I'll copy and paste a response I made to someone else a couple weeks back about new hobbies I've started:
Archery is fun.
ATV/Dirtbikes are great.
Camping in more secluded places.
Shooting ranges.
Wood-burning and calligraphy. Those aren't as excited but are fun on a rainy day or when you don't have much energy.
Playing 'Go' again has been fun but is pretty time consuming. Good brain exercise, though.
Trail Hiking.
Drawing.
Panning for gold. I wanna try mining for it a bit but I feel like it'd be more of a waste of time, you know?
Whittling (which I'm shit at and need more practice)
Sculpting with clay. (same but easier)
Fishing.
Teaching myself piano.
I want to try car restoration because I had an Uncle when I was young who rebuilt cars and it was always cool to help.
Photography — which I wanna try film instead of digital soon.
Starting your own food garden in case things ever get rough you have some knowledge.
Learning Psychology/body language
Writing.
Gym/Exercise/playing some sports (mostly just shooting hoops.)
Those are just some. I'm sure in the last 5 or 6 years I've done a few other things here and there. It's been a lot of fun. I feel like I've grown more as a person trying a bunch of new hobbies than I ever did just staring at a screen. Although, I do still enjoy old games or movies from 15-20 years ago — before the bullshit.
Gym, reading all the ponderous tomes of those who came before us, gun range, friends and family. A man is nothing before he forms himself, don’t look for outside sources as a reason for your existence but instead as something to acquire from.
I guess I'm a NEET now. Worked for a Woke multinational, and they don't have any particular nation's interests in mind; and I've had a problem with that for some years. But then they decided to rub that "fuck you" in my face by supporting a bunch of Social Justice shit, and I decided I was done supporting an organization that hated me. Timed it right when a bunch of other experienced people were leaving for maximum pain.
I'm trying to do more gardening now, with the goal of producing more of my own food. Have a black thumb, so that should be an interesting journey.
I'm in much the same situation you were. When I got hired on I figured I'd probably stick it out for 5 years or so (the money was good and I guess I was a little less pessimistic in my outlook on the world at that point.) But with the covid stuff I don't think even if I wanted to stay past the end of this year they'd let me (currently they're requiring testing to come into the office or any company events if you're unvaccinated/undisclosed, and starting next year they're adding a surcharge to the healthcare for that testing. I'm pretty sure you have to pay the surcharge even if given a WFH exemption, so that's the essentially the absolute limit for me.)
Fortunately I think have some options for keeping enough cashflow to cover the essentials, so hopefully once that settles I'll be able to work toward what I want to be doing, and not have to worry about coming up with enough money to live.
Attachment is not bad as long as you are the one in control of yourself, and not the things you possess. Attachment to objects can be something that is a reminder of who you once were and how you have grown since. One of my most cherished possessions is the books my mother saved from while I was growing up. I rarely acknowledge their existence, but remember how they changed me at the time and how I have grown since.
I’ve taken up drawing with the hopes of expanding into digital art once I learn the fundamentals. Also getting back around to dabbling in writing again.
For the month of October I was also going to try and get some of the horror classics read such as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and The King In Yellow.
Trying to be humble enough that I'm willing to put in the work of making barely noticable but still incremental improvevements in my life.
Instead of my usual pattern of infatuation with grand plans that always go nowhere because I abandon them when I hit an inevitable progress plateau or difficulty spike.
Build things, fix things, projects with my hands essentially. Learn things, I'm always trying to learn or better a skill. It's tough to say what I'll have my hands in a time as it can be anything from painting my house to screwing around with computer programming. These projects, work, side business, and sleep burn up most of my time. The rest is generally laying around lazy consuming media.
Media consumption wise, books are mostly older fiction or historical non-fiction. Video games from 2000-2010 are my favorite. Older movies as well. It's not necessarily a boycott and I have very few hard rules against stuff, but I've been discovering there's enough existing media I don't need any new stuff. Don't generally review for wokeness, there's easy to spot red flags and it's not like I'll keel over and die if I misjudge something and waste time on it.
My general rule of thumb is don’t read/watch anything after 2014. There are a few exceptions or if someone I trust recommends something. Also read a ton of classic sci-fi and fantasy. So much stuff I couldn’t finish in my lifetime. Also play modded Skyrim.
Spend time with the kids and wife.
Falling asleep watching supernatural.
Playing computer games - mostly strategy games and JRPGs.
Jogging and a bit of workout.
Writing a DnD module just for fun.
Painting miniatures.
I'm officially semi-retired. I still do some mentoring with start ups exchanging time for equity. Also work part time as a RO at matches and training classes at a friend's shooting range for ammo money. But farms make enough that if my wife decided to hang up her legal career tomorrow we're both retired.
I take care of the 3 year old making sure she gets to pre-school and she's entertained while the Mrs. works from home anymore. Just bought this house and she has an office and we can be in the basement playing if my wife is on a litigation call.
Then lately I've been doing quite a bit of trap shooting as shotgun shells are available again and still one of the cheaper options.
I've been playing guitar and learning music theory.
I've been also learning Russian language. Now I can read whenever someone types some Russian alphabets. I just need to study what it means.
Now that gas prices are higher and winter is coming I can't do that as much.
It's weird how despite gas prices being higher and unemployment being so high, I see more people driving around in their gas guzzling SUVs than ever before.
I'll copy and paste a response I made to someone else a couple weeks back about new hobbies I've started:
Archery is fun.
ATV/Dirtbikes are great.
Camping in more secluded places.
Shooting ranges.
Wood-burning and calligraphy. Those aren't as excited but are fun on a rainy day or when you don't have much energy.
