What are your hobbies?

[Frenetic]

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to ask what are your hobbies? Maybe we could get a little Q&A thing going on for people that share the same hobbies/or are looking to get into some. Maybe a New Year's resolution to start something/get better at something?

My hobbies are:
Reading, homebrewing beer and mead, barbecuing (low and slow), roasting coffee, playing pinball, rock n' roll (I sing in a cover band), watching anime and reading manga, playing euphonium in a community band, board gaming, bike riding, and square dancing.

I'm thinking about getting into photography, maybe something portable so I can take pictures during my bike rides, etc. I'm also thinking about signing up for Hulu Plus to watch Criterion movies, maybe get a weird cult movie night going on at the local movie theater.

--the F-man

[emphatic]

Well, I have quite a few. I'll put the #1 last, the rest are of the same importance to me:

Being a DJ. I've had this hobby going from 1993, ish. Mainly trance, acid or old school techno if I get to pick and choose, but I also done some private parties (weddings even!) where it ranges from Daft Punk to Prince with some Madonna too.

Making music. This is something I got into around 1996-1997. At first, it was hardware synths and sequencers (also Atari 1040). Then I got into Digital Audio Workstations, first Cubase, then Reason, which I'm still using. Currently working on some shmup music for an upcoming release.

Photoshop. Love to do stuff from time to time, and it's such a pleasure seeing the finished results in print. It's mostly layout, or restoration work, like the arcade move strips I've been doing.

Buying interesting stuff and writing about it on my website. Interesting arcade hardware, DJ gear etc. Most of the time, I end up hoarding it.

Finding stuff to do with the skills acquired from the list above. This is my big issue right now. I have too little free time to do something worthwhile in the fields that interest me, yet I can't turn down something that may possibly be the thing I want to have been a part of. Remix competitions, DJ work, original music requests, etc. It takes time and energy that I, as a parent, no longer have, but I keep trying...

[JBC]

I throw boomerangs, joyride in my Jeep, try out every beer, paint & build stuff, collect DK books & other similar tomes, mod my consoles, go on journeys to play rare arcades/pins, see all big scifi at the theater, & pretty soon I'm getting a professional microscope so I can look at my own blood!

Edit - Also I'm looking into tabletop & miniature gaming. I want the whole Judge Dredd line from Mongoose but it'll cost me over a grand to get it all at once. Oy, why do they have to make those figurines so weirdly appealing?

[neorichieb1971]

Gaming, video cities, places, trains...

Collecting blu ray steelbooks..


Youtube - atomiswave1971

I enjoy being a husband as well from time to time

[Jonst]

I have couple but don't seem to have much time for them these days, but when I can...

Drawing: not so much these days, but when I'm in the mood, I like to make up random stuff involving mainly women/rabbits/tentacles/wings and whatever comes out of my head as I can't really copy stuff anymore but it's worked out better that way!

Guitar: I still try and get a bit of time in for this every day. My influences remain fairly consistent. I have a small collection of guitars (which I've managed to slim down). My main influences are van halen, Hendrix and nuno bettencourt amongst a ton of others. I find playing rewarding and therapeutic most of the time and is my go-to thing when my shmups chops are failing...

Skateboarding: I got back into this last year. I lost a fair amount of interest in this for a long time, believing it to be firmly in my past. It was my life through my late teens/early twenties. I've given up and started again a few times, it never truely leaves you.

[rancor]

I've given up and started again a few times, it never truely leaves you.

This, so much. If I ever get out of where I am now, plans are to open a skate shop. with shmups / cabs.

[PAPER/ARTILLERY]

well apart from the obvious playing games and tinkering with electronics I also spend a lot of time working on my illustration and design skills and painting graffiti (no illegal stuff these days, just paid jobs and legal areas). As a few other people have mentioned, I like to skate and I also DJ a little (turntablism, hip-hop etc mostly) but these have taken a back seat over the years. However, my board and my turntables have never gone away, I can't stand to part with those items. I like making origami animals too.

[drauch]

All forms of fiction, writing, weight lifting, table tennis, entomology, toys and shit.

[BIL]

I guess I'm into movies and music just short of "hobby" level, as background to my One True Obsession of gaming and its associated historical, technical and audiovisual materials. Certain films and albums like Streets of Fire, fucking SORCEROR and Unknown Pleasures give me goosebumps. I have to restrain myself from howling along to New Dawn Fades on the bus. I don't consider myself a real devotee of either medium though.

I do enjoy weightlifting, specifically the holy trinity of squat/deadlift/bench. Not a passion though, I just like the feeling of having exerted my crummy homosapien body a little. Humans are weenie little things but you might as well take care of what you've got. Kind of a bonsai tree thing I suppose.

