Hobbytown

[Admin Dirk]

Originally Posted by prometheous100

I collect and use fountain pens. Don't do anything fancy with them, my favorite nib is an extra fine steel nib that is almost indistinguishable from a fine ball point once the ink dries, but it is nice to not have to put any pressure on the page and just let the pen glide.

Pen related observation: (fountain pen adjacent)

One way to know you are getting older is when you figure out that you have favorite pens... that some just work better, all the time, and have qualities you want to always have in a pen. When you start to actively hunt down or horde a certain style of pen (even cheap one) just because they always work, are always smooth, never skip, always start with the first stroke of the letter, never clump, etc..

A second sign of maturity is when you start throwing away all the other pens you have collected from dentist offices and conferences, because you realize they are frustrating pieces of garbage and you just want a pen that works, when you need it to work.

[Squeak]

I realized I didn't post anything here on my hobbies. So I guess it is time to regale you with the wonders of the life of Squeak.

I do enjoy eating and drinking. Not only do I enjoy them, I am quite talented in both categories. I cook as well, but primarily because I like to eat what I cook.

I'm a sports fan, but don't spend much time watching the NFL, MLB or NBA except during playoffs. Definitely Go Stars!hockey fan - I go to 7-8 games a year... I like to watch, Boomer Soonercollege football and Got to go to the Masters last year!golf as well.

I also try to play golf once a week, weather and wife permitting. I'm an 8 handicap and working my way into double digits, but used to be a 6.

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As far as pens go, I focus on quantity over quality. I always take the pens from hotel rooms when I travel so I never run out. But honestly, I rarely write anyway -- I would prefer to type.

[Raylorne]

I used to have hobbies. Now I have a Nearlyfour year old child.

I enjoyed painting WH40k models. I’ve got a few thousand points of Nids that are almost all painted. I’ve played a few times. I fancy myself a fairly decent amateur photographer, and I enjoy playing video games.

[Birched]

Thinking about what I've spent time on over the past year, my hobbies are

• this community,
• Tai Chi / internal martial arts (I am a certified instructor though I don't teach much; I get together every week with a couple of other instructors to train and for their good company),
• gourmet mushroom foraging and growing (I've done indoor hobby grows of a couple of kinds of oyster mushroom, lion's mane, bear's head tooth, shiitake, and chestnut mushrooms this year; I did an experiment with a few logs plugged with oyster, lion's mane, and shiitake that have yet to bear fruit (but maybe this spring?); I have wine cap mushrooms growing in a straw bed outside and in our strawberry patch),
• photography, mostly birds (I also have many, many pictures of mushrooms, but those are mostly to help with identification) and
• making food that I enjoy eating (including playing with some at home fermentation, which this year included pickles, kefir, and kombucha; also made some spruce tip syrup in the spring that was amazing.)

EDIT: I also have a couple of little very-on-the-edge-of-their-zone pawpaw trees that I have been tending to for a few years... I guess watching them and wondering whether they will ever bear fruit is a hobby, also?

[Admin Dirk]

@Birched: you would have liked my 5 acres in Florida

Lots and lots of mushrooms... including indigo milk cap among the edibles. No Morels, though... always found those in the Ozarks as a kid.

[Birched]

Originally Posted by Admin Dirk

@Birched: you would have liked my 5 acres in Florida

Lots and lots of mushrooms... including indigo milk cap among the edibles. No Morels, though... always found those in the Ozarks as a kid.

Sounds great! I think I would have!

[orcbane]

I collect, read, play, and design TTRPGs. My print collection includes over 100 individual RPGs, not including splatbooks.

I play fantasy baseball, especially of the dynasty variety (which includes speculating on prospects that have yet to make the big leagues) and recently dipped my toe back into baseball card collecting after nearly two decades out of the hobby. 2022 was a learning year, and now I have a bunch of cards I don't want. I'm hoping to sell off what I can of the cards I don't want and move forward in a more focused manner.

I watch, consume, contemplate, rate, and yammer about horror movies. I love horror movies. I also enjoy martial arts, space opera and fantasy genres of film, as well as all-around great cinema. However, I only co-host a podcast about horror movies. They are the best.

I read SFF novels and short stories, as well as books of poetry, bronze age history, and philosophy.

I occasionally attempt writing SFF fiction, but I tend to stall out in the brainstorming/outlining/worldbuilding phase. I am currently in that phase for a new project that participating in Iron DM inspired me to pursue. I figured "if I can successfully enter a semi-legible submission to that every two weeks, I could probably write a novel in a year or two." I have yet to write a single word of prose for this project, but I've worked my way through several outlining blocks that had given me pause over the holidays.

