a) I joined other guys in a car garage. The metalworking and mechanics seem to be a good balance against the desk-sitting.
b) I installed a virtual model railroading program, where i can build stations and landscapes in a 3d-modelling/blender like fashion. Its a quite dull, somewhat artistic kind of activity.
EEP 16, which is german software and iirc not well localized. Graphics are 2005-level, but it has a lua interface which you can use to automatically manage driveways and routes.
1. Started playing rugby again after 12 years. Good male relationships. Physical exercise. A sense of time passing and a season in the year.
2. Violin. I wanted something I could spend ten years learning. And a creative hobby but that worked with analytical approach.
Time? Both take a lot of time and effort - but maybe less than you would expect.
Rugby: Email ten teams in the local area, attend the training of the one who was friendliest in their response. Training twice a week and a game on Saturday. I now go to the gym as well. All the above is optional.
Violin: Cheap violin is £100. Online lessons are cheap and convenient. After a year I bought a more expensive violin. I practice on my lunch break - little but often.
Do it. It's a made a lot of difference to my happiness.
I am sure both these will act as a sort of nudge in those directions for me. Thanks.
I agree with the benefits of team sports.
About violin, it's been the instrument I was very much moved by even though in India I have probably heard it less. I think only Sitar[1] moved me more.
May I ask if you have a what they call a 'musical ear'? For ex. are you able you identify notes, frequencies. In my physics- Harmonics And Overtones classes, some of my friends used to identify- just by listening- that two from a given set of tuning forks sounded same/similar. I was told it is very important to have that kind of ear to learn (Indian classical) music. Is that true?
Not the OP, but I'm quite interested in music. I don't think a 'musical ear' is something you're born with. Once you start learning to play an instrument where you have to tune it yourself, you get better at distinguishing between pitches. Special talent is required to identify the exact frequency of notes. Everyone can identify the difference between two pitches (intervals).
Plus, you will also notice that when two frequencies are at the same pitch (or at perfect intervals) something clicks between the tones. If two tones are similar but not at perfect intervals you hear it through the physical resonance, the distortion fades away when you get them right. Over time you'll start noticing these.
To pursue this,get a tibetan bowl for example, it only produces one note but with many beautiful overtones. You'll start to understand the vibrations.
I am not Indian and don't have much experience with Indian classical music, but Indian music relies heavily on timbre, sympathetic resonances etc. The note is not only made off of its frequency, the timbre plays a lot of role.
If you can get your hands on one, I'd suggest start experimenting with a tanpura. Learn a couple of tunings, play drone notes along your favorite tunes. If you can only tune one string to an electric tuner and try to tune the other strings with ear. This will develop your 'musical ear' immensely.
I started learning the piano a year and a half ago. I make electronic music and was becoming frustrated by my limited musical knowledge acting as a barrier to creating more complex arrangements.
I've found the best way to get stuck into a new hobby is to not make excuses to yourself like "oh but I can't do that because I don't have X or Y piece of equipment". Just start with whatever means you have available and if it sticks then invest some money in the hobby. For example, I had a small midi keyboard so I just started learning on that, then bought myself the cheapest full size electric piano I could find once I'd managed a couple of months of consistent practice.
Also I think it's hard to pick up a hobby just for the sake of it, there has to be some kind of motivation - like the example of me wanting to improve my songwriting by learning the piano. I'm now seeing tangible results and it's immensely satisfying, which motivates me to carry on spending 20-30 mins a day practicing the piano.
>it's hard to pick up a hobby just for the sake of it
I tend to agree. But I try just the same for the art kind of things because I think I don't really have much skills in art forms (music, painting, etc.). That is really where the 'deliberate' part of the question comes from.
Can you recommend a good source for lessons? I just got a keyboard and am an absolute beginner. Watching some YouTube channels incl. pianote and using flowkey on iOS but my practice feels scattered.
I'm in the same boat, I started learning to play the piano/keyboard a couple years ago, along with studying music theory. I was already fairly fluent with the guitar (been playing as a hobby for a decade or so) but I yearned for the sound of the piano, its particular charm and expressiveness. Some of my favorite music are classical and jazz piano, and I wanted to learn how to write my own compositions in that direction.
Partly due to the pandemic lockdown and social isolation, I was able to naturally develop a healthy daily habit, to regularly play the piano for an hour or two every morning. That time is so precious and pleasurable, to sit quietly and wander around on the keyboard, exploring musical ideas.
In the evenings, I often read books on music theory. I have a dozen or so favorite books that are quite dense with knowledge, so I've been reading bits and pieces of them, re-reading certain sections for deeper understanding.
For me, having a hobby is about the enjoyment and satisfaction I get from the act of play and creative expression, and sharing the joy with friends and loved ones.
Before you know it I've acquired 15+ of the things, am writing a price comparison site and streaming on YouTube and CrunchyRoll.
And I wouldn't consider myself a Weeb, or anime fan. I just love the models. It's everything I've loved about model kits in the past, but none of the awkward paining or glue.
It doesn't. They only hold value if you don't build them, and older kits are less desirable as they are constantly improving.
Gunpla are pretty much worthless once you have built them in the same way a movie ticket is worthless once you've watched a film. The journey is where the value is, and much more so than with LEGO sets where you might discover one or two cool building tricks.
Spacewise they are economical. They shrink volume dramatically once built and you don't have to worry about keeping the box.
But if you want deep value, get some Gamestop or some crypto. They are much more economical space wise.
