A new hobby

[imoldernu]

ER... what a great time of life...

My new hobby is rediscovering jazz... by way of cassette tapes...

Since my cars are quite old, they have cassette players, and for several years, have been using a tape converter to play MP3's... Now am back to the "pure" sound of cassettes, at a very reasonable cost... Flea Markets, garage sales, resale and Goodwill stores with magnificent choices @ $.10 to $.25 per cassette.
JBL sound in one car and Bose in the other... Am in hog heaven. If you haven't heard "Round Midnight" by Thelonius Monk or Miles Davis, you haven't lived. You can recapitulate Jazz from the 1920's to the 1950's....IMO the GREAT years... for less than the price of a few CD's.

That's the newest hobby... I have two or three "new" hobbies a year, like remote control one metre sailboat racing, or rebuilding classic bikes, or rehabbing old Windows 3.0 computers... Apple 2E, Adam, Commodore 64, Sinclair etc...
Simple hobbies to keep me out of trouble, and to not cost very much...

So... How do you handle hobbies? One major hobby that you've devoted your life to? Belong to a club or organization like model railroaders? Physical hobbies Kung Fu? Motorcycles? Baseball? Outdoors? Travel? Or more cerebral hobbies, like reading, painting (artist, not walls). I suppose even Politics could be called a hobby. Have had friends who were clowns... the real kind, magicians, and amateur anthropologists. I suppose that making money is a hobby.
Whaddya do for fun?

Life is too short and no one should EVER be bored...

 

[NW-Bound]

I don't think I need another hobby, particularly one that involves bringing more "stuff" into the house(s).

I already have two houses to maintain, an RV, motorcycles, 3 cars ...

I still have lots, and I mean lots, of electronics components from a failed business, PC hardware, and consumer electronics to play with. I am afraid to go to Goodwill or places like that, because I may bring more home. No, no, no...

 

[Mulligan]

Your post on hobbies got me reflecting. When I get older, I wonder what I will do with my time. All my hobbies revolve around physical activity. I have no intellectual interests and certainly no desires to have any. I find that odd since I have a specialist degree from college, so there is intellectual capacity and potential. When and if the old body breaks down, I may be in trouble hobby wise. Another interesting thought you opined is life is too short to be bored. I think I have lost the capacity to be bored. Although, I usually stay pretty busy for on a daily basis, there are days I do absolutely nothing. And yet I am not bored even though I am doing nothing. I guess this means I might be a happy person in a nursing home if I ever reach that point, since they don't much either.

 

[pb4uski]

Same here. My current hobbies relate to golf (golfed occasionally while w*rking but now golf regularly), sailing, downhill skiing and snowmobiling - all somewhat physical activities (to different degrees).

We also go to a lot of college hockey games in the winter. DW knits and quilts.

Like you there are days when I am busy and other days that I don't do much - just putter around but am not bored.

 

[Mulligan]

Same here. My current hobbies relate to golf (golfed occasionally while w*rking but now golf regularly), sailing, downhill skiing and snowmobiling - all somewhat physical activities (to different degrees).

We also go to a lot of college hockey games in the winter. DW knits and quilts.

Like you there are days when I am busy and other days that I don't do much - just putter around but am not bored.

Outside sailing, you sound like me, as I like to attend sporting events also. Outside of daily morning newspaper, and some light online readings, my brain retired with my job. Even my monthly investments are on autopilot. I guess if the body falls apart, I will probably open up an illegal overseas online sports betting account and throw empty beer cans at the tv when I lose.

 

[W2R]

Whaddya do for fun?

Life is too short and no one should EVER be bored...

+100

I do not have traditional hobbies, like stamp collecting or quilting. But, I do have fun! Here are a few of the things I have been doing lately for fun, in no particular order:

weight lifting at the gym regularly, trying a variety of other gym activities, too
video games, and other computer or iPad games
sudoku
Tracking my spending and portfolio
checking out real estate on the internet
reading this forum and a few others
spending time with my beloved

No hobby clubs, no travel, nothing very expensive. Even the gym is solitary, in a sense, since although I say hi to people, when I am lfting I tend to focus on my weightlifting and tune everything else out.

 

[Nords]

Surfing, taekwondo, writing, reading, home improvement.

That pretty much fills up my free time.

 

[Alan]

Travel is our main new hobby in ER.

Year 1 of ER - 10 weeks in UK, 4 weeks in Colorado and 4 weeks in Canada

Year 2 - 7 months in UK, with week long trips to Ireland and Portugal

Year 3 (this year) was 3 months touring the West and Pacific NW, hitting 8 National Parks. We just got back from Big Bend NP and will going to Death Valley NP in 3 weeks plus a weekend in Vegas

Year 4 (next year and partly booked) will be 1 month in Ireland, 2 weeks in France, 1 week in Spain, a cruise to Norway and 3 months in UK.

