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your fav hobbies that stave off the existential dread

Started by dannyfc, July 06, 2022, 08:36:36 PM

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dannyfc

need to fill the void so open to suggestions of things you people do in your spare time that quiten the mind and leaves contentment.

for me, it's playing football, making electronic music, and strategy computer games.

looking at picking up drawing, climbing, wargaming, fishing, camping, and a new language. ive made very little progress on any of these new activities thus far. 

wrec

I make things.

I have a thing where I make models of buses. What I make is, I get old, I don't know, wooden crates, and I paint them. It's a box that's been used to contain two wine bottles, right, and it will have a dividing thing. And I turn it into a bus.

So I put passengers – I paint the passengers enjoying themselves on a wonderful bus – low carbon, of the kind that we brought to the streets of London, reducing C02, reducing nitrous oxide, reducing pollution.

kittens


imitationleather

Taking a benzodiazepine is good for this kind of thing, I hear.

Pink Gregory

Someone round here gave away one of those little soviet film cameras that you have to estimate the focus and exposure and that's fun.  The film isn't that expensive, but getting them developed is, and of course half of them will be over/underexposed and out of focus but it's fascinating.

Fr.Bigley


AllisonSays

It sounds like you have all of mine already plus a few extras. I think some existential dread is essentially unavoidable!


bgmnts

Literally nothing to be fair. I play video games all the time but it's not an active hobby it's more just like vegging out.

Never had any hobbies as I get bored instantly and never progress even the most minute progression eludes me. Sometimes I read but it's not hobby level.

Jittlebags

At the moment, writing a virtual analog synth using C#.

kittens

christ im turning into bgmnts. OK my girlfriend and i regularly walk around our neighbourhood looking at and stroking the local cats. todays results were saw:10/stroked:4. can this be a hobby

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Pink Gregory on July 06, 2022, 08:43:17 PMSomeone round here gave away one of those little soviet film cameras that you have to estimate the focus and exposure and that's fun.  The film isn't that expensive, but getting them developed is, and of course half of them will be over/underexposed and out of focus but it's fascinating.

Is that a Lomography type thing? My dad gave me some developing equipment and I have an old SLR so keep meaning to have a go with that, but not having a projector or enlarger I dunno what I'd do once I'd developed the film.

I'd also like to play around with a subminature "spy" camera, kind of pointless but the Minolta models are cheap enough and take cine film so usable.

I've also got into tinkering/fixing - I recently picked up a cheap tape deck off gumtree and had to take it apart to replace belts and rollers in it, sounds good now (much better than any tape decks I had at the time did). I've got a film I bought on VHS as that's all it seems to be released on, that needs digitising, but I need to pull the deck I bought off ebay apart and give it a good clean first I think. The bit I'm not looking forward to is fiddling around cleaning up the video afterwards with something like avisynth - I know the vague principle but it'll take a fair bit of reading and trial/error to get good results I think and I don't really want to do it.

I have the odd coding project for home that I enjoy when I get stuck in to but often put off and don't want to do because I write code for work and it's a bit of a busman's holiday. Ironically the times this would probably lift my spirits the most - when I get resentful about having to write code in work in a way I don't want to*, is when I feel like doing it the least.

*work with guys for whom boilerplate heavy OOP is all they know, over 12 years lived experience tells me a lot of it is a false economy and I'm very much in to functional programming and small modules you can chain together these days.

Also go cinema a bit.

Cuellar



Campbell Soupe

A whole 11 posts before this becomes a wanking thread? This place is going to the dogs.

Anyway, wanking, obviously (though the existential dread kicks in twice as hard post-spaff)

thenoise

Wild swimming seems to be quite the mood booster according to friends on Instagram. So you could try that. Maybe its nice because its so cold, muddy and unpleasant that it makes the rest of your life seem better by comparison?
Alternatively befriend a lot of wild swimming enthusiasts online and enjoy their photos, you filthy animal.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: thenoise on July 06, 2022, 09:47:18 PMMaybe its nice because its so cold, muddy and unpleasant that it makes the rest of your life seem better by comparison?

That's definitely what 'Tough Mudder' stuff is for isn't it? Do fed up Dad's still do that?

buttgammon

Messing with synths and drum machines does it for me.