I got into Gunpla and other scale models about 6 years ago, and the great thing is you can get as deep into it as you want. Bandai is the cutting edge of snap-fit models and it easy to get started with a $10 toolkit from Amazon and a $15 High Grade kit. Building the kits straight is enjoyable and in my opinion rewarding. The engineering of Bandai kits are simply amazing. Plus, it's easy to go from straight builds to kit-bashing (combining multiple kits into a custom model) to painting to full custom LEDs and dioramas. Watch the EA Gunpla and Otaku Builder channels on Youtube for more examples (these are my favorites). I went from 1 kit bought at a local Anime convention to 100+ built kits and a deep backlog of kits to build.
I searched online and watched a bunch of YouTube videos to get more educated.
I completed my state’s Hunter Education course including an in person training day.
Bought hunting license.
I reached out via Reddit and other online forums to local hunters and asked for advice. I found 3 separate mentors from Reddit, YouTube, and RokSlide and ended up meeting 2 of them and learning a lot from all 3.
It took a lot of effort but it was all in incremental , repeatable steps and I have started helping others by passing on the knowledge.
It took the better part of a year before I harvested small game. I still haven’t harvested any big game.
I like this hobby because it gets me outside, gives me fresh and ethically harvested meat, keeps me fit, and allows me to practice my firearm manipulation skills.
I intentionally learned to shoot with my DSLR in manual mode and RAW format. I think being able to take decent photos is a skill I will always wish I had, so it made sense to just get busy and learn. Turns out, it's not difficult at all to go from useless to half decent.
Here's some shots from a recent trip to a salt mine in Transylvania that I'm quite pleased with:
My camera is totally entry level also. I don't like the idea buying the most professional-grade equipment to compensate for a lack of fundamental skill.
Thanks. The photos are good.
I am ashamed to admit that I gave up on (probably never became interested in) photography almost certainly because I saw how good others' photos were.
Nice work. I picked up photography a decade ago. It's an expensive hobby but it's totally worth it. Because I mainly shoot landscapes it also acts as a motivation to travel more and hike/walk more than I used to.
I started sailing. The university near me has a club that offers lessons and after taking them you can use their boats whenever they are open. Learning the terminology can be a bit overwhelming but it becomes very useful when everyone knows exactly what you mean. Even though the club is on a small lake I enjoy sailing immensely.
1) learning guitar. Bought guitar and didn’t make much progress. Took Zoom level 1 guitar and now I’m good enough that it’s fun to try playing songs. 30 min/day. Prefer over others because: I love music with good guitar parts, it has been mentally stimulating, fun to do with others
2) woodworking. Bought table saw, then router, specialized tools. Watched 1-2 hours/day to learn stuff on Youtube (Steve Ramsey, etc). Find a project, it can suck as much time as a fun programming task. But projects are key. I started with step stools and moved into picture frames and patio furniture. Still not good at detail work but better at hiding mistakes. Why this: scratches same building itch as programming but diff domain, requires math and spatial reasoning, helps a lot with home ownership.
Similar experience with woodworking. During the pandemic, I ended up doing a lot of work on a relative’s farm (eg. installing fence posts, building new barn doors, turning an old boat trailer into a utility trailer). Not only did I enjoy working with my hands, it was refreshing to not be able to Ctrl+Z mistakes away.
Since then, started acquiring tools to pursue woodworking at home and am really enjoying it. I also find myself going down YouTube woodworking rabbit holes often.
I started woodworking again last year; something I took a decade break from due to space and money. I still don't have enough space for all the machines, but after thinking about it I decided that this time I would work with hand tools.
I find it fascinating how much my perspective has changed. In the past I felt that hand tools were past their time since they are slower and require skill while machines require thinking first and skill second. Now I am well into my engineering career and I am happy to do something that does not scale and does not require anything electric.
If you are interested in woodworking but don't have much space you can try hand tools. They still need an area that you can make quite messy, but that area can be only a few square meters.
Here are a few photos of my "shop" [1], it is situated at the step between my office and the rest of the house.
It appears indeed to be the same itch. I know a really good programmer who started doing artisan (hand tools only, fine wood etc) furniture as a hobby and is now apparently accepting orders for his work.
Partner and I decided to learn about wine. Tasting classes (video + worksheets), intentionally buying from specific regions. It's surprisingly inexpensive if you're doing it from home in liue of restaurants, and one of the joys is discovering a $10-20 bottle you enjoy more than the $60 NAME, keeping costs down.
It's also leading into my next project which is going to be bottle storage. Probably an unnecessarily geeky version of it involving digital monitoring and inventory.
So far, I’m about two years in on BJJ and it’s the best decision I’ve made from a mental and physical health POV. I found a local gym, met the teacher and sat in for a few classes. Now, I train about 3-4 times a week for 90-120 minutes.
Effort.
Mentally, it’s like physical chess and it helps me relax. It’s hard to worry about the days problems when you have to be focused on your opponent/partner. Other than, the major learning curve is all mental. Relaxation and breathing are important to learn when your training partner is sitting on your chest lol.
Why this hobby?.
I hate exercise. I’ve tried swimming, running, biking, weightlifting, ball sports and I pretty much hate them all. With BJJ, there’s a self-defense utility that I like and a mental/physical complexity that makes it challenging like a great puzzle.
I tried to get into BJJ. It was THE perfect hobby for me, on paper. But then I had to roll with the sweaty guy, then drive home smelling like someone else's body odor, and that was it for me.