Year 5 planned to be a month in New Zealand and 3 months in Australia.

Other hobbies, when not traveling, continue to be various forms of exercising including tennis. I also became an ER Moderator to soak up some slack time.

 

[imoldernu]

Surfing, taekwondo, writing, reading, home improvement.

That pretty much fills up my free time.

The surfing part fills me with envy... Have body surfed most of my life, but always east coast... Earliest was Newport RI... 1950's... Tried longboard (big wood monster... I think more than 11 feet) at Daytona Beach in 1972. Finally gave my boogie board away last year... sigh...

Planning one last shot at surfing when we go back to Florida this year. Discretion is the better part of valor...

 

[Rambler]

W*rk, for awhile longer...not really fun anymore though.

After this phase of life is over, I intend to do more of the physically engaging hobbies and activities that I already do, such as jogging, biking, swimming and hiking, but also activities that physical and engage my mind, such as landscaping, building some fences, outbuildings, and shade structures on my property, gardening, camping, etc.

We also plan to travel a bit, probably with a travel trailer, or perhaps an RV.

Our home has been empty for the past 7.5 years, and needs a bit of work, due to neglected repair items - not so much a hobby but I enjoy doing stuff like that myself.

I plan to take up smoking again...meats and food...not the wicked weed.

I'm probably going to do much more of the cooking. I love to cook, and DW is not too fond of it, but constraints on my time right now (w*rk) means that she [-]gets to[/-] has to do most of it. I'm thinking about having a cooking day once a week, related to the "smoking" topic above, that I make a variety of evening meal foods for the week, and vacuum seal/freeze it for the rest of the week. Also intend to vacuum seal and freeze meals in 2-serving packets (for the two of us) that we can toss in the freezer of the RV/travel trailer, and be good without having to cook main meals for the better part of our trips...just nuke it and eat it.

We plan to get a pup or two, probably a Boston Terrier if we get only one, and if we decide to add a second, it would probably be a Vizsla (we can't have pets where we are now).

DW is a crafter, and loves to make quilts. On the dreariest winter days, we've agreed that we would work on quilts together, to donate to charity/disaster victims/homeless shelters. These will be the simpler "tied" quilts, and she will do her more elaborate quilting while I'm doing my things outside during better weather.

So yeah, I'm gonna enjoy ER, when it finally rolls around. I've got lots of things to do to keep me busy, and a nice porch swing to sit on and [-]navel gaze[/-] watch the world go by when I simply don't want to be busy.

R

 

[Nords]

The surfing part fills me with envy... Have body surfed most of my life, but always east coast... Earliest was Newport RI... 1950's... Tried longboard (big wood monster... I think more than 11 feet) at Daytona Beach in 1972. Finally gave my boogie board away last year... sigh...
Planning one last shot at surfing when we go back to Florida this year. Discretion is the better part of valor...

If you haven't already, try standup paddleboarding. You have the balance/reflexes already, but it works out a whole different set of muscles.

 

[Rambler]

If you haven't already, try standup paddleboarding. You have the balance/reflexes already, but it works out a whole different set of muscles.

That, and kayaking, are a couple of things I'd like to try on a lake. I'll have to find a lake where I can rent the equipment, because I don't want to buy until I'm sure I'll enjoy it. Our Cali home is too far from the ocean, so any paddleboarding I do will be on the lake.

R

 

[obgyn65]

To answer your question below, as mentioned in other threads, I practice medicine in third world countries and also volunteer in free clinics in the US. Not really fun sometimes, but I love it.

Since I am on calls sometimes, I don't have much time for anything else, except watching MSNBC and read this website.

Whaddya do for fun?

 

[donheff]

I have a touch of ADD so I go through hobbies or interests with only a few sticking long term. Windsurfing and skiing held in for about 20 years but have faded out now. Roller blading/roller hockey went about 8 years. Cycling took over about 7 years ago and will likely rule for the duration (health permitting) since DW is also hooked on it. Reading is lifelong. Other more short term interests have included, scuba, drawing, PC related stuff, traditional photography (had a dark room) dropped for some years then restarted in digital formats, and on and on. Cooking drew a lot of attention for several years but is now more of a responsibility than a hobby.

The thing that surprises me is how hooked I can be on one or another passtime - feeling that it will be a prime interest for life (e.g. windsurfing) but then lose interest some years later. In a few cases, I have gotten hooked on something only to lose interest in less than a year - e.g. drawing.

