
Ask HN: Your hobbies? - froo
I'm curious what everyone's hobbies are?<p>I'm trying to understand the perspective of other commenters on HN and the best way I guess would be to learn a little about others by what their interests are - maybe also add in what it is about your chosen hobby that you find enjoyable?<p>So please share.
======
klein_waffle
Am I the only one who wants to call "bullshit" on some of these claims of
having a hobby?

A hobby is something you can actually get better at. Watching TV is not a
hobby.

A hobby is something to which you give sustained effort. Some people claim to
be into cooking and have dinner parties, but if you do that less than twice a
month I don't think that counts. I realize that many of us have been ruined by
modern convenience living and the programmer lifestyle, so it is an effort to
get a meal for four or more together. But cooking for other people is supposed
to be normal; it's not hobby material.

And photography: _everybody_ has a digital camera now. Get real. Unless you
have gotten in a vehicle with equipment specifically for the purpose of
photographing something and no other reason, you're not really a photographer.

I hesitate to call MMOs a hobby. They do meet the definition, but the physical
experience -- sitting in front of a computer , collaborating with others in
virtual spaces -- is very close to the sort of work most of us do for eight or
more hours a day already. I think if you garden or do bicycle couriering,
you're allowed to claim that MMOs are your hobby, but otherwise no.

Please understand that I'm not condemning anyone, but I think a lot of us are
deluding ourselves. We don't want to admit how narrow we are, and how we
really spend our leisure time. I'm willing to bet that programmed
entertainments, like TV, movies, games, or pornography top the list of actual
hours spent. It's sad, because at the age of 80, I don't think anyone's going
to look back on their lives and say "DAMN! If only I had gotten through all my
Galactica DVDs...." Maybe RescueTime should do something about this.

As for me: I used to have hobbies, but now I don't. It's a serious problem and
I think it contributes to an ongoing low-level depression. I do read an
enormous amount, but as stated above, this is not a hobby. It's a really bad
situation. I think my hobby is dreaming up startups which, for visa and other
reasons, I can't do much about.

~~~
froo
Wow, what a negative attitude - at the risk of getting modded down to hell, I
figured I'd address some of your points. Please understand that while this
might be a confrontational retort, it is in no way meant to be a flame.

 _A hobby is something you can actually get better at. Watching TV is not a
hobby._

Actually, a hobby is defined as "an activity or interest pursued for pleasure
or relaxation and not as a main occupation", so TV can be a hobby for some
people. Also, people can get "better" at watching TV, by putting in more
hours, watching multiple channels at once, larger screens etc...

 _A hobby is something to which you give sustained effort._

I dont believe that to be true, for example - I have one tabletop wargame on
average every week, I'm a member of a club and it would take up maybe 3 hours
of my total week? On the grand scale of things, its not an effort at all, yet
in all sense of the word, is a hobby.

 _And photography: everybody has a digital camera now. Get real._

So? It doesn't mean that just because something is popular doesn't make it a
hobby? By that reasoning, I would suggest that sport of all major forms are
not hobbies, which we all know not to be the case. For the record, I don't own
a camera either.

 _Please understand that I'm not condemning anyone, but I think a lot of us
are deluding ourselves._

I actually think you're essentially condemning a lot of people in this thread,
people are sharing parts of themselves so that others can learn a little about
them, what their interests are - its an exercise in social networking of some
kind.

You've essentially called a lot of people liars, which is never cool.

~~~
klein_waffle
No, not liars, but sometimes inattentive to this aspect of their lives?
Wishful thinking?

If it's just me, I'll be happy to be wrong. But the irony here is that my day
job involves helping people schedule their leisure activity. I've seen
research on what people actually do with their time and it's freaking dismal.
After college people fall into a rut of work/sleep/TV.

People say things like "dinner parties" because that's the last thing they
remember doing, but if you probe a bit further, this event is usually months
in the past.

