Ask HN: What are your non-tech hobbies?
I used to focus on tech related stuff way too much. Once I balanced my life more with things like disc golf, indoor skydiving, cooking, among other things, I felt much more complete in life. What hobbies do you do outside of tech (this includes things like gaming)?
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 149 ms ] threadHIIT, 10ks, resistance training, Yoga
Mindfulness and meditation
Painting and drawing, visiting art galleries
Weekend travel
Playing musical instruments very badly
Similarly started feeling that I was overdosing on tech and becoming a bore with too little perspective and a lack of emotional empathy, so I made a big effort to balance out my life. But the struggle is real and ongoing : )
Reading feeds my empathy by helping me to build and maintain a broad perspective; practising mindfulness helps me to apply it.
Many say that even reading pulp fiction can help to build empathy, so you probably need not read philosophers and economists if that's deterring to you; I can't personally testify to that though because fiction doesn't really hold my interest.
All of the stuff that sounds cool I want to get into I really can’t for one reason or another. Often this comes down to requiring me to own property or land I can use and modify, which while I suppose I could obtain, would require a level of settling I’m not comfortable with right now.
I do game a bit, but not as much as I would like to.
Playing the piano - a great diversion, it doesn't take too long to be able to play chords and sing along to your favourite tunes.
Writing short mysteries - inspired by Two Minute Mysteries. I write short mystery stories where the rest had to solve the story. I put them up online and occasionally someone emails me their solution.
I would recommend getting a ukulele and learning some easy 3-chord songs that you like. It takes some time to get decent at, but it’s easier than guitar and they’re pretty cheap.
You can also get into making electronic music or drum loops pretty easily.
I have a shirt that combines tech + dance hobbies. It says "<lead>" on the front, and "</lead>" on the back.
My dance friends know what "lead" means, but don't know what the extra symbols mean.
My tech friends know it's an XML element, but are unfamiliar with the <lead> tag.
- <lead>, <follow>
- <wcs>, <lindy>, <bal>
https://web.archive.org/web/20080330162307/http://geekswing....
Strangely, I've always found it easier to tell people I invent my own languages[2]. If I accidentally admit to the poetry thing then people start asking me questions and wanting me to look at their poems, whereas leading with the conlang thing generally encourages them to slowly back their way out of the conversation.
[1] - Of course I wrote my own website to host them - https://rikverse2020.rikweb.org.uk/
[2] - The need to show the world my conlangs is what got me into web development in the first place. So something good came out of my weird hobby - https://gevey.rikweb.org.uk/
But I learned a new phrase today!
And sounds like fun. Also for the recipient!
Writing short stories. Reading a short story by Clarke as a kid is what set me towards science and tech in the first place. I don’t like showing them to people I know and usually just prefer to put them up somewhere online completely anonymously.
Fishing’s great, if you can find somewhere to do it.
Day-sailing is the best. A sailing class and small dinghy isn’t that much iirc, but if you can get your hands on a larger vessel there’s nothing better than the feeling of being on open water. If I couldn’t do tech or anything aerospace I’d 100% be in a maritime profession.
If you’re aiming for low maintenance, go for something that’s small and storable in a garage since exposure to the elements and water will beat your boat to hell. It won’t be a yacht, but you can still sail around and drink some beer with a friend or two.
I guess it's the vast remoteness of the sea and space that appeals to me. Some of my best memories were made sailing through open waters with no land in sight.
Woodworking
Radio control aircraft
Amateur Astronomy and telescope building
Walking
Motorcycles
Sailing (inland and Ocean)
- Hiking: Great way to disconnect from the busy city, see amazing places, get some blood flowing and have a bit of adventure. Bonus, you get fit.
- Gym: You get fit. Bonus, you meet people from around your neighborhood.
- Cooking
- Riding my bike
In a lot of areas you can probably find a beginners night and get some quick instruction and play some games.
Also 3d printing is really fun.
Can you elaborate? The physical toll tennis takes on you?
But being fast is still an advantage.
A big thing I didn’t like about tennis was having to find athletic friends to play with who had some tennis skills and manage the scheduling.
The best thing about pickleball is in most areas there are scheduled open play times where you just show up and play with everyone.
- Road cycling (I don't do as much of this and it originally started out just as cross-training for MTB, but I do enjoy a certain amount of road cycling for its own sake)
- BMX (this is where it all started for me. I don't ride BMX much these days, but I keep a bike or two around in case the urge hits)
- Fishing (mostly freshwater, mostly targeting largemouth bass, but sometimes I'll target catfish or crappie or something)
- Trail running
- Bushcraft / camping / etc
- Reading (in terms of fiction I read a lot of sci-fi, fantasy, thrillers, spy/espionage stuff, and horror. Non-fiction, aside from tech stuff, I like reading philosophy, history, biographies, pop science (is that too close to tech?) and business stuff (again, is that too close to tech?)
- Shooting (I don't get to the range much these days, but it's something I used to do a lot more of when I lived out in the sticks and had a place where I could shoot on our family's property)
- Tinkering with old cars (this is another somewhat neglected hobby these days, just due to various constraints. But one day I hope to get back to more of it)
- I used to spend some time involved in wrestling/jiu-jitsu and other related pursuits but age and too many injuries (mostly from mountain biking, see above) have caught up with me and I've been away from that stuff for a while. The urge is sometimes still present, but pragmatically speaking, it's not really a realistic pursuit for me anymore)
I sell some of it here: https://ligninandlight.com/
I've run into many former developers, that I know from here and other forums, on Glowforge owner groups -- https://glowforge.us/r/GMSCZQGJ
Drawing (on an ipad air as buying art supplies is tiring and I’m not that good)
Boardgames with friends. Building a boardgame table this weekend from an old dinning table.
Dabble with game dev in Unity. Currently playing around with some VR stuff.