your fav hobbies that stave off the existential dread

[Kankurette]

I always have music on when I work. Keeps me sane and makes dull jobs go faster. It makes the gym more bearable too, I find exercising easier with music I like (like doing steps to Rammstein). I have a ton of Spotify playlists - one that's getting a lot of rotation right now is a list of Cave-In songs a mate made for me.

[Sebastian Cobb]

That's really nice, inspired choice of subject, it's a GAN I take it?
How did you walk around the latent space, just randomly twiddling values or some kind of planned scheme?

Thanks, yeah it was a pre-trained gan behind the scenes I think, then I created a model to train it on based on my directory full of images I'd pulled from reddit. I didn't actually do or know much about the ML side as I was just dipping my toe in the pool and used something from https://runwayml.com/training although it looks like their business model/marketting might've changed a bit since I used it as they're now marketting as a video editing/enhancement product (probably to compete with the likes of Topaz's AI-upscaler).

[Ray Travez]

Wandering aimlessly around large cities or towns

I like this. Had a great time in Barcelona a few years back, just walking until my feet were sore, taking it all in. I knew no-one,  and I was on my own without a map, I loved it. Some call themselves flâneurs, but this seems a bit up-yourself to me. I just like walking and finding stuff, little alleys, backdoors to kitchens where the chef is having a cigarette, a weird junk shop, the lights of Chinatown...

[Crenners]

Took about 450 photographs today, maybe two good ones. Great hobby 😂😂😂

[bgmnts]

I like this. Had a great time in Barcelona a few years back, just walking until my feet were sore, taking it all in. I knew no-one,  and I was on my own without a map, I loved it. Some call themselves flâneurs, but this seems a bit up-yourself to me. I just like walking and finding stuff, little alleys, backdoors to kitchens where the chef is having a cigarette, a weird junk shop, the lights of Chinatown...

I understand this in nature but the thought of this in a busy, noisy and/or smelly urban environment is beyond me.

[The Mollusk]

Barcelona is fuckin SMELLY as well

Still lovely to walk about the place though, the city has such a relaxed atmosphere. Even when there's a lot of people about, if you stroll about in places like the gothic quarter everything has a very casual pace and you can just drift along with it.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Took about 450 photographs today, maybe two good ones. Great hobby 😂😂😂

One thing to be said for the imposed scarcity of film is it makes you think about what you're doing more. Cost is fewer risks I guess.

[ImmaculateClump]

If you've paid for the girls for an hour, it makes sense to just keep clicking and sort it all out in post.

Is hiking the same as walking? I walk everywhere, but I also will just go out for a walk as well, so I suppose it is a hobby.

[madhair60]

i make comics read by few

[flotemysost]

Ha! I'm actually signed up to borrowmydoggy but not as a paying member, I just get their emails with pics of cute doggos

Would love to walk a few doggos though, can't dogsit as I'm renting.

My then-flatmate and I borrowed a few on the sly in our rented flatshare a couple of years ago. We didn't have a garden (but lived near a sizeable park), so we only had the wee ones where their legs go at a million RPM and they're totally zonked out after a fifteen-minute walk.

One, a Pom, stayed for a couple of weeks and she totally changed my perception of the breed - smart and charismatic as anything, but not above being pathetically soppy when the mood took her. She'd fall asleep in my lap during hours on end of tedious Zoom calls, occasionally waking and poking her sweet little vulpine boat into the range of my webcam, to the delight of whoever was on the other end.

I sorely miss having a pet around the place but there's absolutely no way I could incorporate a dog into my current flatshare/lifestyle. Suppose I could try and befriend the mice that show up sometimes.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Is hiking the same as walking? I walk everywhere, but I also will just go out for a walk as well, so I suppose it is a hobby.

Depends do you have your thumbs up your rucksack straps?

[ImmaculateClump]

Hmmmm, vary rarely, I'd say.
If I've got a lot of heavy stuff in there I'll sometimes pull down on the straps just to take the weight off my back for 20 seconds or so. A change is as good as a rest, innit.

