I Need A Hobby.................
 

My life has become truly boring. Today was my day off work, and like most days off, I am decomposing. I just lay in bed, watching the history channel (which is no longer very historical), reading the miata forums, and sleeping. I need some reason to my life, thus, I need a hobby.

Suggestions are welcome, as I obviously have none. The rules for acceptable suggestions are below:


1) Fairly cheap cost of entry (I don't want to go bankrupt finding out I don't like things).

2) Low travel involved (I live in Pittsburgh, so white water rafting is not practical).

3) Non "low-energy" is a plus.


The following are examples of bad suggestions: More internetz, masturbation, trying to become more depressed.

Whitewater at Ohiopyle is practical.

work out you fucking nerd.

Make something. Carve a piece of wood, or make an end table. Paint a picture, or try to write someting worth reading. Learn an instrument and compose your own music for it. Polish rocks into interesting shapes.

Get your lazy ass up off the couch and get out and see the world. There's a hell of a lot to do if you just get out and find it. When was the last time you walked down a busy street in your city?

Extreme stamp collecting.

Yesterday, walking to lunch from the shop.


The problem I have with making things is that all my tools are at the shop. At home, I only a have a few wrench/ratchet sets, a dremel, and dozens of random tools I bought for one-time use in other projects. I also don't have compressed air at the house. I suppose I could buy some electrical powered stuff.....




More than one of the medicines I take say "avoid strenuous exercise". I don't listen obviously, since in work on cars 40+ hours a week, but going and pumping iron beats the shit out of me. Joint and back damage don't help much. I do practice yoga though. I'm not very good, but it helps my back a lot.

You drive a miata... and do yoga... man rating is plummeting.


shit I don't know... trade stock bitch

make your car faster

You remind me of my dad. I hope you find something! Here are my suggestions.

Indoor: Build a flight or racing simulator.

Outdoor: Join a citizens crime watch.

I'll remember that if your car every breaks down it Pittsburgh. ;)


Maybe all of your "manly" habits are your way of covering up the fact you're living the hetero-lie. "Me big. Me tuff. Look at I flex arms." Typical stone-age definition of masculinity. If we had to go around raping women and killing saber-tooth tigers, maybe, maybe, I could understand your need to prove your manhood. But it's the 21st century. I don't need to go out and drag women back to my cave, or make fire by rubbing sticks together. I have a zippo. Instead of hiding behind manly habits, try being yourself. Chicks find it far more manly to not need to prove oneself (confidence), than head-butting your bros and lifting metal sticks with metal wheels on them.

I'm comfortable being me (even if sometimes I don't like it). I don't need to prove shit to anyone, as I've already proved it it to myself. Inside every macho meat-head I see the dude in the back of a Cuckold porn flick wearing the chicks panties, masturbating, wishing he could be a real man. It's a slippery slope DK........





:love: luv u bro

I need less hobbies.

I read an article about how there is an amazing amount of shared hobbies between a certain type of person. In other words, if you have one of these hobbies, you likely have another from the list and/or would enjoy these hobbies.
It was things like automotive racing, photography, flying planes, RC, scuba diving, and working with computers. The connection being that they are all technical.

I participate in all of the above hobbies, except for flying. And I probably would if I could afford it.

Scuba in your area is probably too technical to get started with, so that's out. Flying and racing are hella expensive. RC is pretty cheap but can be quite boring by yourself, and most people interested in it are extraordinarily lame. Working with computers is fun but doesn't take up much time, and if it does then it becomes hateful.

So that leaves photography. Somewhat active, involves a lot of walking. Can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be. Bitches dig it, in highschool I would convince chicks to let me take their picture then photograph their cervix with my telephoto dick.
And of course, it satisfies ones lust for technical interaction with a machine. Manipulating light through optics, exposing photosensative material to light inducing chemical reaction, the mathematical laws of composition, and finally a bit of psychology is involved with pattern, texture, space, and color.

Its the one hobby that has been in my life almost every day for many years.

Dude.. I could teach you how to suck a dick.
And still go back to being manly. And as for intellectualism and stuffs; double full time student while being a special operative. eff yeaaaaah
Best of both worlds.

I just don't dip... not gonna be man enough to be able to take a cheek full of that satans fecal matter into my mouth and not throw up or get insanely dizzy.

Do you enjoy "craft beer"?

