynist advice from machismo and the pick-up-artists community. I'm not saying this is necessarily bad advice, it's just sad to realize how such advice remains relevant. I kinda wished for a novel proposal that abandoned the classic notions of virility altogether, but I realize this may be asking too much from a self-help book (even from an author that shows a reasonable level of intellectual sophistication).
I'm heterosexual, and a cisgender man when it comes to appearance and external behavior, but my psychological composition is heavily androgynous. All these generalizations and preconceived ideas about masculine psychology are to me extremely inconvenient, and I believe that's true about many of us (the same line of reasoning is certainly true about all genders).
It doesn't help that the author repeats over and over that creating true emotional connections is the ultimate goal, only to reiterate his success on sleeping with over 100 women all over the world (roughly the same count the historical Casanova had in his 70s. The author is 35) and approaching about 3 times that. I mean, nothing against having lots of sex, but if this is not the goal of the book what is the relevance of this information?
BUT, for what its worth, I think the main takeaways of the book are solid:
try not to come off as creepy, but accept the fact that it'll happen from time to time.
Be open and blunt without being an asshole. State your intentions. If the woman is firmly uninterested, you'll know that early one and will save time, energy and humiliation (even if you can achieve something here, why would you want to be with a person with no real interest in you?). If she's unsure, the effort may be worth it. Your call. If she is clearly interested, go for it. He calls it polarizing: creating a set of expectations that is clear from the very start. Saves a lot of anxiety, and I have done it before. The book made me realize how right I was.
Footnotes
[1]The character, not the person. [2]It's a bit more complicated than that. Yes, you should communicate your feelings, but you shouldn't communicate them all at once and you definitely shouldn't tell someone you love them before things get serious. But you can definitely show there are feelings if they occur. It's a great way to show appreciation, and also to elicit an emotional response. [3]Your self-worth should take others into account, but this should be weighed with your own self-evaluation. Only psychopaths don't care about others' opinions at all.
Look, self-help sucks. I get it. Regardless, Manson's is the only book on the subject you should read. And, unlike his other book, it does contain lots of very practical advice. Neil Strauss and...
Look, self-help sucks. I get it. Regardless, Manson's is the only book on the subject you should read. And, unlike his other book, it does contain lots of very practical advice.
Neil Strauss and company will teach you to create a fake persona in order to fuck like there's no tomorrow. It will make you memorize complicated routines in order to crack "the big problem". You'll become a hunter, women will become "targets". You may as well fuck, but when things advance they'll realize you're nothing but an empty shell. A magic trick. The PUA community is misogynistic and gross.
Manson's book has its faults, but it says enough correct things to make it worthwhile.
I would say I also dabble in veganism as a hobby. I'm not vegan, but we do try to have a few vegan meals every week. Are you a vegan-dabbler or are you vegan all the time? With regards to music,...
I would say I also dabble in veganism as a hobby. I'm not vegan, but we do try to have a few vegan meals every week. Are you a vegan-dabbler or are you vegan all the time?
I am a vegan-dabbler, but I've been vegetarian for 1.5 years now :D My dairy comes from cheese and greek yogurt, also occasionally put honey in my tea. Music I love listening and also doing music...
I am a vegan-dabbler, but I've been vegetarian for 1.5 years now :D
My dairy comes from cheese and greek yogurt, also occasionally put honey in my tea.
Music I love listening and also doing music production as a hobby. I have about 400+ records in my vinyl collection. Mostly stuff from dollar bins from 60s and 70s - I founded r/hiphopheads on reddit 10 years ago :D
If you need some good vegan recipes, I just got this book by Isa Chandra Moskowitz called I can cook vegan that's really good. It's simple and brightly colored and everything I've had from there...
If you need some good vegan recipes, I just got this book by Isa Chandra Moskowitz called I can cook vegan that's really good. It's simple and brightly colored and everything I've had from there has been great.
I should answer my own question I guess! Ultimate (Frisbee) - people who play usually just say "Ultimate" but when we get blank looks we'll begrudgingly add the word "Frisbee" so that everyone...
I should answer my own question I guess!
Ultimate (Frisbee) - people who play usually just say "Ultimate" but when we get blank looks we'll begrudgingly add the word "Frisbee" so that everyone understands. I play in a really low level league, but the game is a ton of fun, and a great excuse to go out and run around. I'm off for the winter though.
Disc Golf - when the weather is nice, I try to get out once a week to play, and I also enjoy watching the Pro Tour during the season. If you're interested, check out Jomez Pro.
Gaming - I love gaming; I play in a regular D&D group, I try to play Magic TCG monthly, we have a family board gaming night at least once a week, and I even find time to play some video games. My children are now old enough that I can share this hobby with them, which is fantastic; it feels like being a great dad, and it also feels like just having fun for myself, so it's an "everyone wins" sort of situation.
3D Printing - I have a Creality CR-10S, and I'm thinking about getting a resin 3D printer as well. I may need to get a bigger house in the meanwhile though! Edit: just yolo bought a resin printer.
Media Consumption - my wife likes to watch TV, so we usually have a show that we're watching so we have something to do for half an hour after the kids go to bed. Right now that's "You" starring Penn Bagley on Netflix. It's okay, I guess. The first season was better.
Edit: Music! - I can't believe I kind of glossed over a huge part of my life. I guess I didn't really think of it as a hobby, any more than I think of breathing as a hobby. I make music, and I listen to music. My tastes are varied, though my tendency is to listen to rock music. I've seen a lot of shows over the last 25 years (many of them *at the same time as @cfabbro, though I don't think we've ever actually met), and I've performed in a lot of places as well.
Other things that I kind of don't do much anymore - I used to spend time learning languages on my own, doing photography, going canoeing, woodworking, yard improvement, cycling, working on my Mustang (RIP - it's gone). I just don't really do much of any of these anymore.,
Lol, yeah it's actually kinda crazy how often we seemed to have frequented the same venues at around the same time, or even been at the exact same concerts. We both just have similarly excellent...
Lol, yeah it's actually kinda crazy how often we seemed to have frequented the same venues at around the same time, or even been at the exact same concerts. We both just have similarly excellent taste in music, I guess. ;) ... Well, that and during the 90s-2000s there wasn't exactly a ton of options for seeing live rock/metal/punk music in the GTA. :P
lol at the yolo buy, I know how that goes. Which one did you get? I've been thinking of getting back into 3d printing, I have a OneUp V2 that I used years ago to see if I liked it. I did, just...
Edit: just yolo bought a resin printer
lol at the yolo buy, I know how that goes. Which one did you get?
I've been thinking of getting back into 3d printing, I have a OneUp V2 that I used years ago to see if I liked it. I did, just needed something larger. Any suggestions on a filament printer around $300-400?
I got an Anycubic Photon S. It had moderately good reviews, and was on quite a decent sale (I got it for $150CAD off the normal sticker price). Considering that my first printer was more than...
I got an Anycubic Photon S. It had moderately good reviews, and was on quite a decent sale (I got it for $150CAD off the normal sticker price). Considering that my first printer was more than double the cost, I felt like this was a good pickup. I do have to purchase some other things to make this worthwhile though, notably some way to ensure that the fumes vent properly and I don't poison myself.
I'll probably use the resin printer for smaller, finer detail pieces, and the Creality for bigger pieces or pieces that I want to use special filament for.
Wow 3D printers have gotten so much cheaper, even resin printers! I may have to look into resin printing ha, it's much more affordable now. Funny, fumes is something I've been worried about with...
Wow 3D printers have gotten so much cheaper, even resin printers! I may have to look into resin printing ha, it's much more affordable now. Funny, fumes is something I've been worried about with getting back into 3D printing. I'll probably just put it in the garage or something.
Thanks for the rec, that is probably going to be a yolo buy for me.
It's really a great machine - my cousin has one and uses it constantly for work (he's a pinball repairman!) and it is a workhorse and there are lots of little upgrades you can do it. Great for...
It's really a great machine - my cousin has one and uses it constantly for work (he's a pinball repairman!) and it is a workhorse and there are lots of little upgrades you can do it. Great for entry level printing, but also great if you really get into printing and want to do more things (multi extrusion comes to mind).
Hobbies are a pretty long list, but not all concurrent. Related clusters: Hiking, kayaking, bicycling, cross-country skiing, swimming - just trying to get back to all this after living in a place...
Hobbies are a pretty long list, but not all concurrent. Related clusters:
Hiking, kayaking, bicycling, cross-country skiing, swimming - just trying to get back to all this after living in a place where these activities were inaccessible or unpleasant, and some health limitations. My spouse is lobbying to add swing dancing and curling.
Gardening, cooking, baking, dining and wine-tasting - I've got big permaculture plans now that we have an acre or so to work with again. Beekeeping is going to be part of this. Serious cooking and baking went by the wayside while I was embroiled in a crazy job, and now we're making new friends to share with. We're going to add mushroom hunting and cultivation this year.
Interior design and architecture - more necessity than hobby with a house renovation going on, but I'm kind of enjoying it.
Lapidary and jewelry-making - just rebuilding my workshop space. I haven't decided whether this is going to remain a hobby, or whether it's going to be a profession again. Not buying a 3-D printer for making casting models is going to be the biggest challenge for a while.
Operating systems, virtualization, SDN, and some other data center stuff, Python, and data analysis - again, haven't decided what's best as a hobby, and what's best as a day job.
Reading and writing - calling these hobbies is like calling eating and excreting hobbies.
I enjoy a lot of outdoorsy things as well - my favourites are canoeing and hiking - and am lucky to live in an area where at least half the year it's pretty palatable to be out and about outside....
I enjoy a lot of outdoorsy things as well - my favourites are canoeing and hiking - and am lucky to live in an area where at least half the year it's pretty palatable to be out and about outside.
Beekeeping is going to be part of this
Apiculture looks like an amazing things to get into; I'm trying to get my dad to start a hive and see what he gets. He took it as an elective in University waaaaaaaaay back when he was there, and he's talked about it a bunch, but never actually started it. Are you going to start a colony of your own, or are you just going to have a very bee-friendly acre?
Not buying a 3-D printer for making casting models is going to be the biggest challenge for a while.
I will refrain from talking about the joys of 3D printing further than I have in this thread. ;)
Do you do polishing at home? You might be able to connect with @eve in this thread about it - they also expressed an interest! (Edit: you have already done so unbeknownst to me - that's awesome)
We're preparing to start at least two hives this spring; our property is in an old subdivision with plenty of mature trees and floral landscaping, surrounded by farms and a botanical garden. It's...
We're preparing to start at least two hives this spring; our property is in an old subdivision with plenty of mature trees and floral landscaping, surrounded by farms and a botanical garden.
It's going to start as a benefit to our own garden's production, not to mention honey if we're successful in maintenance. Later in the year, we may add a hive or two as a bee conservation project, if any of the local beekeepers' hives of native bees do well enough to split or swarm. [The native bees are supposedly gentler, winter-hardier, and more productive than out-of-state bee cultivars, but they're very susceptible to Varroa mites.]
There's a very active beekeeping club tied into local agriculture, academic institutions, nature conservancies, and urban farming communities.
[More about this in a separate topic soon, with questions for Tilders - I've been invited to join the board, there are needs to create more effective communications, a charter, community rules, etc. The politics of the community are Byzantine!]
Tabletop RPGs! I'm in a (roughly) bi-weekly game with my D&D group of over 15 years now. Currently we're going through Out of the Abyss. :) I've got another group that meets more or less when...
Tabletop RPGs!
I'm in a (roughly) bi-weekly game with my D&D group of over 15 years now. Currently we're going through Out of the Abyss. :)
I've got another group that meets more or less when enough of us have our schedules line up, and so play games that are either one-shots, or work well enough with players subbing in and out. Currently we're enjoying Blades in the Dark, which is pretty much Dishonored: the Role-Playing Game. Within that, I'm currently adapting the adventure Blood in the Chocolate, which is like if Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was a heist movie with body horror. :D
I'm also helping run D&D for some middle schoolers on the weekends. It warms my heart to see that kids playing D&D is exactly the same as it was when I was their age. :)
And I also dabble with designing some of my own stuff, but that's fallen a little on the side. I've got tons of notes, though, and a creative partner.
Language Learning!
I kind of put the cart before the horse, and decided first that I want to speak more than one language well. English is my native language, I can understand when my parents speak Polish, and I have a ridiculously thin understanding of Spanish despite taking it for five years in middle and high school. I want to actually get good at more languages.
So, of course, I picked Japanese. It's partly because I will never run out of native material that interests me, partly because visiting there is on my bucket list, and partly because it's so dang difficult for an English speaker to learn. There's just so much different about it, so I can't take most of my understanding of grammar, a good chunk of my vocabulary, and have a decent start. I have to start from scratch, and with a notoriously convoluted writing system to boot. But, if I can do it, it will feel that much more like an accomplishment... I guess. :p Plus I took one semester of it in college, dropped it, and regretted it ever since. My goal is to pass the N1, in two years from now at the earliest.
After that, I think I'd like to tackle another language, but I don't want to get too cocky, juggle a bunch of them, and then drop them all. Again.
Banjo!
I was on a bluegrass/Americana kick this summer, and bought the bullet with a crappy cheap banjo. Tons of fun to play when it's not fighting me. :p I don't practice as much as I'd like, but if I'm still at least playing around with it in a while and making progress then I'll upgrade. Anyway, despite liking Bluegrass, I'm learning clawhammer first, which just seemed a lot more appealing to me as a solo style. The tl:dr is that clawhammer involves more strumming, whereas bluegrass style is all about finger picking and "rolls" of individual notes played in sequence.
Food and drink!
I love cooking, and have gotten into making cocktails. Not much to say about that, aside from the fact that I've been expanding my home bar, and had a very tiki summer. :p
Those D&D tales sound amazing. Our group is currently in year 3 of our "20 times per year" group. It's been pretty’s great thus far, and people have generally done a good job with scheduling,...
Those D&D tales sound amazing. Our group is currently in year 3 of our "20 times per year" group. It's been pretty’s great thus far, and people have generally done a good job with scheduling, despite all the responsibilities of life. D&D for middle schoolers sounds amazing - I'd love to run something with my kids and their friends. Do you do anything specific to prepare for that, or are you just playing D&D with younger players?
Re: cooking and cocktails - food and drink are some of the great joys in life. I used to be really into cooking as a hobby, but now it's mostly cooking for a family, which can really suck the joy out of the situation ("Daaaaaad, I don't like this" "Daaaaaad, I just want noodles" "Daaaaad, I won't eat vegetables if they are cooked, only frozen!"). I'd love to do more dinner parties and have people come over that actually enjoy food.