By "sustained effort" I wanted to distinguish a hobby from mere pass-times
like television watching. I think 3 hrs/week is plenty. And tabletop wargaming
is an activity that at least exercises the imagination, so I wasn't really
talking about people like yourself.

It could be argued that the idea of having a hobby is some outmoded bourgeois
affectation, an imitation of the Victorian idle rich. So, neither do I want to
impose the necessity of having a hobby on anyone else. But I do feel the lack
of one in my own life.

------
edw519
1\. Hacker News

2\. Bridge (I wonder why more hackers don't play; it's the perfect game for
us.)

3\. Foosball

4\. Boggle

5\. Eating, drinking, & traveling with friends & family

6\. The Pittsburgh Steelers

7\. Drinking beer, preferably along with one of the 6 above

8\. Fitness/diet (when I'm not doing #7 above)

~~~
jmatt
_2\. Bridge_

Replace with Poker for the younger hackers.

I know a lot of hackers that play Poker. I imagine it's dependent on age. It's
en vogue for the 20 somethings to be a respectable poker player. I just don't
know anyone in their teens - 30s that plays bridge. I'd love to give it a try.

~~~
edw519
_I imagine it's dependent on age._

I don't think so.

Poker is _very_ popular now among all age groups.

Bridge is not very popular among anyone except maybe senior citizens.

I've played a lot of both and there is no comparison - 2 completely different
games. I think bridge is much more consistent with hacker-like thinking.
(Maybe I'll say why in another post some day.)

 _I'd love to give it a try._

Then do it!

If you have a hacker mind, i.e., you like puzzles, logic, and problem solving,
and even want to take it a step higher by building your own "framework" to
attack those problems, you'll probably love it. But beware, you may end up
like me, a bridge fanatic without a partner because no one else plays much
these days.

If you ever want to give it a try, contact me off-line and maybe we can play
on-line sometime.

------
DanielBMarkham
Aside from programming and start-ups, right?

\- Listening to college lectures on my i-Pod (variety of topics)

\- Photography (especially HDR and low-light stuff)

\- Muisc (keyboard, MIDI, synth)

\- Blogging

\- Traveling

\- Reading

\- Watching and participating in political discussions

\- Hiking

~~~
matt1
Are the college lectures available for the public? If so, where do you get
them?

~~~
DanielBMarkham
There are two. The first is an older series - can't seem to remember it off-
hand. I'll repost when I get home this weekend.

The one I use all the time is the Teaching Company <http://www.teach12.com>

I bet I've gone through at least 15 of their courses so far. Maybe more. Great
stuff -- in all kinds of topics. Right now I'm listening to a 36-hour
philosophy of science course for my morning workouts and a 18-hour history of
the reformation in Europe course for when I'm on airplanes.

I did their "Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd Edition"
last summer and had a blast.
[http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=470&...](http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=470&pc=Philosophy%20and%20Intellectual%20History)

But fair warning -- it takes an acquired taste. I found the first set
difficult to listen to, since I had gotten so used to history channel/MTV type
science. I like the lecture format much better now that I've grown accustomed
to it.

Also -- I have the history of languages lecture DVDs which is in my to-do
list. As you can see, I'm a fan.

~~~
froo
I never realised that stuff like this was available, thanks for the link.

I have just ordered some stuff to give it a try while I'm on my exercise bike
in the mornings.

------
froo
\- I play a bit of tabletop miniatures wargaming, I enjoy it more than chess
as the games are generally less serious, yet more social

\- I like to read - most often you can find me reading non-fiction books,
currently reading "Dont Make Me Think" by Steve Krug

\- I enjoy to BBQ and having friends over for a good meal.

\- I code, I'm working on something currently that I'm considering applying to
YC with (I'm unsure though) thats being built utilising the Django framework.

\- I used to play mmo's a lot (generally the Everquest series) until I figured
out how much time I spent on those games on average.... I no longer play mmos
as a result.

------
joshwa
Hmmn, photography seems to be popular. I do food/travel photography:

<http://joshwand.com/food/> (though I actually make some money on this, so
don't know if it qualifies as a hobby)

Flight Simulation (X-Plane)

Cooking (I've taken up real BBQ lately)

Eating (see: <http://lunchmapr.com> (due for a big refactor))

Gardening

Learning Mandarin