I'm actually trying to kick the recently acquired habit of rubbernecking at internet weirdos. Been a year since Chris Chan blew up his house making coffee and the fallout alerted me to a strange and terrible world. Kiwi Farms can waste a lot of my time if I'm not careful. Respect 2 CMDR Stryker & All Our Armed Forces.

I wish I could read for pleasure more, but goddamn floaters in my right eye make it difficult to enjoy. Just the required texts for my degree tire me out, let alone supplementary material, so I'm usually in no mood for any more. I enjoy good audiobooks and documentaries for precisely this reason.

TLDR: 99% of available resources = gaming, 1% everything else, but I'm an obsessive loser so that still goes a looong way baby. ;3

[Rob]

I just like the feeling of having exerted my crummy homosapien body a little.

This is key.

I get all of my exercise through biking and my favorite hobby: walking as far as I can from humanity as possible, learning about wild plants and various other things.

I love photography to go along with that, which serves as a tiny bit of a creative outlet.

Foreign language literature is pretty hot, since I tend to zone out when reading English text.

Trying to make a plant-based diet palatable. It is a good lazy man's diet until dinner.

I want to learn how to make stuff out of trees.

[GaijinPunch]

Street Photography is my only hobby I still have going after moving. I'm buying/listening to tracks now but I doubt I will get into the party scene enough here to DJ.

[iconoclast]

I only have a few hobbies aside from video games. I'm not a hardcore enthusiast about any of them, though:

Pro wrestling - I've been a fan for all my life. I only follow NJPW (which is godly), Dragon Gate (good), and WWE (mostly bad), though. I'll watch specific matches from other promotions if I hear they're good, but I don't look for full shows or anything.

Films - I must have gone years without watching a single movie when I was a teenager because I'd always choose gaming over just about anything, but I got interested in film a few years ago after watching some really great movies. Now I probably watch two or three a week on average. It just depends if there are any games I'm currently obsessed with since those always take priority.

Music - I'm not even sure if this counts as a hobby for me because there are only a few artists I really love. I usually don't look for new stuff until I start getting bored of whatever I'm currently listening to, either. But I still like to seek out concerts and live performances and I look forward to any new releases from my favorite artists and such. And I always need something to listen to whenever I play a shump, otherwise the game audio will start to drive me crazy after a while.

[Jonst]

I've given up and started again a few times, it never truely leaves you.

This, so much. If I ever get out of where I am now, plans are to open a skate shop. with shmups / cabs.

That would be awesome, Sounds like the kind of place that only exists in my wildest dreams! I probably have enough games and decks to start my own shop!

[ED-057]

Outside of retrogaming/retrocomputing, my other big hobby is old BMWs. I do all the maintenance, and sometimes I modify stuff. I have a mostly-original 633CSi running Megasquirt with customized firmware, and I have a heavily modified 528e. A few months ago I went to try drifting on a racetrack. My clutch was on its last legs, and not surprisingly that finished it off pretty quick. But I'll probably try again in the spring.

[Immryr]

pretty much just video games for me. I go through phases where I play a lot of chess, or read a lot too. I also play percussion, but that's my profession, so I dunno if I'd call it a hobby.

[nasty_wolverine]

Music - If i dont listen to music in a day, i start getting really cranky. trying to get into low-budget-audiophile (the irony). Also, have a Casio synth at home, purchased it to learn, never happened.
Games - on a games forum, so yeah. Also, I have the most gaming equipment of anyone i know IRL. PS2, PSP, 360, GBC, and a hand built stick. The stick always impresses people.
Reading - I read whenever i get the time. By the time i settle down and have kids, i want to have atleast 100-200 book small library, so my kid can read good shit growing up, unlike me who started reading the good stuff after i started working.
Programming - I love programming, writing code and getting it to work as intended is one of the most joyful experiences.
Chess - used to play at work, play online sometimes. or when friends come over.
Fishkeeping - Have a aquarium, nano tank (5L), have one fish right now. Wanted to buy a 4ft by 1.5ft by 1.5ft tank, but there is hardly any place in the apartment.
Electronics - used to tinker with stuff earlier (parts store was right next to my house growing up), still do small DIY projects from time to time.
Writing - used to write in high school, short stories and poems for the school journal. still do sometimes, but its mostly shit.
Drawing - used to, havent done a single sketch in the last six years. posted stuff on some thread here sometime back.

Hobbies ranked in order i have sunk time in over the past few years. Its been a bad last year, havent done much at all. Picked up the gaming, music, electronics, fishkeeping from my dad.