Do you have a signature cocktail that you love to make?
20 times a year is probably fairly accurate. :p We shoot for every other week, but of course there are interruptions. Heck, sometimes when we can meet in person instead of playing online, we don't...
20 times a year is probably fairly accurate. :p We shoot for every other week, but of course there are interruptions. Heck, sometimes when we can meet in person instead of playing online, we don't end up playing D&D.
As for the middle school group, to an extent it's just supervising them. :p I try to have a 5-room dungeon or something prepared, but if one of the kids shows up wanting to DM, they naturally get priority. If that happens, I help with co-DMing, doing things like tracking initiative, looking up rules, etc. And sometimes acting as the mystic familiar with the old ways. ;)
And kids are notoriously picky eaters, but there's a good change they'll grow out of it. Or, if not, you can still try to dabble in trying something new sometimes, even if just once a month or something.
I don't really have a signature cocktail, since at this point I'm really enjoying experimenting with new ones. I got an app called Mixel that I can't recommend enough. You can mark what ingredients you have, and it will return a list of what you can make with those ingredients. And, even cooler, you can use the "maximizer," to find out what ingredient you can go get that will let you make the most new recipes. So, for instance, right now it's telling me that I can make 17 new recipes if I get some mint, 15 new recipes if I get some apple brandy or allspice dram, 13 new recipes if I get some orgeat or passionfruit syrup... etc. I even have a filter set up to show me all the recipes I can make with what I have, but haven't made yet, and so I can hit "random" to pick something new to make. I like it a lot!
Anyway, I don't want to leave you hanging, so there are some recipes worth mentioning. ;)
First, for entertaining, I like to make a bowl of punch, which I got inspired by reading David Wondrich's book Punch. The basic template is "sour, sweet, strong, and weak," in a billion different ratios depending on who you ask. Wondrich recommends a basic ration of "one of sour, one of sweet, four of strong, and six of weak. So, that'd be...
1 part (6oz.) sugar, ideally mixed with lemon peels for an hour to extract the lemon oils for more flavor.
1 part (6oz.) citrus juice, usually lemon and/or lime
4 parts strong, or 750mls of your spirit of choice, typically rum, brandy, whiskey, some combination, or whatever.
6 parts weak. I like using tea, but it could even be water, or juice, or something else to just bring the proof down. You want something around the strength of wine at the end.
Serve cold, maybe on a big block of ice, with an optional grating of nutmeg on top.
I made essentially a rum iced tea for summer party that went well. I'd like to try this template to make a gin lemonade, too, maybe topped with some sparkling wine to create kind of a French 75 punch. There are also a ton of other interesting historical recipes in the book, like clarified milk punch, a precursor to jello shots from 1827, and more.
I also made mulled wine for a Christmas party, same idea. I made "Smoking Bishop," a recipe from Charles Dickens. A crock pot is perfect for keeping it warm throughout the party. :)
For some single-serving cocktails, I've particularly enjoyed:
Dr. Funk (lemon, lime, grenadine, demerara syrup, a bit of absinthe, and rum, lengthened with some seltzer)
Tom Collins, which changed my mind about gin (also, for a Tritter Collins, add just a touch of absinthe and grapefruit juice into the mix)
The Old Fashioned. I like mine with bourbon, and while I'll change up the one I use, I like the Death & Co. approach of using demerara syrup in place of a sugar cube, a dash each of Angostura and Bitter Truth bitters, and a twist each of lemon and orange.
I'm also working on my preferred Hot Toddy recipe, but I haven't quite perfected it yet. :p ...and this response might have gotten a bit longer than intended. Sorry for rambling, and hopefully you still found it interesting!
Have you tried making a Jungle Bird yet as part of your tiki kick? It's probably my favorite and go-to drink in the tiki world, closely followed by a Chartreuse Swizzle!
Have you tried making a Jungle Bird yet as part of your tiki kick? It's probably my favorite and go-to drink in the tiki world, closely followed by a Chartreuse Swizzle!
No, but I've been meaning to! I'm just still building out my bar, and haven't picked up a bottle of Campari yet. It's pretty high on the list though, there are just a few other ingredients that...
No, but I've been meaning to! I'm just still building out my bar, and haven't picked up a bottle of Campari yet. It's pretty high on the list though, there are just a few other ingredients that would "unlock" more cocktails first. Same goes for the Chartreuse, which I've never tried before and am really curious about.
(I also don't have any black rum but, at the risk of Tiki heresy, I allow myself some leeway when it comes to what rums I use. :p)
I'm also a bit less Tiki-motivated in the colder months. That said, I'd love to set up a small, makeshift Tiki bar and have some folks over in the coming summer. I'll likely have some Campari and Chartreuse by then, so your suggestions may well end up on the menu. :)
I did find it super interesting, and thought I replied... I actually typed out a lengthy-ish response but probably lost it in a tab somewhere. D: I love the idea of just being ready to DM, but...
I did find it super interesting, and thought I replied... I actually typed out a lengthy-ish response but probably lost it in a tab somewhere. D:
I love the idea of just being ready to DM, but letting the kids do so if they want; that sounds fantastic.
I'm going to check out the book that you mentioned if I can find it at the library. Sounds amazing! And the rum iced tea sounds great too.
I've mostly gotten out of the habit of drinking at home; I used to have a lovely well stocked bar, but I rarely drink, and we rarely entertain people, so it has fallen by the wayside in the last few years. Mostly I just have bottles of scotch left; I don't even have much beer. I rarely take a drink, though I do love a good Old Fashioned!
Yeah, it's a ton of fun helping out. Though there's also a rambunctious group of younger kids. Super awesome to see them have fun, but I'll happily let the other person running the club take over...
Yeah, it's a ton of fun helping out. Though there's also a rambunctious group of younger kids. Super awesome to see them have fun, but I'll happily let the other person running the club take over that table, while I help the kids who are about at the right age to start playing in earnest. :p
I definitely recommend the book Punch! I actually got an electronic version of it, but I might get a hard copy—I'd kind of like a proper shelf of cocktail recipe books. I've also heard great things about his other book, Imbibe.
Perhaps strangely, I don't drink super often either, but that's part of the reason I like making cocktails. When I do feel like having a drink or two, I like the process of making the drink, kind of like a little ritual. It's the same thing when I make coffee. :)
Anyway, if you don't want to bother with a home bar, then making punch when entertaining is an especially great way to go. Aside from the fact that you don't risk ending up bartending all night instead of enjoying your own party, it'll get you a lot of the same satisfaction as mixing cocktails, and you can just pick up enough spirits for the punch you want to make and be done with it.
We are currently looking to upgrade our house, and one of the things I want to ensure is that we have a good home bar area. While I don't drink often, I do like my drinking to be in comfort. I...
if you don't want to bother with a home bar,
We are currently looking to upgrade our house, and one of the things I want to ensure is that we have a good home bar area. While I don't drink often, I do like my drinking to be in comfort. I totally understand about the process of making the drink - when I have a drink these days (typically scotch) I enjoy the whole bit: getting out the "special" glass, extracting the round ice cube, picking the bottle, giving it a slow pour, putting everything away while the water opens up the taste... the whole process is soothing.
Nice! That's something I'd like to get around to eventually, too. I like the process of making cocktails, a home bar would be really cozy and great for entertaining, and a bar gives you some of...
Nice! That's something I'd like to get around to eventually, too. I like the process of making cocktails, a home bar would be really cozy and great for entertaining, and a bar gives you some of the same satisfaction as collecting thing—in this case, spirits and other ingredients you like. :)
Sure! I got a Jameson brand banjo on Amazon for ~$150. Unfortunately, it's currently unavailable, but fortunately, there's no shortage of other sketchy cheap banjos available. ;) But seriously, I...
Sure! I got a Jameson brand banjo on Amazon for ~$150. Unfortunately, it's currently unavailable, but fortunately, there's no shortage of other sketchy cheap banjos available. ;)
But seriously, I think those sketchy, cheap banjos on mine are good for my situation, which was wanting to dip my toes into playing the banjo, but not being sure if I was going to stick with it. I would prefer to spend $150, get some value out of it, but have to upgrade later, than to spend $500-600 upfront only to find out I wasn't into it.
If you're more confident you'll stick with it, or are willing to invest more upfront and sell the banjo if you don't like it, then you could get something nicer that you'll actually keep using. Deering seems to be the go-to.
As for how I'm learning, the first book I got I would not recommend. I overlooked the cheesy title of "Clawhammer Banjo for the Complete Ignoramus" because it got good reviews, but I have some major gripes with it. It will teach you a bunch of songs, which is cool, but often fails to adequately explain techniques, concepts, or even notation. There were too many times that I read some explanation of how to perform a technique or read the author's tablature only to end up unclear on what I was supposed to do. It's a good book of songs to practice, but a mediocre book to learn the fundamentals.
Thankfully, there are a BUNCH of other books available out there, but I still need to get to those. :p
YouTube has a BUNCH of great resources. My favorite is a YouTuber who just goes by Tom Collins, so (if you don't follow my link) be sure to add the search term "banjo" or you're just going to get cocktail recipe videos. :p He does a great job of explaining techniques, the instrument itself, and providing exercises and practice tips. You can find some other useful videos, but his are, IMO, far and away the best.
It really does, thank you! I'm in the same camp with banjo quality -- I know I like it a lot, but I always want to be sure :) Hell, I still have my 13-year-old cheap guitar I got as a birthday...
It really does, thank you! I'm in the same camp with banjo quality -- I know I like it a lot, but I always want to be sure :) Hell, I still have my 13-year-old cheap guitar I got as a birthday gift one year, because I haven't got enough reason to upgrade yet.
Happy to help, and glad to hear my thought process made sense. :) By the way, mine actually came with a resonator, which makes it a little extra sketchy for a $150 banjo. I decided to take it off,...
Happy to help, and glad to hear my thought process made sense. :)
By the way, mine actually came with a resonator, which makes it a little extra sketchy for a $150 banjo. I decided to take it off, less because that's more "traditional" for clawhammer, and more because it makes the banjo a little quieter, so I can practice without rousing the whole house. Anyway, while doing it, I could definitely see where they cheaped out, with a lot of the hidden parts being pretty shoddy and made with lesser materials. But, on the outside, it looks great, and plays just fine. So, for what it's worth, I've found it a good value so far, but if ever a part of it breaks (besides the strings or the bridge), it's not going to be worth the cost or trouble of repairing. But hey, if I get to that point, I could probably justify buying a good banjo. :p
Translations is an awesome hobby - it seems like we have a lot of linguists around Tildes, just based on the responses in this thread. With regards to birdwatching, I know very little about it,...
Translations is an awesome hobby - it seems like we have a lot of linguists around Tildes, just based on the responses in this thread.
With regards to birdwatching, I know very little about it, though I do have a pocket guide that I was gifted at some point. Do you keep a journal? What sort of equipment do you have?
I play classical piano (well, mostly classical) and I play video games! I also sometimes do hobby programming, but I'm getting a bit burnt out on it... another more generative hobby would be nice,...
I play classical piano (well, mostly classical) and I play video games! I also sometimes do hobby programming, but I'm getting a bit burnt out on it... another more generative hobby would be nice, but honestly lately I'm not feeling it.
How long have you been playing piano? Is there a particular song that you're working on or one that you're particular proud of? If we asked you to play a song, what would you play?
How long have you been playing piano? Is there a particular song that you're working on or one that you're particular proud of? If we asked you to play a song, what would you play?
Language learning is a popular one! Maybe we should start a recurring thread on that? Do you have any favourite books you'd like to chat about? I am a decent casual chess player, but I lose to...
Language learning is a popular one! Maybe we should start a recurring thread on that?
Do you have any favourite books you'd like to chat about?
I am a decent casual chess player, but I lose to anyone who has spent any time in chess study. How much did you play?
I've been playing for about 2 years and have played about 50 tournament games. I used to study a lot, but that's kind of fallen by the wayside recently. As for books, right now I'm reading The...
I've been playing for about 2 years and have played about 50 tournament games. I used to study a lot, but that's kind of fallen by the wayside recently.
As for books, right now I'm reading The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. I'd tell you what its about but I'm not entirely sure tbh. It's written in a very stream of conscious-y, non-linear way, and from multiple POVs, so I'm having a really hard time following what's going on. The most I can say is that it's about a wealthy family in the pre-Civil War American South
I'd say mine are drumming, making cocktails and cooking good food, reading way too much news on cybersecurity, privacy, international relations, and domestic politics (former policy guy so it'll...
I'd say mine are drumming, making cocktails and cooking good food, reading way too much news on cybersecurity, privacy, international relations, and domestic politics (former policy guy so it'll never die), playing games on the PC I built (mostly FPS games), learning languages (though that's died down as I responded in another comment), and voice acting (though that also died down when I realized you can't really get into the big time without being a celebrity). I just got my library card so I'm trying to get back into a reading habit -- just finished Season of the Witch and I loved it. I tinker a bit too with tech projects and learning enough to make engineers think I'm technically trained...
What kind of drum kit do you have? Do you have a signature cocktail that you like making, or a signature dish to cook? Any tech projects you want to share?
What kind of drum kit do you have? Do you have a signature cocktail that you like making, or a signature dish to cook?
I have a Pearl Forum kit at home where I grew up with some A Custom cymbals, but I haven't had my own house to bring an acoustic set for over a decade now... So I'm stuck with a TD-9K Roland...
I have a Pearl Forum kit at home where I grew up with some A Custom cymbals, but I haven't had my own house to bring an acoustic set for over a decade now... So I'm stuck with a TD-9K Roland electronic set. They don't make it anymore, but it was the cheapest yet decent set I could afford back in college. It lets me play with headphones and not piss off my neighbors too much, but I've also used it in live shows without too many issues. I don't want to get too used to it though because an acoustic set is way more fun to play.
My signature cocktail these days is probably a Last Word (equal parts fresh lime juice, dry gin, maraschino liqueur, and green chartreuse).
As for tech projects, I recently built a PiHole for my home network, and I've also been managing some servers for work through a cloud provider I've partnered with... Currently also working through the Linux Basics for Hackers book from No Starch Press.
My brother is in the same situation drum-wise as you. The headphones situation is great with electronic drums. That sounds like an awesome cocktail! I'll give it a try the next time I'm drinking...
My brother is in the same situation drum-wise as you. The headphones situation is great with electronic drums.
That sounds like an awesome cocktail! I'll give it a try the next time I'm drinking at a bar.