~~~
iamelgringo
Dude, your site just made me so hungry.

~~~
joshwa
thanks!

------
Tamerlin
Photography, mainly landscape (large format) and macro (digital) --
<http://pbase.com/Tamerlin> (I do aspire to professional status as a fine art
photographer)

Hiking -- goes well with the photography

Martial arts

Film making, specifically in special effects

As for the reasons, all of them give me more opportunity for intellectual
challenge and creativity, and hiking and martial arts are also good for
physical health.

Martial arts is also good for stress relief ;)

------
Anon84
Reading and Photography. I'm nowhere near cool enough to be a painter so I
have to let the camera take care of the painting for me.

------
eru
Unicycling, juggling: Very geeky and still impresses 'normal' people. In
contrast to math - another hobby of mine.

Board games are nice as well.

------
noodle
1) hacking. i have a fulltime job that lets me play with projects on the side.
both hardware and software stuff.

2) fencing. sport/olympic fencing. great sport, i like it, and i'm a national
and occasional international level competitor.

3) martial arts. not the same as fencing. used to teach for a living, still
like to learn.

4) gaming. i've enjoyed a MMORPG or FPS in my time.

------
ALee
As a startup (with the little little amount of time):

1) Brewing Beer 2) Watching Arrested Development (or Battlestar Galactica)
during dinner 3) Playing Rock Band, or sometimes jamming on musical
instruments

Personally:

1) Any physical activity- something with achievement or competition is always
nice, MMA is nice 2) Meeting new people 3) Reading about politics 4) Rarely
blogging

------
rms
Posting here

~~~
edw519
Reading rms's posts

------
cousin_it
Music: guitar, singing, beatboxing. Foreign languages. Origami.

------
Parthon
1\. Programming 2\. Playing computer games 3\. Bowling 4\. Playing Piano 5\.
French! 6\. Cycling 7\. Travel 8\. Exercise 9\. Watching Movies - they have to
be good though

------
nolasimon
i play badminton twice a week at my local badminton club. it's awesome.
remember playing badminton in gym class? fun, right? go to your local club and
watch a high level game. ask for some beginning pointers, how to hold the
racket, etc. and give it a shot. you'll have fun i bet.

------
mannylee1
-Mountain Biking -following the Startup Scene -following the Cleveland Browns -Going to the Beach

------
darjen
Swing dancing (lindy hop), Playing the piano/keyboard, Reading libertarian
articles.

------
wynand
1\. Programming

2\. Leaning new (human) languages

3\. Hiking

4\. Philosophy and politics

5\. Extended conversations with good friends about 1, 2 or 4

6\. Gardening (a bit)

------
drewcrawford
1\. Coding (it's a hobby too!)

2\. Music (piano/keyboard/vocal)

3\. Arguing (politics/economics)

4\. Reading (to support #3)

------
raghus
1\. Travel & Photography

2\. Astronomy (I have a small telescope)

3\. Birdwatching

------
chris_l
Reading, traveling, zazen, going out and sports

------
wlievens
Board games, computer games, sci-fi.

Geek stuff :-)

------
niels_olson
fulltime: medical student, husband, dad

parttime:

\- learning the deep magic

\- the community projects where I practice what little neophyte magic I know

\- cycling

\- photography

------
thisisnotmyname
1\. Cycling 2\. Tennis 3\. Chess

------
steamboiler
1\. Miniature Wargaming

2\. Reading

3\. Playing the Piano

4\. Traveling

5\. Trekking