[ZacharyB]

I'm mostly an artist. But I have been playing around with Ruby programming via RPG Maker. I successfully created a first-person maze engine several months ago.

[Astraea FGA Mk. I]

snowboarding I am a certified instructor but I haven't paid my dues to the national association in years so maybe I'm no longer certified
computer
video games
writing essays/articles/fiction/
debate club/ amateur lawyering the shit out of people
Magic, the good kind, cards mainly, Bicycle poker size rider backs red/blue are my favourite. I went to a youth magic school at 13-14 years old they claimed the best in wolrd makes hogwarts look totally lame
sociopathy

[emphatic]

I forgot to put down Vinyl collecting. I only use them for DJing/mixing, so as long as they don't jump/skip, I'm not anal about the sleeve or mint media condition. I love shopping at Discogs, the feeling you get when you can order 25+ 12" records from the same seller is awesome. I wish there had been shops this good when I was playing parties regularly.

[Astraea FGA Mk. I]

I forgot to put down Vinyl collecting. I only use them for DJing/mixing, so as long as they don't jump/skip, I'm not anal about the sleeve or mint media condition. I love shopping at Discogs, the feeling you get when you can order 25+ 12" records from the same seller is awesome. I wish there had been shops this good when I was playing parties regularly.

I have a collection of Vinyl not for DJ purposes it is my dad's old collection from the 70s - 80s I have probably 40 of them. All the best stuff my favourites are Supertramp Crime of the Century and Warren Zevon Excitable Boy.

I love having a physical record, the real estate for art makes them very special CDs suck, and Of course analogue is better than compressed digital.

[Eaglet]

I have a lot of hobbies but the primary ones are:
Listening to music: I've always been musically interested and have explored so much music throughout my life. Had periods where i preferred a specific style or genre, nowadays it's a bit of everything but mostly eclectic Warp Records stuff. The only genres i know that i don't like are Country, Schlager (swedish shit) and Dansband (kind of like a country version of swedish shit).
Get allergic reactions from shitty EDM.
edit: I only buy vinyl records as well! Got an old Luxman PD-272 with an Ortofon mic so it sounds absoutely awesome.

Creating music/playing guitar: I was on my way to becoming a pro musician when younger and played live in jazz/avant garde settings primarily. Started out playing metal and shred guitar when i was 12/13 something like that. What i compose now is a bit of an amalgamation of all my influences (soundcloud coming up pretty soon) but i also love freely improvising with my lil' bro and buddies. Especially if i've got some good weed at home.

Physical exercise: I used to be part of an elite unit wherein pushing ones self past its own limits and doing your best to keep your body in as good a condition as possible was part of a daily routine.
I still keep at it, even though the long endurance marches and the like have had to take a back seat. Now i just do weightlifting, running and swimming in the summer.
Gonna start a bulking period in a couple of weeks.

Travelling: Travelling, especially on my own, is always an adventure and one of the best feelings in life according to me.
Getting to a new country, new town, you don't know anybody and your grasp of the language is so-so = One of the most exhilarating feelings there is.
Starting up from a zero-slate, going out exploring and forcing yourself to be social enough to gain new acquaintances you otherwise wouldn't have met is always a great learning experience, a lot of fun and gives you some great stories to tell. I thrive in unpredictability and feel more alive than ever when i actually have to think on my feet to make it through.


I do also have an interest in different beverages but it's mostly jsut micro/craft brewed beer as of now. Double IPA's, Imp. stouts and trappist beers are my kind of thing.
Weed is a bit of an interest as well and i love trying out new strains. Sativa'ish strains like Amnesia Haze and Sour Diezel are the shit.

[CMoon]

Homebrewing to the extent that I teach a class, am building a big ass system, etc. This hobby takes over your life and really turns into lots of other hobbies that are all connected. Drinking is a hobby too, right?

Chess, but I don't have much time for it anymore.

Most of my time for other things gets wrapped up in taking stupid classes for my job.

In the past I used to run a record label as a hobby, did radio, etc. Even collecting records was a hobby, but I really don't collect much any more and releasing music not only became tiresome but economically infeasible. Used to do a lot of backpacking but a lot of my backpacking friends left the area or got out of it. Fuck! Time for a new thread--hobbies you used to be passionate about but can't be bothered to do anymore!

[CMoon]

I love having a physical record, the real estate for art makes them very special CDs suck, and Of course analogue is better than compressed digital.

I've bolded the important part. I want to say I'm not looking for a fight, but if that was true I would shut up. So, digital vs analog is what a 25 year old argument? I have friends that are audio engineers and come to a few conclusions:

1) For audiophiles, the audio mix is more important than the media format, especially if the mix is done with the media format in mind.

