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Ask HN: What's your favourite hobby and how did it start?

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81–90 of 111 posts

Re: Ask HN: What's your favourite hobby and how did it start?

#81
I've been riding a bicycle for a little over a year and really enjoy it. About once a week I'll ride 4-5 miles to a coffee shop and work from there in the afternoons. Otherwise, I do small errands on my bike, like picking up groceries, picking up take-out food, or checking out a book from the library. The trips are short and my area is pretty flat, so it's light and pleasant exercise. I also save some gas money by not driving my car so much, and it's just so nice to be outside and feeling the wind go by me.

One aspect I'm enjoying more than I imagined is tinkering with my bicycle. I think that tickles the nerdier part of my personality: comparing different ways to carry cargo, adjusting various things to achieve more comfort, light maintenance like inflating tires and lubing the chain, etc. It's fun.

Historically, a lot of my hobbies involved me sitting in front of a screen (movies, video games, recording music, etc). Now my work is more screen oriented than ever, and I found such hobbies felt a little too much like my work, so I needed to find something very different. Biking has been good for me.

Re: Ask HN: What's your favourite hobby and how did it start?

#82

Woodworking - It started when someone on my work slack posted an image of an arcade machine they had made. I thought "I want one of those". So I borrowed a circular saw and made one. Then I was hooked. Now I'm doing lots of home improvements, such as building a coffee bar and converting an unused area into a pantry. I'm currently building some shop furniture, then I'll be converting an unused cupboard near our entry…

> I don't want to buy furniture anymore, I want to make it. Why would you spend $400 on a piece of furniture when you could make it yourself for $800? I too have been bitten by this bug.

Actually, if you want to get out of this cycle, turning is a good subset of the hobby. A good small turning setup will cost around $1500 brand new (for the lathe, carbide tools, vices, drill bits, etc.). After that the wood tends to be cheap because you can use other people's offcuts or waste material.

Pens in particular are easy to learn, make gifts that people ooh and aah over, and don't take a ton of time. Materials for a pen range from $10 (for a cheap kit) to $35 (for a top of the line kit plus a fancy blank). Once you've made a few you should be spending an hour to an hour and a half per pen. If something goes wrong mid-project you lose the wood and the tubes, and replacement tubes are cheap, so you don't have to re-buy the whole kit.

Once you master that there are a variety of projects that will ramp up the skill step by step. And there are tons of classes around that'll help you gain those skills.

Re: Ask HN: What's your favourite hobby and how did it start?

#83
I build scale models (aircraft, military vehicles, etc.). Very relaxing and surprisingly social-- there are clubs all over the world. When I moved from Oklahoma to Colorado, and later Colorado to California, I got in with local modeling clubs first thing. Started my development of a new circle of friends right off the bat.

(My involvement in it started at age 4; I had a knack for taking things apart, so my dad bought me a model kit to encourage me to be more "constructive"...)

Re: Ask HN: What's your favourite hobby and how did it start?

#86
Photography has been the only real 'non tech hobby' that Ive stuck with through the years. It encapsulates everything I love into one hobby:

- Fun social activity if you make friends with other photographers/find a club locally

- Instant Visual creation of something (since my brain rejects spending too much time on something like a drawing, only for it to turn out crappy)

- Fun/Neurotic Tech options when it comes to Lenses/Bodies/Gear. Love the rabbithole of researching exactly what I need/want.

- Lots of technical detail involved in learning different aspects of it, and really understanding properties of light

- I love DataHoarding, so organizing photos on my NAS using Lightroom makes my brain happy too.

- Actually gets me active, outside and moving, which has been a problem for me in the past (since I hyperfocus on logical problems, and loathe the gym as a waste of time)

The only downside is that during the winter I find it harder to get out and take pictures, but at least they're getting warmer!.. :(

Re: Ask HN: What's your favourite hobby and how did it start?

#87
Pickleball, it’s the only recreational sport I’ve liked as much my entire life, and I’ve tried many: tennis, soccer, judo, golf, basketball, biking, hiking, snowboarding, etc.

Things I like about pickleball are: it’s relatively cheap, easy to pick up, fun to play, highly social/community driven, and just the right intensity level for me.

Re: Ask HN: What's your favourite hobby and how did it start?

#88
Motorcycling.

Motorcycling is a high bandwidth sensory experience both alike and unlike the puzzles of flying a high resolution monitor and keyboard during the day job. It is an endless excuse to explore the endless physical world. It is something for sharing but also fundamentally a personal experience.

Motorcycling was my father's midlife crisis. I learned on dirt bikes when I was 11, riding old Japanese dual sports through closed strip mines and down power line cuts. Getting lost, getting stuck, and then getting home.

You, or anyone in the US, can learn from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation basic rider course: https://msf-usa.org/start-your-ride/basic-ridercourse/

Re: Ask HN: What's your favourite hobby and how did it start?

#89

Not sleeping. I just love the quiet night hours or the quiet early morning hours where it's just me in the house and my laptop and I can focus on my little coding projects that never seem to go anywhere.

Very relatable. Missus and the pets go to bed, just me and the peace and quiet. Time to code. Sadly I'm mid 30s now though and I find the late nights destroy me.

Re: Ask HN: What's your favourite hobby and how did it start?

#90

Combat Robotics! Do you know Battlebots or Robot Wars? Turns out it is a pretty good hobby! You'll learn a lot about materials and parts and their suitable application(s), 3d designing and offcourse building a bot hands on.

I am interested in this but don’t know how to find local competitions or guidelines or getting started etc
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