Non-gaming hobbies

[Homicidal_Squirrel]

Just wondering what kind of hobbies people have, which are not gaming related. Until about a two-years ago, I worked for a company which paid quite well but was a terrible experience. Too much stress. Too much work and the pay did not match. I basically had one job which replaced three different positions in 6 regions across the country, and three time-zones. One of the time-zones being HST (Hawaii). I’m in Miami, so it was about 5-6 hours difference, depending on daylight savings. It got to the point where I had no use for days of the week. I worked way too much, and I had way too much stress. There were days I had to meet with the therapists I was training and supervising at 2:00 am my time because of the time difference.

So… I decided I needed a hobby… err… hobbies. I wanted to get back into gaming, but I’m fairly sure I’m not the only person that has gotten a group together only for it to fall apart rather quickly. Weekly gaming sessions turned into weekly cancellations. I figured I may as well try and find something non-gaming related. I got into rock climbing, which I haven’t done in a bit, due to injuring my wrist. It’s great, though. Probably the most calming hobby I picked up. Once I’m up on the wall, I stop thinking about anything else except where my hand or foot is going next. It’s amazing. I miss it. Waiting to get back into it.

I decided I wanted to change my car without having to buy a new car, so I got into learning about wrapping cars. I know, it doesn’t seem like something that would be a hobby. Stupid me thought otherwise. All the YouTube videos made it seem so easy. They are all liars! I thought it would be another hobby I could have that would get my mind off work and not be stressful. After spending I don’t know how many hours watching videos and trying it out on small items, like a laptop protective case and similar items, I decided I needed to try it on my car. ~ $2K and 3 of the most frustrating hours later, I wrapped the hood and trunk of my car, and gave up wrapping cars as a hobby. I still have about 30 sqft of car vinyl wrap material.

Figured I may as well try and get into something that won’t end up costing me as much and won’t be too wasteful if I gave up on it, so I started drawing again. I haven’t been drawing seriously in about 20 years, so no, you will not be seeing my amazingly abstract stick figures any time soon. I have an overpriced iPad Pro with and overpriced Apple Pencil, so I use that to draw. Saves on paper. Saves on pencils and ink and colors.

August/September of last year I decided I wanted to get into photography because who needs to have any money saved? Photography and rock climbing seem to be the two hobbies I enjoy the most. I figured I world start with a lower end camera, so I started looking at buying a Sony A1. Fortunately, the rational part of my brain said, “Hell no!” So, I ended up with a Sony A7C. Still fairly expensive but not as expensive as the A1. I needed some lenses, of course, so I started off with a cheap 50mm. Then I wanted more lenses because I figured I could lose some weight by not eating. Fortunately, I found some relatively inexpensive lenses. They are all about $250-$300, so the money I’ve managed to save on each lens has been made up for by the number of lenses I've bought. Now I have a list of much higher quality lenses I want to get. It seems photography has given me two hobbies: taking pictures and collecting gear.

Any ways, what are you guys doing besides gaming?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I have a bunch of hobbies, for reasons. “Collecting” is for me both a hobby and a “meta-hobby”, since I tend to collect things connected to most of my hobbies.

So, besides gaming…

I’ve been a reader since early childhood, so I have a small library of mostly sci-fi, Fanta and horror novels and short story collections. There’s some mysteries and a bunch of classics in there as well, along with books on history, philosophy, science, architecture, jewelry and art.

Collecting both seashells and turtles goes back basically as far.

I have been an artist (pencil, pen & ink, pastels, acrylics, and some assembled sculptures) since 4th grade. That has led me into doing jewelry design, which in turn led me into collecting gems.

Because my Mom was a music teacher, I got into music very early as well. I sing, play cello, acoustic & electric guitar, and bass guitar…with varying degrees of proficiency. Electric guitar is a terrible hobby to get involved in, because there’s LOTS of different things to buy, and thus collect. (Which I do.)

I also have an extensive music collection, covering a wide variety of genres.

 

[CleverNickName]

My non-gaming hobbies include:

• brewing beer (next project will be a honey bock)
• fitness (cardio and bodyweight training mostly)
• creative writing (but I haven't published anything in years)
• gardening (hoping to start a tea garden soon)
• food preservation (my pickles are legendary)
• baking (especially sourdough)

And I'd really like to get back into a few lapsed hobbies:

• fishing
• camping
• rockhounding
• drawing/artwork (pen and ink)

 

[aco175]

Other than playing D&D, I like playing golf and have a local membership. Waiting on spring to arrive to start again. I also have been involved in scouting with my son for the last 12 years, although he will be 18 and finishing this summer.

I would like to have a hobby with my wife. She used to play golf and might take it up once the kids are gone, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[ART!]

Walking, hiking, and running - although as I get older there's less running and more walking.
Being handy around the house and yard. I'm not very handy, mind you, but we get by.

Drawing. I like some simple pencil and paper, despite having a fair amount of experience with digital art.

Reading/collecting super-hero comics, and these days reading about older comics and their creators.

Movies. I love going to the theater, or getting comfortable at home with a good flick. I like escaping, and the wilder the better. My suspension of disbelief is very willing, so I get immersed. I think it's really healthy for my brain.

Cooking. I make dinner while my wife paints her paintings. On weekends I do some baking and/or a crockpot full of chili or soup.

Really, these are all things I've been doing my whole life: we did a lot of rugged camping/hiking/canoeing trips when I was growing up, my dad was extremely handy at just about everything, drawing has always been one of my things, I've been into super-hero comics for as long as I can remember, movies have always sucked me in, and my mom spent all her time in the kitchen and I take after her in a lot of ways (thank God).

