What is a hobby you enjoy, but seems too quirky or obscure to bring up in most conversations?
Mine would be creating pen and paper ciphers for my made up secret communication needs.
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I like learning about random ass hobbies without ever indulging in them.
I watch an ungodly amount of aquarium / terrarium videos, lurk a ton of aquascaping communities. I owned a betta fish in an empty bowl when I was 12 and that's it. (poor fish)
I read all you could know about book binding fanfiction, never done it.
I read a hundred pages long horse breeding guide for the game black desert online and I have no idea why. I only played the game for a month, spent most of it reading a google doc about horse. I'm not even sure I owned a horse in the game.
Sometimes I try the hobby, for example mini painting, and don't have the patience for it. But I still watch some random dudes on youtube paint for hours and sometimes they don't even talk!
No idea why I am like this
I do the same! And you know, I think this is a hobby by itself. It's also very useful when talking with strangers if they tell you they practice one of the hobbies you've binged on. You can ask them more pointed, interesting questions and it makes for great conversations!
Ever been screened for ADHD by any chance? I do this same thing. I call myself a serial hobbyist because I just bounce from one thing to the next. I'm always glad when I lose interest before I spend any money.
Nah, I did well in school and it's almost impossible to get that diagnosis as a adult around here. I do find the adhd memes relatable tho lol.
Same situation here. Never got diagnosed as a kid because I did well in school. Then going through the process for my own kid, it all clicked.
Everybody finds those memes relatable. Most of those memes are just regular human things.
I also did well in school (have my Masters too!) and I got diagnosed with ADHD at around age 30 (I'm female so that made a difference in people's expectations of how it presents). Totally no need to pathologize a trait or to pursue a diagnosis even if the traits do fir you, but I did just want to chime in that there are plenty of us who managed to defy the trope of "doesn't apply themselves".
For me, I totally do what you do with hobbies! It's actually why I went into library science - ADHD is my superpower that allows me to be a generalist :P
I spent last night learning about wood pit clay firing techniques and learning about table saw safety. Why? Idk. I have Ehlers Danlos and I've had to give up sewing, spinning, etc, so it's not like I'm going to be out there making slab tables or digging my own clay but... It's REALLY fun to imagine and learn all about!
I love learning about new hobbies and I so rarely find the hobbiest of... Hobbies! Thanks for sharing :)
I also keep acquiring hobbies and also have ADHD but spend way too much on it all.
My hobby is collecting hobbies. Under my desk at home is a pile of various "projects" most of which I cannot seem to finish.
My whole office is a giant pile of that lol
Barbara Sher (rip) has a great book, Refuse to Choose, that does a great job of reframing ones thinking about bouncing around between projects / hobbies and not "finishing" them.
I like learning about random ass hobbies without ever indulging in them.
I do this too! I love watching like videos where people make jewelry or phone cases using resin. It requires a ventilated area though and I live in an apartment with no patio so I couldn't do it even if I wanted to.
I also watch nail polish videos cause nail painting is an amazing artform that is really difficult to do because its painting with material that hardens when exposed to oxygen or UV lighting. It also takes a ton of skill to get really good at it and people use all kinds interesting methods to get different results or looks. But yeah, I don't have the patience to learn that beyond just painting my own nails and maybe some decals but that's all I could handle.
I know it doesn't have to be, but that sounds like what world builders or authors do, dive very deep into a topic for research.
Well I guess you are acquiring knowledge, and that too is a hobby :-)
I read all you could know about book binding fanfiction, never done it.
Found it hard to parse, and my mind immediately went with “Yeah, of course people have written fanfics about book binding,” foolishly extending rule 34 to cover it. Of course, there might have been that one fanfic about bookbinding.
But yeah, of course people have printed and bookbinded (bookbound[ed]?) fanfics. But for that to have a community? That's unexpected.
And you know what? It shouldn't be called rule 34, but rule 69. Would be much easier to remember that way.
I would be immensely amused if "bookbinding fanfiction" was called Rule 69.
I know that's not what you meant, but it's where my mind went, haha. Fanfiction is all about the weird insider eccentricities, and this sounds like it could be one of them.
Makes me wonder why they (the anons who've compiled such lists back in the day) didn't make that way. Perhaps it's too obvious of a joke, I guess?
mini painting and ADHD is a funny one. I can have months of ultra focus and paint a whole small army up, then I have tiny bursts and it takes months just to finish a few models. I currently have 8 guys I've been working on since June about 50% done and I'm no high level painter
I like learning about random ass hobbies without ever indulging in them.
I write sci-fi/fantasy stuff, and I do this too, but mostly so I can gift this or that character with some plausible insider info on a hobby THEY have.
The trick with creating a fantasy/sci-fi universe is to sprinkle true/plausible things all around the little details, so the obviously fantastical that doesn't have grounding in reality will be accepted by the reader.
Recently I've been looking at a guy that makes Damascus Steel weapon. Not that I'm gonna buy a sword or an axe anytime soon, nor am I going to make it