I need a hobby!

i'm not sure, what normal people normally do.
i heard they would
- read books (those heavy things, made with paper and without display)
- do some sports
- meet some women/men (i can really recommand this one! )
- go out and have fun without any digital gadget

i don't do a lot of those things, so... read a book, that's fun and you have a wide possibility to choose one. just remember: there are other books than manuals!

Remember that finding a hobby can be a hobby itself

Just as long as you don't think of then searching the internet to get information on your chosen hobby otherwise you find yourself spending even more time sat in front of your screen!!

SCUBA DIVING!

First off, if you can show me a 'normal' person I'll eat my hat (if I wore one). You definitely shouldn't strive to be 'normal' but it is healthy to do some activities that don't involve a computer (as hard as that may sound!!).

- Go outside (play a sport, cut/water/watch the grass, wash your car)
(If you don't have your own car, wash someone elses. It's a great way to either make new friends, or get beat up )
- Make a point to do something you would never do (climb a mountain, travel to a far away country, drink old milk. It can change your life (well not the milk part).
- Read a good book
- Learn to play a musical instrument

I've been guilty of not doing enough of the above, but I did drink some old milk the other day, yuck.

If anyone else is like me, just the "Go outside" bit is something I don't do enough of!!

Quote: Originally posted by Hundley
SCUBA DIVING!

Just got back (ok, a week ago) from a 7 day live-aboard in the Turks&Caicos. Had a great time!!

Quote: Originally posted by Peter J. Boettcher
First off, if you can show me a 'normal' person I'll eat my hat (if I wore one).

I'll take that challenge.

Can't mention anyone by name but here's what a "normal" person, say a 20-something professional employee type looks like:

- Often works 10-12 hours/day, with a smile
- Has membership in a well known gym/health club near work and goes there at least 3 times a week
- Plays golf (mostly men) and/or tennis (mostly women), racquet ball too (both genders)
- Routinely goes out to bars with co-workers after work.
- Probably has a bronze sun tan
- Knows how to order sushi
- Can describe all the good bars and clubs in Cancun and Jamaica.
- Drives a Jetta with bike rack on roof

How'd I do?

Hi Mark,

Don't waste your time on useless hobbies, but try to find something to do and learn how to make lots of money. Who knows you may be a millionaire by the time you are 35 years old and retire early and you can enjoy all you want and do all kinds of things or even travel the world in style. It's better to work hard now and enjoy later.

Look at Bill Gates! I think he did the right thing.

Regards,
NSS

Turks&Caicos - nice! Spent some time down south in Bonaire (Venezuela) and Utila (Honduras). Last summer I was a Divemaster on a boat in Ft. Lauderdale - I can't get enough - I love it!

Jaiem,

I think you missed the point, what you might find normal other's find not normal. It's to subjective to clearly define, although I guess there is a popular theory as to what is normal, I thumb my nose at that!

If this was still the eighties you're definition of what is normal runs dangerously close to a definition of a yuppie! Yikes...

Quote: Originally posted by Peter J. Boettcher
If this was still the eighties you're definition of what is normal runs dangerously close to a definition of a yuppie! Yikes...

Might be 20 years later but take my word for it, Yuppies are a live and well. Maybe under a new label, but still there.

Quote: Originally posted by Hundley
Turks&Caicos - nice! Spent some time down south in Bonaire (Venezuela) and Utila (Honduras). Last summer I was a Divemaster on a boat in Ft. Lauderdale - I can't get enough - I love it!

Been to Capt. Don's in Bonaire. It was good.

That was my 3rd trip to T&C. We stayed on the Peter Hughe's Sea Dancer. Had a great time. Diving was so-so, lots of small stuff though we did see some caribbean sharks and eagle rays on each dive. Also got Nitrox certified. That was cool.

what about combining a few things, like

scuba and photography, two hobbies in one, then you could add a third, selling your photos, teaching etc etc.

read a book or peom, + write and enter contests, = write a book

I have lots of hobbies, and have found no matter how small they are, they can get very expensive.

Good Luck

My best hobby now is helping needy people, even just visiting old people in retirement villages can do so much for them, they hardly get any visitors and love to chat about nothing, seeing a smile on their face, knowing you've given them a few minutes of happiness is reward enough. I dont get much free time but try do it when I can.

Play sports!

interestingly enough, i took up computing as a hobby!

try playing a game (sport) you've never played before.

Photography by itself is something I did a while ago. I may pick it up again. I still got my 35mm camera and lenses. It's a fairly cheep hobby, as long as you don't shoot too much film too fast, and already own a camera.

I do live on the Pacific coast, so scuba diving is a possibility. I'd have to take classes or sumthin, but that would be fun to go exploring underwater stuff..

I would love to combine scuba and photography, but that is a bit costly. If I did that, I'd want to buy myself an underwater camera. Quite pricey. I'll look into it.

I don't think I'll be doing any long distance travel. That can get pricey as well. Especially if it becomes an every weekend thing.

Underwater photography gets expensive fast!

Video is interesting, if done right. Pretty easy to do with the audio/video editing hardware available for PC's these days.

However, UW photographers tend to look at the world through a view finder. That is, they have very narrow views (no pun intended) and often over look the beauty of the bigger picture.

Still, if done well it's a great hobby.

I tried the underwater photography for a bit - kind of difficult and definitely expensive. I do think that you miss a lot of what is out there when you are taking pictures - always seems to happen when you bring your camera for small creatures you see the big ones and vise versa!

How about diving for food - try spearfishing or lobster diving or abalone or clams etc etc... you can get out there and dive and then come home and eat what you catch - pretty cool!

I've got a hobby for everyone: see who can buy me the most expensive and best stuff. Send your stuff for judging in sealed brown envelopes to..

Seriously.. why not try out being a DJ? Spinning for me has become a real fun "hobby" and it doesn't take much time.. you just need your turntables and somebody to tell you you suck a lot.

Yeah turntablism is cool but a bit expensive.

First of all you need 2 or 3 of the alltime classic turntable, the Technics SL1200mk2. COSTS: $500

Then you need a mixer and if you want the best of the best you'll have to have the Dateq XTC. COSTS: about $900

Finaly the music:
In Holland records cost about 25 guilders which is about $10. Most of the time only 1 track of that record is spinnable.

So if you want to make a mix on cd (80 min, about 12-25 tracks) it's gonna cost...*opens Windows Calculator* about $120-$250!!

! E X P E N S I V E !

Quote: Originally posted by Hundley
How about diving for food - try spearfishing or lobster diving or abalone or clams etc etc... you can get out there and dive and then come home and eat what you catch - pretty cool!

I've done lobster diving. It's fun, especially at night.

But those critters don't grow naturally with rubber bands on their claws!

Jack, that aint no mixer.

I've worked on sound crew several times for various things. And the stuff I've sat behind were more of this size (25-36 channels). Of course, we had a few more things plugged into it than 2 or 3 turntables. More like duel cassette player, duel CD player, VCR (used with projector), and up to about 20 mics.

Some places would also have a lighting board about as large. You can move Technobeams, turn spots on/off with buttons and sliders. Or you can pre-program routines and hit the "Go" button, and watch the lights do their things. The most Technobeams I've seem at one place was 6.

Found a Technobeam model that looks like the ones I've programmed (once, hehe) with this.

It's fun to work tech crew for plays or whatnot. It's just that there are very few a year.

Quote: Originally posted by Jaiem

I've done lobster diving. It's fun, especially at night.

But those critters don't grow naturally with rubber bands on their claws!

Now that is TRUE!