What are you into apart from games?

Not Games
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I’ve got a 3 year old (birthday today! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:) and a 6 month old, so while I could crack out a pretty good list of interests, what I’m into is pretty limited.

I am a ravenous, omnivorous consumer of music—but I have not been a collector of media for quite some time now. I dumped a literal room full of vinyl for streaming once the bitstream got listenable. I spend a good portion of my Fridays scouring new releases without fail.

Winter in the Pacific Northwest sort keeps me a bit dormant, but I’m very excited to dust off my trusty Fuji camera again. Chronic nerve damage killed drawing for me (I studied fine arts through university), so photography has kept me sane ever since.

That’s literally about it right now!

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You’re not the only one.

I haven’t had the Schlenkerla dopplebock, but I enjoyed their smoked Marzen.

Sadly, I had to give up (most) beer two years ago thanks to finding out I have Celiac Disease–and have largely given up alcohol at this point–but smoked beers, Islay scotch (and other smoked whisk(e)y) mezcal, etc., I liked all those.

I loved drinking things that tasted like a campfire. If smoked or smokey was a descriptor on a drink I was getting it.

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I’m like a magpie for hobbies and interests - I pick them up, get really into them for a while, and then drop them for years before starting again. Gaming is actually one of the longer-standing ones.

Currently:

Reading - mostly non-fiction right now but I expect I’ll flip back to fiction at some point. I will at least attempt to read almost anything.

Embroidery/cross-stitch - I’m exactly half way through a series of patterns based on the planets. Jupiter is a bit unwieldy… I got side-tracked by a Handmaid’s tale-inspired design which I will probably finish first.

Gardening (I think everyone knew this already) - with associated occasional dives into horticulture/permaculture/botany

Kickboxing/weightlifting

Video games - my favourite genres are turn-based strategy, point and click adventure, city building/simulation, and survival (Frostpunk, Surviving Mars, etc.)

History - especially social and economic history. I’m currently reading On Savage Shores: How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe which is a history of the “Columbian exchange” centred on the experiences of indigenous people.

Psychology/human behaviour - particular things like cognitive biases and their impact on how people act.

Systems thinking - I’m doing a PGDip in this at the moment

Intermittently:

  • Climbing
  • Badminton
  • Squash
  • Playing the cello extremely badly
  • Glass painting
  • Weather and climate - my PhD is in this area but I’m not very up to date any more
  • Gliding/light aviation - my license is very expired, but I’d like to pick it up again at some point
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Haven’t read this one. Sounds interesting.

It always blows my students’ minds when I tell them that the first thing that happened when the Pilgrims arrived in America is two local Native Americans walked up to them and asked for beer in perfect English. I use that as a starting point to get at the bigger idea that the Pilgrims arrive in 1620, which is over 100 years after Columbus’s first voyage in 1492 and a lot has changed already. Europeans aren’t “new” to America anymore and those specific two Native Americans had already been to Europe and back.

I suppose I’m into history as well, but you don’t really think of your job as something you’re into. I do go to museums/ historic sites and read history books/ articles not strictly related to either my teaching or areas of research.

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If you’re not into the thing you do for your job, that’s kind of sad, if sometimes unavoidable.

(I can spend all day coding for work and then, for a change of pace, do some coding in the evening.)

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True. If you’re lucky, you have a career you picked because it interested you. Just don’t usually think of it that way. There’s hobbies and interests then there’s work as different categories.

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Yeah, I’m interested in my job and will research latest techniques and things but I wouldn’t call it a hobby.

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I studied computer science because I like mathy and logical puzzles and coding is an endless puzzle. But then for most of the past 20 years my job/s made me feel coding was a chore to be avoided while not at work. Corollary: coding is just a very small part of software development.

Only very recently did I begin to have fun with coding again: I blame @RogerBW especially his posts on the Advent of Code and my young colleague who suggested I stop griping about the dangers of AI and make an account to see for myself what the “ganze Gedöns” was about with ChatGPT.

I think a lot of us start out enjoying the things we want to do for work. But then comes the “a job is a job is a job is a job we do so we can earn money and live” and really I find any hobby one tries to monetize becomes less fun immediately. But maybe that’s just me.

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You guys are probably aware of my other interests as it’s mostly just books and music, which I post about regularly in other threads.

Reading, it’s mostly SFF - leaning more towards fantasy than Sci-Fi, as just being in space or having robots or aliens aren’t enticing features for me. Then again, high fantasy is also uninteresting to me.