Getting comfortable being uncomfortable is one of the big lessons from JJ. When stressful situations come up I joke that after learning to relax while being smothered in a sweaty person's rash guard forcing me to struggle to breath, there isn't a whole lot that's worse in my usual day to day.
I also tried BJJ for a few months but I got frustrated because I'm used to learning theory but all the instructor wanted to teach was rote sequences of drills. I'm not talking like 3 step sequences I'm talking like 8 steps with highly technical parts.
The school and instructor matters. You need to find a teacher and group of people you mesh with. You're going to end up spending a lot of time with them, and you need to trust them. I recommend trying out a few different schools if you can.
With that said, drilling is how to get better. Even though it may not seem like it at lower levels while rolling, the technical details matter. At higher levels, missing those details is the difference between the move working or not.
I came here to say this. A few years ago I picked up JJ as a side hobby, and it quickly became my main hobby. I still weight lift and do cardio, but it's all in service JJ now.
The physical benefits are obvious. The non-obvious mental and emotional benefits are where JJ really shines. Putting oneself in stressful situations over and over leads to more calmness when under stress in general. Then there is the ego check where where one is forced to be a beginner again over and over. There's also no way to lie to yourself when a 100# girl chokes you out.
Mountain Biking, cross country (XC) and downhill enduro!
I'm not an endurance athlete genetically, so racing in cycling isn't going to be a podium winning experience. MTB provides a balance between skills you can develop and having to be in good physical shape. It's allowing me to travel across the country and [hopefully soon] Europe to exotic destinations. I'm in some of the best shape of my life too and I highly recommend everyone try it
I intentionally got (much more) into gardening in 2021. I've always liked gardening and houseplants, but 2020 taught me that I needed to have a life outside of work, and I won't always be able to physically socialize with friends, so I needed a third thing (i.e. a hobby) to bring me balance and peace.
I watched a ton of youtube videos from gardening youtubers, I bought a bunch of nursery plants and soil, and I got to work. Later on, I moved to starting plants from seed. Gardening doesn't have to be an expensive hobby, and you can often start with whatever you have. It's really nice to put work into something and see it bear fruit (sometimes literally).
Another one here! I always wanted to, but this year I expanded beyond one plum tree, a few tomato plants and wild raspberry to plant spaghetti squash, strawberries, lots of tomatoes from various breeds, two chili pepper plants an apple tree and a some boxwood plants (I bought the small ones where I get 4-6 for about $10 and have planted them in rows waiting for them to get larger :-)
I've also been busy propagating plants and have received one or two and shared good number.
Had planted some (~10) avocado seeds (India); Hass and other varieties. Around 4-5 years. Trees have grown large 7-8 feet. But haven't flowered yet. Any suggestions?
Just like apples, growing a tree from the seed from a Haas avacado will not result in a tree with that variety. They are duplicated by cutting branches from existing Hass avocado trees and grafting them into a root stock from another variety.
Also I guess all avacadoes take a few years to mature, but from what I read at around 5 years there should be possible to get fruit of some kind and that also means they should flower too?
Thanks. I have read similar info elsewhere. For past 10 years or so I don't throw away seeds. (oranges, watermelon, etc. are exceptions.) I generally plant the seeds and afterwards when plants are of good height I plant those on the nearby hills. Don't bother much about them later (fertilizer, grafting, etc.) apart from watering them occasionally when I go to the hills. Somehow avocados remained on my farm and now I have become somewhat curious.
Vegetable and flower gardening for me as well. I’m still quite bad at it, but I’m learning from my mistakes, I think.
My biggest success has been a vermicompost bin. Everything I feed that stuff to goes bonkers.
One of my favorite things about gardening is that you learn every year. This last year I had a bunch of successes and some really big failures.
Now I get to spent the next two months thinking about what to do differently (No more uncovered brassicas - they all get eaten in my climate. Maybe my raspberries have a virus - I should get them tested. Sweet potatoes only go in pots/bags or raised beds from now on, since digging them out in clay soil is a huge pain, and the quality of the ones I grew in pots is better). Then I get to try again next year. It's process improvement, but in slow motion!
Yes, alpine climbing. Which begat trail running, ski mountaineering, mountain biking, and wrestling.
A friend had moved to Denver and was starting to climb more impressive and intense routes just as my whole division at a big company was let go. It looked fun and I thought it would be a good way to spend my time. After a primer from my friend, I joined clubs and sought out partners who I gelled with. I ultimately found that the passionate rationality of alpine climbing's risk assessment and fitness requirements were a great healthy replacement for what I did at work.
I started trail running as part of my training and decided I liked it for its own sake. I took up ski mountaineering a couple years later because it meant I could have more fun moving faster on larger terrain. I took up mountain biking two years ago because a buddy badgered me about how fun it was and described it as "skiing in the summer." And, recently, with a large base of fitness, I joined a group of friends who are all martial arts nerds who get together for sparring and style comparison chats. I wrestled in high school, so I jumped in and decided it was as fun now as it was then.
This whole journey kicked off in 2016. I spend between 5 and 15 hours per week in one of the above disciplines, plus a few hours a week in the gym lifting. It takes a lot of effort, but it rarely feels like it because I'm enjoying myself. I prefer all of these hobbies because, like many of us, my job keeps me glued to a screen/hunched over a work table and I wanted something that put me back in my body in an enjoyable way.
I suppose the biggest thing that got me interested was I got a book on making costumes from a Humble Bundle. Keeping me interested, though, was a desire to do something that was not on a screen during the pandemic.