If you do, I suggest homebrewing. Best hobby ever. There is more information out there than you can possibly imagine and the homebrewing community is pretty much insane. You can make it as expensive and time consuming as you like, all depends on how far you want to push it. Don't limit it to beer either: wine, mead, cider, sake are all options with homebrewing. You can compete in competitions to get feedback or join a local homebrew club for some social interaction or petty political backstabbery. Its all in what you want to put into it.

Based on your restrictions, the only thing I can see being an issue is maybe trying to move a full 5 gallon fermenter, but then you also don't have to do 5 gallon batches. The 3 gallon all-grain "brew in a bag" type setup is pretty low impact and low cost way to get started in all-grain brewing.

Its an awesome feeling when someone opens one of your beers and asks "What is this? Its amazing!" and then they think you are lying when you tell them you made it.

I dip and smoke at the same time........ when the boss if out of the shop, I also align cars while doing this. Boss status achieved.

Photograph has always interested me. But don't I need a bunch of lenses and a good camera? Or has digital made lens collections obsolete? How does one get started? Can I just go buy a digital camera from bestbuy, download photoshop, and go to town? Or is it more complicated then that?

I'll smoke hookah out the ying yang (gotta be proud of mah culturrrrr) but that high concentration of tobacco found in dip? that's a really big ol' fashioned fuck that.

But seriously... get 50-150 bucks to the side, and start investing for fun. Do some research on companies. I mean, you won't be making loads of cash... but it's a start, and who knows you might nut up and decide you want to start going big and paying with the big boys. Putting down a couple grand or investing part of your current savings account into a decent blue chip.

Don't mention Hookah, or Hustler will call you a hipster. I'll do anything I can to nicotine into my system. I used to smoke 3 packs a day. Now I'm down to 1, and a few pouches of dip.


I could probably do some research into investing. Staying up all hours of the night tracking trends and analyzing patterns sound very appealing. How does one even begin to do so? Comparing stock price trends over time? Then comparing that trend to the companies profits and product/service levels over that same time?

The best thing to buy is an entry level DSLR and you'll seriously not need anything other than a couple lenses for a looooong time. The kit lens you be with the camera is fine to get started with.
You don't need to buy Photoshop either. Photoshop is like a disease to new photographers, it keeps a lot of people from ever learning the fundamentals.

Other than that. Buying a good photography textbook is worth it. Learning how to manually control exposure and compose a shot are a skills that a lot of so-called photographers never learn.

What do you take, and why? If cardiac related, does your physician know they are limiting your activities?

Lift like a boss, do a cycle, die like a man.

Look to see if your bank offers a begining investor program. They should have an investment account open to you.. but I'd highly recommend getting with scottrade. Great program, good prices, and really awesome tools.

You can also do yahoo fantasy stock trading (they give you 10k of fake money, but their sim stock program reflect actually stocks IRL, so whatever decisions you make in the sim, would have reflected in life).

Only get into stocks for companies or industries you know.. for example, most young people could easily get into stocks in the gaming industry, I made quite a decent bundle investing in blizzard and short selling EA last year. You know how popular shit will be, and etc. It's just like that, read up all the news possible on that company, read up on competitive companies, read their quarterly returns and etc. It's really not that hard, it just takes time and you need to keep tabs. It's just time consuming which is why people think it's hard.

If you're really interested in photography I have taught others by using Photography by Barbara London and John Upton. It's old school but great for the fundamentals which are more important than photoshop. Something like a refurbished Canon Rebel XSI would be a fine camera to start with. The kit lens or a standard 50mm f/1.8 would be all you need to get started.

I also homebrew and find it to be an extraordinary hobby, just wish I had more time for it. One could never get bored with this as you grow into all-grain brewing.

amateur weed whacker wrestling.
Weed Wacker Wrestling and other Videos on StupidVideos.com

+1 on home brewing.
Build and fly Rc aircraft.
Exercise...a lot.
Get good shoes and start running, several miles a day.
Go to a climbing gym and conquer every wall in the place.
Or maybe you're dressed out about life and it causes you to indulge in doing nothing?
Watch this video, and maybe you'll have a better outlook...

I'm 21, no cardiac problems yet.


