What other hobbies to you have?

[Knight Rider]

So I’m sure we all don’t just play video games all day haha. So what other hobbies do you enjoy? Whenever I find the time, I work on my 89 Camaro. Has been my project car since I graduated in 2010. I also like to work with Papercraft models that I can use to make stop motion videos with. Now and then I’ll get a HO scale model for my model trains as well now and then.

[wolfpaw]

Really cool! My grandfather was really into trains too and I have his old train set that was from like the 1930s or something, it's a huge antique.

Apart from coaster games, I like to play other games too but I also make some digital art and play instruments - I'm big into music! At some point, I will have to post my 3D renders and digital art that I've made before other than my RCT stuff.

[Wowman]

I love photography, especially nature and animal pics. I also have tons of DIY projects that I guess you can say remodeling is a hobby for me. Many moons ago I was a practicing magician as well, so always will love that art.

 

[Plokoon111]

My biggest modern hobby I would say is playing and recording music. Through drumming, singing,guitar and such. I actually put out a album during the pandemic which was a lot of fun. Other hobbies I like is weather, architecture and football. 

[Kablary]

1 hour ago, Plokoon111 said:

Other hobbies I like is weather

So are you responsible for all the storms blasting the east coast right now? 

[AstroTron]

Oh I love the model trains. My other hobby is building with LEGO. I build dioramas, sculptures, and vehicles. At the moment I'm rebuilding my workshop and organizing all my bricks. 

[Kablary]

For me, it's a bit of a hodpodge of hobbies. I was down a VERY deep rabbit hole of home theater building for a good 6 - 7 years....it's probably been my favorite "activity" outside of Halloween and spooky shenanigans. I went ALL OUT back in 2020 and bought two massive triple-18" subwoofers from PowerSound Audio and a JVC x790r projector in anticipation of building out my dream theater space (render below). But then those plans never materialized and I sold off all the good stuff that wasn't getting used 

I curretnly run a 7.4.2 system with JBL Studio 5 speakers, two different dual-driver PSA subs a 77" LG OLED, so I'm very content with that 

[wolfpaw]

2 hours ago, Plokoon111 said:

Other hobbies I like is weather

Another weather nerd! I'm a big weather fan too, it's all super interesting to me.

49 minutes ago, OldBones said:

For me, it's a bit of a hodpodge of hobbies. I was down a VERY deep rabbit hole of home theater building for a good 6 - 7 years....it's probably been my favorite "activity" outside of Halloween and spooky shenanigans. I went ALL OUT back in 2020 and bought two massive triple-18" subwoofers from PowerSound Audio and a JVC x790r projector in anticipation of building out my dream theater space (render below). But then those plans never materialized and I sold off all the good stuff that wasn't getting used 

I curretnly run a 7.4.2 system with JBL Studio 5 speakers, two different dual-driver PSA subs a 77" LG OLED, so I'm very content with that 

I remember you used to show me this back then, it never happened!? You were super excited about it 

[Wabigbear]

No hobbies to compare to any of those above. 

As some may know, I'm an American living in Brazil, so a good part of my time is spent trying to mentally translate everything from Portuguese to English and back.  While I can read Portuguese fairly well, and can understand spoken Portuguese, me actually speaking it is still rather difficult.  I'm of the type where someone shares a joke and five minutes later I laugh after finally figuring it out!  It doesn't help that we mostly speak English at home - my Brazilian partner is fluent in English!

While I'm retired (I did so at a tender age of course...), I also take care of our English Cocker Spaniel Bu, who, although he is only four years old, has severe cataracts in both eyes that they were not able to operate on and has now about 90% blind.  We live in a highrise downtown and it just takes a little longer to go down 18 floors and then out for his 8-9 bathroom /sniffari breaks dodging all the people each day.  But he's worth every minute.

I did spend quite a bit of time figuring out how to use Blender and the TMTK Editor to create items for Planet Coaster...665 items so far.  I'm like the OSUDenny of PC (old-timers will get that reference...).  Some of them are even worth downloading!

 

Mr Bu (which is short for "Buddy") at Doggie Day Care with his homies...

 

Edited June 28, 2023 by Wabigbear

[Plokoon111]

On 6/28/2023 at 3:53 PM, OldBones said:

So are you responsible for all the storms blasting the east coast right now? 

Oh noo haha. I wouldn't say I create the weather. 

[RobertaME]

Other hobbies? You mean there ARE other hobbies? :^Þ

Seriously though, I've done a lot of mods to games over the years. The original The Sims... SimCity 4... but not much since my boys were born. (not enough time... does being a stay-at-home Mom count as a hobby or a career? LOL!)