 

[Ryujin]

I seem to pick up new hobbies, every now and then, in order to develop skills that interest me.

I did semi-pro motorsports (motorcycle racing) photography for roughly 25 years, after a short stint working in the pits for friends. Still have all of the gear and am looking for other things to shoot, since I've let my press passes lapse. I was the first person that I know of to shoot motorcycle racing with mirrorless system cameras (Olympus), in Canada. Currently have a makeshift dark box in my sitting room, to control light for portraiture. Every now and then I break out the telephoto lenses to shoot birds, and the like, and do a little landscape stuff when I travel.

I did a little rough leatherworking almost 40 years ago and dusted that off again, a few years back. I've been making hats, mostly, though there have been a fair number of various sizes of bags and an 18 arrow quiver. Also a few masks, like the Plague Doctor mask that was one of my first items, when I started up again.

I've been doing chainmail for about 12 years now; everything from small pieces of jewellery to full shirts. It's mostly costume grade aluminum stuff, for friends, but I've also done a full welded shirt of stainless steel for myself. I have a shirt made with anodized aluminum scales that I need to rework, using mild steel rings instead of aluminum, because I want it to be more durable. It's a full disassembly/reassembly that I've been putting off for a while now, because of the scale of the task (no pun intended).

Every now and then I will beak out a piece of PVC plumbing pipe, a bit of 1"x2" oak, and a heat gun, and make a bow. They're great for costumes but I can make them in over 30 pound draw, so they actually shoot pretty well too. I don't currently have one as I've given them all away, at this point, so should be about due to make another.

A few pics:

 

[Waterbizkit]

It's been ages since I've responded to thread on here. They usually move at a lightning pace for me given how infrequently I get here, but now I can jump in on the ground floor for once. More or less anyway.

I like to read, predominantly science fiction and fantasy, but I have a fair bit of philosophy and non-fiction science texts in my library as well.

Outdoors I like to hike, kayak, fish, and camp. I've done much less camping of late than I'd like, but I've managed to keep up with the other three by going to some decent local spots.

My culinary hobbies seem to be never-ending. I started by simply wanting to make more from scratch and learning to cook foods from various parts of the world you don't necessarily find readily in restaurants around where we live. At this point I've made dishes from a wide variety of places: Mediterranean dishes from Italy and Greece. Hungarian, Turkish, and Moroccan come to mind. Thai, Chinese, Japanese... including my own sushi. Some South American and Caribbean dishes, Mexican for sure. And certainly dishes from the UK, including my own bangers, from scratch.

I make my own sausages of various varieties as I just indicated with the bangers. Make my own ground meat by buying whole cuts and running them through my grinder for making burgers, meatloaf, etc. My pasta and breads are from scratch, including various stuffed pastas. Making tortellini by hand is a tedious process, but it's one of my wife's more frequent requests so I soldier on.

I recently picked up smoking my own meat as new addition to the repertoire. I've smoked chicken, turkey, and duck, all whole or in pieces. In fact our Thanksgiving turkey was smoked this year. I've done ribs, brisket, chuck roast, pork shoulder, and sausages. And it's all damn good. If it's not steak or burgers, it's getting smoked at this point.

My wife does most of the baking, particularly the sweets. I tend to do more breads and such. That said, I'm the one to make the pie crusts or puff pastry.

Then there's the beverages. I've always loved my coffee, but I've gone over the top with it in the last several years. I have two burr grinders, one of which is strictly for my espresso and the other for my pour over, French press, and cold brew. My beans are always fresh from a roaster and ground only when used. I've got kettle so over the top people think I'm ridiculous for having it, and my espresso machine while basic, has been modded significantly. It's also being replaced in the next year or so by one so expensive people have once again questioned my sanity.

The coffee spilled over, bad pun intended, into tea. My stupidly over the top kettle comes in handy there too. I've got at least eight varieties of loose leaf tea in the house at any given time now.

Lastly, the alcohol. I've never liked the term mixology, so I refuse use it in reference to my drink mixing hobby. I've got all the paraphernalia you could need, which admittedly isn't much anyway, and our liquor cabinet went from being mostly empty and forgotten to stuffed full of various spirits and bitters. I make my own syrups from scratch, because of course I do. Luckily we still only partake on Friday evenings or when we're entertaining friends, so this particular hobby hasn't turned me into a heavy drinker.

That about covers it.

TLDR: I like to go read, go outside, and make food and drinks.

 

[trappedslider]

I do 1/35 scale models as you know, and as with other hobbies buying the kits and related materials and actually putting them together are two different hobbies I also do gaming as in video games. I tried cosplay last year but found for me it wasn't worth it, I have gotten back into writing and now it seems and feels like I may actually finish my book.

I also cook every now and then, trying new recipes and such.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I drink beer

 

[Richards]

I'm an avid reader: science fiction, fantasy, and more recently thrillers and mysteries. I don't see that ever changing much.

I'm a comic book collector, and have been for the last 44 years of my life. I don't see that changing much, either, although the current cost of comic books has pared down the quantities I buy each month.

I still dabble in drawing, but whereas before I used to make comic books of my own (illustrating superheroes I made up or characters from the RPGs - AD&D, Gamma World, and Champions - that I used to play with my siblings), nowadays it's mostly in drawing caricatures of departing members of my organization (and a few others I deal with) when they get reassigned to another military base. (So they're basically used as farewell gifts.) I still enjoy doing that, so I'll likely stick with it - especially since that's a hobby where people pay me to do it; with most hobbies, you end up spending more on it than you bring in. (That was also a definite perk of being a freelance writer, but I stopped doing that when WotC moved on to D&D 4E and I opted not to.)

Johnathan