Absolutely! I'm going to take some and upload them and I'll reply here ... unless you think a separate post is better for that. Thanks for the interest!
Absolutely! I'm going to take some and upload them and I'll reply here ... unless you think a separate post is better for that. Thanks for the interest!
I think it could certainly be a standalone post to ~hobbies if you wanted. It's the sort of thing I'd love to see going on here in an otherwise somewhat underutilized tildes group!
I think it could certainly be a standalone post to ~hobbies if you wanted. It's the sort of thing I'd love to see going on here in an otherwise somewhat underutilized tildes group!
This last year I've really gotten back into raving and EDM. I'm not sure if that qualifies as a hobby, but I've definitely spent more on that freetime activity than anything else. I like to dance,...
This last year I've really gotten back into raving and EDM. I'm not sure if that qualifies as a hobby, but I've definitely spent more on that freetime activity than anything else. I like to dance, glowstick, finger light, and dabble in poi.
For most of my life I've been a gamer and for a bit over a decade I've been a lifter.
Since going to college I've kept myself up to date as much as possible on health, fitness, nutrition, etc. science and try to keep somewhat up to date on neurobiology (this is becoming increasingly difficult as the field continues to expand).
I wouldn't really consider it a hobby but I do a fair deal of hiking as a way to keep fit and spend some quality social time with others who enjoy it as well.
I think that anything that you do in leisure time for pleasure counts as a hobby, so EDM and raving definitely counts! Do you have any lifting goals in particular? I used to lift a lot, but I have...
I think that anything that you do in leisure time for pleasure counts as a hobby, so EDM and raving definitely counts!
Do you have any lifting goals in particular? I used to lift a lot, but I have not been doing so rigorously for a long time; I've switched focus to more aerobic exercises.
Keeping up to date in one's area of study is simultaneously getting easier because of the dissemination of information, and getting harder because of the sheer depth of most fields now. I find myself really out of the loop on Maths (which was what I studied several decades ago). It's awesome that you're keeping up though.
Any particular hikes that are your favourite? If I recall correctly from another secret society to which we both belong, I know your rough geographic location; if I'm right, then it seems like there's loads of great places to check out nearby.
Well I used to think getting big would make me like my own body, but it turns out it doesn't. Getting in shape and having a bit of muscles did help a bit with dysmorphia but now I'm not sure how...
Do you have any lifting goals in particular? I used to lift a lot, but I have not been doing so rigorously for a long time; I've switched focus to more aerobic exercises.
Well I used to think getting big would make me like my own body, but it turns out it doesn't. Getting in shape and having a bit of muscles did help a bit with dysmorphia but now I'm not sure how much is BDD and how much is plain dysphoria.
My current goals are mostly to be able to dance all day for multiple days without exhausting myself too much. So far the hardest I've gone was 100k steps in a bit under 24 hours. I was pretty dead the day after but that was a bit extreme so I'm not really pushing to get too much better.
Any particular hikes that are your favourite? If I recall correctly from another secret society to which we both belong, I know your rough geographic location; if I'm right, then it seems like there's loads of great places to check out nearby.
Mountain view, near google. I don't really keep it a secret. 😂
Yeah there's a ton of places nearby. Not sure I really have a favorite, but I really enjoy most of the hikes out SW of where I am. There's a lot of pretty nature there.
I wasn't sure what level of secrecy you were at with location and didn't want to just blabber it. Looks like there's a ton of locations near there that are great for hiking or just general...
Mountain view, near google.
I wasn't sure what level of secrecy you were at with location and didn't want to just blabber it. Looks like there's a ton of locations near there that are great for hiking or just general outdoorsiness. Here (just outside Toronto) we have been alternating between cold rain, flooding, snow, and ice, so I'm jealous of your weather.
100k steps in a day is crazy! That's awesome. I definitely understand the lifting goals relating to life benefits; all of my health related goals aren't really ends in and of themselves, but to enable a happier healthier lifestyle.
Yeah def, thanks for keeping that in mind. I'm sure there are plenty of people here who are privacy conscious. I've just decided that privacy doesn't really matter to me anymore. If people want to...
I wasn't sure what level of secrecy you were at with location and didn't want to just blabber it.
Yeah def, thanks for keeping that in mind. I'm sure there are plenty of people here who are privacy conscious. I've just decided that privacy doesn't really matter to me anymore. If people want to know what's going on in my life they are free to pry. I simply don't have the time to give a fuck about anyone who would judge me for what I do in my free time or what opinions I hold anymore.
100k steps in a day is crazy! That's awesome. I definitely understand the lifting goals relating to life benefits; all of my health related goals aren't really ends in and of themselves, but to enable a happier healthier lifestyle.
Yeah my ankle was in a lot of pain and I was still dancing on it. To be fair there were a few drugs involved to ignore the pain and continue having fun and have extra energy for dancing.
A happier/healthier life wasn't really the end goal initially, just a beneficial side effect. Now it's much more the focus. Weird how that happens as you grow older.
When I was 20, I was all about "how many plates could I put on this bar and still lift it?" but now that the focus is much more on maintenance, I feel better even than I did at that age. Or at...
Now it's much more the focus. Weird how that happens as you grow older.
When I was 20, I was all about "how many plates could I put on this bar and still lift it?" but now that the focus is much more on maintenance, I feel better even than I did at that age. Or at least I think I do.
don't have the time to give a fuck about anyone who would judge me for what I do in my free time or what opinions I hold anymore.
I just want to give this the biggest thumbsup possible.
Listening to music, been on a big Caroline Rose kick lately getting ready for her new album; Art, I'm going to a pop-up art show in a few weeks and am very excited for it; Running and general...
Listening to music, been on a big Caroline Rose kick lately getting ready for her new album; Art, I'm going to a pop-up art show in a few weeks and am very excited for it; Running and general fitness, that runner's high is wonderful; Watches, they're marvels of engineering and works of art; Trying to get into cocktails as I love cooking and baking and that feels like a good next step; Cooking and baking as I just mentioned :)
If I was going to listen to two Caroline Rose songs which ones would you recommend? I almost understand the runner's high. I never quite make it there in the 6 months of warm-enough-to-run-outside...
If I was going to listen to two Caroline Rose songs which ones would you recommend?
I almost understand the runner's high. I never quite make it there in the 6 months of warm-enough-to-run-outside weather that we get here.
First good on you for replying to everyone, that's awesome. Alright Caroline Rose. It depends on what you're looking for. Her first two albums were hillbilly rock which I was never a fan of. Her...
First good on you for replying to everyone, that's awesome.
Alright Caroline Rose. It depends on what you're looking for. Her first two albums were hillbilly rock which I was never a fan of. Her most recent released album is Loner which is much more pop-rock. I'd say my favorites from it are More of the Same, Cry!, Jeannie Becomes a Mom, and Animal. Then there's her upcoming album Superstar of which she has released one song. I'd say check out Feel The Way I Want from Superstar and Cry! From Loner. Good variety and great songs.
I live on treadmills. I like the climate control, lack of looking for traffic, ability to zone out, and lack of wind resistance. It's blasphemy to a lot of runners but I like what I like.
I haven't been making cocktails long enough to have a signature cocktail, though I like things with lime and mint. I think the Southside has been the best one I've made so far. I did make a celery gimlet a few days ago that was a lot better than expected. Using "How To Cocktail" from America's Test kitchen to teach myself. I do however have a signature dinner dish, pork carnitas. And a signature baking dish too, chocolate cake with coffee frosting. No recipe for either. Just a chocolate cake and coffee buttercream frosting. I always recommend using a whip instead of paddle attachment on stand mixers for buttercream, it makes it a lot lighter less dense.
And what kind of music do you like? I love finding new music. Introduce me to something new!
It's the joy of Tildes right now - on reddit if I asked this and it got popular there would be more answers than I could realistically deal with this, but on Tildes, I got to read and understand...
First good on you for replying to everyone, that's awesome.
It's the joy of Tildes right now - on reddit if I asked this and it got popular there would be more answers than I could realistically deal with this, but on Tildes, I got to read and understand all the answers, and consider them in some detail and learn more about people!
check out Feel The Way I Want from Superstar and Cry! From Loner
I will throw both into the mix of things I listen to today - thanks for the recommendation.
It's blasphemy to a lot of runners
I cannot physically go out and exercise when it's too cold - I have crap lungs - so I fully understand the allure of the treadmill. In another comment I mentioned that I'm looking for a new house, and one of the things I'd like to ensure we have is enough space for a treadmill and for my weights, which currently both reside, embarassingly, at my parent's house.
"How To Cocktail" from America's Test kitchen to teach myself.
That's a great book.
Your signature dish sounds awesome. I don't have a good authentic mexican restaurant nearby so I might have to give this one a try. I might even be able to get my kids to eat it!
I love a good coffee frosting cake; it's been a long time since I've done any serious baking, but I used to make a similar but reversed cake; coffee flavoured cake with chocolate frosting. It was also good.
And what kind of music do you like?
Oh boy, this is a whole other level of conversation here. I'll reign myself in a bit and just try to stick to straight recommendations.
Mephisto Waltz No 1 is a song I like to recommend for anyone to get into the joy and beauty of piano music. I love to juxtapose it with Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin. Both are lively roller coasters that can put a smile on your face.
For the last year, I've been on a Frog Leap Studios kick. The hook: Leo performs metal covers of pop songs. The real hook: he's really talented and puts together great music videos that combine the ridiculous aspects of metal videos and pop videos. They tend to be a bit silly, but the overall effect is great. I avoided using the word "juxtapose" in this paragraph, despite the fact that I really wanted to, because I put it in the last paragraph, but his melding of pop and metal is definitely at odds with the silliness in the videos; I recommend watching the videos and not just listening (for at least a few).
I've been listening to a lot of female vocalists lately because my oldest daughter is taking vocal lessons and is constantly picking songs and practicing them. One of my favourites has got to be Jann Arden. I'd recommend Good Mother and Insensitive by her; they aren't particularly deep in her discography, but they're both great.
I will also always recommend listening to Tool, with the caveat that if you don't like really hard rock music that this might not be your thing. Despite the fact that the lead singer is a bit of a buffoon and an asshole, they're one of the best bands of all time. I don't recommend picking and choosing songs; I recommend listening to Aenema (second album) in its entirety. After that, check out Undertow, then 10,000 Days, then Opiate. Opiate, by the way, is a much rawer, less refined, angrier album than any of the others.
Each of these are things that I have a deep musical connection with; I hope you check them out and enjoy them!
I make music, play video games, make visual art in photoshop, participate in powerlifting/bodybuilding, and am always keeping up to date with the newest gadgets in the tech field. Sometimes I like...
I make music, play video games, make visual art in photoshop, participate in powerlifting/bodybuilding, and am always keeping up to date with the newest gadgets in the tech field. Sometimes I like to read up on psychology but I wouldn't really consider that much of a hobby cause I don't do it that often.
There's a lot of music makers here, which is awesome! What sort of music do you make? Do you have a particular favourite video game? Would you be interested in sharing any of your art?
There's a lot of music makers here, which is awesome! What sort of music do you make?
Do you have a particular favourite video game?
Would you be interested in sharing any of your art?
Yeah, I actually was surprised to see such a big music community on this site, I love it :) I make experimental music, usually focused on breakbeat genres such as jungle and drum and bass. My...
Yeah, I actually was surprised to see such a big music community on this site, I love it :) I make experimental music, usually focused on breakbeat genres such as jungle and drum and bass.
Taking a listen to the soundcloud now! Made my way through crisis, and queued up ascend://:fallen next. I am digging the sound a lot; thanks for sharing!
Taking a listen to the soundcloud now! Made my way through crisis, and queued up ascend://:fallen next. I am digging the sound a lot; thanks for sharing!
Music is my greatest hobby. Listening to it. Also, going to live concerts is one of my greatest pleasures in life. I'm into metal/hardcore punk music. On the metal side I'm leaning into...
Music is my greatest hobby. Listening to it. Also, going to live concerts is one of my greatest pleasures in life. I'm into metal/hardcore punk music. On the metal side I'm leaning into death/grindcore, but I'm also a big fan of avantgarde and experimental metal. And being from Romania, while I was in highschool (early '90s) I've always wanted to see my favourite bands live. This has been happening since 2005/2006 constantly, as many foreign bands tour Romania too.
Board games are another hobby of mine, but I don't have (yet) a group of friends that I can play with, so I'm mostly playing two player games with my wife and some easy stuff (Azul, Carcassonne) with some friends that don't get too involved.
Awesome, thanks for the info. Simple games are better for my wife. Not that she's simple, just that's her preference. We are deeply into Splendor at the moment, but I'm getting a bit tired of it.
Awesome, thanks for the info. Simple games are better for my wife. Not that she's simple, just that's her preference. We are deeply into Splendor at the moment, but I'm getting a bit tired of it.
Currently, in order of how long I've had them, a Fender Pawn Shop '51, a Seagull Coastline Cedar Folk, and a Guild Starfire IV ST. The Guild gets the most play, these days. Strung with D'Addario...
The Guild gets the most play, these days. Strung with D'Addario Chromes 12-52, though I've replaced the high E and B strings with Elixirs in the equivalent gauge as I found that the plain strings were rusting up way too quick for my liking. Works well! Thinking of increasing the gauge of the high E, though, because it still sounds too thin for me.
I'll be replacing the pickguard on the Fender to a black/white/black pickguard pretty soon. That's strung with Elixir medium gauge (11-49) strings. But, I need to take it in for a set-up and get the input jack re-soldered. I haven't been playing it much because, well, can't get an electric sound out of it!
And, as the guitar's name might suggest, I've been using the Seagull to practice some folk guitar playing.
Those are all lovely! I've got a custom built strat from a local luthier that I really enjoy playing. I almost always end up with thick strings because that feels right to me. My favourite...
Those are all lovely!
I've got a custom built strat from a local luthier that I really enjoy playing. I almost always end up with thick strings because that feels right to me.
My favourite acoustic as actually my red Oscar Schmidt which is just a cheap washburn, but I've had it for 25 years, and for some reason just love it. I've done a lot of things to it over the years, but it has served me well.
I've got a few others (an ibanez somewhere that kind of sucks, a crazy Phantom "X" clearly meant for metallica, a low end takamine) but those are the two I come back to the most.
I have a variety of basses too; my favoure is a 30-ish year old BC Rich wood finish. No particular gimmick (like a lot of BC Rich these days), just a decent bass. It saw me through three different bands when I was younger.