2) As you said above, analog is better than 'compressed digital'. CDs are also better than compressed digital. Less compressed digital is better than more compressed digital. On a mid-range audio set-up, 256 kbps actually sounds pretty good, and many people wouldn't note the difference (a sad reality?) It clearly isn't as good, but can most people tell?

3) Most people listen on really shitty gear. To talk about this in all fairness requires studio/mixing speakers. Ultimately most people are talking about point #1 and not the actual fidelity.

Like I said, old argument. 25 years later, I don't know if human beings can really tell the difference between analog or digital, but they are certainly romantic about the delivery format. Hell, I saw a plastic wrapped plastic cassette for sale and was tempted to buy it just to experience unwrapping a cassette again (oh, the days of my youth!)

[Rob]

Used to do a lot of backpacking but a lot of my backpacking friends left the area or got out of it.

You could try Meetup. Hiking and various outdoors-centered groups are popular.

[BulletMagnet]

I honestly don't do a heckuva lot outside of gaming, but recently I did stumble into a local singing group; assuming I can find myself a tuxedo by then I'll be performing singing valentines to raise funds next month!

[Ed Oscuro]

I'm thinking about getting into photography, maybe something portable so I can take pictures during my bike rides, etc.

I like my still camera a bunch, but if I was doing that, I'd think about combining some kind of Go Hero-like (there's cheaper options out there; Sony just announced a 4K one for drones) and then maybe processing the video with that recently announced Microsoft Hyperlapse processing.

@ CMoon: The first retort from Sony's people about it was that people who thought CDs didn't sound better than most vinyl had "tin ears."

I think it's pretty clear that at some point nobody will be able to tell the difference. I am personally pretty happy with clear audio, but if I had the right kind of setup, I'd love to get that full stereophonic experience - the missing ingredient in this discussion seems to usually be that bitrate isn't divorced from audio separation. If it is possible to get right up close to a violin in its approximate right location in your orchestra of speakers, maybe bitrate makes a difference. In any case, I sure love the stereo separation on my headphones.

[TJB]

I collect and archive as much 90's Australian "hardcore techno" as I can find. Specifically Bloody Fist, have been for many years now. I also do the same with some 80's/90's noise/industrial, lately I've been very into collecting aging Grey Wolves and Le Syndicat material.

Picking things up and putting them down repeatedly. I've been very active with the Gym over the past 2 months, so I guess it's more recent.

Calligraphy, I wish I had more time to devote to this, but I've been learning Chinese (Mandarin) for almost a year now, I love writing it also, that's helped keep me interested, my fountain pen's busted so things have been in stasis for a while. On that note, does learning Chinese count? :V

I also occasionally dabble in beeps and boops using a korg esx I picked up fairly cheap, I've love to expand into a collection of hardware, the mini ms-20 looks really fun for starters.

It's not actually that much, I regret not taking these things more seriously, and procrastinating as hard as I tend to. That's been on a decline lately thank god (except right now, hence why I'm here!)

Reading - I read whenever i get the time. By the time i settle down and have kids, i want to have atleast 100-200 book small library, so my kid can read good shit growing up, unlike me who started reading the good stuff after i started working.

Same.

edit - oh and audio equipment, recently acquired a pair of T90's so gud (sidegrade from denon ah-d5000's which I still love dearly but need recabling)

[Vexorg]

Aside from gaming, a fair bit of my disposable income goes into traveling. Me and my GF have had Disneyland annual passes for several years, and we visit on a fairly regular basis. I've also done a fair bit of cruising, most recently to Alaska in September of last year. Me and my friends had been planning to do a Mediterranean cruise sometime this year, but just couldn't work out the finances for it, but we do still plan to do it at some point. We'll probably end up doing a week in the Caribbean instead.

I've also dabbled in a fair number of other things, but rarely stick with them for long. Recent examples of "flavor of the week" hobbies I've taken up at various points include offroad RC trucks and golf. I'm also a bit of a fireworks junkie, and end up going a little overboard on the Fourth of July.

[z0mbie90]

I like watching movies, listening to music, also trying to learn how to play guitar. I also like playing tabletop games that include everything from boardgames, cardgames to rpgs.
And I try to be as creative as I can so I also draw and do some painting. Here are some of my paintings http://imgur.com/a/W32wu

[ACSeraph]

Obviously I'm into games, movies, comics and such, but I do have one unusual hobby I guess: Paleontology. I used to go out collecting fossils a lot back in the US and have a massive collection stored in my attic, but the hobby is a bit difficult to pursue in my current location in Japan.

A few of the fossils I have sitting around my apartment at the moment (not all found by me, some I bought, some were gifts, some I found):