They're Effexor, and Seroquil (the major two). With my dosages and administration they work as anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, and sleep meds. Before the pills, I would regularly go 3-4 days with no sleep, walking around, counting things and finding non-existent relationships and patterns. The official medical term was "psychotic". ;)

It was super fun (and also super not-fun), but I prefer my life post-pills, compared to pre-pills. The pills are staying. My doctor knows about the side effects, but she says (in nicer, more caring words), "you're on the lowest side effect pills that are somewhat-working, deal with it". They do burn out my stamina though. And I need to drink LOTS of water to keep my kidneys/liver clean.

dude that blows.. I enjoy being crazy. I wouldn't imagine how I'd be if I didn't have a tinge of madness.


Also don't know how I'd cope with death... it's good to be insane.

The nice thing is, by the time you realize your dead, you're dead, and can't realize it.

Please have an open mind here... guns.

I have a few friends who are unassuming computer nerds that shoot guns for relaxation... and I'm not talking about dressing up like a spec-ops soldier and kicking down doors.

These guys belong to a new generation of gun-geeks. There's just as much math and science involved in long-range shooting than any other technical sport you can name. The equipment is specialized and the sky is the limit when it comes to the challenge (and the wallet). I'm talking about guys who can shoot holes in their holes at 1000yds as a warmup.

The basics.... after a few weeks or months of homework, you settle on a particular cartridge you want to shoot. Then you spend another few weeks settling on a custom gunmaker who will build you what you want. While you wait for your gun to arrive, you learn everything there is about making your own ammo.

Then you buy all the stuff you need for that and get started.

When the gun arrives, you take it to the range and start working through your ammo. When you find the particular combination of powder, bullet, primer that works in your particular gun, you begin to realize that the weapon is far more capable than you are.

So you book a weekend at a shooting school, which opens your eyes to a level of "geek" that Joe Perez has dreams about reaching. In the end, the challenge doesn't even revolve around "guns"... it's simply the same challenge anybody is faced with when they want to reach 99.999% perfection between man and machine.

As you get better, the challenge is obviously to shoot longer and longer distances accurately. But there are dozens of different long-range calibers, and dozens of different platforms to shoot from. There are competition series just like SCCA racing for shooting.

If you want to bury yourself in this "hobby" a respectable 1000yd gun, scope, spotting scope, targets, all the reloading equipment, cases, rest, etc... call it $7500.

And to put the icing on the cake... nothing you buy depreciates in value more than a few percent. You'll get 90-95% of your investment back if you ever decide to get out of the hobby.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1350613954

yes.... guns...
<3

Good call. Guns were my hobby for many years. Precise target shooting is like painting a portrait.
That's just the beginning...try reloading. That is the icing on the cake.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1350620462
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1350620462

I have too many hobbies. These are my favorite things currently

-snowboarding (the most fun a human being can possibly have)
-mountain biking (amazing workout. Very fun and rewarding, Much easier on the knees/joints than running. Shit road bikings just as good, I just live in the mountains.)
-longboarding (ton of fun with cheap entry)
-cars, working on them, driving them (this is obvious)
-motorcycles, working/driving on them (can be more fun than cars at times)
-guns (expensive)
-building anything (have some properly? Build shit on it!)

Also in the broken and sometimes on pills club. Back and ankle messed up.

-mountain bikes (a bit out of shape but working on it)
-my dog keeps me relatively active. If I take her out a lot and then stop she makes me go outside and do stuff.
-chasing the wife around naked, oiled up, with a chicken mask
-rube goldberg machines (as soon as my house is done it's on my list)
-my dad does photography
-video games (not active, but hey F it)
-stalking a random person or play bet she doesn't notice me following her games
-extreme showering
-go for walks. Find an ice cream shop or coffee place near by and walk to it.
-I know if you do car work all day you probably don't want to when you get home for fun.

Rock climbing, pretty tough to begin with, but you can do it at your own pace.
Rc plane + videocamera on said plane. Very cheap flying :)
Work on car more, build a 7.
It's never to late to take up skateboarding, just build a minirmp in your yard (of course, it'll hurt more starting late)

Recommended Cameras

Starting out, I would recommend one fixed focal length lens and a simple DSLR body that lets you control a few parameters: ISO, white balance, aperture (f stop), and shutter speed. The beauty of digital is there are no running costs, like getting film developed. Just shoot photos, see how they are and shoot some more.

Home brewing is fun, but there is a lot of downtime, and I think photography would fit the bill of what you are looking for better. Not that I would dissuade you from trying it, but it is more of a few hours here, few hours there kind of thing. Photography can be as much or as little as you make of it. And you can pick it up or put it down whenever you like. Also, besides DSLR bodies, most other components hold their values pretty well.