I used to play Go, but it's been years; one of the problems I find is that unless you find someone of a similar level, the games are very one sided. What's your favourite postcard that you've...
I used to play Go, but it's been years; one of the problems I find is that unless you find someone of a similar level, the games are very one sided.
What's your favourite postcard that you've received?
Do you enjoy the process of making tea or are you more about having tea, or is it both for you? What is your favourite tea? I like a good earl grey, myself, but I'm pretty basic when it comes to tea.
About Go, I mostly play on Internet ( like online-go dot com). I prefer play in a real goban but as you said, It's very difficult find similar players :-( I can't choose a favorite postcard. Some...
About Go, I mostly play on Internet ( like online-go dot com). I prefer play in a real goban but as you said, It's very difficult find similar players :-(
I can't choose a favorite postcard. Some is special for who send me, another is because from where, others simply for some little special thing :-) and yes, I have a lot postcards that I don't like much, too.
I enjoy process of making tea and drink it. No special method or ceremony, but it's a relax moment. My prefer tea is keemun and anothers black pures, without sugar or milk.
I should give online-go a try; it's been years since I've really played, but I always enjoyed it. When I did my degree (Maths) there were a few people who were often good for a game, but I haven't...
I should give online-go a try; it's been years since I've really played, but I always enjoyed it. When I did my degree (Maths) there were a few people who were often good for a game, but I haven't really played much since then.
I saw that you started a postcard swap on Tildes - that's awesome!
If you back to play and need some advice, tell me! There a lot of great material about Go, however if you don't have a community or anybody to talk, it's hard continues playing. You can take part...
If you back to play and need some advice, tell me! There a lot of great material about Go, however if you don't have a community or anybody to talk, it's hard continues playing.
You can take part of postcard swap if you want :-)
I have read Korschelt's Theory and Practice book a couple of times; maybe I'll pick that up again and remind myself of basic strategy. And I'll check out the online community; it would be nice to...
I have read Korschelt's Theory and Practice book a couple of times; maybe I'll pick that up again and remind myself of basic strategy. And I'll check out the online community; it would be nice to play again, do thanks for the info.
I have a hard time committing to things like sending postcards. I do like the idea though.
My most time/money intensive hobbies are my cars and motorcycles.
Rallycross (racing my '08 Subaru Legacy 3.0R)
My motorcycles - 1969 Yamaha R3 and 1969 Yamaha YG5-T
My 1992 Loyale is getting a new engine and AWD conversion
1972 Opel GT restoration
Very little computer games, I don't like how much time disappears. Have been playing Halo on the PC though, have about 6-7 hours in the last couple weeks.
Music - Sometimes I'll loose an hour or two just discovering things.
Reading/audiobooks - Not as much as I'd like, but about 30-60 minutes/day
Researching/planning home upgrades
Business development - Used to be much more of a hobby
I used to be into electronic hardware development, never got good at it. Would like to start again someday.
Picked up golf this last year, looking forward to better weather. Still hit the range every once in a while, been about a month though.
Where do you race? Can you expand on that a bit more? It sounds super interesting, and it's not really anything I know about.
Are your home upgrades all in the form of furniture / pieces? I guess if you're renting, it would be difficult to do things like kitchen renos...
I used to golf every other week during the summer, but I haven't been in years. I was never particularly good at it - I have a monster drive, and then a crap short game, and then acceptable putting. I can play a Par 5 okay, but I can't play Par 3s to save my life.
Sure!
We race around the Pacific Northwest area. I race with Northwest Rally Association, they do amazing work. Everyone is super friendly and helpful, and still nice and competitive. Nobody takes themselves too seriously. I wanted to do some ice racing up in Vancouver this year, but I think I'll wait till next, give the car a break. There are tons of autocross racing as well, I plan on giving that a try this year as well, I'll wait till it's warmer. That happens every weekend pretty much at multiple venues with multiple different clubs. There are track days just about every weekend as well in the area. Check out motorsportreg.com to find racing in your area if you are curious. Sometimes it is fun just to go watch and talk to people.
Yeah I am renting, so my options are pretty limited. So pretty much exclusively furniture and what not. I'd probably be able to do a kitchen if I paid for it, but mine is good enough. I am thinking of doing crown moulding at some point, maybe later this year. I have a bit of freedom with what I can do, it just needs to be repairable.
Ha that's funny, my drive is gaaaarbage (but I just started, it'll get there), but my short game is halfway decent. Par 3 is where I'm halfway decent, I'm good with my 6-7 iron, then a couple putts and I'm usually close to par. Par 5 is where I'm garbage, I can't drive far enough or consistent enough yet.
Racing sounds pretty amazing- thanks for the info!
I do some similar things around my home as you do, though I think it's mostly just damage control; having three kids, we're not really concentrating on "nice pieces" so much as "what broke?".
I hadn't really thought of golfing in a while - I've been more into Disc Golf - but you're making me think about dusting off my clubs, evicting the spiders that live in my golf bag, and asking my dad to go out for an 18 in the spring. Or maybe... to the driving range to start, with a six pack. That might be a better place to start.
No problem! Ha yeah, I know how that goes, but I was the kid breaking things at home. I remember my dad just constantly fixing things that the four of us found ways to break.
Funny, I bought my dad a range gift card for Christmas, so we are going to hit the range in spring a bit. The range and a pitcher or two of beer, that's where it's at!
Agreed. Gonna pencil it in shortly after my old man's birthday. Range card + beer + a date. Good call, thanks for the idea!
I wouldn't call mid-century modern "basic" - there's a lot of interesting design involved that I've spent time looking at as part of our own home renovation project.
It's kind of impressive that you're collecting original pieces, as the style's current popularity is pricing the classics out of reach. I've been looking for a Cadovius-style wall unit myself.
It's funny you mentioned the Samsung Frame because our 20-year old DLP is slowly dying and that Samsung was what I was pushing to replace it with. It's far nicer than a blank black rectangle, and less expensive and confining than buying a single substantial artwork.
Yeah I suppose you are right!
Yeah the original pieces are difficult to collect though, the pricing is getting pretty stupid. I was looking for an Andersen or Wikkelsø coffee table, but the prices are a little high. They aren't crazy (sometimes they are), but just beyond what I impulsively will spend. Ended up getting a decent table/couch from Wayfair. Their designs are okay, does the job, and cost half of what I would really like. Looks half as good too though.
Oh yeah, the Frame is great, it was a huge upgrade. It's a little pricey if you look at specs and what not (which I don't really care about), but it can't be beat for the art mode. If it is in a dim room, you can tell it's a TV, but if there is sunlight in the room, it does a very convincing job of looking like a painting. I had a neighbor over and we were talking in the living room, when he left he noticed the empty TV box and asked to see the new tv and walked right by it haha. I had to stop him and show him, his mind was blown, cause he'd been looking at it earlier thinking I got a new piece of art on the wall.
If you want better quality MCM-inspired furniture, take a look at Room and Board, Joybird, and Article. The costs are reasonable for all-wood frames, mostly U.S.-made.
I've got a yen for some of ScanDesign's current modern pieces, particularly this.
AllModern, Wayfair's modern furniture site, just has more of the same Chinese-made "fast furniture".
I really like the Frame's inconspicuous transparent cable concept. I've always hated the idea of running AV cabling inside a wall because it's so inconvenient to repair or relocate, but wall-mounted conduit looks ugly.
Can you upload your own artwork selections, or are you constrained to Samsung's stupid subscription service?
Oh awesome, thanks for the recommendations! I'll check those all out. Took a quick look at Article, really like some of their stuff. Nice designs and details.
Yeah, that transparent cable is fantastic. It blows people's minds that the tiny cable powers the entire TV. I'll be painting over mine white, should completely disappear.
You can upload your own artwork, but from my understanding, it won't look as good. Samsung does a bunch of custom work to each piece of art to make it look right, stuff with contrast and what not. The subscription service is really annoying, but it does offer a ton of art, and everything has looked really nice. I also messed with my brightness/color settings, made everything a touch warmer and I keep it all dim. There are separate color/brightness settings for art mode which is awesome. I do want to download some high quality painting scans and see how it looks.
This guy hobbies!
Watch videos and float around in Tildes I guess.
Don't say those are your hobbies in a good company. You'll be thought of as a fool.
If you don't have anything specialized you do regularly, say so. You'll appear more honest and sincere, which is more important than conforming to a set of standards.
There may be something you do that you don't consider a hobby when it is. Travelling is a hobby if you do it intentionally and regularly. Sociopolitical discussions on the Internet – same deal.
Any company that thinks you a fool for partaking in social activities (Tildes) or consuming entertainment (YouTube) is certainly not "good company". There are loads of places that are dedicated to studying both of these, so they certainly have worthwhile potential.
I'm just saying this as a 40-year old man, rushing in nobly to save you from the overweening assurance one has at 25 that they have figured out the world. ;)
I know we've already gone beyond the point where I admit I'm not taking this too seriously, but here's the thing:
You've taken my words out of context. What I said was "don't talk about these as your hobbies". What you're referring to now is partaking in activities without dedicating time to them specifically.
I agree: if people don't think much of you simply because you're browsing an Internet forum, there's a better company to be in.
It does still offend my sensibilities when a person is offering such browsing – no matter how good said forum is – as a hobby.
I disagree with this in spirit, but I admit that you're right if we consider the formal definition of a hobby.
I think that we see hobbies nowadays as "one notch below a skill or a profession". Meaning it requires from you at least some amount of effort, and it is expected that you improve at it through time even if very slowly.
This is why in my opinion passive activities such as consuming media shouldn't be put in the same category as activities such as playing an instrument, drawing, woodworking, stamp collecting, etc.
As for having sociopolitical discussion on the internet, I suppose you can define it as a hobby as it can improve your rhetorical skills, critical thinking, and general knowledge about the topics you're discussing.
In another comment I addressed this: defining "hobbies"
After looking around to see if I was wrong in my understanding of "hobby", or if Fanfic was wrong, I looked at a bunch of different definitions from dictionaries, wikipedia lists of hobbies, and hobby sites, and found that more people seem to use it as "something you do in leisure for fun" and not "something you do one notch below a skill or profession". I provided three examples in the comment I just linked; there are dozens more examples.
I understand that your point is that there's something extra to "hobby" that makes it more than a pastime. That could be true for the area you're in, or for your group of friends - a common connotation of this for hobbies exists and it's not wrong - but this is certainly not a uniform or even a majority understanding.
Well, consuming certain media can also improve your critical thinking and general knowledge.
I believe most people would consider 'reading' a hobby on the same level as these examples.
Unsurprisingly my comment is mostly a joke.
If you wanted a serious answer, the content I watch on YouTube tends to lean towards educational content of most types (science, business models, geography, economics in general and even some geopolitics and world building.) and the discussions I have/see follow this trend, with some memes from r/politicalcompassmemes and some streams from Carlsagan42, a SMM player. Unfortunately I don't play many games because my phone has no space, my PC has half a gig of RAM and people don't make games for PS3s anymore and my parents just can't pay to change that. (Now would be a good time to say I'm 14, something I probably don't stress enough.)
Unsurprisingly I don't really think these are hobbies.
You mentioned you were 14 in this thread – which is why I, an old 25-year-old man, rushed in to nobly save you from public humiliation. :P
Seriously, though. I didn't have hobbies until I was 22. You seem to be doing alright on the "figuring yourself out" front.
If a hobby is something you do, as per the topic, "for fun and entertainment", watching videos or browsing a site like Tildes, Reddit, or Fark are absolutely viable hobbies.
I'd say Tildes (for depth) and Reddit (for breadth) are hobbies of mine, but my primary hobby is definitely gaming.
It's one of the nitpicks of mine that I won't let go of. Considering plain activities "hobbies" makes for duller experiences for the rest of us. Hobbies could be entertaining – in fact, no good hobby isn't – but, like...
I enjoy sitting in my computer chair. It brings me pleasure. You could say, it entertains me. Am I partaking in a hobby of nice-chair-sitting?
No, of course I'm fuckin' not. I'm just sitting in a nice chair. It isn't involving, it isn't a matter of realizing yourself in this world. It's just plain sitting.
I'm struggling to think of a situation in which elevating browsing Reddit to a hobby ever makes sense. It's like reading books, or watching films, or reading news: just an activity! not a hobby!
Collecting rocks you think are pretty is a hobby. Making furniture out of wood is a hobby, perhaps even if you're making money out of it. Making statues out dried lemon peels is a hobby. Composing royalty-free melodies to post on the Internet is a hobby.
And yes, I'm absolutely gatekeeping this. I am a knight in shining armor, fighting against the intellectual decline arising from the Internet's growing inattention span that's reducing human beings to rambling beasts eager to prove the size of their penises to strangers... Or maybe I'm just old, lonely, and sad. -_-
Beh.
Reading books is absolutely a hobby. No question about that. If just collecting things (arguably one of the most entry level hobbies there is: "I have a new thing now") can be considered a hobby, then the bar is already fairly low. A hobby is simply an activity you do for fun and relaxation, and perusing sites like this most definitely fits.
then why do i feel so goddamn old
See, this is where none of you have gotten on my level because for some reason, "hobbies" is "things I do" in y'all's mind – which is the opposite of the case I was making.
But nah, fuck that conversation. Everyone's just gonna get further on my case if I keep going with a tagline that's somehow both a matter of public concern and too private a conversation.
I was letting this go after my first reply, but you seem annoyed about this, and I'd like to assuage that if possible.
The reason that we all seem to think of "hobbies" is "things I do" is because that's what a hobby is.
Merriam Webster: a pursuit outside one's regular occupation engaged in especially for relaxation
Cambridge Dictionary: an activity that someone does for pleasure when they are not working
I think that you're attributing more to the word than is there. That's okay, but it's important to understand that a lot of other people don't have that same connotative understanding that you have. I do not want to put words in your mouth, but I'd guess that you would say that hobbies have some intrinsic positive value to them that makes them worthwhile? I think that's an interpretation that's interesting, but not the generally accepted one.
For what it's worth both reading and social media are in wikipedia's compiled list of hobbies.
I'm hoping that breaking down what we're both talking about when we refer to hobbies clears up any misconceptions we have about what the other means. I'll also stipulate that if we use what I've put forwards as your definition of a hobby, then your point is certainly correct; if someone asked me "what do you do in your spare time to amuse and better yourself" I would not answer with "spend time on social media".
I would argue that many people don't mean that (and I certainly didn't mean that) when they ask what your hobbies are.
You mean in a job interview?