I write poetry, especially haiku and senryu, which I've found surprisingly fulfilling. I try to write one a day, with the goal of having written 10,000 sometime around retirement. I'm currently at a little over 700. You can find those on Twitter @Haiku10k

I work in the worlds of SEO, content marketing, and copywriting. I've recently found myself spending more of my non-work time pursuing information on these topics, like some sort of crappy career guy. Gross!

I've been playing Counter Strike since 2002. I haven't gotten better at it in quite some time, but I enjoy the level of play I'm at. I'm scaling back how much I play this year to refocus that time on writing fiction... which I should be doing instead of this...

[Admin Dirk]

One of my hobbies... I share this with my wife
https://angelsminiworld.weebly.com/


In my other spare time, I tend to do 1/6th scale military figures, specializing (now) in members of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy (from 1850 to 1945), a little into the current (Japanese Self Defense Forces), and Pre-1850 Samurai.

[orcbane]

Originally Posted by Admin Dirk

One of my hobbies... I share this with my wife
https://angelsminiworld.weebly.com/

It's kind of hard to get a sense of scale from these photos. You might want to include a real-scale object into the top-most photos.

I suggest a banana for scale.

[DM Tease]

Gaming in general, been playing alot of rocket league lately.
Fishing, homesteading, creating PBP campaigns and worlds, reading, martial arts, skateboarding, and many many more hobbies )

[Dworin]

My main hobby is playing trumpet. I've played in everything from community wind bands to funk/sould bands, symphony orchestra, big band and musical orchestra. Other than that, reading (while comuting which takes about 3 hours/day) and gaming. Used to paint minis but no more space since moving smaller.

[Hellella]

Outside of roleplaying games, I try to find time for re-enactment and medieval living history. Mostly Anglo-Saxon period due to accessibility and it being my partner's primary interest, and Elizabethan England where I often volunteer for a local hall.

In the past I've lost a lot of time to MMO games - despite the fact that I don't really like the gameplay, if I could find a good RP community I was happy. These days I'd much rather work on actually reading all the wonderful medieval/fantasy literature out there rather than just reading about it, though I spend a lot of time on non-fiction history with a slight, possibly voyeuristic focus on the macabre. I've recently finished Crime in Medieval Europe by Trevor Dean and am now working on The Elizabethan Underworld by Gamini Salgado.

[Ildrahil]

In no particular order...

• I enjoy hiking just about anywhere I can I find a place that even remotely resembles the word. But one must always remember, it’s a dangerous business going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.
• Which of course leads to reading. I love to read and I enjoy fantasy and historical fiction the most. But I also enjoy reading history. In fact, on one deployment I took along an 800 page text on the history of the 30 Years War and the guys on my team thought I was a nut...which I am.
• Hunting, I tend to use either a bow or black powder when I go hunting. The only exception is when I go after something large, like elk. I'll use a powerful rifle so I get a quick, clean kill. I always eat what I kill and I will never kill an endangered species or an animal simply for trophy.
• Traveling with Mrs. Ildrahil.

Yes, I save the best for last!

[Pseudonymous]

I've started playing Final Fantasy 14. I tend to avoid mmorpgs because I don't want to bother paying a monthly fee, and I eventually get bored of the free-to-play models (I liked Star Wars: The Old Republic up until the Smuggler's into questline ended and the plot went from "You're a cool smuggler with a nemesis and an interesting solo plotline" to "ok, forget all that stuff and go do generic Save the Galaxy from Evil stuff"). But I picked up the free trial of Final Fantasy XIV last week and oh no it's addicting. The main storyline isn't really anything to write home about (I'm told it doesn't start getting good until like 40+ hours into it) but it has this irritating habit of being compellling, then getting really boring and repetitive, but then gifts you something to get your interest back juuuuust before you decide to quit. Quite devious of it, really.

Game: Hey, go broker a peace deal between this town and this group of plant people.
Me: Ok, cool. Guess I'll walk across the map to the plant people camp. Is there a teleport station or fast travel option nearby?
Game: Nope! Hey, so, the plant people don't like you. Go do some pointless sidequests for them. Then walk all the way back to town, and then all the way back to the plant people camp.
Me: ...ok. It's been like 20 minutes of this. Will they talk to me now?
Game: Yes! They like you!... buuuut the person you need to talk to has disappeared. Go do 5 more sidequests that have nothing to do with this disappearance before you get your next clue!
Me:... ok, this is boring. I'm gonna go play something else now--
Game: HEY KID, DO YOU WANT YOUR OWN GIANT FLUFFY CHOCOBO BIRD THAT YOU CAN RIDE AROUND TO SAVE TIME WHILE TRAVELING? YOU WANNA TEACH THAT CHOCOBO TO FIGHT ALONG SIDE YOU AND BE YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Me: Oh boy, do I!