I probably read through 15 books from the library in my spare time, honestly, over the course of several months. I asked me wife some questions, and read through the manual for her sewing machine -- and then watched enough YouTube videos and did things tediously slowly until I understood what I was supposed to do. I found books aimed at kids especially good for beginners, and re-read things as I understood better.
I borrowed some patterns from my aunt, and made pyjamas for my four year old. (I figured something small would waste less fabric). It took me five weeks, on and off, to get them made, and involved a lot of learning, but they turned out really nicely and my kid wore them every night for quite a while. Since then I made some Hallowe'en costumes. (Making pyjamas for everyone for Christmas would've been nice, but I haven't been able to make the time.)
Why this instead of something else?
- I didn't know how to do it
- I could do it at home
- We had the basic tools
Making clothes seems like such a useful, thrifty, and enjoyable skill. In a world of fast fashion you now have the choice to opt out in some sense and save many scraps from the heap. You've got me a little bit inspired to finally patch a small hole in my jeans.
Give it a go -- the nice thing about fixing something broken is that if your fix doesn't work, you are no worse off than you were before, and if it does work, tada! the thing is fixed.
I started sewing last year while planning a bike packing trip where I wanted to finally switch from tent to hammock. Finding proper underquilts for hammocks in Europe is... a mess.
In the end, I decided to borrow my sister's sewing machine and give it a try.
I ended up sewing not just the underquilt but also ultra light bike bags, an ultra light hammock, a tarp and a bunch of smaller bags for storage.
I never thought the technical side of sewing would be so much fun - I spent hours researching fabrics and composites for a project in order to fulfill 'your' specific needs.
+1 to this. I did the same, learned to sew. My motivation was to make a particular costume for conventions, and since then I've made several more. Agreed that having something to do that's not on a screen is really important. (I started before the pandemic, but it's definitely been a fresh thing to do.) And the skill is versatile; I've repaired plush stuffies for friends and nieces and nephews, repaired and altered some of my own non-costume clothing, and recently made a couple pieces for myself too.
I was lucky enough to have my experienced mother to teach me, walking through how to use a sewing machine and some basic hand-stitching. Doing one seam is like in 3d programming where you get one triangle to render on the screen, and everything else follows from there.
I don't have the patience to watch instructional videos, and so I do a lot by trial and error. But I also learned that there's no objective standard of "doing it right" -- if it looks acceptable and holds together structurally, then it's not wrong. Sewing doesn't have technical debt like programming - you finish a piece and you're done, you're not worried about its architectural fit with a mess of other components.
1.) Got myself two Kayacats (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1037377909/kayacat) after renting Kayaks from time to time for a long time. Kayacats seem to be discontinued, but I love getting just on a train with a backpack and just spending an afternoon paddling downstream on a river to the next train station. The only effort required is planning the trips, preparing a picknik. Nothing much to develop.
2.) Got a velomobile (https://www.velomobileworld.com/product/milan-gt/ ). This was actually not supposed to be a hobby but a way to get to work while not producing too much C02. 50km each way were to far for a normal bicycle, an ebike is still to slow. With the velomobile I could average 40km/h and stay fit at the same time -- until Covid/Home Office came along. This year I took some time off and cycled 11000km in 3 month. From Northern Germany to the Black Sea, to the Atlantic Coast and back to Germany again. This took some time and effort ;) But with cycling you can spend as much time/effort as you please. You can tour alone or in groups... many options.
To counteract the obvious sense of loss that came from an official separation from my wife, I took up sketching, first in pencil and then in pen. It’s run its course so I have slowed down quite a bit.
I learned to knit. It helps keep me from getting distracted during video meetings. (I apparently need to fiddle with my hands a lot, and a fidget spinner or doodling doesn't cut it.) I got a lot of help from my wife, but learning it was pretty straightforward.
Roller skating! I took it up during the pandemic. I'd skated before, never very seriously, but my partner and I bought some skates and got to it. It's incredible what an hour a day will get you. I've never felt as though I had strong legs before. It's also inspiring me to do other workouts.
All my life I've had a fear of heights. When I went skiing with my parents as a teenager I was more or less forced to ride the lifts and felt my fear of heights decreased a bit after that. I always had this experience in the back of my mind. I can "unlearned" this fear.
About 2 years ago I decided to try climbing with the explicit goal of tackling my fear of heights. I started with indoor bouldering because it was readily available. Initially, I was too scared to even climb up the moderately hight stuff or "top out". Anything above 3m was a huge mental struggle. Typically bouldering will max out around 5m, where you can still safely fall onto a mat since your feet are about 3-3,5m above ground. Now I feel quite confident topping out and going to the highest points in the gym. Height is still a factor but not nearly as much as it used to be. Two month ago, I even started top roping with friends and I'm climbing 12m high routes relatively calmly now. A feat that seemed impossible two years ago. I can't wait to try higher ones (18m) and eventually climb on actual rock.
Climbing has helped me overcome my fear of height and more importantly I absolutely love it and think about it constantly. It's the only solo-able sport that has kept me motivated, too. Mostly because you always have micro challenges to tackle (finish this new route, get further on that old route) and also bigger goals (get to grade X). I absolutely love it, during lockout I have even built my own home wall and I'm currently working on building my own holds, too.
Highly recommended for anyone looking for a sport to try. I think bouldering works really well for analytical minds and puzzle solvers like myself because it's essentially puzzle solving with your body. The community is also very friendly and nice and open, another big plus. And yes, your general body shape doesn't matter, don't be afraid, just try it some day.