My hobbies are drawing, writing, crocheting, knitting, sort of sewing and I'm starting to get into very, very amateur botany (thanks Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't) as well as rock hounding? I'm not sure if that's the proper usage of the word rock hound.
I've always loved rocks and am reigniting my passion for them in trying to learn how to identify them and just learning about them in general! I think it's very fun and I have a geode my dad gave me probs 15 years ago and my dumb child self thought painting it with glittery nail polish would make it prettier. It didn't. So I'm looking into ways to clean the pos off.
Ask me about my lapidary hobby/side business some time. You can do very cool things with rocks and not too much equipment, or a club of enthusiasts with shared workspace. [Yes, that's me showing off some old work.]
Lapidary!? I had no clue there was a word for this, how cool! Your work is amazing! How'd you get into it?
The local jewelry and bead supply store started offering classes for lampworking glass beads and cabochons. I was mildly interested, but it's a very expensive craft and I didn't think I'd ever have the space for major flamework. When I went to check the workshop out, it turned out they were also offering lapidary classes; there's some overlap in equipment for cutting, grinding, and polishing. One cabochon-making class later, I was completely hooked and working on my own stone designs during rental hours.
Over the years, I've picked up a Genie grinder and 10" diamond saw, which can handle commercial-scale artisan work.
The quickest and least expensive way to get started is with a rock tumbler, as @aphoenix mentioned above. Tumbling maintains the natural shapes of small stones; basically, it's a series of operations where you tumble for a while with coarse, finer, and polish grits until the stones are shiny.
A cabochon-making machine uses a motorized arbor with separate wheels, each embedded with a different grit (usually in succession from coarsest to finest), so that you can polish a pre-shaped stone quickly.
Depending on where you are, there's usually a rock and mineral club or gem society within reasonable distance. Most of these clubs maintain a small workshop or have a member who offers lapidary classes. It's also a great way to learn about stones, rock-hounding, and geology from the old-timers. I've got a very active local club now and I'm looking forward to joining their organized collecting trips.
If you're very interested, the William Holland School offers relatively inexpensive, high-quality training from beginner to advanced professional. I haven't been there myself, but everyone I've spoken with who's taken classes there loved it.
I've played a little with flint-knapping for fun, which is the truly old school method of stone shaping.
This is excellent information, thank you! I'm pretty far for Georgia, however this might be a nice trip/vacation for my SO and I. I'll also look and see if my area has classes in lapidary, I think it'd be something I could greatly enjoy.
I'm familiar with flint-knapping! I have a minor in anthropology and had to take some archaeology classes for it. Very fun that you've been able to mess around with it.
I believe that is a perfectly cromulent use of "rock hounding".
One of my wife's uncles is a geologist and has an amazing collection. I always want to take pictures and share, but he's very reluctant to do so.
Last summer my family did a workshop on rock polishing that was really interesting. Do you have any interest in that?
That sounds amazing! I would love to learn about rock polishing! I have some (assumedly) quartz I found this past weekend that I'd like to polish up a bit. Wow that's so awesome you guys got to do a workshop on that! I need to look and see if my area has anything like that.
If you have $100 to spend, then a rock tumbling gift could be a fun little investment: National Geographic has one.
That is absolutely delightful, I'm going to add that to my list! Thank you for the link!
Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't is one of the great underappreciated YouTube channels right now. It's so good and so weird. You want authenticity? There's no one more authentic than him cussing up a storm and talking about gentrification as a background to the magic mushrooms he found, or being sweet to an albino trash panda. You want botany? He's got it for you in spades.
Yes!! He's so great. I absolutely love his take on urban spaces and how he talks about the issues there in a very real and fun and still informative way. He's very engaging. My SO actually told me about him and I was so delighted with his channel, I love his videos.
He posted a list relatively recently of books he recommends. I plan on going through the list and finding the ones I can through the library and what not.
Almost a year ago I came across some cannabis seeds, and since it had recently become legal I decided to germinate them and just see what happens. I bought a grow light, some pots and soil and set it up in a spare closet. Then I started reasearching how to grow and it quickly became a bit of an obsession.
I’m constantly reading about growing cannabis, watching cannabis growing videos on youtube, listening to cannabis grow podcasts in my car, when I’m not actually with my plants.
Recently I’ve been reading about organic growing and soil biology, and while I feel like I only partially understand it, its super interesting and fun to put into practice.
The funny part is I’m not a huge cannabis user. An ounce would probably last me a whole year and I usually get a couple ounces from each harvest. So I end up giving lots of it away to friends and family.
Hello new friend.
I know a few people who are the same way - they got into growing, and it exceeds their consumption significantly.
I have a few other friends who enjoy that greatly.
One of the great things about any kind of gardening is that it really doesn't take vast amounts of knowledge and effort to get bountiful harvests from many plants - cannabis, tomatoes, beans, and the infamous zucchini, for starters. Giving away your surplus is a time-honored tradition that binds communities together.
Well in California they might decriminalize magic mushrooms after the 2020 election. They’re another fun cultivation hobby if you want to try something new! Look up “PF Tek”.
I have my two biggest hobbies at the moment. The first is language learning. I'm a god damn linguaphile and a half. I've already written about it earlier, but in short: my native language is Russian; I know English relatively well; I've learned Esperanto and German over the course of my life. My plan for 2020 is to get as far as I can into Tatar (my other “native” language) and Japanese.
The other hobby, which is also my job, is computer programming. Again, I've recently already written about my plans for 2020, but in short: I program in Go, C, and Shell, and want to expand my knowledge of the Pascal/Oberon family of languages. Perhaps I could add Ada to the list.
I used to love learning new languages, but it's another hobby that has fallen by the wayside in the last decade for me. I'm mostly limited to English and French now, though I can survive on vacation if I go somewhere that speaks spanish. My daughter is in the process of learning the common romance languages; she can speak conversational French, and can be understand in Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian. I've thought about trying to pick up some more so I can keep up with her, but haven't had time.
Pascal is one of the earliest languages I used. Well over 20 years ago, I made a really terrible flight sim in Pascal. It was a ton of fun. I agree that simplicity is great. I'm similarly excited about Go, and have been using it more and more, though Python is still my language of choice.
Edit: I followed up bit missed asking a question! What is it about go that you love?
Very cool on the language learning. I considered that a hobby for quite some time with my native language being English but also knowing Spanish, Japanese, and a bit of Mandarin. Japanese is honestly where I ended up burning out as I was constantly trying to prove myself by passing the top level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Failed it 3 years in a row (the last time by 5 points) and thought it was just time to move on in life.
If you're a beginner with Japanese, I recommend getting the two Genki books and working through them. My school used Genki and recommended also using renshuu.org (created by a former student) for vocab quizzing. Once you have the basics, definitely throw yourself into situations where you have to speak the language and listen. Obviously being in Japan is the best way to do that, but if you can find some local Japanese language exchange groups, that works too.
My list goes through cycles: I focus on one of the things, and it becomes the thing I do, and the rest are relegated to hobbies that I indulge in with some regularity. Once that thing exhausts itself,
GOTO 10.I used to do a fair amount of photography, but at some point I stopped. I have a lot of decent equipment as well, so I'm not really sure why; probably time and inclination.
My first date with my wife was a "photo date" where we both took cameras out on a walk and photographed things; the second date was a comparison of our photos. It was pretty great.
What sort of camera do you have?
Whatever I have on the smartphone at the time. It's not a matter of even amateur pride – certainly not enough for me to go out of my way and by a decent standalone camera. I take photos that I think are nice, without much regard for its eventual quality.
Buying a standalone camera is low on my list of things to buy with spare cash, but it's there.
That sounds lovely – and very genuine.
Paragliding is my escape from being bound to this planet by two feet every waking moment of my life. There's a whole third dimension up there and it's such a beautiful place to spend time. Every time I launch, especially if it's from a new location, I still get butterflies. I enjoy that feeling and I hope it never goes away—it makes you feel a certain definition of the term "real". You could fuck it up. You could badly injure yourself. But you won't, because you trust the skills you've learnt and the decisions you make as a paraglider pilot.
Some of my best memories remain epic day adventures where we've hiked up a mountain and flown down. Nothing is cooler than being the guy landing in a town/city park, people watching you land, after you've just taken off from the top of a peak several miles away.
It's part of the reason I quit work. I got sick of spending nice days inside an office when I could be outdoors flying.
Hey! Woah! Okay, so I've been interested in potentially getting into paragliding a little. I do a lot of motorcycling/trackcross/rc truck/quadcopter/stuff and I've been REALLY excited by the prospect associated with some of the electric paragliding rigs coming out.
I live in a condo with no garage and limited space, so I have to go pretty minimalist in everything I do that takes up space, and while I am not totally sold on the current generation of electric paragliding rigs, I think it has a lot of potential for both cleanliness (can't really keep gas stuff inside w/o shed/garage) and space-saving. Sooo.... have you looked into any of these? One I saw looks kinda quad-copterish but folds down.. They all seem to be really expensive (like 4-5k) right now. I expect that that will come down eventually.
Also in general, how did you get into it? What resources did you pursue? Personally I live in the northeast, so it's probably like a 1.5 season window, so I don't think it's particularly popular. What advice would you give to someone starting out?
I've flown small planes in the air before, for brief periods (no license, so no takeoff/landing - just friends and lessons which I had to abandon due to cost at the time), but that seems much more.. structured and less potentially nerve-wracking. What were you into before you started, and how did you get where you are?
Wow, that's a hell of a hobby. I don't think I could do that, although it looks amazing.
Do you ever take photos or video while you're in the air?
Mainly GoPro footage from a helmet or foot mount! Although I recently purchased a chase-camera (basically a giant badminton shuttlecock which attaches to your glider's trailing edge) which gets you some pretty cool shots.
NB: First photo is my own, second is not.
That is... amazing.
I know that you complained earlier today about writing high-effort posts that got little interest, but I would love to see a writeup about paragliding with a bunch of photos. I would definitely read it and appreciate it... and hopefully comment on it! I'm not trying to pressure you into doing so though, but if it was ever something that you would consider doing, that's definitely something that I think would be awesome to see in this group.
Thanks! I'll consider something like that next time we do a hike and fly adventure :)
Are you independently wealthy or do you have some other means of survival?
I was incredibly unhappy with my boss and the dysfunctional nature of the company I worked at—so I quit to start my own business with a friend which is currently still in an incubation phase; I have enough money to survive and try to accomplish something of my own for a few years. I wouldn’t call myself “wealthy” by any definition however.
I grew up playing piano and studied it in college, and even played professionally (read in bars with my mates) for a while. I hadn't had a piano in many years, then last year my spouse suggested we get a digital piano, so we did. I've been playing it here and there. I enjoyed learning Maxence Cyrin's piano cover of the Pixie's Where Is My Mind?.
About 10 years ago, my spouse bought a cello as a prop when selling our condo, and when we moved into our new place it was just sitting there taunting me, so I took lessons for a few years. I can squeak out a tune on it from time-to-time. I wish I did more of it, but it's difficult to fit it in.
I got into photography to learn more about my job and ended up liking it a lot. I'm currently getting into astrophotography. I'd like to be able to do some deep sky photography, but it takes some equipment I haven't yet acquired and you need to be in the right place in the middle of the night, which is usually when I'm catching up on my sleep.
And of course, I program for fun in addition to doing it as a full-time job. I've been experimenting with generative art. I haven't produced anything I like yet, but I'm sure it will come in time.
We got a digital piano shortly after getting married, and it has been an amazing addition to our home. Personally I find that as long as the keys are weighted right, it's not sufficiently different from playing a "real" piano, and the benefits are great (portability, headphones, always in tune, etc).
That's a beautiful cover - thanks for sharing.
If you're ever up for sharing any of your generative art, I'd love to see it, and I'm always interested in having a look at the repo for art as well.
Just wanted to give a shout out to aphoenix for responding to each person in this thread and promoting discussion.
I considered ironically not responding to this. ;)
Thanks! I think one of the relatively consistent things I've read recently about Tildes is that people want there to be more discussion about non-tech things, and this seemed like a pretty good place to see some of that happen. I'm always interested in learning more about what people love to do, so it has been a super interesting thread to read and participate in.
How long have you been playing Piano? Do you have any particular songs that you're working on?
Do you have any weightlifting or jogging goals that you're working towards?
What sort of coding do you do?
Oh, I love the Prelude in C# minor - what a gorgeous piece. I never felt like I had enough hands to play Rachmaninoff.
That's probably because your hands are too small. Rachmaninov had big hands. ;)
Agreed, my hands are too small for Rachmaninoff, and this was also a delightful video.
Yeah, it's one of my favorites, and every time someone mentions Rachmaninoff I can't help but rewatch it several times. :P Igudesman & Joo are hilarious, incredibly talented and have a lot of similarly brilliant bits. E.g. I Will Survive
Can dating be a hobby? Cause if so, that is my current hobby.
I study the subject, I apply what I learn, and sometimes my dedication brings results.
I think it's a hobby. It takes a sizable amount of effort - at least for me.
I think hobbies can be whatever you make of them!
Alas and alack, I haven't dated in years, though I guess I still take my wife out on dates. I don't envy people these days and all the (I'm gonna say it) newfangled ways that they have to interact with each other.
The main difference is that in the old days I knew I was expected to open/close doors, pull chairs, walk on the outer side of the sidewalk, pay the bill and make sure my date arrives safely at home.
Nowadays, some women still expect me to do all of those things, while others may consider me a sexist pig for doing the same.
Hand-holding was a nice and pure expression of endearment, nowadays it can easily be read as a way to force your will unto a woman. And some women still want to hold hands!
Merely asking what are the preferred behaviors is no good, it'll kill the seductive mood in a heartbeat.
It's a bit nerve-wracking.[1]
Everything else is pretty much the same. I always used technology to get dates, starting with IRC. So Tinder is an evolution, but I never approached women in real life anyway.
[1] To be clear: feminism is not at fault here. The issue is a minority of women that adopt seemingly feminist views without understanding the nuances of this important and necessary movement.
Dating, regardless of the gender involved, is like any other social skill. It mainly requires deep attention, patience, practice, self-confidence, and the cultivation of skin thick enough to handle rejection, but thin enough to maintain care for the feelings of the other person involved.
I won't deny that the complexity of male-female relationships has been made more difficult by the Internet's ability to sort people into opposing frightened and frustrated tribes, but dating also presents the opportunity to just be a person face-to-face with another person. I'm happy you're still engaged enough to call it a "hobby", but maybe connection, and not seduction, is the more meaningful goal.
I agree with almost everything you said (and when I don't, it's mostly semantics).
