My non-musical hobbies include computers and Linux (although both of these overlap into the music these days), reading–my latest favorite book was Dan Brown’s “Da Vinci Code”–, writing odd little poems and stories, and playing with our two ferrets, ChitterBug and Chewbacca the Munchie, better known as Ch’Bug and Chewie.
I have also done painting and drawing, but it has been years ago and feels like a whole other lifetime now. My wife Shannon is the artist in the family now.
Here’s one of my odd little poems, from the years before I met Shannon:
“The Edge”
I stand alone in a dark room with a stranger
In her small hands she holds a flower or a razor–
I can’t tell which–
To learn the answer
I bare my throat and close my eyes
And try to feel the hope and not the danger.
My hobbies tend to become obsessions which I’ll dive into for months or years at a time, then drop. I’m now in my second go-round of watercolor obsession - first taken up several years ago, then dropped when I discovered the whistle and ITM. I’m painting more than whistling these days, but haven’t dropped the ITM altogether.
(For those into greyhounds, have any of you been to the Greyhound Gathering in southern Utah? People bring their greyhounds from all over the U.S. for this annual event in my little hometown of Kanab, Utah http://www.kanabguide.com/greyhoundgathering.html )
Hi, I could have wrote that, I tend to rotate my hobbies, I’m back to MTB’ing at present, before that it was motorcycling (after an 8 year break), before that Road Cycling (Club level racing), converting a Land-Rover into a camper type thing, rebuilt an old car (RS2000), done some Hiking/Hill walking, XC Sking/off track, canoeing (Canadian), tried rock climbing, collected various stuff, Motorcycle Badges/Pins, slot cars, Mountaineering Books, that kind of thing. I think I like the research aspect of a new hobby almost as much as the actual hobby, the internet’s great for information, it used to me a fortune on books.
Major ones are the two bands I play in, Andean folk and Contra dance. Also instrument building, flutes, whistles, thumb pianos, percussion, experimental strings.
Minors. Blacksmithing, flytying (and fishing), papermaking, kites, bookbinding, wood and corian carving, flintknapping and other “primative” technologies, Atlatl, catapult building (onagers and trebuchets), making clocks and sculpture from obsolete computer components, reading, cooking…
Good thing I don’t sleep much and tend to use hand tools more than power tools since they don’t wake up the kids when I’m puttering in the garage\shop.
The good news is many of them are self supporting. I make enough money with the bands to support the hobbies that don’t bring in any income. Otherwise my wife would probably shoot me! Others share a symbiotic relationship. What do you do with the paper you made? Make kites and books. What do you do with those flint tips? Try making atlatls. Atlatls are cool but how do you get a bowling ball into the cornfield across the street? Trebuchet!
The kids like the results of many of them as well. Not many things cooler than flying a kite that you and your daughter have made from scratch from recyled junk mail and a few dowels.
Tell me about it. I have determined that the typical adult hobby costs around $500 to get started. Sure, you can get into most for less, but to REALLY get started it normally takes about that much.
Except for Whistling. Heck $5-20 can get you in pretty good…
playing with my kid, martial art (when i get in the mood to kick some..), brewing ale (when my wife lets me..), reading, watching movies and collecting dvd, orchid, terrarium, occational hockey games…
What an awesome hobby!! How did you get started in this? My name is Andrea and I’m a coffee-a-holic.
For my own hobbies, I read like a fiend (love fantasy fiction and ancient history), and do a little cross-stitch when I can find the time. I’m trying to teach myself how to knit but haven’t gotten very far… and I make gemstone elixirs but it’s not quite a ‘hobby’, as it’s slowly turning into more of a business. I also do a lot with herbal healing. All the rest of my hobbies are music-related… singing, writing chants, and such.
This is really neat to see what everyone else likes to do… we do indeed have some very talented folk and creative among us (not surprisingly)!!
My hobbies are more a passion for: sailing, kayaking, roller blading; painting and print making, part time landscape designer specializing in stone and water, my two cats; but most of all the friends that I play Irish music with.
This would fall under the heading of “Adult Hobbies”. Yes, Svengali was a role model of mine, but “Lolita” is not a gameplan, you naughty lad! I actually had to put that book down more than once out of sheer discomfiture, and I’m not all that squeamish, believe me. What impresses me is Nabokov’s familiar ease with English at its colloquial, and his ability to be playful with it. I only wish I could read in Russian…
We’re a bit more… involved than that. Heck, I’ve got five hounds of my own.
At any given event, we’ll have from six to twelve people, and ten to 14 greyhounds per day. Add to that a full encampment including pavillion, furniture, carpets, etc. I’ve got a 3/4 ton truck and a trailer (toy hauler) just to get it from event to event.
This one hobby in itself encompasses others, since I also do the carpentry work on the furniture, and make all of the costumes for my wife and myself. I also make the mead and ale that we drink.
I tend to rotate my hobbies, I’m back to MTB’ing at present, before that it was motorcycling (after an 8 year break), before that Road Cycling (Club level racing), converting a Land-Rover into a camper type thing, rebuilt an old car (RS2000), done some Hiking/Hill walking, XC Sking/off track, canoeing (Canadian), tried rock climbing, collected various stuff, Motorcycle Badges/Pins, slot cars, Mountaineering Books, that kind of thing. I think I like the research aspect of a new hobby almost as much as the actual hobby, the internet’s great for information, it used to me a fortune on books. 
I actually had to put that book down more than once out of sheer discomfiture, and I’m not all that squeamish, believe me. What impresses me is Nabokov’s familiar ease with English at its colloquial, and his ability to be playful with it. I only wish I could read in Russian…