I used to play the viola back in High School. I even got a chance to play Handle's Messiah for the local Community Orchestra one year when I was only 16... playing alongside collage kids 4-5 years older as well as full adults that were old enough to be my parents or grandparents! Unfortunately, Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (first diagnosed when I was only 2 years old) took that from me before I hit 20. :^/

My father recognized my ability with math and began teaching me electronics when I was only 8, (he was a avionics repair and maintenance technician for the local Air Guard, servicing F-4s until they were retired and so did he) and it became a bit of a hobby for me. Back in my early days of using computers I even built an 8-bit DAC and turned my C-128 into a digital audio recorder... two years before Creative Labs came out with their first Sound Blaster! Not bad, huh? My latest project is my whole-home battery backup system that I'm building to add on to the PV system we bought about 7 years ago. It's complex stuff because you have to take the house physically off the grid if the power goes out, (so you don't electrocute some poor lineman trying to get the power back on) yet still monitor the grid to know when the power does come back on and only reconnect AFTER the power stabilizes... so it's a long term project while I get all the parts in place. (maybe later this year) The system I'm building lets me monitor each battery in each bank both separately and individually, so I know if any battery goes bad.

Speaking of my old Commodore, I dabbled in coding back in those days and even wrote a sprite-based version of Lunar Lander in 8502 Machine Language on it before my father got his first IBM XT... and I got that when he upgraded to a 286 (at my suggestion) and then I get the 286 when he got his 486 DX-33. After that I seriously got into PC hardware and even had my own computer repair business, REComputing, for a short time before I settled on my career in Statistical Data Analysis.

I also am into table-top role-playing games and have a weekly game I play with my SO, our two grown boys, and four of our friends. We host the games at our house and I GM. We have a dedicated Game Room with a big gaming table and a big screen TV hooked up to a PC for maps, tracking player info, putting up images for the payers to see, and background sounds/music to set the mood for the session. We're just ending a campaign arc that's lasted years and I'm wondering what they're going to want to do next!

For a time I was into Kerbal Space Program because it gave me something I could do with my boys. I've been a big space nut ever since I was a little girl home sick from school with the flu and got to watch the first Space Shuttle launch live, so making rockets that actually worked was fun!

Other than that I do target shooting with my father, boys, and SO. Don't get out for that as much as I'd like, because it's such an expensive hobby! (ammo is NOT cheap!) My favored weapon is my S&W 686 that used to belong to a local Deputy Sheriff. (including the original leather holster and speed-loader pouch) I can put 17 out of 18 on target at 20 yards in less than 30 seconds using my speed-loaders... so I'm not too bad! (not as good as my father... to be fair he was in the USMC, though!)

I think that covers MOST of my hobbies... the ones I'm willing to talk about, anyway! ;^)

[Kablary]

 

14 hours ago, RobertaME said:

Other hobbies? You mean there ARE other hobbies? :^Þ

Holy SMOKES! You've seen and done and gone and had it all! Really loved this deep dive into your hobbies. I think my favorite was the part about your dedicated "gaming" room! While I haven't personally had the pleasure of participating in any table/role playing games, the thought of having such an immersive environment to do it in sounds spectacular!

[RobertaME]

4 hours ago, Kablary said:

I think my favorite was the part about your dedicated "gaming" room!

It's not really a dedicated gaming room, through. It's also our laundry room, library, entry room, and where we keep our bulk freezer. Really, it's just a converted two-car garage, (the cars now park in our carport) but it turned out nice with beautiful plush carpet and full HVAC. (of course, being my choice, it's done in shades of my favorite color... pink!) It's nice though to have a room where we can always game without disrupting the rest of the house.

Here's a quick pic I took of it from next to the front door. :^)

The big table is our gaming table with 8 chairs. (you can see one up-side-down after my SO and I fixed it... the glue is still setting but it should be stronger than ever now) The laundry closet is off to the left of the image near the back door. (it's behind two large mirrored sliding doors, which makes the room look even bigger than it is) For scale, the TV in back is 52". (it's also where the boys have a hookup for their laptops or game consoles) The PC is in the cabinet below the TV along with spare toner cartridges for the laser printer that's behind the TV. It's hooked up by WI-fi to the central router that connects the printer and PC to my main file server and entertainment center in the living room with the big 4k TV. (the one I use for playing RCT3!) That's where we store all our movies and TV shows that we've ripped from the DVDs and BRs you can see some of at the end caps of the bookshelves. (about 1,300 movies and 10,000 TV show episodes that are available to anyone on the network)

Speaking of my network, it's all but bullet-proof from anyone trying to crack in. Wireless devices cannot change the router settings... only hard-wired Ethernet connections can change it... and wireless devices can't even access the network unless they've been individually white-listed... and the network name isn't broadcast, so you'd have to know that it's there, what its name is, and what the pass-code is!

