Need a hobby

[F7]

Looking for some ideas and advice here. I know some of you guys have some pretty cool hobbies and might have been exposed to a broader range of hobbies than myself.

I want to start getting away from the computer and indoors more. My main hobby used to be my motorcycle (http://www.danbouchard.com/?page_id=11&lzkfile=Ducati%2F) but now that I'm married, I sacrificed it for the greater good. Don't want to kill myself and have my wife raise children alone.

Video games are more of an addiction than a hobby and I know that more time to devote to it would toss me back into the world of it head first.

I used to do carpentry and was quite skilled at building furniture but I did all of that in my dads' workshop which had all the room and tools I needed to build whatever piece of furniture I wanted.

So I figured I would look into something that would combine my love of detailed intricate hand-work with technology and started looking into R/C Helicopters. It would allow me to build these complex little machines and also get me outside. I just don't know enough about them. I'm beginning to research them more and more but am afraid that one day I'll be sick of flying helicopters around and around and give up on it.

Any ideas?

Things I've already checked off:

-trains
-R/C cars

[Tai]

By checked off you mean you don't want to try?

Bridude has an R/C helicopter so he could give you some advice on that. I've built a dirt track for my RC trucks, but haven't flown my gas airplane at all. I lost my electric one after about 18 seconds of flight.

I like the outside a lot, so depending on what you have available (goats?):

RC vehicles
drag racing
scuba diving
wind surfing
rock climbing
hiking/walking

indoor
books
instrument
oil painting (can do outdoors too)
writing
sketching

PS. Once you have kids you won't have time for any of that. :)

[Tick]

Scuba diving is awesome and everyone who isn't deathly afraid of the water should try it. The most relaxed I've ever been was 55 feet under water.

Beyond that, I'm personally planning on taking up the drums. I played drums a little back in middle school, but stopped playing because I couldn't really afford it back then. But after spending so much money and time on Rock Band (over $400 at this point, and I have no idea how many hours on the drum kit), I figure it's time I give it another shot. Practice pad, sticks and technique book should arrive this week, I'm hoping to get a practice bass pad and a kick pedal when school ends.

I swear I remember you saying you used to play an instrument (perhaps the drums?). Might consider re-taking up something like that.

[F7]

Yeah the stuff I checked off are things I've ruled out for various reasons.

I would also have to check off drag racing, scuba diving, wind surfing, and rock climbing. While they sound awesome, they would involve traveling too far to partake in to be a hobby; they would be more like a pastime. I'm looking for something I can go outside to a nearby park and do.

As for the indoors stuff, most of those are part of my life already. I absolutely devour books and go through just under a dozen a month, and I write as much as I can whether it be the framework of a script, novelette, or journal. You're right Tick, I am a percussionist and have played drums since I was about 9 years old. I enjoy them but having played them for so long and in so many ways (jazz, played for open mic nights, timpani, etc. for classical concerts, rock in a band, R&B) I feel it's something I've already 'accomplished'. I'm just looking for something new and fresh.

I was thinking about breeding warrior goats but the lack of sufficient property creates a problem. If I had a gorgeous piece of land like you tai, I'd be a bonafide Noah.

I want a purely leisure activity that has no point but to entertain me and has no purpose but to make me happy.

You guys had great ideas and I apologize if it seems like I'm shrugging off your every suggestion but I've been mulling this over for a good month or so and considered quite a number of things already but have marked them off due to either too much involvement of time/money or it would involve traveling too far to be something I can do at the spur of the moment for an hour or three.

[Dg3Nr8]

model cars and helicopters? pfhht. model rockets!

http://www.flyrockets.com/images/levels2.jpg

[Dg3Nr8]

oh, and my second suggestion for you would be building and maintaining a NAS for my in home use.

[Tai]

Fencing?

[Kermit]

Selling stolen goods is illegal Tai.

Maybe some sort of martial art? Yoga?

I'm going to learn how to make maple syrup, but that will only really last you a month or so out of the year.

Perhaps take up fishing.

Or dualing pistols!

[Tai]

Speaking of dueling, I sat in my rocking chair outside the cabin yesterday playing the first part of dueling banjos on my banjo. ;)

[Shadowrat]

Can i add Kayaking?