I don't think the Internet is to blame. I have similar issues with dates from the "real world". The set of behavior rules used to be fixed, but every social change requires some readjustment on social norms.
I don't wanna back to a time when it was easier to know the default male behaviors to follow, because the progress on gender roles greatly surpasses any discomfort I may experience when it comes to dating.
Feminism, and all the advances that came with it, is extremely beneficial for both woman and men. As a heterosexual man that is far from being a stereotypical alpha-male, being able to express myself while retaining my gender identify is a godsend.
I understand this term got a bad rep because of the awful (awful!!) PUA community, but here I use it with a broader and older meaning: any kind of rhetoric that attempts to persuade (as in opposition to manipulate) someone of your own attractiveness, including but not limited to sex. My goal when dating is not sex, but intimacy and connection. Sex just happens to be a very enjoyable expression of intimacy.
I'm just reckoning with my experience as a prima facie (it's complicated) woman, and conversations with female-identifying people of my acquaintance. Much of the time, we have to deal with people for whom sex is a destination, not part of a larger sphere of intimate relations.
I think that how I and other women behave has been strongly informed by online feminist sub-cultures, masculine sub-cultures, and the new risks posed by stalking tools. As you said, the social norms are still evolving. There is a "yes, all men" bias problem, as well as greater or lesser needs to prove security and Independence before engaging in dating a man. It sucks, and yet somehow people fumble their way towards each other anyway.
You're entirely right. I'm entirely sympathetic with the female perspective. Many of my fellow men do not help, and I'm frequently ashamed by their behavior, which harms both women and other men. This is a complex issue, for which I don't see a short-term solution. Only time will allow for this new form of gender expression to conform into a set of behavior that avoids a greater portion of communication mishaps.
On the other hand, it's gotten a lot more acceptable for women to seek out and build hook-up cultures, too. I'm guessing that there will be an eventual convergence of all the beneficial and toxic behaviours, regardless of gender identity, but on balance, everyone will behave a little better.
I see. Never thought of that. That is very good.
IDK if that's exactly what you're referring to, but I find it very positive when women feel comfortable to state very clearly what they want (or do not want!)[1]. As a men, it saves me the trouble of investing time with someone with radically different interests, while making it easier to find those that will most likely enjoy my company.
As I like to say:
And, if theirs (or ours) wishes must certainly not happen, at least we'll know it beforehand, preventing mishaps and saving a lot of trouble.
[1] I try to create those opportunities.
Can you talk more about this? I think it would do me good to do the same thing. Is there any book you recommend?
Glad to do it, my friend!
Preface
I'm 37 and have been dating since 16. I'm not a "professional dater" by any means, but I learned some things along the way. A few of these things where adapted, others came from trial and error. Regardless, 99.99% of books on dating advice targeted at males are misogynistic PUA crap such Neil Strauss The Game and the Mystery Method. Unless you wish to become a terrible human being, you should not read them.
In fact, after reading many dating books for men, I can only vouch for one: Models: Attract Women Through Honesty, by Mark Manson. This book reinforced so many of my intuitions on dating that, instead of quoting it, I'll just give you the gist in my own words and append a few criticisms to the book at the end.
Be true to yourself
After being cheated on in a very aggressive fashion at the age of 18, I was a walking cliche. I thought the cure to my pain was drowning in a sea of meaningless sex. If incels existed back then, I might have become one. Somehow I thought it made sense to hate all women because of the mistakes of a single one. For some years I was an asshole and my attraction techniques where a consequence of this.
I was narcissistic and insecure and did things like always waiting three days before making contact and never answering a text before a 3-hour delay. I rarely showed my true feelings or complimented women for their qualities, making great efforts to display a strong "alpha" personality that had little to do with my own.
Deep down, I was the same sweet, caring, and loving guy I was of before, but, because I was displaying a false persona, the women who fell for me did not appreciate my real characteristics.
As a consequence, I was never satisfied and the sex only ranged from acceptable to good. From the woman's end, things were great (at least for a while), because I was the one straining all my mental capacity to uphold a personality that simply did not exist.
It did not take long for me to cease to be a proto-incel: it's simply a very irrational position that tends to wear off by itself. But I still sustained the "alpha-male" shtick for years to come. Only recently, with the help of therapy and some very smart women that quite literally figured me out, I understood my position in this whole shtick. The woman who fell for me before might have been attracted by my narcissistic persona at first, but that is not why they stayed. Every man has its style, and mine is not Humphrey Bogart. I'm more of a Woody Allen (the character)[1]: neurotic, romantic and endearing. I realized it was my weakness, and not my fake persona, that was responsible for all my success. And communicating my feelings and intentions was my greatest strength.[2]
Know what you want
From what I wrote, you can clearly see that having sex with lots of women is not my goal. If that is your case, my advice may not be very useful apart from stressing that you should know your goal. It may seem obvious, but you should make sure that what you're looking for is exactly what you want, and not what you think you should want. This goes for everything. Like men? Go for men. Like women? Go for women. Love fat chicks (my case) or fat men? Go grab your big love! BSDM? Roleplay? Traditional relationships? NO relationships? Whatever you want, there's probably someone out there wanting the same thing. It may require some searching, but everything worthwhile requires effort and dating is no different. Don't waste your time with people your not really interested in. There's nothing worse than being rejected by someone you never really wanted.
Rejection is the price of success
Strategies that guarantee anything more than 33% of success are either sexist/manipulative (and you shouldn't want to be like that) or false. When you're looking for a job, you put your CV out there. Of course, you wanna get a great job right from the start, but you know that is not realistic. So you adjust your expectations. A certain degree of anxiety is inevitable: you're human, after all. But you make an effort to put things in perspective. After each rejection letter, you remind yourself there are plenty of other opportunities out there. Why can't you do the same with dating? The answer is simple: dating is way more personal. Nevertheless, you're the one in charge of your life, and you know your self-worth is not to be determined by anyone else[3]. And, when you're rejected from a job, you certainly won't say all companies are "ugly bitches" that don't deserve you, nor will you stalk the company online or in real-life. You'll respect the companies right to choose the candidate most suitable to their needs, and move on. Maybe this interview taught how to do better next time. Rejection always hurts, it is a consequence of being invested. And you'll always make mistakes — everyone does — but instead of pathetically mulling around you’ll focus on continuous improvement.
Polarization is the name of the game
Polarization is how Mark Manson calls the act of making clear to a woman (men/whatever) that you’re invested in her. It’s not the same as bluntly saying "hey wanna fuck", or "I think I love you" or "I'm in love with you, wanna have dinner?" Or anything to that effect. You can and should be subtle, but in a way that is not subtle at the same time? Hahaha. Here's how I asked out my last date via WhatsApp (met her on Tinder):
I said what was on my mind. Everything I said was true, open and clear. This woman knew I was asking for a date, she knew I was very interested in her, and, when she said YES, she knew what she was getting into. No half-truths, not insecurities, no fucking games. Notice that was also polite and not at all creepy. It's not that hard. And the advantage is: so few men do things like that, that you're likely to stand out.
But what if you're talking to a woman that do like to play games (likely a narcissistic)? In that case, the games will become very clear and you'll have a chance to pass on the opportunity (that is what I do).
And what if a woman rejects your proposal? Great, than! You saved yourself from a terrible date with a person who had no real interest in you!
What if she say yes? Well, now you have a date to go to ;)
That's why, after the initial conversations, I always polarize: it's a great way to show the other person that you are interested and get a response that will make it very clear where you stand.
About the book
If for some reason my mini-review sounds too negative, that is a mistake on my part: even if I disagree with it in many counts, this is by far THE best dating book for men and you should definitely read it.
Quoting myself from another comment:
Footnotes
[1]The character, not the person.
[2]It's a bit more complicated than that. Yes, you should communicate your feelings, but you shouldn't communicate them all at once and you definitely shouldn't tell someone you love them before things get serious. But you can definitely show there are feelings if they occur. It's a great way to show appreciation, and also to elicit an emotional response.
[3]Your self-worth should take others into account, but this should be weighed with your own self-evaluation. Only psychopaths don't care about others' opinions at all.
Look, self-help sucks. I get it. Regardless, Manson's is the only book on the subject you should read. And, unlike his other book, it does contain lots of very practical advice.
Neil Strauss and company will teach you to create a fake persona in order to fuck like there's no tomorrow. It will make you memorize complicated routines in order to crack "the big problem". You'll become a hunter, women will become "targets". You may as well fuck, but when things advance they'll realize you're nothing but an empty shell. A magic trick. The PUA community is misogynistic and gross.
Manson's book has its faults, but it says enough correct things to make it worthwhile.
Cryptocurrency, music, yoga, meditation, tea, coffee, travel, weightlifting, veganism
I would say I also dabble in veganism as a hobby. I'm not vegan, but we do try to have a few vegan meals every week. Are you a vegan-dabbler or are you vegan all the time?
With regards to music, what aspects?
I am a vegan-dabbler, but I've been vegetarian for 1.5 years now :D
My dairy comes from cheese and greek yogurt, also occasionally put honey in my tea.
Music I love listening and also doing music production as a hobby. I have about 400+ records in my vinyl collection. Mostly stuff from dollar bins from 60s and 70s - I founded r/hiphopheads on reddit 10 years ago :D
If you need some good vegan recipes, I just got this book by Isa Chandra Moskowitz called I can cook vegan that's really good. It's simple and brightly colored and everything I've had from there has been great.
Thanks I'll check it out. I like The Traphouse Vegan personally - https://www.amazon.com/Traphouse-Vegan-lifestyle-guide-ebook/dp/B07DFQNV3P
oh that looks awesome too, thanks!
You may enjoy Abzu!
If you have any questions about django, feel free to ask - I've written hundreds of django applications over the years.
I should answer my own question I guess!
Ultimate (Frisbee) - people who play usually just say "Ultimate" but when we get blank looks we'll begrudgingly add the word "Frisbee" so that everyone understands. I play in a really low level league, but the game is a ton of fun, and a great excuse to go out and run around. I'm off for the winter though.
Disc Golf - when the weather is nice, I try to get out once a week to play, and I also enjoy watching the Pro Tour during the season. If you're interested, check out Jomez Pro.
Gaming - I love gaming; I play in a regular D&D group, I try to play Magic TCG monthly, we have a family board gaming night at least once a week, and I even find time to play some video games. My children are now old enough that I can share this hobby with them, which is fantastic; it feels like being a great dad, and it also feels like just having fun for myself, so it's an "everyone wins" sort of situation.
3D Printing - I have a Creality CR-10S, and I'm thinking about getting a resin 3D printer as well. I may need to get a bigger house in the meanwhile though! Edit: just yolo bought a resin printer.
Media Consumption - my wife likes to watch TV, so we usually have a show that we're watching so we have something to do for half an hour after the kids go to bed. Right now that's "You" starring Penn Bagley on Netflix. It's okay, I guess. The first season was better.
Edit: Music! - I can't believe I kind of glossed over a huge part of my life. I guess I didn't really think of it as a hobby, any more than I think of breathing as a hobby. I make music, and I listen to music. My tastes are varied, though my tendency is to listen to rock music. I've seen a lot of shows over the last 25 years (many of them *at the same time as @cfabbro, though I don't think we've ever actually met), and I've performed in a lot of places as well.
Other things that I kind of don't do much anymore - I used to spend time learning languages on my own, doing photography, going canoeing, woodworking, yard improvement, cycling, working on my Mustang (RIP - it's gone). I just don't really do much of any of these anymore.,
Lol, yeah it's actually kinda crazy how often we seemed to have frequented the same venues at around the same time, or even been at the exact same concerts. We both just have similarly excellent taste in music, I guess. ;) ... Well, that and during the 90s-2000s there wasn't exactly a ton of options for seeing live rock/metal/punk music in the GTA. :P
I just assume now that any of the good concerts I went to, we were both there, like ships passing in the night.
lol at the yolo buy, I know how that goes. Which one did you get?
I've been thinking of getting back into 3d printing, I have a OneUp V2 that I used years ago to see if I liked it. I did, just needed something larger. Any suggestions on a filament printer around $300-400?
I got an Anycubic Photon S. It had moderately good reviews, and was on quite a decent sale (I got it for $150CAD off the normal sticker price). Considering that my first printer was more than double the cost, I felt like this was a good pickup. I do have to purchase some other things to make this worthwhile though, notably some way to ensure that the fumes vent properly and I don't poison myself.
I'll probably use the resin printer for smaller, finer detail pieces, and the Creality for bigger pieces or pieces that I want to use special filament for.
It's hard to go wrong with a Creality Ender Pro 3, and they're on sale right now for around $215USD: https://www.creality3d.shop/products/creality3d-ender-3-pro-high-precision-3d-printer. I don't know anyone who has purchased one and then regretted it. The print size is: 220220250mm / 8.6x8.6x9.8 inches
Wow 3D printers have gotten so much cheaper, even resin printers! I may have to look into resin printing ha, it's much more affordable now. Funny, fumes is something I've been worried about with getting back into 3D printing. I'll probably just put it in the garage or something.
Thanks for the rec, that is probably going to be a yolo buy for me.
It's really a great machine - my cousin has one and uses it constantly for work (he's a pinball repairman!) and it is a workhorse and there are lots of little upgrades you can do it. Great for entry level printing, but also great if you really get into printing and want to do more things (multi extrusion comes to mind).
Do you print yours freesbies?
I have printed miniature ones!
Hobbies are a pretty long list, but not all concurrent. Related clusters:
Hiking, kayaking, bicycling, cross-country skiing, swimming - just trying to get back to all this after living in a place where these activities were inaccessible or unpleasant, and some health limitations. My spouse is lobbying to add swing dancing and curling.
Gardening, cooking, baking, dining and wine-tasting - I've got big permaculture plans now that we have an acre or so to work with again. Beekeeping is going to be part of this. Serious cooking and baking went by the wayside while I was embroiled in a crazy job, and now we're making new friends to share with. We're going to add mushroom hunting and cultivation this year.
Interior design and architecture - more necessity than hobby with a house renovation going on, but I'm kind of enjoying it.
Lapidary and jewelry-making - just rebuilding my workshop space. I haven't decided whether this is going to remain a hobby, or whether it's going to be a profession again. Not buying a 3-D printer for making casting models is going to be the biggest challenge for a while.
Operating systems, virtualization, SDN, and some other data center stuff, Python, and data analysis - again, haven't decided what's best as a hobby, and what's best as a day job.
Reading and writing - calling these hobbies is like calling eating and excreting hobbies.
There's more, but enough about me.
