Ask HN: What are your hobbies, and why are they cool?

Numismatics - Expensive as hell, but can be done on a cheaper scale. I started out broad and have narrowed my focus to Mexican coinage of the first and second republic from a specific mint. The research into it may eventually lead to a book, as virtually no reference material exists at the moment. There is something pretty cool in holding a coin that is a few hundred years old and imagining who held it, the stories it could tell, and viewing the art associated with it.

Crossfit / Olympic Lifting. I started Crossfit, I found I enjoyed it but really sucked at the olympic lifting. Then my box started a class specific on the fundamentals of olympic lifting, now I'm hooked on both. It's good to get out from behind the desk, move and jump and lift. It can be bad though, I've seen bad boxes where one can hurt themselves easily. It really comes down to the coaches and you making smart decisions.

Finally Wood working - I love creating furniture most of all and am at the point where my extended family have started asking me to make furniture pieces for them. There is something about starting out with several pieces of wood and ending up with a finished product that you've made with your own hands... Although I can point out every flaw in every piece I've ever created!

Both skydiving and juggling fulfill my enjoyment of teaching my body to do complex things and both reward me with easily being able to "get in the zone". Both relax me greatly too.

My little tech projects are very enjoyable while I'm working on them and very rewarding when I put something together that me and my family use every day.

The online multiplayer driving sim is similar in that it has a ridiculously long learning curve (which attracts me about so many things I've done in my life). It also fills my need for competition. For the last 20 years, since I was 16, I've used competitive gaming as an outlet for my competitive streak. Beginning with FPS games (the Quake series in particular) and then Starcraft 2 and now iRacing.

I treat Civ 5 like modern chess and use it to fill hours of spare time.

I was done with all the crap that comes with city living. The kids spend their entire time on a tight reign, they can't just run around and be kids without a constant fear of the neighbours complaining/judging about their noise/behaviour. You have to follow a metric ton of rules that come with living in close proximity to a million other people that nobody who lives in the country cares about.

Most of all, the tranquility of effectively having a campsite literally in your back yard is amazing... and you can see the stars.

My commute to my real job is now an hour and a half instead of just 30 minutes, but I wouldn't trade it to come back to the city.

We've been blogging about our transition at http://ourcrazyhomestead.life/

As they say, sometimes you have to follow the dream and make everything else unfold the way it needs to in order for that dream to transpire.

I've been practicing martial arts since I'm 7 (notably judo, and then karate). My favorite one is thai boxing. Some pros and cons. + a very intense, fun and rewarding workout + makes you fit while having fun + very technical and beautiful sport + social activity, good way to make friends + opportunity to train in Thailand for a few months - hard on the body past a certain age, the competitive and "pushing" atmosphere doesn't help. - can be violent, but doesn't have to be.

Other hobby, playing the guitar. I've been playing for 20 years, and I practice about 10 hours a week. Some pros and cons. + it's a lifelong activity. There's always something to learn. I don't think I'll ever get bored of playing music. + It's both a physical and intellectual activity + You get to play the music that you like, very satisfying and rewarding - it can be extremely time-consuming - can be very frustrating, esp. when you don't have innate musical abilities. Progress may be slow. You may struggle all your life for things that other have naturally (like sense of rhythm, a good ear).

Snowboarding. I was very passionate (I snowboarded about 40 days a year). But eventually I got bored. Pros and cons: + awesome sensations + quite easy to improve + beautiful sceneries - need to live near a mountain, and drive there. - strain on the body - it can get boring by yourself - it takes pretty much the whole day

Swimming: + "soft" sport that you can practice at any age (esp. after your body is used by all the other activities!) + technical, so lot of room for improvement. + 4 different strokes, so many techniques to work on. + relax, but not really "fun". Even boring at times. - not a social activity. I'm in a swimming club, and people barely talk to each other. We just swim and that's it. - can be boring

Other activities that I like to a lesser extent. Running, climbing, mountain hiking. Programming, but more a professional activity now than a hobby.