I read a lot of comics. Used to be mostly Marvel, but I’m not very up-to-date there as I’ve got tired of constant event interruptions and a constant need to focus on old characters. Instead I’ve recently fallen down a rabbit hole of (mostly yuri) manga (something I’d previously avoided because … well, I’m sure you’re aware of what the average manga/anime fan is like).

I used to write and actually made various attempts at novel-writing, but they got abandoned when it came to any kind of editing. And working full-time drained my energy for anything like that. My creative output these days is mostly just running (and occasionally playing) RPGs.

Music: I like a lot of different stuff, but mostly rock/metal. Top genres would probably be doom metal and anything that’s experimental, but still coherent as actual songs.

I was in a few bands a long time ago and also recorded my own stuff, but didn’t keep it up. I keep trying to pick it up again, but I’m out of practice and don’t get very far.

Other than all that, I occasionally play video games (though I’m not very good at them, and rarely play anything particularly recent) and I got into doing jigsaws during the pandemic. There’s currently a jigsaw of the cover of the 5e Monster Manual on my table waiting to be finished.

Oh, and the other day I bought a Gundam model for the first time (as I’ve been watching the new series, which is the first Gundam show I’ve watched - see my earlier comments).

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I have a few gundams! They are so much fun to build!! But then I’m conflicted because I want to build more but don’t want to display them haha

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I play guitar, because I’m white, male, and lack a personality. I hate playing in front of people, it’s just a kind of personal meditation I guess. Playing songs I like listening to a nice connection to music in a way that writing out your favourite book word for word probably doesn’t. :joy: Got 8 or 9 guitars plus maybe 30 pedals? I buy one every once in a while and it all accumulates. Metal boxes designed to be stamped on last a long time. I try not to think about how much it all adds up to.

Immunology nerd. HLA and KIR immunogenetics is my specialism (hence the name). The KIR world is pretty small, but it’s the most exciting area of immunology for me. And everyone in the community is super friendly.
Everyone kinda ignored it as simple and boring until the late 90s (no one cares about innate immunology), but turns out it’s quite dynamic and interesting. Got a big paper coming up that could save some lives, so excited to see it published. Have to do research in my spare time because clinical work takes up my day. Would like to do more research but in the NHS at the moment it’s a struggle. LOLZ at covid twitter. Those folks are crazy.

Music. Go to a lot of gigs and used to go to a fair few festivals, except with lockdown and all it’s been a while since my last one. It’s just nice innit? I miss Glastonbury, tickets are too difficult these days.

Comedy. I go to at least a few comedy gigs a month. Again, used to go to Edinburgh Fringe, but with 2 dogs it’s been difficult. Would like to go back next year if I can. Maybe this year. Will see how dogcare turns out.

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I have a number of Gundam models, pretty much every 1/144 and most 1/100 scale from Gundam Wing, including Endless Waltz, and then sone other random ones. I also have the Perfect Grade Endless Waltz Wing Zero Custom, which is really damn impressive looking. And I have some unbuilt ones laying around, including the shiny gold plated Hyaku Shiki from…Z Gundam? Been a while since I have followed Gundam stuff, so I forget. Sadly everything has been boxed up for years as we have nowhere to display anything.

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I’ve got a friend who’s very into it. When I showed them the kit I’d just bought, their response was to gush about the other models from the new series they want, and then lament that they still have 3 unbuilt models waiting :laughing:

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Oh what a fun thread, sorry to be getting to it late!

Let’s see:

Video Games, that’s a big one. Mostly PC thesedays and mostly indie/smaller studio stuff. I can’t recall the last triple A game I played - that market feels a little stagnant to me. But I’ve been loving the just released Cassette Beasts and generally vibe with turn based RPG/Strategy stuff.

Reading, this one has spurts of activity and stretches of not heaps of reading. My day gig as a pastor can involve a lot of reading, so sometimes I’m not in the mood. But when I am I tend to churn through stuff. Most of it is fantasy/sci fi stuff - recently read Piranesi, which was great! And I’ve been quite taken by the Rivers of London series, though I’m a bit behind. I used to read a lot of classics, but they can sometimes feel like work (looking at you Dickens! Though he also wrote A Christmas Carol, so sunshine to every shower, I guess). Crime and Punishment is one of my all time faves from that sphere.

Booze, I like a lot of it - beer, cocktails etc. But my fave is probably whisky. Scotch most of the time and my taste goes heavy and peaty. I work through my bottles pretty slowly at home, though. I was part of a club for awhile there but I think I got 2 bottles in 12 months? So not really worth it.

