Managing your Hobbies

[Sjeng]

I don't have free time

I hear you.

I play the trumpet a bit, and I just recently quit the harmony band. I just didn't enjoy myself there anymore, and it took up too much of my time. I will still play on occasion though, don't want to forget how to play
Of course there's the baby and my wife.
Work, household, groceries etc take up alot of time too.

So that leaves very little time for all my other hobbies:
- HeroQuest + Ye Olde Inn.
- Games (Skyrim mainly, a few indie games, I'd love to finally finish AC 1+2 etc. once, Bioshock 1-2-3, Deus Ex:HR, and a lot of other games in my steam library)
- Painting my gargantuan box of minis (fridaynights)
- Watching TV series and movies, which fortunately I can do with my wife, so that's 2 in 1! I like Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Dexter, Star Trek (currently at Voyager S5). I've watched Friends twice at least, X-files, Terra Nova, Fringe, Enterprise, Next Generation, Clone Wars animated, and I have some new series waiting to watch: warehouse 13, Falling Skies, Rome, Breaking Bad, perhaps Arrow. And movies, well, I watch just about anything worth watching.

[Spiky]

Aside from my wife and 2 children, my main hobbies are:

1) Blood Bowl. I'm in a local league and have been for the past 6 seasons. Plus I get to go to tournaments a few weekends every year
2) Geocaching. Started in October last year and love it! Luckily I can do some of this with the family, also I get out on my bicycle every weekend for an hour or so and pick up a few caches
3) Painting - normally while watching TV in the evenings
4) Gaming on my android tablet - I'm a casual gamer at best, but I picked up a Moga controller for Christmas which makes some games and the N64 emulator a lot more fun!

Unfortunately I've still not played HQ since I was about 14 but my kids are quickly coming up to an age where I can introduce it

[Ragnar IronFist]

my bagpipes have been collecting dust for a few years

Oh wow, I would give anything to be able to play the bagpipes! Is it hard?

It wasn't for me. But I started in the 8th grade. An age where our brains still pick up new things quicker...and we have more free time to devote. The biggest PITA about them is they are WAY high-maintenance. It's a process to wrap stocks, shave and break in reeds, oil and tie stuff in, use tape and reed positioning to get things in tune. Then if the ambient temperature or humidity changes in the slightest, tuning goes out. But it's getting better now. The last decade has offered way better designs with synthetic reeds and weird, yet effective, moisture regulation involving kitty-litter in compartments inside the bag and other weird stuff. So there's considerably less fuss to the instrument than there was a few decades ago.

[Teldurn]

Gilmore Girls

That series is remarkably well written and enjoyable!

For me, I used to be into:
- creating EDM, but I dropped that many years ago (though I still enjoy listening).
- 3D modeling and animation (I'm a way better animator than modeler)

Currently into:
- HQ + Ye Olde Inn
- videogames (mostly RPGs)
- tabletop RPGs of many kinds (even wrote my own)
- game design

I would love to get into these, but there's usually some sort of barrier to entry that makes it unfeasible:
- learn to play an instrument (drums, piano, violin, cello)
- miniature painting and modding
- martial arts of some kind
- custom board making and set piece construction for RPGs

[Schmidt]

Skateboarding: not so much any more. 100 kilos and 40+ on the birth certificate is not a great combo, but I can land a decent kick flip from time to time.
Chess: started in a club a few months ago. Taking part in a weekly competition where I have lost the first two games to kids age ~8
Cubing: went to a competition this Sunday. Beat all my comp PB's http://cubecomps.com/live.php?cid=383&compid=27
Scratching: not at all! I have two 1200's, a mixer and hundreds of records in the attic, but they are just dust collectors.

[knightkrawler]

@ tasoe:
Do not ridicule the GG. Or me watching it, for that matter. That series, as Teldurn has pointed out, is one of the best written in the business, fun to watch all through. The dialogue is incredibly cleverly written and acted if you're a pop culture nerd, which I am. It's been a free time occupation of mine to google and wiki every reference they mention unknown to me, which through the first run, was a shitload.
I can certainly understand how one doesn't like the series, but I cannot relate. But, make no mistake, it is the one series where it is the most seriously absolutely mandatory to watch it in the original language. It is so mandatory in fact, that I deem it completely purposeless and useless in any dubbed version. There is just too much contemporary American referencing.

Gilmore Girls is one of a kind, and don't anyone dare compare it to anything else. It occupies its own niche.
Please please please, with cherry on top, do not judge from the DVD box covers. Please don't.

[Beiren]

Having a wife and 2 kids (the oldest is only 2 years old, then you know I'm a little tired) leaves little room for hobies.
Besides my normal job (fulltime), I have a sidejob.
I read a lot on this forum.
I try to ride bicycle (road and off-road) from time to time.
I started running last weekend because last week I agreed to run in a group marathon. I have to run 5km as part of the 42km run.
Other so called hobies include working around the house (still have to finish my garden house, and next year we will build a porch)
Hope to paint my minis one day and finish my total mod of heroquest.

[Blackthorn]

I would love to get into these, but there's usually some sort of barrier to entry that makes it unfeasible:
- learn to play an instrument (drums, piano, violin, cello)

May I suggest to you the humble ukulele? It's affordable, fun, easy to learn, and all of the skills it you acquire can be transferred to the guitar with a little effort. Even though I play the biggest of stringed instruments most of the time, I still really enjoy the ukulele.

::=(o )

[tasoe]

@ tasoe:
Do not ridicule the GG. Or me watching it, for that matter. That series, as Teldurn has pointed out, is one of the best written in the business, fun to watch all through. The dialogue is incredibly cleverly written and acted if you're a pop culture nerd, which I am. It's been a free time occupation of mine to google and wiki every reference they mention unknown to me, which through the first run, was a shitload.
I can certainly understand how one doesn't like the series, but I cannot relate. But, make no mistake, it is the one series where it is the most seriously absolutely mandatory to watch it in the original language. It is so mandatory in fact, that I deem it completely purposeless and useless in any dubbed version. There is just too much contemporary American referencing.

Gilmore Girls is one of a kind, and don't anyone dare compare it to anything else. It occupies its own niche.
Please please please, with cherry on top, do not judge from the DVD box covers. Please don't.

Well, what can I say...
It was on greek TV some years ago and in original language (luckily dubbing English is not happening here as much as in Germany)
and I watched some episodes as well (it was right after Friends) but I deemed it unwatchable. Sue me, but I just thought it was one of those laughable American shows that only rejected female teenagers watch.
Uninteresting setting, unrelatable characters, and please be honest and agree with me on the last one, the girl that plays the daughter is not much of an actress.

I will never ever give it another go, but I take your word on it and I accept that there is a chance it might not be as rubbish as I thought.

[knightkrawler]

I am a rejected female teenager.
Alexis Bledel is good enough for the fastmouth that is Rory Gilmore. She started out with no acting experience whatsoever, by the way.
Don't get me wrong, as I said, I can fully understand why one wouldn't wanna watch it. It's more than anything a matter of taste, but calling it ridiculous seems a tad harsh to me.
This is not The Biggest Loser or The Jersey Shore. There you can ridicule show and audience all you like and I'll happily join in.

Every show has in bigger parts the wrong audience. Gilmore Girls has rejected female teenagers. There we agree. It's a little like hooligan football fans.
Concerning football, I'm a tactics nerd. Concerning Gilmore Girls, I'm a dialogue digester. Consider it that way.