Hobbies...looking for a new one. What are yours?

meritaten

abailey54 wrote: »

I'm a bit of a collector of hobbies, I get completely obsessed when I first start but then my interest peters off a bit, haven't done much recently due to a depression.

I like playing guitar and singing, family history research, wine making, sewing (only got as far as half-making a massive quilt made of my old jeans), cooking & baking generally, growing fruit and veg, finding new ways to save money, recently started learning to sketch, foraging, tried tae kwon do but couldn't cope with sparring (can't stand the thought of hitting someone) - all of these can be solitary or with people (I love my own company)

There really isn't enough time and life is far too short!

Can I suggest that you get out your old quilt making project? dont aim to finish it as a massive quilt - aim to finish it as a smaller project..............a wall hanging or single bed quilt? depending on the size it is? Then you will feel deeply satisfied that you have 'finished' a project - and you may well feel inspired to start a new one!

er - I loved sparring in TaeKwondo! taught me a lot of self control. But, when sparring with newbies you get a lot of bruises! The aim isnt to hurt - its to score points - but, if threatened you learn enough to 'jack up the power' and defend yourself! I was lucky and had a fantastic teacher - who unfortunately retired right after I got green belt. my next teacher was carp! all he cared about was competition work! not my thing! He never even taught 'Destruction' Techniques ...and I loved those! punching through inch thick boards gets rid of a lot of frustration!:):):)

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

SailorSam wrote: »

Thanks for that Jojo,
I think it's a soprano i've got. A Mahalo LesPaul. I've only got small hands and up to now been watching YouTube and bought the Dummies Uke book. I looked on the internet and there's a pub about 8mls away that has Uke nights, i've not been but thought it maybe a better option on their webpage it says everyone is welcome, even the Dummies.

Definitely go - you won't look back, I promise!

(and if you can do first position A, C, D, F and G, you are well on the way)

Someone new came to ours last week, so we did Da Do Ron Ron, Leaving On A Jetplane to start off, as they are 3 chord wonders and not too scary - I can PM you a link to some of our music and FB group and that'll give you an idea of the sort of things groups do.

Oh, and if your Mahalo is brand new, I'd consider a) changing your strings to Acquila b) repeatedly tuning to bed them in (they go out of tune when new) and c) having a Snark chromatic tuner.

Sid_Wolf

Pets/animals?

I have 3 huskies who are basically my life (some might see that as sad but never mind lol), and I can easily spend all day out with them.

Its not just having the dogs, but there are hobbies you can take up with the dog - agility, flyball, gundog training, canicross (jogging/running), bikejoring (the dog pulling you on a bike), heelwork to music etc etc

One of mine is in training to get her good citizen awards (we're aiming for silver, possibly gold), which combined with a trip to the dog park can take up most of the day. And during the colder months I work them in harness, basically I hook them up to my bike and they pull me along for miles, we enter a few events at thetford forest doing this too

I even ended up running my own business incorperating my dogs and my other hobby - sewing

My gran has made her cats her hobby - she has maine coon's which she shows up and down the country

Obviously that will only be a good hobby for you if you like animals!

jjblondie

My favourite hobby (besides cardmaking, cycling, internet, reading far too many newspapers) is visiting museums - my record for any 12 month period is about 100. Although it's not quite as easy in the UK as elsewhere due to the lack of frequent village museums, it's a really nice way to visit new (and local) areas and dip your toe in fields you knew nothing about. I always aim to leave with one special fact learnt, and it really has been a nice eye opener on the world. Even if the subject of the museum doesn't grip you on paper, you're almost guaranteed to get something out of a visit (odd facts on the world's first motor transport association or Dickens' opera experiences anyone? ).