Get a second job.

Hand Model....



Or just invest

Learn how to weld. You can pick up a name brand used 120v MiG or new chinese unit for <$200. Tons of instruction on the internet. Of course I assume "low energy" was in reference personal effort.

Funny you mention this. I was just looking at the course offerings for the spring semester at Palomar College. Both WLD-100 (Welding I) and WLD-115 (Gas Tungsten Arc Welding, aka TIG) are totally full and waitlisted.

I really want to learn how to TIG weld properly, from a professional, but I'll be damned it I can actually find a place to do it!

Am i the only one that thinks taking up guns as a hobby for some one under these conditions seems like not the best recommendation. I mean no offense to you at all but the combination seems off to me.

Don't you have a welding supply place in the area? They usually have classes.

I spent something like 4-5 summers as a Shooting Sports Director at a Boy Scout camp. This means I had direct interaction with kids on both Rifle and Shotgun ranges. On any given week, 15% of the kids in camp were medicated for various things, the most common being ADHD but we definitely had kids on psychotics and lithium and other such things. Indecently, this went up to 25-30% if there were troops in camp from affluent suburb areas (think Marin or most of SoCal.)

Of the hundreds and hundreds of kids I instructed, the ones that took to it the fastest and showed the best results were the "problem kids" or the ones that were medicated. I don't think it had anything to do with the medication per-se, I think it had more to do with the insane amount of focus and concentration required to make the shot, and the rigorous structure of a range environment. I think sometimes people NEED something that requires some structure and focus.

Interesting idea.

I'll have to do some looking around. Arc-Zone.com is located very nearby, but I'm honestly not sure if they have a full-service store of if they're just a mail-order shop. We've got a huge number of welders and fab shops, but very little in the way of welding suppliers that I've found so far, aside from AirGas, which I doubt is the right place.

I could be completely off base in having that red flag come up. I don't know how much a danger he would be to himself or others in the situation.

It does require a great amount of focus to become good at and could be a good inexpensive hobby.

My reply was a bit simplistic as well... if OP has been viewed as a danger himself or others, not sure I would recommend the shooting sports either. Not sure I'm qualified to make that call though. I don't plan on walking down to the local sanitarium and handing rifles to the residents at any point in the near future :rofl:

I weld / fabricate for a living.

I must say, our company has been REALLY freeking expanding just in the last few months. Good career to get into, and good money if you're certified, and fabricate stuff.


But, i must say. When i come home, welding something is the last thing i want to do.

I appreciate the tone in which you have posted. I did not consider it derogatory, or as an attack on me as a person. The following is simply a general statement about the tendencies of the "mentally ill". I don't mean it as a rebuttal, or an attack. I just wanted to add the information.



Despite the labels given to the "mentally ill", very few are violent. Those who are, are primarily violent towards themselves. The number of violent crimes attributed to those who are incoherent or mentally unfit, and have committed a crime only because of their condition, is even lower. I do understand the concern for a person harming themselves with a fire arm. However, they are usually (in my experience) just as willing to hurt themselves with anything else they can get their hands on. Additionally, just because someone has been viewed as a danger to themselves in the past, doesn't mean they will be that way for life. YMMV






Back to the topic: Are Harbor Freight welders any good? I could see myself building a few things for the mazda if I did learn the skill.

No harbor freight welders overheat and melt down. Buy a sears craftsman welder or a Lincoln welder or a miller. They work good and you can always get parts for them.
Ever thought about making stained glass windows. Can be lucrative and makes great gifts for family members. You say I made this for you.

I've seen a few "plug in" HF tools catch on fire. I haven't bought any tools from that place that require any type of power so i can't say first hand.
But a friends welder has actually melted down, melting the power wire. And his air compressor did spark at the regulator and catch dust / lint / rag / rubber air hose on fire and almost burn his garage and attached house to the ground.

^^^ That was probably the worst sentance i could of written right there.

Though i do have a HF electric drill. That hasn't melted yet.

Oh the ironing :dealwithit:

I shouldn't even try before 8am really...

For the dough they're great deal IMO. For so little you get the ability to things that would typically cost the price of the welder to just have one welding project done. I have used the highest amp HF MIG for a friend's DIY project and it's allowed us to do everything needed at this point.

What most fail to respect is the welder's duty cycle and most get burned up for that reason. The cheaper the (wire fed) welder the shorter the duty cycle.