Elderly Sumo Prophecy

I hate to put a downer on proceedings, but I've never really found anything to truly stave off the existential dread, and it gets worse as I get older. The grim spectre of death is always there, and it's a right cunt. Wanking does help though.

bgmnts

Has anyone had an existential wank? Thinking about Simone de Beauvoir or something?

JaDanketies

Typically, when I've finished working, I do some housework, spend time with my family, make some food, and then try to unwind a little by browsing the internet or watching TV for a little while. I am surprised that people have time for hobbies.

When I started going out with my fiancee and the now mother of my child I joined an amateur dramatics society and had a tiny part in a single play. And I thought, "this is a huge time investment for a hobby when I'm so busy by being in the start of a relationship." And now it seems like I had so much free time back then!

Actually going to concerts probably

phes

Electronic music and the mixing thereof. Has me covered with freestyling for relaxation and fun or getting my teeth into a specific project that involves time and effort. Finally coming around to embracing new technology beyond a pair of vestax and dead excited about all the projects I can leave behind as my legacy for literally tens of people to discover

flotemysost

If we're not counting things where you're a passive audience member (e.g. going to gigs/theatre/cinema, watching TV etc.) then for me it's the below:

Stuff you can do solo (but don't necessarily have to): writing, drawing, reading, playing music, walking/hiking, climbing (indoor)

Stuff that involves other people, and possibly requires some sort of ongoing commitment to a class or something: Basically making a complete knob of myself on stage. Acting, improv, and occasionally dance and singing. I'm laughably, pitifully shit at all of these things btw, I just have an obnoxious compulsion to persevere, despite how deeply unpleasant it probably is for everyone else.

Also used to do a bit of volunteering, though I haven't really picked that back up since covid. (I was probably shit at that too, tbf)

In fact a lot of the stuff in the former list has taken a back seat of late, as it feels like I've spent enough time doing solo/indoor type activities to last a lifetime in the last couple of years. Plus my focus is shot to shit these days so even reading more than a few paragraphs of a book at a time (without having to check my phone, or get up and move around a bit, or something) is a struggle.

Well impressed with anyone who codes for fun, I couldn't even do it for work. Also as per @JaDanketies ' above post, similarly impressed with anyone with kids who has hobbies. A colleague of mine has two toddlers and she seems to do quite a lot, though it's all "indoor" type stuff - crocheting, yoga (online classes), cooking, learning various coding languages - but even then I think you must need a pretty solid childcare regime/support network.

Fabian Thomsett


bgmnts

Quote from: kittens on July 06, 2022, 09:13:56 PMchrist im turning into bgmnts. OK my girlfriend and i regularly walk around our neighbourhood looking at and stroking the local cats. todays results were saw:10/stroked:4. can this be a hobby

Brought a tear to my eye, this.

Is crying a hobby?

Fr.Bigley


shoulders

Quote from: dannyfc on July 06, 2022, 08:36:36 PMneed to fill the void so open to suggestions of things you people do in your spare time that quiten the mind and leaves contentment.

for me, it's playing football, making electronic music, and strategy computer games.

looking at picking up drawing, climbing, wargaming, fishing, camping, and a new language. ive made very little progress on any of these new activities thus far. 

Sounds like me 10 years ago, minus the fishing and camping.

Answer:

- Hiking or getting out of the house if that's not possible
- Working on personal projects (I can't promote here) regarding pubs and bars
- Swimming
- Learning Czech (I feel a fraud saying it though as I have slacked off this year)
- Playing music

To meet the various demands of life I've had to forgo other hobbies which is a real point of grief. How does anyone get anything done? Where does the time go?

bgmnts

Quote from: shoulders on July 06, 2022, 10:53:55 PM- Working on personal projects (I can't promote here) regarding pubs and bars

One stupid idea I had for a blog was to go around the world reviewing a pub's third cheapest beer.

Realised I'd get really funny looks before my first pint and knocked it on the head.

Cold Meat Platter

Cooking is great. You can make lovely food cheaper than pre-packaged shit and when you give it to people they think you're fantastic, sort of like a cooler jesus.