[Sebastian Cobb]

"I am going to the Spar, I may be some time"

[ImmaculateClump]

Haha. I'll tend to pop in shops if I'm out for a walk because I don't do a big shop and there's always something that needs topping up.
Running low on no added sugar vimto at the minute. That's nice. Never cared for it when I was little, but I bought a ready mixed bottle a few weeks ago and it's lush!

You'll have heard that old joke.
Did you hear about the dyslexic tramp?
He choked to death on his own vimto.

Probably can't say tramp anymore, or have a go at the dyslexic. Hell in a handcart.

[Crenners]

One thing to be said for the imposed scarcity of film is it makes you think about what you're doing more. Cost is fewer risks I guess.

Just being self-deprecating tbh, there were actually four good ones.

I do enjoy the decisiveness of film but I also find it more limiting, as you touched on. If money were no object, fine, but I feel much more free with digital. That doesn't mean I'm not thinking about what I'm doing, but it does mean that I can afford to capture the same subject fifteen times. I actually love going through hundreds of pictures and choosing my favourite variation or cropping a shot within a shot that I'd not seen before. It's almost as enjoyable to me as being out there.

I do get your point, though. There's something great about setting up a shot, waiting for the moment, hoping that you got what you saw and finally collecting your photos and seeing the results.

[Glebe]

Really need to start going for walks regularly again, but aside from that, films, comedy shows, pop culture, nostalgia, chats/meals with friends/family and the odd drink, music, playing me guitar, gaming, and of course posting on here keep me inspired and happy. I do spend too much time online but yer ol' internets is a incredible resource. Oh and I should try getting back into drawing again.

[Dex Sawash]

I reckon www.cookdandbombd.co.uk has overtaken all my other hobbies. I guess we'll call that reading*








*

Spoiler alert

wanking

[close]

[Bently Sheds]

Built myself a Partscaster guitar to try and kickstart the guitaring I used to do before the kids came along. Then I bought a refurbished laptop, Scarlett interface and installed Reaper to kickstart the guitaring into guitaring, writing and recording. Then bought a Squier Jaguar to kickstart the guitaring and home recording. Still I'm on the PS4 most nights instead.

Watching Portrait Artist of The Year on Sky Arts makes me want to invest in some nice paints and brushes and have a stab at that, but I'll just be on the PS4 instead.

[buttgammon]

A few of you have mentioned making electronic music as have I and the thing I neglected to mention is the fact that it can be a costly business if you're into hardware synths (though I limit myself to cheap ones and have lots of fun with them but it still adds up). I just skipped out of buying a new synth because it was $40 delivery not including customs.

[Stoneage Dinosaurs]

I like this. Had a great time in Barcelona a few years back, just walking until my feet were sore, taking it all in. I knew no-one,  and I was on my own without a map, I loved it. Some call themselves flâneurs, but this seems a bit up-yourself to me. I just like walking and finding stuff, little alleys, backdoors to kitchens where the chef is having a cigarette, a weird junk shop, the lights of Chinatown...

Barcelona's a great city for wandering yeah, lots of weird little side streets and bits for exploring. Totally agree with The Mollusk about it being really relaxed, I wonder if the climate is anything to do with that? When I went there i did most of my wandering in the late afternoon when the daytime heat had subsided, and everything was just vaguely warm, a perfect vibe for just walking and looking at things.

[Jerrykeshton]

Amateur radio. Comms and technology, not playing records badly on a community radio station. Think techy CB that can get my voice to the US with a bit of wire in my back garden and using less power than my lightbulb.   

More fun than it probably sounds.

[mrpupkin]

A few of you have mentioned making electronic music as have I and the thing I neglected to mention is the fact that it can be a costly business if you're into hardware synths (though I limit myself to cheap ones and have lots of fun with them but it still adds up). I just skipped out of buying a new synth because it was $40 delivery not including customs.

Alternatively though if you already own a computer of some kind and it's just for hobby laffs then you can do it for zero pounds using some free software and just basically having a big laff.

[ImmaculateClump]

Yeah, there's never any reason to buy extra hardware if you have a pc or even a tablet or a mobile phone will probably do nowadays.
It's fun to mess round with hardware though, but yeah, a lot of those things are way overpriced.