Supernatural

I've been through lots, CB/Amateur radio, played bass/lead guitar, miniature dolls houses and making little clothes and items to go with, and currently I'm restoring vintage bikes when health permits... never a dull moment here

abailey54

meritaten wrote: »

Can I suggest that you get out your old quilt making project? dont aim to finish it as a massive quilt - aim to finish it as a smaller project..............a wall hanging or single bed quilt? depending on the size it is? Then you will feel deeply satisfied that you have 'finished' a project - and you may well feel inspired to start a new one!

er - I loved sparring in TaeKwondo! taught me a lot of self control. But, when sparring with newbies you get a lot of bruises! The aim isnt to hurt - its to score points - but, if threatened you learn enough to 'jack up the power' and defend yourself! I was lucky and had a fantastic teacher - who unfortunately retired right after I got green belt. my next teacher was carp! all he cared about was competition work! not my thing! He never even taught 'Destruction' Techniques ...and I loved those! punching through inch thick boards gets rid of a lot of frustration!:):):)

Thanks meritaten for the suggestion - I've already sewn the squares together so it wouldn't be a big job to finish - a lovely winter project as well.

I don't know what my problem was with sparring, but have since then learned that I have a repressed anger problem so it could be that I was scared of losing control - probably good that I didn't push it! I did love all the rest of it though and started doing youtube tutorials on speaking korean - but our teacher wasn't great - he was only about 20 and had a very comfortable existence and it's very difficult to take lessons on life philosophy from someone with very little life experience (sorry for sounding ageist). Plus I offered him some advice on record keeping (because he'd asked us for money that I'd already given him and said he had no idea whether we had or not) and he got really angry about it and ignored me in his class - sorry this has descended into a rant - I better stop now! :rotfl:

SailorSam

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Definitely go - you won't look back, I promise!

(and if you can do first position A, C, D, F and G, you are well on the way)

Someone new came to ours last week, so we did Da Do Ron Ron, Leaving On A Jetplane to start off, as they are 3 chord wonders and not too scary - I can PM you a link to some of our music and FB group and that'll give you an idea of the sort of things groups do.

Oh, and if your Mahalo is brand new, I'd consider a) changing your strings to Acquila b) repeatedly tuning to bed them in (they go out of tune when new) and c) having a Snark chromatic tuner.

I read on the Net that the cheaper strings were difficult to keep in tune so got some Acquila ones off ebay, at the same time picked a mid-market tuner, a Cherub wst-550u uke mate.. I shopped around and paid about £30 for the Uke so can't go far wrong in taking a chance.
I've always wished i could play something but just never had the time to learn. Now here i am at 59 watching youtube videos of 8yr olds showing how it's done.
How long does it take before i can have groupies throwing their knickers at me.
Thanks Jojo

BlondeHeadOn

Why not turn the job of finding a suitable hobby into a hobby itself, in the short term?

This maybe sounds a bit daft, but two years ago I wanted to do more art or craft-y stuff but couldn't decide which type to do. So I decided I'd give myself a year when my 'hobby' was to research and try as many different types of arts and crafts as I could, to help make my mind up. So I tried a lot of those 'taster day workshop' type of intro sessions (where I could find them), did a couple of terms at nightschool for stained glass and acrylics, silversmithing and jewellery making, did a few sessions of weaving, sculpting etc. - and also researched and visited a lot of craft fairs, art galleries, craft villages where you can try stuff out, that kind of thing. It was really good fun, and I found some techniques that I really like and now mostly do those. I still carry on visiting places and trying taster workshops now though, just because I enjoy them so much!

I found this approach was good fun, cheaper (because I didn't have to buy a load of stuff for a hobby only to stop doing it 6 months later), great for meeting lots of people, and it took the stress out of it as I didn't have to decide on just one craft to do. You could extend the idea to 'hobbies in general' as well, it doesn't have to be just craft related. I also found that I had a focus for the year, rather than just dithering around trying to decide. Best of all, you can start straightaway - all you need is a sheet of paper and a pen to make an initial list of possible things you'd like to try, and start from there.

Tiglath

I set myself study projects just for my own interest. Usually on an annual basis (dinosaurs and mammal-like reptiles, the Byzantine empire, Arabic medicine, the Renaissance etc). I'm just starting a massive project on exploring Indian religions which will probably take me at least a couple of years. I just think of the kind of things I'd like to study if I were designing my own evening classes/Open University degree.

pavlovs_dog

for those who enjoy reading but don't feel like it qualifies as a 'hobby', I'd recommend taking on a challenge such as trying to work your way through the BBC's Big Read list.

There are similar lists for film and music if that is more your thing.