Time: You can go to a climbing gym once a week for 1.5-2h. I go 2-3 times per week now and occasionally climb on my home wall and do some finger boarding and other exercises. I'd say 6-8h/week with travel time.
The problem is indeed room height. I built my wall to the specs of the Moonboard Mini (they are available on their website). Unfortunately that meant I had to go for a 40 degree wall. I have maybe 3-4 routes that I can climb on that wall now, all with big/good holds. I cannot even do a route that's designated as V3 in the official app (I did buy the yellow Moonboard holds+one wooden set) but I suspect the grades are not for 40 degrees but for a less steep wall. In fact, I only recently managed to do one move on the small holds. Last week I finally constructed a circular route of about 20 moves that I plan to do as endurance training.
My advice: just go to a gym and do it. Everyone will be super friendly and you can climb by yourself if you want. There's some jargon and it might be a bit tricky to figure out how you're supposed to climb routes but simply tell them at the entrance that you never climbed and would like a short introduction. Make sure the rental shoes fit, not too tight, comfortable but snug is what you should aim for. If in doubt, they'll always let you exchange them. Just start with the easiest routes and work your way up. It's very addictive and there's always something to try and eventually succeed at.
Do it. First thing next year :)
I also recently (last 5 years) started climbing with a similar fear of heights.
I’ve learned more about myself from climbing then almost anything else I’ve done.
I came to realise that it’s ok and normal to be scared, and most other climbers feel the same fear, you just learn to handle it and slowly increase the exposure.
Although I’m still a rank amateur, I’ve learned to lead sport climb and even start trad climbing which is amazing. Alongside that I’ve done mountain scrambles I never thought I’d be able for.
For a lot of people, climbing is about being strong and completing grades, but there are so many more dimensions to it that I’d recommend it to anyone.
I've been learning about general contracting and how to build houses just because it's interesting. Also looking into getting a cinema camera to start making fancy videos because I love cinematography.
My (at the time 4 year old) daughter likes to do puzzles and she always wanted me to do them together. I got bored of doing the same easy puzzle over and over. I discovered wooden puzzles and they are amazing. Completely different experience than cardboard puzzles. Many have intricate piece shapes that you can put together based mostly off shape.
With an exception of a few, they are not kid puzzles.
Instead of helping her do her simple kids puzzles, she helps me do my whimsical [0] adult puzzles. It's a win-win. We both get what we want, and because I enjoy it more she enjoys it more.
[0] Wooden puzzles often have special pieces shaped like animals or other objects. These pieces are called whimsical pieces. It's one of the draws of wooden puzzles.
The other huge draw is the puzzle designer can make cuts along edges so the individual pieces do not look like they fit together when they do.
My new hobby is Linux, and all that that entails. I've learned basic command line operations and have experimented with all the popular distros out there, usually in Virtual machines. My daily driver is Ubuntu, and I have Virtualbox installed to try out different distros. I typically run the 'live-cd' / ISO to try out the distro before making a commitment to it. Other distros I use heavily are Fedora, Trisquel, Mint, and TailsOS.
I try not to install too much software on them as I like a simple working environment, typically with nothing but a text editor like Sublimetext running, and a browser with the LiveReload extension for doing web development. No npm or NodeJS crap. Just oldskool development.
The 'ROI' if you will of learning Linux is that I have peace of mind that I'm not being spied upon or potentially getting ambushed by various malware, and also: knowing that I am standing on the shoulders of giants. I am super thankful for how far Linux has come along. I remember in the early days having to write scripts just to get my Wifi adapter working, and hours upon hours trying to debug simple shit like printer compatibility errors, etc
Frankly I didn't have the time to focus on Linux in my twenties, and lately in my thirties I have more free time, so I can go down rabbit-holes all day and it doesn't bother me as much.
My Linux installs are very much 'set and forget', as in, you configure them to your liking, and then never have to do that again for a very long time.
I have spent the last two years learning about galls on plants as well as botany (mainly Oaks). I even built a website for helping ID and catalog the various gall forming species that occur across the US and Canada. https://www.gallformers.org
My main techniques for learning have been internet resources, https://www.inaturalist.org, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ , and sci-hub being indispensable. I also have built up a decent library of related books, though there are very few relating to galls mostly they are botany related.
This hobby has led me to become a much better photographer (this is one of my recent favorites https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/96982552) and gets me outside wandering around in nature at every opportunity that I have. My own yard, the neighborhood park, county/state/national parks, all of them offer nearly limitless exploration opportunity.
I have been at it for about 18 months and I feel like I am competent but am acutely aware of just how much more there is to learn, which is for me one of the main appeals.
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[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 197 ms ] threadb) I installed a virtual model railroading program, where i can build stations and landscapes in a 3d-modelling/blender like fashion. Its a quite dull, somewhat artistic kind of activity.
1. Started playing rugby again after 12 years. Good male relationships. Physical exercise. A sense of time passing and a season in the year. 2. Violin. I wanted something I could spend ten years learning. And a creative hobby but that worked with analytical approach.
Time? Both take a lot of time and effort - but maybe less than you would expect.
Rugby: Email ten teams in the local area, attend the training of the one who was friendliest in their response. Training twice a week and a game on Saturday. I now go to the gym as well. All the above is optional.
Violin: Cheap violin is £100. Online lessons are cheap and convenient. After a year I bought a more expensive violin. I practice on my lunch break - little but often.