Playing 'Go' again has been fun but is pretty time consuming. Good brain exercise, though.
Trail Hiking.
Drawing.
Panning for gold. I wanna try mining for it a bit but I feel like it'd be more of a waste of time, you know?
Whittling (which I'm shit at and need more practice)
Sculpting with clay. (same but easier)
Fishing.
Teaching myself piano.
I want to try car restoration because I had an Uncle when I was young who rebuilt cars and it was always cool to help.
Photography — which I wanna try film instead of digital soon.
Starting your own food garden in case things ever get rough you have some knowledge.
Learning Psychology/body language
Writing.
Gym/Exercise/playing some sports (mostly just shooting hoops.)
Those are just some. I'm sure in the last 5 or 6 years I've done a few other things here and there. It's been a lot of fun. I feel like I've grown more as a person trying a bunch of new hobbies than I ever did just staring at a screen. Although, I do still enjoy old games or movies from 15-20 years ago — before the bullshit.
Watching anime
Playing video games
Reading books
Reading manga
Lifting weights
Listening to music
Ayy lmao.
I went to the Fort Worth Buc-ee's when I first visited Texas to find a place and I can say I have never seen anything like it in California.
It certainly is a cool convenience store/gas station.
Gym, reading all the ponderous tomes of those who came before us, gun range, friends and family. A man is nothing before he forms himself, don’t look for outside sources as a reason for your existence but instead as something to acquire from.
I guess I'm a NEET now. Worked for a Woke multinational, and they don't have any particular nation's interests in mind; and I've had a problem with that for some years. But then they decided to rub that "fuck you" in my face by supporting a bunch of Social Justice shit, and I decided I was done supporting an organization that hated me. Timed it right when a bunch of other experienced people were leaving for maximum pain.
I'm trying to do more gardening now, with the goal of producing more of my own food. Have a black thumb, so that should be an interesting journey.
I'm in much the same situation you were. When I got hired on I figured I'd probably stick it out for 5 years or so (the money was good and I guess I was a little less pessimistic in my outlook on the world at that point.) But with the covid stuff I don't think even if I wanted to stay past the end of this year they'd let me (currently they're requiring testing to come into the office or any company events if you're unvaccinated/undisclosed, and starting next year they're adding a surcharge to the healthcare for that testing. I'm pretty sure you have to pay the surcharge even if given a WFH exemption, so that's the essentially the absolute limit for me.)
Fortunately I think have some options for keeping enough cashflow to cover the essentials, so hopefully once that settles I'll be able to work toward what I want to be doing, and not have to worry about coming up with enough money to live.
EVE Online. It's my go-to game for a bit of space trucking and pirate blasting if I have literally nothing else to do.
Attachment is not bad as long as you are the one in control of yourself, and not the things you possess. Attachment to objects can be something that is a reminder of who you once were and how you have grown since. One of my most cherished possessions is the books my mother saved from while I was growing up. I rarely acknowledge their existence, but remember how they changed me at the time and how I have grown since.
I’ve taken up drawing with the hopes of expanding into digital art once I learn the fundamentals. Also getting back around to dabbling in writing again.
For the month of October I was also going to try and get some of the horror classics read such as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and The King In Yellow.
Trying to be humble enough that I'm willing to put in the work of making barely noticable but still incremental improvevements in my life.
Instead of my usual pattern of infatuation with grand plans that always go nowhere because I abandon them when I hit an inevitable progress plateau or difficulty spike.
Piano.
Build things, fix things, projects with my hands essentially. Learn things, I'm always trying to learn or better a skill. It's tough to say what I'll have my hands in a time as it can be anything from painting my house to screwing around with computer programming. These projects, work, side business, and sleep burn up most of my time. The rest is generally laying around lazy consuming media.
Media consumption wise, books are mostly older fiction or historical non-fiction. Video games from 2000-2010 are my favorite. Older movies as well. It's not necessarily a boycott and I have very few hard rules against stuff, but I've been discovering there's enough existing media I don't need any new stuff. Don't generally review for wokeness, there's easy to spot red flags and it's not like I'll keel over and die if I misjudge something and waste time on it.
My general rule of thumb is don’t read/watch anything after 2014. There are a few exceptions or if someone I trust recommends something. Also read a ton of classic sci-fi and fantasy. So much stuff I couldn’t finish in my lifetime. Also play modded Skyrim.
Spend time with the kids and wife. Falling asleep watching supernatural. Playing computer games - mostly strategy games and JRPGs. Jogging and a bit of workout. Writing a DnD module just for fun. Painting miniatures.
Vidyia, Local sports clubs, RC racing
I'm officially semi-retired. I still do some mentoring with start ups exchanging time for equity. Also work part time as a RO at matches and training classes at a friend's shooting range for ammo money. But farms make enough that if my wife decided to hang up her legal career tomorrow we're both retired.
I take care of the 3 year old making sure she gets to pre-school and she's entertained while the Mrs. works from home anymore. Just bought this house and she has an office and we can be in the basement playing if my wife is on a litigation call.
Then lately I've been doing quite a bit of trap shooting as shotgun shells are available again and still one of the cheaper options.
I've been playing guitar and learning music theory. I've been also learning Russian language. Now I can read whenever someone types some Russian alphabets. I just need to study what it means.
There is no escape.
Once society is crumbled, I just hope the mutations I get are cool enough to make things interesting.....
I cook and bake.
I drive my Miata while listening to 80s music.
Now that gas prices are higher and winter is coming I can't do that as much.
It's weird how despite gas prices being higher and unemployment being so high, I see more people driving around in their gas guzzling SUVs than ever before.
Escape from tarkov