I enjoy a lot of outdoorsy things as well - my favourites are canoeing and hiking - and am lucky to live in an area where at least half the year it's pretty palatable to be out and about outside.
Apiculture looks like an amazing things to get into; I'm trying to get my dad to start a hive and see what he gets. He took it as an elective in University waaaaaaaaay back when he was there, and he's talked about it a bunch, but never actually started it. Are you going to start a colony of your own, or are you just going to have a very bee-friendly acre?
I will refrain from talking about the joys of 3D printing further than I have in this thread. ;)
Do you do polishing at home? You might be able to connect with @eve in this thread about it - they also expressed an interest! (Edit: you have already done so unbeknownst to me - that's awesome)
Is it enough? I'm always up for hearing more!
We're preparing to start at least two hives this spring; our property is in an old subdivision with plenty of mature trees and floral landscaping, surrounded by farms and a botanical garden.
It's going to start as a benefit to our own garden's production, not to mention honey if we're successful in maintenance. Later in the year, we may add a hive or two as a bee conservation project, if any of the local beekeepers' hives of native bees do well enough to split or swarm. [The native bees are supposedly gentler, winter-hardier, and more productive than out-of-state bee cultivars, but they're very susceptible to Varroa mites.]
There's a very active beekeeping club tied into local agriculture, academic institutions, nature conservancies, and urban farming communities.
[More about this in a separate topic soon, with questions for Tilders - I've been invited to join the board, there are needs to create more effective communications, a charter, community rules, etc. The politics of the community are Byzantine!]
Tabletop RPGs!
I'm in a (roughly) bi-weekly game with my D&D group of over 15 years now. Currently we're going through Out of the Abyss. :)
I've got another group that meets more or less when enough of us have our schedules line up, and so play games that are either one-shots, or work well enough with players subbing in and out. Currently we're enjoying Blades in the Dark, which is pretty much Dishonored: the Role-Playing Game. Within that, I'm currently adapting the adventure Blood in the Chocolate, which is like if Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was a heist movie with body horror. :D
I'm also helping run D&D for some middle schoolers on the weekends. It warms my heart to see that kids playing D&D is exactly the same as it was when I was their age. :)
And I also dabble with designing some of my own stuff, but that's fallen a little on the side. I've got tons of notes, though, and a creative partner.
Language Learning!
I kind of put the cart before the horse, and decided first that I want to speak more than one language well. English is my native language, I can understand when my parents speak Polish, and I have a ridiculously thin understanding of Spanish despite taking it for five years in middle and high school. I want to actually get good at more languages.
So, of course, I picked Japanese. It's partly because I will never run out of native material that interests me, partly because visiting there is on my bucket list, and partly because it's so dang difficult for an English speaker to learn. There's just so much different about it, so I can't take most of my understanding of grammar, a good chunk of my vocabulary, and have a decent start. I have to start from scratch, and with a notoriously convoluted writing system to boot. But, if I can do it, it will feel that much more like an accomplishment... I guess. :p Plus I took one semester of it in college, dropped it, and regretted it ever since. My goal is to pass the N1, in two years from now at the earliest.
After that, I think I'd like to tackle another language, but I don't want to get too cocky, juggle a bunch of them, and then drop them all. Again.
Banjo!
I was on a bluegrass/Americana kick this summer, and bought the bullet with a crappy cheap banjo. Tons of fun to play when it's not fighting me. :p I don't practice as much as I'd like, but if I'm still at least playing around with it in a while and making progress then I'll upgrade. Anyway, despite liking Bluegrass, I'm learning clawhammer first, which just seemed a lot more appealing to me as a solo style. The tl:dr is that clawhammer involves more strumming, whereas bluegrass style is all about finger picking and "rolls" of individual notes played in sequence.
Food and drink!
I love cooking, and have gotten into making cocktails. Not much to say about that, aside from the fact that I've been expanding my home bar, and had a very tiki summer. :p
Those D&D tales sound amazing. Our group is currently in year 3 of our "20 times per year" group. It's been pretty’s great thus far, and people have generally done a good job with scheduling, despite all the responsibilities of life. D&D for middle schoolers sounds amazing - I'd love to run something with my kids and their friends. Do you do anything specific to prepare for that, or are you just playing D&D with younger players?
Re: cooking and cocktails - food and drink are some of the great joys in life. I used to be really into cooking as a hobby, but now it's mostly cooking for a family, which can really suck the joy out of the situation ("Daaaaaad, I don't like this" "Daaaaaad, I just want noodles" "Daaaaad, I won't eat vegetables if they are cooked, only frozen!"). I'd love to do more dinner parties and have people come over that actually enjoy food.
Do you have a signature cocktail that you love to make?
20 times a year is probably fairly accurate. :p We shoot for every other week, but of course there are interruptions. Heck, sometimes when we can meet in person instead of playing online, we don't end up playing D&D.
As for the middle school group, to an extent it's just supervising them. :p I try to have a 5-room dungeon or something prepared, but if one of the kids shows up wanting to DM, they naturally get priority. If that happens, I help with co-DMing, doing things like tracking initiative, looking up rules, etc. And sometimes acting as the mystic familiar with the old ways. ;)
And kids are notoriously picky eaters, but there's a good change they'll grow out of it. Or, if not, you can still try to dabble in trying something new sometimes, even if just once a month or something.
I don't really have a signature cocktail, since at this point I'm really enjoying experimenting with new ones. I got an app called Mixel that I can't recommend enough. You can mark what ingredients you have, and it will return a list of what you can make with those ingredients. And, even cooler, you can use the "maximizer," to find out what ingredient you can go get that will let you make the most new recipes. So, for instance, right now it's telling me that I can make 17 new recipes if I get some mint, 15 new recipes if I get some apple brandy or allspice dram, 13 new recipes if I get some orgeat or passionfruit syrup... etc. I even have a filter set up to show me all the recipes I can make with what I have, but haven't made yet, and so I can hit "random" to pick something new to make. I like it a lot!
Anyway, I don't want to leave you hanging, so there are some recipes worth mentioning. ;)
First, for entertaining, I like to make a bowl of punch, which I got inspired by reading David Wondrich's book Punch. The basic template is "sour, sweet, strong, and weak," in a billion different ratios depending on who you ask. Wondrich recommends a basic ration of "one of sour, one of sweet, four of strong, and six of weak. So, that'd be...
1 part (6oz.) sugar, ideally mixed with lemon peels for an hour to extract the lemon oils for more flavor.
1 part (6oz.) citrus juice, usually lemon and/or lime
4 parts strong, or 750mls of your spirit of choice, typically rum, brandy, whiskey, some combination, or whatever.
6 parts weak. I like using tea, but it could even be water, or juice, or something else to just bring the proof down. You want something around the strength of wine at the end.
Serve cold, maybe on a big block of ice, with an optional grating of nutmeg on top.
I made essentially a rum iced tea for summer party that went well. I'd like to try this template to make a gin lemonade, too, maybe topped with some sparkling wine to create kind of a French 75 punch. There are also a ton of other interesting historical recipes in the book, like clarified milk punch, a precursor to jello shots from 1827, and more.
I also made mulled wine for a Christmas party, same idea. I made "Smoking Bishop," a recipe from Charles Dickens. A crock pot is perfect for keeping it warm throughout the party. :)
For some single-serving cocktails, I've particularly enjoyed:
Dr. Funk (lemon, lime, grenadine, demerara syrup, a bit of absinthe, and rum, lengthened with some seltzer)
Tom Collins, which changed my mind about gin (also, for a Tritter Collins, add just a touch of absinthe and grapefruit juice into the mix)
The Old Fashioned. I like mine with bourbon, and while I'll change up the one I use, I like the Death & Co. approach of using demerara syrup in place of a sugar cube, a dash each of Angostura and Bitter Truth bitters, and a twist each of lemon and orange.
I'm also working on my preferred Hot Toddy recipe, but I haven't quite perfected it yet. :p ...and this response might have gotten a bit longer than intended. Sorry for rambling, and hopefully you still found it interesting!
Have you tried making a Jungle Bird yet as part of your tiki kick? It's probably my favorite and go-to drink in the tiki world, closely followed by a Chartreuse Swizzle!
No, but I've been meaning to! I'm just still building out my bar, and haven't picked up a bottle of Campari yet. It's pretty high on the list though, there are just a few other ingredients that would "unlock" more cocktails first. Same goes for the Chartreuse, which I've never tried before and am really curious about.
(I also don't have any black rum but, at the risk of Tiki heresy, I allow myself some leeway when it comes to what rums I use. :p)
I'm also a bit less Tiki-motivated in the colder months. That said, I'd love to set up a small, makeshift Tiki bar and have some folks over in the coming summer. I'll likely have some Campari and Chartreuse by then, so your suggestions may well end up on the menu. :)
I did find it super interesting, and thought I replied... I actually typed out a lengthy-ish response but probably lost it in a tab somewhere. D:
I love the idea of just being ready to DM, but letting the kids do so if they want; that sounds fantastic.
I'm going to check out the book that you mentioned if I can find it at the library. Sounds amazing! And the rum iced tea sounds great too.
I've mostly gotten out of the habit of drinking at home; I used to have a lovely well stocked bar, but I rarely drink, and we rarely entertain people, so it has fallen by the wayside in the last few years. Mostly I just have bottles of scotch left; I don't even have much beer. I rarely take a drink, though I do love a good Old Fashioned!
Yeah, it's a ton of fun helping out. Though there's also a rambunctious group of younger kids. Super awesome to see them have fun, but I'll happily let the other person running the club take over that table, while I help the kids who are about at the right age to start playing in earnest. :p
I definitely recommend the book Punch! I actually got an electronic version of it, but I might get a hard copy—I'd kind of like a proper shelf of cocktail recipe books. I've also heard great things about his other book, Imbibe.
Perhaps strangely, I don't drink super often either, but that's part of the reason I like making cocktails. When I do feel like having a drink or two, I like the process of making the drink, kind of like a little ritual. It's the same thing when I make coffee. :)
Anyway, if you don't want to bother with a home bar, then making punch when entertaining is an especially great way to go. Aside from the fact that you don't risk ending up bartending all night instead of enjoying your own party, it'll get you a lot of the same satisfaction as mixing cocktails, and you can just pick up enough spirits for the punch you want to make and be done with it.
We are currently looking to upgrade our house, and one of the things I want to ensure is that we have a good home bar area. While I don't drink often, I do like my drinking to be in comfort. I totally understand about the process of making the drink - when I have a drink these days (typically scotch) I enjoy the whole bit: getting out the "special" glass, extracting the round ice cube, picking the bottle, giving it a slow pour, putting everything away while the water opens up the taste... the whole process is soothing.
Nice! That's something I'd like to get around to eventually, too. I like the process of making cocktails, a home bar would be really cozy and great for entertaining, and a bar gives you some of the same satisfaction as collecting thing—in this case, spirits and other ingredients you like. :)
I've always wanted to pick up the banjo. Can I ask what cheap one you got? And where you're learning clawhammer banjo?
Sure! I got a Jameson brand banjo on Amazon for ~$150. Unfortunately, it's currently unavailable, but fortunately, there's no shortage of other sketchy cheap banjos available. ;)
But seriously, I think those sketchy, cheap banjos on mine are good for my situation, which was wanting to dip my toes into playing the banjo, but not being sure if I was going to stick with it. I would prefer to spend $150, get some value out of it, but have to upgrade later, than to spend $500-600 upfront only to find out I wasn't into it.
If you're more confident you'll stick with it, or are willing to invest more upfront and sell the banjo if you don't like it, then you could get something nicer that you'll actually keep using. Deering seems to be the go-to.
As for how I'm learning, the first book I got I would not recommend. I overlooked the cheesy title of "Clawhammer Banjo for the Complete Ignoramus" because it got good reviews, but I have some major gripes with it. It will teach you a bunch of songs, which is cool, but often fails to adequately explain techniques, concepts, or even notation. There were too many times that I read some explanation of how to perform a technique or read the author's tablature only to end up unclear on what I was supposed to do. It's a good book of songs to practice, but a mediocre book to learn the fundamentals.
Thankfully, there are a BUNCH of other books available out there, but I still need to get to those. :p
YouTube has a BUNCH of great resources. My favorite is a YouTuber who just goes by Tom Collins, so (if you don't follow my link) be sure to add the search term "banjo" or you're just going to get cocktail recipe videos. :p He does a great job of explaining techniques, the instrument itself, and providing exercises and practice tips. You can find some other useful videos, but his are, IMO, far and away the best.
Hope this helps! :D
It really does, thank you! I'm in the same camp with banjo quality -- I know I like it a lot, but I always want to be sure :) Hell, I still have my 13-year-old cheap guitar I got as a birthday gift one year, because I haven't got enough reason to upgrade yet.
Happy to help, and glad to hear my thought process made sense. :)
By the way, mine actually came with a resonator, which makes it a little extra sketchy for a $150 banjo. I decided to take it off, less because that's more "traditional" for clawhammer, and more because it makes the banjo a little quieter, so I can practice without rousing the whole house. Anyway, while doing it, I could definitely see where they cheaped out, with a lot of the hidden parts being pretty shoddy and made with lesser materials. But, on the outside, it looks great, and plays just fine. So, for what it's worth, I've found it a good value so far, but if ever a part of it breaks (besides the strings or the bridge), it's not going to be worth the cost or trouble of repairing. But hey, if I get to that point, I could probably justify buying a good banjo. :p
That's my thought exactly! I figure, the first one is for learning on; if I still like that I can get a better one.
Translations is an awesome hobby - it seems like we have a lot of linguists around Tildes, just based on the responses in this thread.
With regards to birdwatching, I know very little about it, though I do have a pocket guide that I was gifted at some point. Do you keep a journal? What sort of equipment do you have?
I play classical piano (well, mostly classical) and I play video games! I also sometimes do hobby programming, but I'm getting a bit burnt out on it... another more generative hobby would be nice, but honestly lately I'm not feeling it.
How long have you been playing piano? Is there a particular song that you're working on or one that you're particular proud of? If we asked you to play a song, what would you play?
-Language learning (latin and german right now)
-Internet
-Reading
-skateboarding
-chess
-walking? idk if that counts
-playing with my ferret
Language learning is a popular one! Maybe we should start a recurring thread on that?
Do you have any favourite books you'd like to chat about?
I am a decent casual chess player, but I lose to anyone who has spent any time in chess study. How much did you play?
I've been playing for about 2 years and have played about 50 tournament games. I used to study a lot, but that's kind of fallen by the wayside recently.