Do it. It's a made a lot of difference to my happiness.
I agree with the benefits of team sports.
About violin, it's been the instrument I was very much moved by even though in India I have probably heard it less. I think only Sitar[1] moved me more.
May I ask if you have a what they call a 'musical ear'? For ex. are you able you identify notes, frequencies. In my physics- Harmonics And Overtones classes, some of my friends used to identify- just by listening- that two from a given set of tuning forks sounded same/similar. I was told it is very important to have that kind of ear to learn (Indian classical) music. Is that true?
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zOqked0rOs
Plus, you will also notice that when two frequencies are at the same pitch (or at perfect intervals) something clicks between the tones. If two tones are similar but not at perfect intervals you hear it through the physical resonance, the distortion fades away when you get them right. Over time you'll start noticing these.
To pursue this,get a tibetan bowl for example, it only produces one note but with many beautiful overtones. You'll start to understand the vibrations.
I am not Indian and don't have much experience with Indian classical music, but Indian music relies heavily on timbre, sympathetic resonances etc. The note is not only made off of its frequency, the timbre plays a lot of role.
If you can get your hands on one, I'd suggest start experimenting with a tanpura. Learn a couple of tunings, play drone notes along your favorite tunes. If you can only tune one string to an electric tuner and try to tune the other strings with ear. This will develop your 'musical ear' immensely.
Music is magical, you can surely learn it.
I've found the best way to get stuck into a new hobby is to not make excuses to yourself like "oh but I can't do that because I don't have X or Y piece of equipment". Just start with whatever means you have available and if it sticks then invest some money in the hobby. For example, I had a small midi keyboard so I just started learning on that, then bought myself the cheapest full size electric piano I could find once I'd managed a couple of months of consistent practice.
Also I think it's hard to pick up a hobby just for the sake of it, there has to be some kind of motivation - like the example of me wanting to improve my songwriting by learning the piano. I'm now seeing tangible results and it's immensely satisfying, which motivates me to carry on spending 20-30 mins a day practicing the piano.
Partly due to the pandemic lockdown and social isolation, I was able to naturally develop a healthy daily habit, to regularly play the piano for an hour or two every morning. That time is so precious and pleasurable, to sit quietly and wander around on the keyboard, exploring musical ideas.
In the evenings, I often read books on music theory. I have a dozen or so favorite books that are quite dense with knowledge, so I've been reading bits and pieces of them, re-reading certain sections for deeper understanding.
For me, having a hobby is about the enjoyment and satisfaction I get from the act of play and creative expression, and sharing the joy with friends and loved ones.
In particular, music helps me enter a sense of "flow", personally and socially. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)
https://www.polygon.com/guides/22653114/gunpla-gundam-models...
Before you know it I've acquired 15+ of the things, am writing a price comparison site and streaming on YouTube and CrunchyRoll.
And I wouldn't consider myself a Weeb, or anime fan. I just love the models. It's everything I've loved about model kits in the past, but none of the awkward paining or glue.
And it's WAY cheaper than LEGO.
Gunpla are pretty much worthless once you have built them in the same way a movie ticket is worthless once you've watched a film. The journey is where the value is, and much more so than with LEGO sets where you might discover one or two cool building tricks.
Spacewise they are economical. They shrink volume dramatically once built and you don't have to worry about keeping the box.
But if you want deep value, get some Gamestop or some crypto. They are much more economical space wise.
I searched online and watched a bunch of YouTube videos to get more educated.
I completed my state’s Hunter Education course including an in person training day.
Bought hunting license.
I reached out via Reddit and other online forums to local hunters and asked for advice. I found 3 separate mentors from Reddit, YouTube, and RokSlide and ended up meeting 2 of them and learning a lot from all 3.
It took a lot of effort but it was all in incremental , repeatable steps and I have started helping others by passing on the knowledge.
It took the better part of a year before I harvested small game. I still haven’t harvested any big game.
I like this hobby because it gets me outside, gives me fresh and ethically harvested meat, keeps me fit, and allows me to practice my firearm manipulation skills.
Here's some shots from a recent trip to a salt mine in Transylvania that I'm quite pleased with:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CUIVk1EAzv2/
My camera is totally entry level also. I don't like the idea buying the most professional-grade equipment to compensate for a lack of fundamental skill.
2) woodworking. Bought table saw, then router, specialized tools. Watched 1-2 hours/day to learn stuff on Youtube (Steve Ramsey, etc). Find a project, it can suck as much time as a fun programming task. But projects are key. I started with step stools and moved into picture frames and patio furniture. Still not good at detail work but better at hiding mistakes. Why this: scratches same building itch as programming but diff domain, requires math and spatial reasoning, helps a lot with home ownership.
Since then, started acquiring tools to pursue woodworking at home and am really enjoying it. I also find myself going down YouTube woodworking rabbit holes often.
I find it fascinating how much my perspective has changed. In the past I felt that hand tools were past their time since they are slower and require skill while machines require thinking first and skill second. Now I am well into my engineering career and I am happy to do something that does not scale and does not require anything electric.
If you are interested in woodworking but don't have much space you can try hand tools. They still need an area that you can make quite messy, but that area can be only a few square meters.
Here are a few photos of my "shop" [1], it is situated at the step between my office and the rest of the house.
[1] https://photos.app.goo.gl/3D9kWL6goFK49RPH8
It's also leading into my next project which is going to be bottle storage. Probably an unnecessarily geeky version of it involving digital monitoring and inventory.