I also dabbled in making our home security system. Multiple HD night-vision cameras covering every entrance to the house are hardwired to a central DVR that records to a hidden server with enough memory for a 3-month loop, so even if someone were to break in, we'd have video of it that they couldn't steal because they'd have to know where it was hidden. (it connects to the router in read-only mode, so all you can do is monitor it or play back a recording from a connected device) You can't even disable a camera without being seen because every camera is covered by at least one other camera! Twice after we moved in we got video of people steeling from us (someone stole our older son's bike) or our neighbor (stole their TV) and got them turned in to the police. Now there hasn't been a break-in in our neighborhood in over 6 years.

So I guess you can add "home security systems" and "file server design" to my list of hobbies... but those kind of dove-tail in with my electronics and computers hobbies, so... ::shrug::

Oh! I can't believe I forgot to mention that I also write fiction. I've written four full-length novels (one being an autobiography) with a 5th half done... as well as a novella and a comedic short story. It's mostly romance / coming-of-age stories with some fantasy elements, but my current novel is historical fiction set in 1860s Nevada. (I grew up in rural Nevada as a 3rd-generation native, so I know its history very well) I don't really have any plans to publish them, though... it's amateurish at best. (my SO is the actual novelist in the family)

I'll hush now! :^Þ

[Kablary]

Only a novelist (amateur or otherwise) would come forward with so much information about the projects they're passionate about! I super enjoy reading all the details, honestly. You don't have to confirm or deny, but I'm willing to bet there's at least 4 or 5 physical boobytraps for anyone who thinks they can get past your security system 

[RobertaME]

I think I'll take your comment about my style of verbose communication as a compliment! (I'm sure it was intended that way) :^)

And no... no traps! :^Þ

[wolfpaw]

This is super cool, can you be my mom? I would love to have a mom like you and have a game room and play table top games 

[Plokoon111]

Love the game room! It's your own little cave. 

[Haggath]

Bumping this thread...

I've played guitar for about 20 years now. Posted some videos on YouTube a few years ago.

One of my shorter videos: 

 

[wolfpaw]

We've got loads of musicians and metal fans in this community! Let's all start a band, haha - nice playing!

[iEddiez]

+1 for music!
Guitarist, Bassist and Drummer here!!

[ALT2870]

Main ones that I constantly do are flight sim and off-roading. Also until last year ski pretty often and hoping this year to go more. (Especially now that dropped money on a full pass.) Used to golf more often but usually only a few times a year now day.

Off-roading is a newer one for me. Got an itch to try it out when somebody got a Jeep Renegade. Took it a few places (sometime near the limit) and the bug bit hard enough I ended up getting a 2021 Jeep Gladiator this past June. (I have a 2002 Volvo XC70 which was my first car. No major problems but something seems to be up with the transmission every once in a blue moon so decided to get the Jeep.) Needless to say it is a beast and have off-roaded fairly often this past Summer including a nice trip to the Ouray area in July. The payments are another story...

[Kablary]

On 10/7/2023 at 3:06 PM, ALT2870 said:

Off-roading is a newer one for me.

My boss got a kitted out Bronco Sport last year and still fawns over it like it's his newest child. Planning his off roading trips is his second-favorite activity, only beat by the actual trip itself. So it seems that once you 4-wheel, you ALWAYS 4-wheel. 

[TrimoParks]

Another musician here! Synthesizers, piano, anything with and related to keys.

Other interests include traveling, art history and photography.

[ALT2870]

On 10/11/2023 at 11:02 AM, Kablary said:

My boss got a kitted out Bronco Sport last year and still fawns over it like it's his newest child. Planning his off roading trips is his second-favorite activity, only beat by the actual trip itself. So it seems that once you 4-wheel, you ALWAYS 4-wheel. 

You mean the Escape in disguise?

[Supra G.L.]

Since the question was asked in the thread title, I'm pretty much a video game nerd. Besides coaster games like the RCT trilogy, I like Mario games like the 2D and 3D platformers, Mario Kart, some Mario Party and Mario sports games like Mario Tennis. I also like some racing games like Need For Speed and San Francisco Rush, Super Smash Bros, rhythm games like Dance Dance Revolution and Project DIVA and some cozy games.

I also like creating stuff with the games I play, hence why I play RCT. That's why I like to use StepMania/OutFox for creating steps for songs and use medias like Mario Paint, WarioWare: D.I.Y. and Notessimo to make music. All of that makes me enjoy doing media stuff like basic music, image and video editing.

Outside of computer stuff, not much. I like good food and cooking (despite being difficult with food), playing tennis and doing semi-private gym sessions for social, fun and health.