If you like the water, and exploration type stuff, it's awesome. Kayaks are easy to carry to nearby rivers and lakes on the weekends, and the east coast (i think you live on the east coast) is a kayak nirvana.

[F7]

I had thought about rockets but I want more interaction and let's face it, after launching it and watching it's flight, the fun is over apart from running to retrieve the rocket. It's almost like a glorified game of 'go fetch'.

As for the NAS...oh man, I could think of a million awesome computer based projects I want to undertake but I need to get away from the damn computers. I'd spend the rest of my life in one room working on computer projects.

I'm thinking about fishing too. I've always loved fishing and have a considerable amount of gear already. It would be the quickest and easiest hobby for me to jump in and go. It just doesn't satisfy my need for technology and building shit.

My martial arts days are behind me. I get my physical needs met through working out and my spiritual needs through daily meditation.

The dueling pistols thing sounds interesting. Either I become the best or I won't worry about having to find a hobby anymore. Problem solved!

[Tai]

We're building trebuchets in my yard, do you have room for something like that? Or pumpkin air cannons?

You can do some pretty cool stuff with LEGO Mindstorms for building/technology, but that's also indoors mostly.

[Budly]

I play the guitar side tai :D

[Tai]

I play the guitar side tai :D

Sweet, I'll let you know once I've masterd the banjo roll part at the end and then maybe we can play a duet over vent or something! :)

[Postal]

My friends do RC copters. From what I have seen be ready to do a lot of fixing while you learn to fly it. The first few times you will fly it about 2 seconds before destroying it. Get a cheap learner one. You may want to buy replacement blades to start and put those on instead of destroying the good ones that come with it from the start. The wood cheap ones vs good fiberglass. There are also some good PC simulators that us the real controller but they cost like 100$. From what I hear flying one is like balancing it on a ball.

[Tai]

If I recall Bri's experience correctly, don't try your first flight indoors. :) I have a couple of those flight simulators, they get you used to it to a certain degree, but sooner or later you have to try the real thing. (Tai eyes his gas airplane nervously).

In regards to getting tired of the helicopter, I doubt it, I assume you have seen things like this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctzd3A1ZJrk)? Seems like a fun way to mow the lawn.

[Paladin]

You know, Rehoboth Beach, DE is about midway between you and Tai. You guys both need to build trebuchets and compete at this October's Punkin' Chunkin'.

[Tai]

You know, Rehoboth Beach, DE is about midway between you and Tai. You guys both need to build trebuchets and compete at this October's Punkin' Chunkin'.

Heh, intriguingly enough, one of the Champions of said contest lives on the other side of the mountain from me and is friends with my favorite bar owner. He's offered to introduce me. I think I have to finish my scaled down version of Ludgar the War Wolf first though....

[F7]

I'd actually love to build trebuchets, catapults, ballista, etc. but there is a serious lack of space up here in northern NJ.

I've read some nightmares about newcomers to RC Helicopters Postal and if I decided on that, I would definitely grab a simulator first.

I'm planning on hitting a hobby shop one night this week so we'll see. I think I'm probably leaning the most towards RC Heli's since my space limitations and time limitations rule out way too many things.

My last computer project at this point is to put Ubuntu on a secondary SATA drive I have coming and start using Linux more, especially moreso now that S2Games is releasing a native Linux client of Savage 2.

Thanks for the suggestions. :thumbup:

[Postal]

My friend said Blade CP Pro is a good starting RC copter that he started with.

I have started playing with C# and XNA for something to do. XNA isn't as powerful as DX9 but it is also a lot less complex so more fun to play with. I was hoping to put a game on the Xbox but they charge you for that. :( Its an inside hobby but I'll also be starting hiking again soon which will be cool.

[Creole Ned]

Didn't you get attacked by a bear or fall down a ravine the last time you went hiking?

[Tai]

It was probably a Bruin.

[Creole Ned]

Oh, and my suggestion for a hobby: 3D modeling. Not on a computer, in the flesh, so to speak, just because I find dioramas and all that crap really cool for some reason.

I once tried to make a replica wooden rollercoaster as a kid. I stopped when I realized the scale I had picked would require a house a wee bit larger than what we had at the time.

[Postal]

It was a snake.

[Postal]

I do like making model castles. The hist molds are cool.