Ask HN: What's Your Hobby? - jessehorne
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hluska
I used to collect vinyl, but now I have a 3 year old who consumes most of the
time I would otherwise devote to hobbies. She destroyed a couple Bob Dylan
records early on, so all of my records are in hiding.

In the last few weeks, my girl and I have built several train tracks, built
dozens of puzzles, read parts of about a hundred books, gone to see dinosaurs
at our local Museum of Natural History and gone to watch planes take off at
the airport. I play a lot of Monster and talk like a unicorn. Sometimes, I let
one of her stuffed puppies pretend to drive. She’s potty training so we talk
about poop and pee far more than I’m comfortable admitting. It’s a non stop
laugh riot...

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BrentOzar
Watching incredibly low-brow reality TV: Big Brother, Alone, Survivor, Project
Runway.

I used to feel guilty about it, but at the end of a really taxing mental day,
it's fun to unplug by watching a wide variety of people solve soft skill
challenges. It puts my own problems into a different perspective. At the end
of an hour or two of that, I walk away going, "Whew, I really love what I do,
the community I do it with, and my family, because I'd fail miserably in an
environment like one of those."

~~~
mastry
That’s pretty surprising coming from you. I would have guessed.... stand up
comedy.

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BrentOzar
Ha! I do watch that for inspiration - also, magic shows.

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ksaj
I make creepy, angry and aggressive music with a classical flavour to it.
Here's a short instrumental that gives a bit of the idea:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrxQDz18jqs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrxQDz18jqs)

Actually its not always angry, but it does tend to go in that direction. I
love the energy.

Here is something with vocals:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc0LbD5D_Hc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc0LbD5D_Hc)

You can see me prancing about a couple times in that vid.

I also study constantly. Right now I'm on a sabbatical dedicating the time to
Lisp and its quantum connections, which is really just a newer manifestation
of my early 90's Artificial Life obsessions. Unsurprisingly I'm in the middle
of a course on the Origins of Life through Santa Fe Institute.

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dhruvkar
Pushups

Last few months, I do pushups whenever I get a chance. Averaging about 120
pushups/day for the last ~3 months. Got a few friends/family interested, so
now there's ~25 people doing pushups everywhere (bars, sidewalks, airports
etc.). They've set goals of 10K or 50K pushups in a year, depending on their
desire/fitness levels.

The results have been surprising, people who could only do 1-2 pushups at one
time, are regularly doing 50+ over the course of a day.

It's been a lot of fun, even if it's not the most balanced workout :D

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catacombs
Have you noticed any difference in your body?

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dhruvkar
Definitely. A visible difference.

Tighter abs, more defined pecs and deltoids. Also a lot of soreness, but it
comes/goes in cycles.

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logari
You should read "Body by Science" to prevent destroying your bones, cartilage
and to waste time. There is such thing as the golden minimum.

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oxymoron290
3D printing. I picked up an ANET A8 about a year ago. It was the cheapest
printer available at the time. I had absolutely no idea how hard it was to
keep these things running smoothly. They are like very challenging puzzles
that constantly need resolving. Issues like temperature, alignment, vibration,
etc which all affect the quality of your print. Unfortunately, I'm not very
good at it, but I enjoy it still.

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matt_the_bass
I have lots of hobbies and the time I’ve devoted to them changes over time. My
primary hobbies are: playing music, traveling, reading, scuba diving, making.

A few years ago, I started making word clocks. Now I have a refined design
that my wife and I are producing in our basement and starting to sell at low
volume: www.finewordclocks.com.

Making clocks is also a great excuse to buy cool tools. We have a probotix
asteroid cnc in the basement. I have a 3yo and 6yo. It’s been fun getting them
involved in making things. Most of the presents for their friends’ birthday
parties are home made (mostly by me but with the kids’ participation) and are
REALLY well received.

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highhedgehog
Music - Both me and wife are some sort of musicians. I play drums and I am
trying to also get into production/mixing

Hiking - I love hiking and mountains

Futsal - used to be a good goalkeeper, but after a broken ACL and now a broken
scaphoid, I think i'll stop this year

DIY - I like building stuff. I don't have a lot of tools, so often things
don't turn out perfect, but I'm usually satisfied with the end result

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armagon
I was going to say that I don't have a hobby at the moment, but I suppose
that's not true. Outside of work, family, and church responsibilities, I am:

\- learning to type in Russian. After two weeks, I'm hitting about 25 wpm
using 6 letters on keybr.com

\- running four times a week, training for a half marathon

\- trying to help a friend start exercising to improve his mental health

\- oh, and I'm running a monthly 'board game night' and also trying to host
tech networking events in the small town where I live

I recently started a new job, (re)learning javascript and learning React and
friends, and, oh my goodness, I'm mentally exhausted when done. Recently when
I've tried to do some coding on the side, I'm just too tired.

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jugjug
\- Ido Portal movement. A unique approach to improve body's capabilities incl.
strength, mobility, coordination, balance, speed, rhythm, etc. [1]

\- Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The learning process is heavily impacted by John
Danaher, a BJJ instructor who holds Master Degree in Philosophy and describes
the BJJ system using principles learnt in philosophy [2]

[1] -
[https://www.instagram.com/portal.ido/](https://www.instagram.com/portal.ido/)

[2] -
[https://www.instagram.com/danaherjohn/](https://www.instagram.com/danaherjohn/)

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Japhy_Ryder
Cycling. Lots and lots of cycling. Road or mountain, I do it all. Century
rides (100+ mi rides), charity rides, etc. and I'd love to get into gravel
stuff one day too.

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mastry
Building drones - sometimes I actually fly them.

~~~
jessehorne
Let's collab

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vanrysss
Surfing and fly fishing. I'm lucky to live in a place where I can do both.

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logari
I write poems.

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jessehorne
Show me!

~~~
logari
On Hobby

=========

Roses are pink

Tulips are black

I like to think

That's why I hack

~~~~~~~

On the importance of sleep

=========

In the ev'ning when the sun

Was setting, it went down

Said it needed have some rest

So that it could be the best

Rising fresh again next day

Shining bright all the way

~~~~~

On Friendship

=========

Better hungry than eat rotten

Let this precept not forgotten

Even birds belong to flocks

See them penguins on the rocks?

Better shoeless than in pain

Better be alone, and sane

■ I wrote these impromptu just for you. They may be childish but they
certainly make sense (compared to the what the imagists etc write).

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jessehorne
That last one! Woah!

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logari
Thanks, :) the English language has serious limitations in how meaning can be
molded to convey multiple-entendres, unlike some Asian/Oriental languages
where one line can have at least 4 to 5 differing, contradictory-yet-
supporting senses, which in the end causes an intellectual high that makes one
stop--you cannot digest more than one line a day--and even so it makes you
think about it all day long. :)

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billconan
I can draw well

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jessehorne
Show me.

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billconan
[https://www.deviantart.com/billconan](https://www.deviantart.com/billconan)

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kylecazar
Wow. That's really impressive!

I totally get that art isn't always for profit. However -- I'm always
demoralized by the sheer amount of drawing, painting, etc talent that doesn't
get financially rewarded. Slightly off-topic and doesn't necessarily apply to
you!

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billconan
Thanks. I’m not a professional. I need drawing because it calms me down.

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wwarner
banjo

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Finnucane
Me too! Been playing about a year now.

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wwarner
I find it very relaxing and accessible. I mean I guess guitar is too, with a
lot more literature. But a big attraction of the banjo for me was the open
source nature of folk music.