How much time.
So far, I’m about two years in on BJJ and it’s the best decision I’ve made from a mental and physical health POV. I found a local gym, met the teacher and sat in for a few classes. Now, I train about 3-4 times a week for 90-120 minutes.
Effort.
Mentally, it’s like physical chess and it helps me relax. It’s hard to worry about the days problems when you have to be focused on your opponent/partner. Other than, the major learning curve is all mental. Relaxation and breathing are important to learn when your training partner is sitting on your chest lol.
Why this hobby?.
I hate exercise. I’ve tried swimming, running, biking, weightlifting, ball sports and I pretty much hate them all. With BJJ, there’s a self-defense utility that I like and a mental/physical complexity that makes it challenging like a great puzzle.
With that said, drilling is how to get better. Even though it may not seem like it at lower levels while rolling, the technical details matter. At higher levels, missing those details is the difference between the move working or not.
The physical benefits are obvious. The non-obvious mental and emotional benefits are where JJ really shines. Putting oneself in stressful situations over and over leads to more calmness when under stress in general. Then there is the ego check where where one is forced to be a beginner again over and over. There's also no way to lie to yourself when a 100# girl chokes you out.
I'm not an endurance athlete genetically, so racing in cycling isn't going to be a podium winning experience. MTB provides a balance between skills you can develop and having to be in good physical shape. It's allowing me to travel across the country and [hopefully soon] Europe to exotic destinations. I'm in some of the best shape of my life too and I highly recommend everyone try it
I watched a ton of youtube videos from gardening youtubers, I bought a bunch of nursery plants and soil, and I got to work. Later on, I moved to starting plants from seed. Gardening doesn't have to be an expensive hobby, and you can often start with whatever you have. It's really nice to put work into something and see it bear fruit (sometimes literally).
I've also been busy propagating plants and have received one or two and shared good number.
Also I guess all avacadoes take a few years to mature, but from what I read at around 5 years there should be possible to get fruit of some kind and that also means they should flower too?
Now I get to spent the next two months thinking about what to do differently (No more uncovered brassicas - they all get eaten in my climate. Maybe my raspberries have a virus - I should get them tested. Sweet potatoes only go in pots/bags or raised beds from now on, since digging them out in clay soil is a huge pain, and the quality of the ones I grew in pots is better). Then I get to try again next year. It's process improvement, but in slow motion!
A friend had moved to Denver and was starting to climb more impressive and intense routes just as my whole division at a big company was let go. It looked fun and I thought it would be a good way to spend my time. After a primer from my friend, I joined clubs and sought out partners who I gelled with. I ultimately found that the passionate rationality of alpine climbing's risk assessment and fitness requirements were a great healthy replacement for what I did at work.
I started trail running as part of my training and decided I liked it for its own sake. I took up ski mountaineering a couple years later because it meant I could have more fun moving faster on larger terrain. I took up mountain biking two years ago because a buddy badgered me about how fun it was and described it as "skiing in the summer." And, recently, with a large base of fitness, I joined a group of friends who are all martial arts nerds who get together for sparring and style comparison chats. I wrestled in high school, so I jumped in and decided it was as fun now as it was then.
This whole journey kicked off in 2016. I spend between 5 and 15 hours per week in one of the above disciplines, plus a few hours a week in the gym lifting. It takes a lot of effort, but it rarely feels like it because I'm enjoying myself. I prefer all of these hobbies because, like many of us, my job keeps me glued to a screen/hunched over a work table and I wanted something that put me back in my body in an enjoyable way.
I suppose the biggest thing that got me interested was I got a book on making costumes from a Humble Bundle. Keeping me interested, though, was a desire to do something that was not on a screen during the pandemic.
I probably read through 15 books from the library in my spare time, honestly, over the course of several months. I asked me wife some questions, and read through the manual for her sewing machine -- and then watched enough YouTube videos and did things tediously slowly until I understood what I was supposed to do. I found books aimed at kids especially good for beginners, and re-read things as I understood better.
I borrowed some patterns from my aunt, and made pyjamas for my four year old. (I figured something small would waste less fabric). It took me five weeks, on and off, to get them made, and involved a lot of learning, but they turned out really nicely and my kid wore them every night for quite a while. Since then I made some Hallowe'en costumes. (Making pyjamas for everyone for Christmas would've been nice, but I haven't been able to make the time.)
Why this instead of something else?
I started sewing last year while planning a bike packing trip where I wanted to finally switch from tent to hammock. Finding proper underquilts for hammocks in Europe is... a mess.
In the end, I decided to borrow my sister's sewing machine and give it a try.
I ended up sewing not just the underquilt but also ultra light bike bags, an ultra light hammock, a tarp and a bunch of smaller bags for storage.
I never thought the technical side of sewing would be so much fun - I spent hours researching fabrics and composites for a project in order to fulfill 'your' specific needs.
My sister never got her sewing machine back.
I was lucky enough to have my experienced mother to teach me, walking through how to use a sewing machine and some basic hand-stitching. Doing one seam is like in 3d programming where you get one triangle to render on the screen, and everything else follows from there.
I don't have the patience to watch instructional videos, and so I do a lot by trial and error. But I also learned that there's no objective standard of "doing it right" -- if it looks acceptable and holds together structurally, then it's not wrong. Sewing doesn't have technical debt like programming - you finish a piece and you're done, you're not worried about its architectural fit with a mess of other components.
