What is a new thing, a new something that you have recently gotten into, or that you have been a long time participant in, that you find very entertaining and fun and time consuming and distracting?
What things would we need to purchase to get into that thing?
How did you get into that thing?
If you draw or dabble in the arts try out Water Mixable Oil Paint! No turpentine or odors, it’s real oilpaint but it can be cleaned with water!
Nothing beats oil paint, it’s crazy, amazing and humbling, you can probably spend a lifetime and still have new things to learn. After the initial cost (say 200€ max if you keep thing normal) it can be a low cost hobby too if you don’t go crazy.
Watching movies. There’s so many movies, both good and bad. Sometimes bad movies are fun too, especially horror.
Others have mentioned video games. I’ve gotten into emulation using Batocera. Can be installed on old hard drives/raspberry pis.
Depending on your space/climate, gardening and/or growing mushrooms.
I’ve been looking more into home improvement and homesteading.
I also just tend to get fixated on random things that interest me and go down rabbit holes.
Minecraft. Build a cool base in the side of a mountain or in a tree with a ton of secret passages. I play it with my kids and enjoy it just as much as they do.
Play The Long Drive. Lookup nothing. Play in the dark with loud sound.
I decided to get into drone piloting this week. Turns out you don’t need a crazy expensive drone to start. It’s a $70 controller, some batteries and a simulator application.
In a few months it’ll be a lot more expensive. For now, it’s not too bad.
If you live in an area that gets a lot of snowfall, buy a zamboni. Keep it in a garage. Then, when a big ice storm hits, your time will arrive! Take your zamboni to the city streets! While the city ice crews are trying to melt the ice, you’ll be out there thickening and polishing it to a glimmering shine! You’ll be the ying to their yang. The negative to their positive. You will be the balancing element in nature! Buy your zamboni, and take to the streets!
That would be the most fantastic thing if I lived in such an area, but alas, I do not.
If you want something calm, you could try houseplants. There’s all sorts of options from easy to difficult to keep, and it’s easy to end up filling your home with them, which is actually pretty beneficial unlike some other clutter
A little groove box. Like the Roland T-8 or Novation Circuit.
Few hundred bucks will get you a used one. Super fun to sit around and make your own simple beats and songs. No musical knowledge required!
I’m a big proponent of modern affordable musical electronics. If you like it, it’s a fun little thing to do. If you love it, there is endless depth to pursue in many directions. No natural rhythm or understanding of melody needed. It’s fun to just sit and tweak knobs and notes until you like what comes out.
I also recently discovered this website called “Strudel REPL” that let’s you code electronic music in your browser for free. Another fun way to check out the hobby without spending anything.
Skipping/jump rope. Great exercise, crazy fun and an endless amount of tricks and combos to learn.
3D printing.
Get a used printer or build a new one (building it teaches you a lot about how it works).
Start downloading models… toys, gifts, tools.
Start seeing what little things you can fix and improve around your home.
Encounter something you need to print, but can’t find anywhere to download… Get into CAD and start making your own models.
Also there’s a nice side effect if you get into 3D printing: it’s suddenly really easy for your family/friends to buy gifts for you. There’s never enough filaments you could have.
I haven’t the courage to fix my 3D printer sitting in the garage (classic core-xy), should I buy a cheap laser one instead? One with that liquid that solidifies under uv light.
No no, don’t do that. If FDM (classic filament printer, as you say) is a hassle for you, then SLA (a UV resin printer) is not for you at all. It’s way more involved, requires protective gear as the resin is toxic while uncured, and requires a ventilated work space. Also, generally SLA is waaaay slower than FDM, due to significantly increased resolution.
They’re just intended for different use cases and different requirements. In most cases they’re not an equivalent substitution for each other.
Thanks! I had forgotten about the toxicity, that’s why I never tried ABS…
The hassle isn’t the printing itself, it’s just that I don’t have the pc with the marlin code and all that any more, I built my printer so everything had to be adjusted and tweaked… And as I built it myself there were shortcomings, very fun and instructive but maybe I should just buy an old working one… Compatible with that expensive E3D full metal hotend :-)
Planting native plants and checking out the cool bugs that show up.
Video games ^^/$
if you don’t have one a steamdeck.
Therapy.
Like, I’m gonna be real with you for a second. I’ve had this little crash out before, but I have actually tried to get therapy, and I have been given an appointment, and I showed up to the appointment, and the therapist fucking did not.
I have literally gone to multiple locations through insurance-approved things, and I have waited my time, and I have made the calls, and I have sent the letters, and I have sent the emails, and I have responded to the emails, and I have done all of the things. And I have been unable to get therapy, and I have decided that, since the universe will not allow me to have therapy, I’m not allowed to have therapy.
In my experience, majority of therapists are garbage. I’ve experienced the same, but once you get one who actually shows up and is actually good at what they do, it’s worth it.
That’s wild. Please keep trying. You. Are. Worth. Every. Effort.
Eta: in the meantime: meditation, some sort of art (paint, photography, pottery, mosaic, a coloring book, sketchbook, doodle, journal, short story etc).
We are in the age of really cheap, but high quality guitars. You don’t have to own an exorbitantly expensive gourmet brand like Gibson, Fender, Martin, or Taylor. There are lots of companies making very fun, playable, and CHEAP guitars.
If you want to play electric, there are companies like Firefly, Harley Benton, and Donner, making terrific guitars for less than $200.
If you like acoustic guitars, you can buy really nice new ones for under $500, but if you buy used (which I recommend for an acoustic anyway), you can find lots of nice 20-40 year old guitars from Yamaha, Washburn, Alvarez, Takamine, and others for less than $200.
Then comes the distraction part of learning to play, and practicing. It can take a lifetime, but if you are committed to it, you will be rewarded by steady satisfying progress for your entire journey.
Doing it, can confirm.
Check out www.justinguitar.com for top quality, free beginner’s course.
Justin is great, he’s probably taught more people to play than any other single human.
That’s the other thing - once you’ve got a nice guitar for cheap, there are all sorts of great resources on the Internet. The best guitar teachers in the world are all over YouTube, offering lessons, tips, tricks, licks, and more, for FREE!
