So, there are some things that most people do, playing games, watching movies or television, playing music. So let’s get specific.
What are some of your favorite things to do with your time? The more hyper specific the better?
I got into contact juggling a decade or two ago. It is basically a form of juggling in which a clear or solid-colored ball stays in contact with your body to interesting effect. Think the Goblin King from the movie “Labyrinth”.
It is rare enough that you don’t meet many people that have seen it, and with enough of a learning curve that not many people that start ever really get anywhere with it.
-Edit- Random video of what I am talking about https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5MqvtiHpOw
Ah, I’ve seen that before that’s cool! Didn’t know exactly what it was called. Looks real hard to do though.
Just takes a lot of boredom and lots of muscle memory. Not hard, per se, but unrewarding until you’ve put more time into than you’d think. A lot of skills within a week or so, you should have some sort of improvement to show for it. Not so much with contact juggling.
But once you’ve gotten ok at it, it kinda looks like magic.
I like sewing - I make a few pieces of clothing once in a while but usually I’m just mending things or adjusting the fit of store-bought clothes so that they look better on me.
I also love gardening - growing vegetables outside and mushrooms inside. I’m pretty new to both but the mushrooms in particular are really fun - many of them grow a lot faster than vegetables, so it’s exciting to have a faster feedback loop and try little experiments to find what works.
I really hope the sewing communities take off on here.
Yo I also do sewing and mushroom growing nice :D
Lately it’s been collecting Indie Perfumes. They are much more adventurous and complex than most mainstream scents. It’s really fun to pair scents with experiences or moods. I’ve roped my husband into it and it’s like a puzzle game to find scents for him as well.
Do do you remember tamagotchi? The little electronic egg with a pet you should take care of? I collect those. They are more advanced now. They have color screens, they charge with USB, you can connect them and marry, have a whole families.
Oh hell yeah. I loved those little things, although me and my brother usually had either Digimon or Virtupets or whatever the cheap knock-off was called. I remember there was a game boy tamagotchi game that I got for my birthday though and I played that for ages and ages.
I build and fight combat robots. Think Battlebots but smaller.
I’m getting my kids started with LEGO Mindstorms! Sumo bots is the first idea that came up.
… I think my 13yo wants to go bigger. Welding, anyone?
I’d go with 3d printing before welding. You can so quite a bit with a 3d printer and the CAD skill you gain are quite useful. I printed most of the parts for my 3lb robot and it heald up quite well.
Thank you! He is actually looking into 3d printing but has not bought anything yet. I’d hate for him to spend too little and have a crappy experience with a poor printer; much rather pay some extra to have a solid start.
They are actually learning CAD/3D drawing at school - how cool is that??! Back in my day we had Commodore 64 and had to remember to press Enter before the line ended, because there was no such thing as automatic word wrap. Times have moved on!!
Hardware modding. Consoles, handhelds, old computers, RC cars… whatever.
I’m interested in learning how to solder, but not really sure how. I’m not a DIYer when it comes to electronics, so I don’t know what to practice on. I just feel like it’s a skill I should at least be familiar with.
I always recommended finding an old Playstation to learn on. They are incredibly simple in layout and the points take solder very easily.
Be sure to use some flux and you shouldn’t have too much of an issue.
Quite a few, actually
- Artisan Keycap collecting, to a lesser degree mechanical keyboards (I usually use them as displays to showcase my artisans)
- Boardgame collecting and playing. I’m a big fan of modern area control games. Also trying to design some. Slowly.
- I curate a magic the gathering commander cube. Hopefully mtgcube gets a community somewhere around here
- Reading, lots of fantasy there.
- EDM shows and festivals, recently. Probably have been going to too many, but I always jump in with both feet
Ohhhh, the keyboard thing sounds neat. I know some of my friends really love mechnical keyboards, but I haven’t see a lot of cutstom keycaps.
Got any favorites you’d like to show off?
My Grail Board - Happy Hacker Keyboard 2 modded with Norbauer Heavy Grail VHS, with Brocaps Gamer set and Mitchcap modifier keys. The top row left are original clack factory multishot clack skulls, and on the top right are kbk/kwk (killed by keycaps) vandals and mummies.
OG Kyuu - OG Kyuu keyboard with GMK Bleached keycaps, brocaps gamer set, and various artisans on the top row
Yeh, give me a minute to upload some…
Arguing with people on reddit.
I do enjoy bouldering and also jump rope. I suppose those are niche…
What’s bouldering? Is it just a different name for rock climbing?
It’s rock climbing but more specifically the type with no ropes or harness. Just the body and your chalk. The height ain’t high of course and there’s safety mats. Fun to solve those short problems.
My favorites (right now) are learning to play star wars legion better, getting back into gunpla, finding mobile games that aren’t utter garbage, trying and failing to find decent friends, and sorrowfully watching hasbro destroy magic the gathering.
There are too many sets and spoiler season never ends. I mainly just follow now in case there are any good singles for updating my cube
Yeah I stopped playing about 2 years ago just because of product fatigue. And the new LOTR stuff costing twice as much as a regular set? No thank you. They have also leaned heavily into turning MTG into a weird “investment vehicle” with all these ultra-collectible and exclusive cards, the most egregious of which is the “one of one ring.” It’s pretty gross. It’s much less about the actual game now, which I’m sure would (does?) disappoint Dr. Garfield as he only wanted to make a game. He expected people to play magic at the kitchen table and wrap a rubber band around their deck when done.
Urban exploring (for lack of a better term) with no purpose other than to discover. I live in a city and I’m constantly just wandering around going down streets I’ve never been down or into alleys I’ve never been in or checking out stores I’ve never been to. This is my approach when I travel to other cities and other countries too, I often don’t have a plan for my trip/vacation, I just arrive there and then start to wander and see what I find.
paper models
I stuck with the card game Yu-Gi-Oh! For the last 20 years. Got quite the collection now with over 100’000 cards sitting around here (and counting)
I’m also quite the Apple nerd, especially some of the older devices like the G4 Cube that’s sitting next to me here, but in general I’m just a tech geek.
Roller Derby - I strap on skates, pads, and helmet and then knock people on their ass. It’s great fun.
Lately it includes growing gourmet mushrooms, re/learning languages such as Russian and Ukrainian, data organizing stuff (such as assigning each horror movie I’ve seen with fears from The Magnus Archives, been fixated on horror movies in general so I’ve also made a tierlist for all the ones I’ve seen), and sewing/making clothes. I’m looking to maybe have an isopod colony again (properly this time), make fursuits, continue studying wicca/witchcraft stuff, as well as finally get back to art once I’m over this burnout ^^;