 

[eytonxav]

I have a touch of ADD so I go through hobbies or interests with only a few sticking long term.
The thing that surprises me is how hooked I can be on one or another passtime - feeling that it will be a prime interest for life (e.g. windsurfing) but then lose interest some years later. In a few cases, I have gotten hooked on something only to lose interest in less than a year - e.g. drawing.

I suffer from that afflication as well. Jack of all trades, master of none. Includes: woodworking, ham radio, astronomy, USPSA shooting, reloading ammo, road racing sports cars, photography, adult baseball, drawing/painting, weight lifting, model railroading, golf, fly fishing, bowling, RC car racing, model building, and probably others I've forgotten.

Some of these I am still pursuing, gave up others due to constraints such as age, space, $ to pay for kids college, time/work, but may go back to some of these next year when retirement begins.

 

[imoldernu]

To answer your question below, as mentioned in other threads, I practice medicine in third world countries and also volunteer in free clinics in the US. Not really fun sometimes, but I love it.

Thank you. That makes my day.

 

[Walt34]

I thoroughly enjoyed radio control model airplanes for almost 20 years and then when I retired & moved I lost all interest in it. Maybe I just plateaued with it or that was the stress reliever from work. The concentration to mentally "stay ahead" of a model airplane and fly it at the same time is pretty intense, often more so than flying full size airplanes as anyone who has done both will attest.

So a few years ago when buying a new computer we also bought a small digital camera, almost on impulse. I had stayed away from digital for a long time because I kept seeing pixels in even magazine photos and hated that. To me it screamed "too cheap & lazy to do it right" and use film.

I was astonished at the clarity, sharpness, and color from even an inexpensive (~$200) camera. Then we both went to a digital photography class at the local community college, I saw what Photoshop Elements could do and was hooked.

I'd always had an interest in photography but never quite had the resources or space for a darkroom and the expense of setting one up put me off. There were/are cheap ways to do that but I didn't know that then, and the cost of film processing was a deterrent too. I disliked B&W because to me it is "soooo 1950's" but that's just me. I see in color, I wanna see color in pictures.

So now I've progressed to a Nikon D7000 DSLR, several lenses, and current versions of Lightroom and Photoshop CS6. This stuff is terrific! Mistakes and experimentation don't cost anything, and while I can figure out the technical stuff (after much studying of books and head-scratching) I'm now trying to get my head wrapped around the more artistic side of it.

And one of the things that has finally soaked in on this journey through life is that if I'm not learning something new and challenging I'm miserable. And then I want to do something useful with what I've learned.

So when the dust settles on getting FIL's house sold and him moved to a stable, safe environment (which as anyone doing or gone through that knows is a huge time sink) I'm going to start doing free dog/cat portraits at the local animal shelter for their web site. I've looked at their photos and know I can do better than that.

 

[imoldernu]

I have a touch of ADD so I go through hobbies or interests with only a few sticking long term. Windsurfing and skiing held in for about 20 years but have faded out now. Roller blading/roller hockey went about 8 years. Cycling took over about 7 years ago and will likely rule for the duration (health permitting) since DW is also hooked on it. Reading is lifelong. Other more short term interests have included, scuba, drawing, PC related stuff, traditional photography (had a dark room) dropped for some years then restarted in digital formats, and on and on. Cooking drew a lot of attention for several years but is now more of a responsibility than a hobby.

The thing that surprises me is how hooked I can be on one or another passtime - feeling that it will be a prime interest for life (e.g. windsurfing) but then lose interest some years later. In a few cases, I have gotten hooked on something only to lose interest in less than a year - e.g. drawing.

I think you summed it up... As I think more about it... what you describe is probably the same ADD that I have... As I read the different "hobbies", I realize that many of the things that others have mentioned, have enthralled me too, and at different times have thrown my all into the sport/hobby/interest... photography, windsurfing, hiking, biking, camping, guitar, and yeah, anthropology... (no snow skiing or golf) It's always a joy to see that others have shared in the stuff that has made me happy.

Am thinking of learning Sanskrit... anyone have experience in that?

 

[Lsbcal]

Some activities and years I've been in them:

running (39) -- nowadays I run in the hilly terrain, no competition, some wildlife encounters. When I retire from this the plan is long walks.

gardening (37) -- working on a planter box setup now. Have done bird houses and bird baths too. Always something to prune.

oil painting (9) -- mostly painting plein air now. Nice to sit in a vineyard for some hours and study the subject. Art people are generally very friendly types.

reading (lifelong) -- fiction mostly in spy and crime genres. Non-fiction includes modern physics, cosmology, what makes the universe tick.

 

[W2R]

Am thinking of learning Sanskrit... anyone have experience in that?

Not me, though my (now deceased) father studied Sanskrit for fun, and I notice there are several books available for learning Sanskit on Amazon.