As for books, right now I'm reading The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. I'd tell you what its about but I'm not entirely sure tbh. It's written in a very stream of conscious-y, non-linear way, and from multiple POVs, so I'm having a really hard time following what's going on. The most I can say is that it's about a wealthy family in the pre-Civil War American South
I use to do some programming too, but I haven't done that for a few months.
I'd say mine are drumming, making cocktails and cooking good food, reading way too much news on cybersecurity, privacy, international relations, and domestic politics (former policy guy so it'll never die), playing games on the PC I built (mostly FPS games), learning languages (though that's died down as I responded in another comment), and voice acting (though that also died down when I realized you can't really get into the big time without being a celebrity). I just got my library card so I'm trying to get back into a reading habit -- just finished Season of the Witch and I loved it. I tinker a bit too with tech projects and learning enough to make engineers think I'm technically trained...
What kind of drum kit do you have? Do you have a signature cocktail that you like making, or a signature dish to cook?
Any tech projects you want to share?
I have a Pearl Forum kit at home where I grew up with some A Custom cymbals, but I haven't had my own house to bring an acoustic set for over a decade now... So I'm stuck with a TD-9K Roland electronic set. They don't make it anymore, but it was the cheapest yet decent set I could afford back in college. It lets me play with headphones and not piss off my neighbors too much, but I've also used it in live shows without too many issues. I don't want to get too used to it though because an acoustic set is way more fun to play.
My signature cocktail these days is probably a Last Word (equal parts fresh lime juice, dry gin, maraschino liqueur, and green chartreuse).
As for tech projects, I recently built a PiHole for my home network, and I've also been managing some servers for work through a cloud provider I've partnered with... Currently also working through the Linux Basics for Hackers book from No Starch Press.
My brother is in the same situation drum-wise as you. The headphones situation is great with electronic drums.
That sounds like an awesome cocktail! I'll give it a try the next time I'm drinking at a bar.
I've been crocheting a lot lately. Very relaxing and I make things!
Would you be willing to share pictures of any of your work?
Absolutely! I'm going to take some and upload them and I'll reply here ... unless you think a separate post is better for that. Thanks for the interest!
I think it could certainly be a standalone post to ~hobbies if you wanted. It's the sort of thing I'd love to see going on here in an otherwise somewhat underutilized tildes group!
Awesome, I'll do it!!!
This last year I've really gotten back into raving and EDM. I'm not sure if that qualifies as a hobby, but I've definitely spent more on that freetime activity than anything else. I like to dance, glowstick, finger light, and dabble in poi.
For most of my life I've been a gamer and for a bit over a decade I've been a lifter.
Since going to college I've kept myself up to date as much as possible on health, fitness, nutrition, etc. science and try to keep somewhat up to date on neurobiology (this is becoming increasingly difficult as the field continues to expand).
I wouldn't really consider it a hobby but I do a fair deal of hiking as a way to keep fit and spend some quality social time with others who enjoy it as well.
I think that anything that you do in leisure time for pleasure counts as a hobby, so EDM and raving definitely counts!
Do you have any lifting goals in particular? I used to lift a lot, but I have not been doing so rigorously for a long time; I've switched focus to more aerobic exercises.
Keeping up to date in one's area of study is simultaneously getting easier because of the dissemination of information, and getting harder because of the sheer depth of most fields now. I find myself really out of the loop on Maths (which was what I studied several decades ago). It's awesome that you're keeping up though.
Any particular hikes that are your favourite? If I recall correctly from another secret society to which we both belong, I know your rough geographic location; if I'm right, then it seems like there's loads of great places to check out nearby.
Well I used to think getting big would make me like my own body, but it turns out it doesn't. Getting in shape and having a bit of muscles did help a bit with dysmorphia but now I'm not sure how much is BDD and how much is plain dysphoria.
My current goals are mostly to be able to dance all day for multiple days without exhausting myself too much. So far the hardest I've gone was 100k steps in a bit under 24 hours. I was pretty dead the day after but that was a bit extreme so I'm not really pushing to get too much better.
Mountain view, near google. I don't really keep it a secret. 😂
Yeah there's a ton of places nearby. Not sure I really have a favorite, but I really enjoy most of the hikes out SW of where I am. There's a lot of pretty nature there.
I wasn't sure what level of secrecy you were at with location and didn't want to just blabber it. Looks like there's a ton of locations near there that are great for hiking or just general outdoorsiness. Here (just outside Toronto) we have been alternating between cold rain, flooding, snow, and ice, so I'm jealous of your weather.
100k steps in a day is crazy! That's awesome. I definitely understand the lifting goals relating to life benefits; all of my health related goals aren't really ends in and of themselves, but to enable a happier healthier lifestyle.
Yeah def, thanks for keeping that in mind. I'm sure there are plenty of people here who are privacy conscious. I've just decided that privacy doesn't really matter to me anymore. If people want to know what's going on in my life they are free to pry. I simply don't have the time to give a fuck about anyone who would judge me for what I do in my free time or what opinions I hold anymore.
Yeah my ankle was in a lot of pain and I was still dancing on it. To be fair there were a few drugs involved to ignore the pain and continue having fun and have extra energy for dancing.
A happier/healthier life wasn't really the end goal initially, just a beneficial side effect. Now it's much more the focus. Weird how that happens as you grow older.
When I was 20, I was all about "how many plates could I put on this bar and still lift it?" but now that the focus is much more on maintenance, I feel better even than I did at that age. Or at least I think I do.
I just want to give this the biggest thumbsup possible.
Listening to music, been on a big Caroline Rose kick lately getting ready for her new album; Art, I'm going to a pop-up art show in a few weeks and am very excited for it; Running and general fitness, that runner's high is wonderful; Watches, they're marvels of engineering and works of art; Trying to get into cocktails as I love cooking and baking and that feels like a good next step; Cooking and baking as I just mentioned :)
If I was going to listen to two Caroline Rose songs which ones would you recommend?
I almost understand the runner's high. I never quite make it there in the 6 months of warm-enough-to-run-outside weather that we get here.
What's your signature cocktail?
First good on you for replying to everyone, that's awesome.
Alright Caroline Rose. It depends on what you're looking for. Her first two albums were hillbilly rock which I was never a fan of. Her most recent released album is Loner which is much more pop-rock. I'd say my favorites from it are More of the Same, Cry!, Jeannie Becomes a Mom, and Animal. Then there's her upcoming album Superstar of which she has released one song. I'd say check out Feel The Way I Want from Superstar and Cry! From Loner. Good variety and great songs.
I live on treadmills. I like the climate control, lack of looking for traffic, ability to zone out, and lack of wind resistance. It's blasphemy to a lot of runners but I like what I like.
I haven't been making cocktails long enough to have a signature cocktail, though I like things with lime and mint. I think the Southside has been the best one I've made so far. I did make a celery gimlet a few days ago that was a lot better than expected. Using "How To Cocktail" from America's Test kitchen to teach myself. I do however have a signature dinner dish, pork carnitas. And a signature baking dish too, chocolate cake with coffee frosting. No recipe for either. Just a chocolate cake and coffee buttercream frosting. I always recommend using a whip instead of paddle attachment on stand mixers for buttercream, it makes it a lot lighter less dense.
And what kind of music do you like? I love finding new music. Introduce me to something new!
It's the joy of Tildes right now - on reddit if I asked this and it got popular there would be more answers than I could realistically deal with this, but on Tildes, I got to read and understand all the answers, and consider them in some detail and learn more about people!
I will throw both into the mix of things I listen to today - thanks for the recommendation.
I cannot physically go out and exercise when it's too cold - I have crap lungs - so I fully understand the allure of the treadmill. In another comment I mentioned that I'm looking for a new house, and one of the things I'd like to ensure we have is enough space for a treadmill and for my weights, which currently both reside, embarassingly, at my parent's house.
That's a great book.
Your signature dish sounds awesome. I don't have a good authentic mexican restaurant nearby so I might have to give this one a try. I might even be able to get my kids to eat it!
I love a good coffee frosting cake; it's been a long time since I've done any serious baking, but I used to make a similar but reversed cake; coffee flavoured cake with chocolate frosting. It was also good.
Oh boy, this is a whole other level of conversation here. I'll reign myself in a bit and just try to stick to straight recommendations.
Mephisto Waltz No 1 is a song I like to recommend for anyone to get into the joy and beauty of piano music. I love to juxtapose it with Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin. Both are lively roller coasters that can put a smile on your face.
For the last year, I've been on a Frog Leap Studios kick. The hook: Leo performs metal covers of pop songs. The real hook: he's really talented and puts together great music videos that combine the ridiculous aspects of metal videos and pop videos. They tend to be a bit silly, but the overall effect is great. I avoided using the word "juxtapose" in this paragraph, despite the fact that I really wanted to, because I put it in the last paragraph, but his melding of pop and metal is definitely at odds with the silliness in the videos; I recommend watching the videos and not just listening (for at least a few).
I've been listening to a lot of female vocalists lately because my oldest daughter is taking vocal lessons and is constantly picking songs and practicing them. One of my favourites has got to be Jann Arden. I'd recommend Good Mother and Insensitive by her; they aren't particularly deep in her discography, but they're both great.
I will also always recommend listening to Tool, with the caveat that if you don't like really hard rock music that this might not be your thing. Despite the fact that the lead singer is a bit of a buffoon and an asshole, they're one of the best bands of all time. I don't recommend picking and choosing songs; I recommend listening to Aenema (second album) in its entirety. After that, check out Undertow, then 10,000 Days, then Opiate. Opiate, by the way, is a much rawer, less refined, angrier album than any of the others.
Each of these are things that I have a deep musical connection with; I hope you check them out and enjoy them!
I make music, play video games, make visual art in photoshop, participate in powerlifting/bodybuilding, and am always keeping up to date with the newest gadgets in the tech field. Sometimes I like to read up on psychology but I wouldn't really consider that much of a hobby cause I don't do it that often.
There's a lot of music makers here, which is awesome! What sort of music do you make?
Do you have a particular favourite video game?
Would you be interested in sharing any of your art?
Yeah, I actually was surprised to see such a big music community on this site, I love it :) I make experimental music, usually focused on breakbeat genres such as jungle and drum and bass.
My favorite game of all time is Persona 5.
Here is my Soundcloud/instagram for my music and visual art if you want to take a look/listen
https://soundcloud.com/frostsapphire
https://www.instagram.com/seekersoftruth/
Taking a listen to the soundcloud now! Made my way through crisis, and queued up ascend://:fallen next. I am digging the sound a lot; thanks for sharing!
Thanks! I really appreciate it :)
Music is my greatest hobby. Listening to it. Also, going to live concerts is one of my greatest pleasures in life. I'm into metal/hardcore punk music. On the metal side I'm leaning into death/grindcore, but I'm also a big fan of avantgarde and experimental metal. And being from Romania, while I was in highschool (early '90s) I've always wanted to see my favourite bands live. This has been happening since 2005/2006 constantly, as many foreign bands tour Romania too.
Board games are another hobby of mine, but I don't have (yet) a group of friends that I can play with, so I'm mostly playing two player games with my wife and some easy stuff (Azul, Carcassonne) with some friends that don't get too involved.
How do you like Azul? I've been thinking about getting it, but I have a moratorium on buying games right now.
It's one of the best games for everyone. It's easy to learn, but at the same time you have to think about what strategies to use during the game.
Awesome, thanks for the info. Simple games are better for my wife. Not that she's simple, just that's her preference. We are deeply into Splendor at the moment, but I'm getting a bit tired of it.
Heh! Splendor is nice too.
Playing guitar and making music. Reading. Hangin out at dive bars. Going for long walks... usually to a dive bar.
What kind of guitar(s) do you have?
I put that (s) on there because I also am a guitar player.
Currently, in order of how long I've had them, a Fender Pawn Shop '51, a Seagull Coastline Cedar Folk, and a Guild Starfire IV ST.
The Guild gets the most play, these days. Strung with D'Addario Chromes 12-52, though I've replaced the high E and B strings with Elixirs in the equivalent gauge as I found that the plain strings were rusting up way too quick for my liking. Works well! Thinking of increasing the gauge of the high E, though, because it still sounds too thin for me.
I'll be replacing the pickguard on the Fender to a black/white/black pickguard pretty soon. That's strung with Elixir medium gauge (11-49) strings. But, I need to take it in for a set-up and get the input jack re-soldered. I haven't been playing it much because, well, can't get an electric sound out of it!
And, as the guitar's name might suggest, I've been using the Seagull to practice some folk guitar playing.
Those are all lovely!
I've got a custom built strat from a local luthier that I really enjoy playing. I almost always end up with thick strings because that feels right to me.
My favourite acoustic as actually my red Oscar Schmidt which is just a cheap washburn, but I've had it for 25 years, and for some reason just love it. I've done a lot of things to it over the years, but it has served me well.
I've got a few others (an ibanez somewhere that kind of sucks, a crazy Phantom "X" clearly meant for metallica, a low end takamine) but those are the two I come back to the most.
I have a variety of basses too; my favoure is a 30-ish year old BC Rich wood finish. No particular gimmick (like a lot of BC Rich these days), just a decent bass. It saw me through three different bands when I was younger.
I used to play Go, but it's been years; one of the problems I find is that unless you find someone of a similar level, the games are very one sided.
What's your favourite postcard that you've received?
Do you enjoy the process of making tea or are you more about having tea, or is it both for you? What is your favourite tea? I like a good earl grey, myself, but I'm pretty basic when it comes to tea.
About Go, I mostly play on Internet ( like online-go dot com). I prefer play in a real goban but as you said, It's very difficult find similar players :-(
I can't choose a favorite postcard. Some is special for who send me, another is because from where, others simply for some little special thing :-) and yes, I have a lot postcards that I don't like much, too.
I enjoy process of making tea and drink it. No special method or ceremony, but it's a relax moment. My prefer tea is keemun and anothers black pures, without sugar or milk.
I should give online-go a try; it's been years since I've really played, but I always enjoyed it. When I did my degree (Maths) there were a few people who were often good for a game, but I haven't really played much since then.
I saw that you started a postcard swap on Tildes - that's awesome!
If you back to play and need some advice, tell me! There a lot of great material about Go, however if you don't have a community or anybody to talk, it's hard continues playing.
You can take part of postcard swap if you want :-)
I have read Korschelt's Theory and Practice book a couple of times; maybe I'll pick that up again and remind myself of basic strategy. And I'll check out the online community; it would be nice to play again, do thanks for the info.
I have a hard time committing to things like sending postcards. I do like the idea though.