2.) Got a velomobile (https://www.velomobileworld.com/product/milan-gt/ ). This was actually not supposed to be a hobby but a way to get to work while not producing too much C02. 50km each way were to far for a normal bicycle, an ebike is still to slow. With the velomobile I could average 40km/h and stay fit at the same time -- until Covid/Home Office came along. This year I took some time off and cycled 11000km in 3 month. From Northern Germany to the Black Sea, to the Atlantic Coast and back to Germany again. This took some time and effort ;) But with cycling you can spend as much time/effort as you please. You can tour alone or in groups... many options.
I am planning to take up photography next.
About 2 years ago I decided to try climbing with the explicit goal of tackling my fear of heights. I started with indoor bouldering because it was readily available. Initially, I was too scared to even climb up the moderately hight stuff or "top out". Anything above 3m was a huge mental struggle. Typically bouldering will max out around 5m, where you can still safely fall onto a mat since your feet are about 3-3,5m above ground. Now I feel quite confident topping out and going to the highest points in the gym. Height is still a factor but not nearly as much as it used to be. Two month ago, I even started top roping with friends and I'm climbing 12m high routes relatively calmly now. A feat that seemed impossible two years ago. I can't wait to try higher ones (18m) and eventually climb on actual rock.
Climbing has helped me overcome my fear of height and more importantly I absolutely love it and think about it constantly. It's the only solo-able sport that has kept me motivated, too. Mostly because you always have micro challenges to tackle (finish this new route, get further on that old route) and also bigger goals (get to grade X). I absolutely love it, during lockout I have even built my own home wall and I'm currently working on building my own holds, too.
Highly recommended for anyone looking for a sport to try. I think bouldering works really well for analytical minds and puzzle solvers like myself because it's essentially puzzle solving with your body. The community is also very friendly and nice and open, another big plus. And yes, your general body shape doesn't matter, don't be afraid, just try it some day.
Time: You can go to a climbing gym once a week for 1.5-2h. I go 2-3 times per week now and occasionally climb on my home wall and do some finger boarding and other exercises. I'd say 6-8h/week with travel time.
I've been wanting to try climbing for a long time, thinking of giving it a shot.
My advice: just go to a gym and do it. Everyone will be super friendly and you can climb by yourself if you want. There's some jargon and it might be a bit tricky to figure out how you're supposed to climb routes but simply tell them at the entrance that you never climbed and would like a short introduction. Make sure the rental shoes fit, not too tight, comfortable but snug is what you should aim for. If in doubt, they'll always let you exchange them. Just start with the easiest routes and work your way up. It's very addictive and there's always something to try and eventually succeed at. Do it. First thing next year :)
I’ve learned more about myself from climbing then almost anything else I’ve done.
I came to realise that it’s ok and normal to be scared, and most other climbers feel the same fear, you just learn to handle it and slowly increase the exposure.
Although I’m still a rank amateur, I’ve learned to lead sport climb and even start trad climbing which is amazing. Alongside that I’ve done mountain scrambles I never thought I’d be able for.
For a lot of people, climbing is about being strong and completing grades, but there are so many more dimensions to it that I’d recommend it to anyone.
My (at the time 4 year old) daughter likes to do puzzles and she always wanted me to do them together. I got bored of doing the same easy puzzle over and over. I discovered wooden puzzles and they are amazing. Completely different experience than cardboard puzzles. Many have intricate piece shapes that you can put together based mostly off shape.
Coolest Puzzle Piece Shape (and my favorite): Artifact Puzzles: https://www.artifactpuzzles.com
Best Quality: Liberty puzzles: https://www.libertypuzzles.com
Huge selection: Wentworth: https://www.wentworthpuzzles.com/us/
Instead of helping her do her simple kids puzzles, she helps me do my whimsical [0] adult puzzles. It's a win-win. We both get what we want, and because I enjoy it more she enjoys it more.
[0] Wooden puzzles often have special pieces shaped like animals or other objects. These pieces are called whimsical pieces. It's one of the draws of wooden puzzles.
The other huge draw is the puzzle designer can make cuts along edges so the individual pieces do not look like they fit together when they do.
I try not to install too much software on them as I like a simple working environment, typically with nothing but a text editor like Sublimetext running, and a browser with the LiveReload extension for doing web development. No npm or NodeJS crap. Just oldskool development.
The 'ROI' if you will of learning Linux is that I have peace of mind that I'm not being spied upon or potentially getting ambushed by various malware, and also: knowing that I am standing on the shoulders of giants. I am super thankful for how far Linux has come along. I remember in the early days having to write scripts just to get my Wifi adapter working, and hours upon hours trying to debug simple shit like printer compatibility errors, etc
Frankly I didn't have the time to focus on Linux in my twenties, and lately in my thirties I have more free time, so I can go down rabbit-holes all day and it doesn't bother me as much.
My Linux installs are very much 'set and forget', as in, you configure them to your liking, and then never have to do that again for a very long time.
My main techniques for learning have been internet resources, https://www.inaturalist.org, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ , and sci-hub being indispensable. I also have built up a decent library of related books, though there are very few relating to galls mostly they are botany related.
This hobby has led me to become a much better photographer (this is one of my recent favorites https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/96982552) and gets me outside wandering around in nature at every opportunity that I have. My own yard, the neighborhood park, county/state/national parks, all of them offer nearly limitless exploration opportunity.
I have been at it for about 18 months and I feel like I am competent but am acutely aware of just how much more there is to learn, which is for me one of the main appeals.