I am interested in a learning a much more commonly studied language - - Spanish. I am thinking of buying Rosetta Stone or one of the less expensive similar software packages available, because I think that might be more fun (and for me, the whole point is to have fun with it since I have no plans to travel). In fact, your question sent me off to Amazon to read reviews of Spanish software packages....

 

[Nords]

... and while I can figure out the technical stuff (after much studying of books and head-scratching) I'm now trying to get my head wrapped around the more artistic side of it.

Bob Clyatt had an art professor who once told him "You're getting to be a pretty good sculptor. Now let's do some art."

He said that's a whole 'nother level of challenging.

I'm going to start doing free dog/cat portraits at the local animal shelter for their web site. I've looked at their photos and know I can do better than that.

If you can get a picture of the dog playing with a kid, or being walked on a leash by a kid... when our seven-year-old volunteered at the Hawaii Humane Society she had a lot of business from families looking for a kid-friendly dog.

I am interested in a learning a much more commonly studied language - - Spanish. I am thinking of buying Rosetta Stone or one of the less expensive similar software packages available, because I think that might be more fun (and for me, the whole point is to have fun with it since I have no plans to travel). In fact, your question sent me off to Amazon to read reviews of Spanish software packages....

Our daughter had a lot of success with Pimsleur's CDs in the car stereo (and on her iPod). They're pricey, but she bought them with her own part-time employment money. Pimsleur's conversational repeatbacks make you look like you're talking to yourself, but at least this way you have an excuse for the behavior.

 

[W2R]

Our daughter had a lot of success with Pimsleur's CDs in the car stereo (and on her iPod). They're pricey, but she bought them with her own part-time employment money. Pimsleur's conversational repeatbacks make you look like you're talking to yourself, but at least this way you have an excuse for the behavior.

Thanks! I have read that the Pimsleur language package is very good. They're pricey, true, but seem to be in the same ballpark as Rosetta Stone on price so I guess that is what it costs for the higher end language instruction software. I don't spend much time in my car, but I could probably play the CDs at other times, at home.

 

[Major Tom]

I seem to cycle between several different interests, and am also capable of deriving satisfaction from simple things such as doing very little, but doing it so well It doesn't take much to keep me happy. I don't know if all of these qualify as interests, but this is how I spend my time:

*Photography

*Ham Radio (both building gear and operating)

*Cats - I recently adopted a very shy 10 year-old and watching her progress is quite engaging. The 5 month-old confident stray I took in even more recently is helping her to come out of her shell.

*Reading about the RV lifestyle and casually planning my move to full-time RV-ing.

*Slowly digitizing my large CD collection, so I won't have as much to put in storage if I ever do live in an RV with my kitties.

*Seeking out and watching films, episodic dramas and TV series. Past and current favorites include Foyle's War, Downton Abbey, The Paradise (on British ITV), Law and Order, and many more.

Photography is one of those interests that you can combine with other interests. My ham radio blog has become known for the detailed and many photographs of my projects and taking pictures of my cats, as much as it makes me sound like a crazy cat guy, is a fun way to spend the time. This is Sprout, who was found trying to keep warm by pushing herself against the engine block of a truck in the parking lot of my local ham radio store. She has a permanent limp from a rear leg that broke and didn't set properly while she was living on the street. The store employees were thinking of asking their customers if they wanted her, so I immediately said I'd take her. She's 5 months-old, confident, friendly, and great company for my shy 10 year-old kitty:

It hasn't been so easy to get good pictures of my 10 year-old kitty. I started fostering her about 2 months ago, fell in love, and have just adopted her. She was discovered living with the feral community by a volunteer who feeds the feral cats. This cat isn't feral and was having a very hard time out on the streets. She's very sweet but terribly shy, so I haven't had much chance to get near her with a camera. I have to take any chance I can get and be happy with whatever shots I can get. This picture's not great, but she's an absolute sweetheart:

It just doesn't take much to fill a day - expecially if you do it slowly

 

[Amethyst]

"Crazy cat guy." There need to be more of you, Major. The photo of the cat and bananas is art-quality.

This is a great thread - I am really enjoying it.

Amethyst

 

[ERD50]

"Crazy cat guy." There need to be more of you, Major. The photo of the cat and bananas is art-quality.

I have to agree, and I'm no cat lover myself.

So I'm curious what the more experienced photographers think about it. For me, the spots of light and composition make it so different from the usual 'posed' photos - that is what makes it 'artful' to me.

Even though the fruit bowl seems large and somewhat out of place, it draws the eye from lower left to upper right to the cat. At least that's how it strikes me, but I know very little about composition and art. But I like it

-ERD50