Music, here’s one I definitely do everyday. I like a lot of stuff, but my fave artists are Sufjan Stevens and The Mountain Goats. I guess I like interesting and thoughtful lyricism and a creative approach to the music side of things. Lately I’ve been listening to Sparks a fair bit, after watching the Ed Wright doco on Netflix (which I only intially watched cause he’s one of my favourite directors, having never heard of the band before then).

Cartoons, particularly clever ones - just finished watching the finale of The Owl House, which was excellent. But you can probably trace a web from Adventure Time, to Steven Universe, to Gravity Falls, to Kipo and so on. All of which I’ve loved. I also really dig Bob’s Burgers and my wife and I are big fans of Bluey, which is an excellent kids cartoon that even folks without kids (like us!) can really get into.

History, big fan of history, so I often find myself diving into particular periods or topics. Often through one specific lens. I’ve been reading a bit recently about the origins of Cinco de Mayo, and the whole messy history of Mexican sovereignty - it’s super interesting, in short (and just a little bleak, as life often is). Tasting History is a youtube show I really enjoy, focusing on food history - but it’s meticulously reseached and well presented, which I dig.

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My favourite moment from Bluey is in ‘Flatpack’.

That cut deep, having taken loads of advice from them.

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It’s gotta be one of our top exports by now! :stuck_out_tongue:

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Surely not bigger than…

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And other venomous wildlife.

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IMG_4584

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Blinks as the camera pans to him Oh, me? Well, I’m glad you asked.

Role Playing Games - very much my gateway to board games, and still a beloved hobby of mine. It’s been a while since I played Dungeons and Dragons but I still have a huge affection for it, and am heartened to see something which I’ve been almost embarrassed to admit I enjoyed for most of my adult life become something close to (if not actually) mainstream. I love board games, but I adore role playing games. Call of Cthulhu will always be my love, but I have many mistresses, as the kids say.

Reading - I’m human, and of course this has tailed off since the Internet happened, but I still love diving into great stories. My first loves were The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings; now I’m a teeny bit older I read more fact than fiction (goodness me some strange and fascinating things have happened in the real world!) and I love SF more than fantasy, but I still can get sucked into a good book when I least expect it.

Writing - occasionally writing feels more like a job than a hobby, but nothing is quite so satisfying as seeing your work in print, and writing fills a creative urge like nothing else I’ve experienced. My current work in progress is slightly unusual for me (I was comissioned to write a textbook), and has been in some ways more difficult than writing fiction, but has been very satisfying and I’m looking forward to writing more fiction after it. I am not great, I have discovered, at writing about other people or other experiences, but I am really quite good at writing very honestly about myself - this is when I feel most relaxed and most at home writing, so I’m considering writing very honestly about my life for the last few years, as difficult though this may be. Regardless, I’m excited to write again after my 2020 hiatus. that was quite a year, wasn’t it?

History - I love stories. History has all the best stories that actually happened. There’s always something more to learn.

Video games - if I wasn’t trouble by the need for money, or a conscience, I’d spend my whole time playing games, and video games make it easy and relaxing to do so. I love too many to count (see ‘Wot have I been playing’) but I’m currently sunk into Marvel: Midnight Suns.

Walking - and Geocaching when I get a sec. I love just being able to explore places on foot, so much less stressful than driving. Long walks in the country or exploring new cities and not getting murdered are amongst my favourite times of all.

Being a dad - No, wait, please don’t leave! Yes, I’m aware this is no achievement at all (what do you need to make a human? Two humans) and no judgement on anyone who isn’t a parent - I was extremely extremely reluctant to have children, and I am pretty sure I would have felt completely happy and fulfilled without them. But I have, honestly, never experienced ‘unconditional love’ before we had the kids; a feeling of love disconnected from the daily vicissiitudes of life. It sounds like a bad thing typing it here but it’s weirdly liberating and warm and… I don’t know. This is probably my genes talking and I’m conscious of sounding like someone that I used to find very frustrating, but honestly for me, being a dad is a quiet warm feeling in the back of my mind which pulls me up and out from some of my darkest moments (although, to be fair, some of those moments have been caused by the kids). Being a parent is exhausting, stressful, occasionally horrible and very very hard, but it’s also been, on balance, worth it. Very much so.

Craft beer - yes, I’m sorry, I drink a lot of IPAs and hazy IPAs and bizarre beers. I like the taste and they make me happy, and opening a can of beer to find it unexpectedly green whilst we were recording an RPG session was one of the happiest memories I’ve had for a long time.

Ukulele playing - oh God, I’m awful at this, but it relaxes me and makes me happy, so I think it counts as something I’m passionate about. I’m heading to my first ukulele festival in a few months and very much looking forward to it.

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