I’ll start. I have recently gotten into 3D printing, and, while incredibly frustrating sometimes, there’s nothing more rewarding than getting a perfect print.
Parkour! I’ve been practising the sport in one way, shape or form for over half my life now!
Am I any good? No, probably not - but it’s still a lot of fun to explore the world in a new way
Blacksmithing. Something so primal and simple about it. And you get to play with fire. But what I find most satisfying is the ability, once you have a few simple tools, to make any other tools you need. It’s like the og 3d printing.
Recently got a fountain pen and have been practicing my handwriting with it. Oddly meditative and relaxing
I badly want a Montblanc Agatha Christie fountain pen, but they are a bit pricey.
Lol I hope I never get to the point I buy a pen that expensive o.o
How did you find out about it?
For me it started with r/pens, which led to r/fountainpens.
One of my vices is buying things, and I excessively research almost everything I buy. So one stressful day I realized I needed more pencil lead, and ended up researching mechanical pencils for like 5 hours. In that process I kept going through a thought loop of “I rarely even use a pencil, why would I buy a nice one? I guess I could use it for drawing. But I already have drawing pencils. I should probably just get a pen. But then I’d spend another 5 hours shopping for pens and I need to stop wasting time. So I’ll just get lead. But pencils are cheap, just buy one”
Then after I bought a pencil, I got a YouTube recommendation for a video on fountain pens because Google is creepy, and then I watched it. Pretty much downhill from there
And it is quite a hill! Pens, nib grinds, inks, papers and notebooks, cleaning/maintenance, penmanship! I feel like Pooh hitting the honey jackpot. It really is a delight writing without applying pressure.
Hobby board games. There are thousands of board games out there and enough variety there’s something for everyone. The games I’m usually into are called Euro style board games since they originated in Europe.
Euro style games are mostly high skill games with little luck similar to chess, but have varied starting positions to make them more interesting. They typically play with up to 4 players or more which adds a good bit of complexity. They’re a good way to sit around, talk, drink, and have a fun time away from computer/phone/TV screens.
I’ve also gotten really into mahjong specifically over the past year. I’ve played over a thousand games and still learning. I mostly have to play that one over an app, but it’s a fun break during the work day. I’m able to play occasionally in person, but there’s a pretty steep learning curve which makes it hard to convince people to play. I’m always trying to get more people into it though.
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Where did you start?
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AI companions! I’m so interested in the concept of using AI as a companion, similar to pets, and how AI is a temporary bandaid for a larger societal problem. I’d like to have conversations about fellow people with AI companions, or even chat with their own AI companions.
I was thinking of setting up a community for this, but I’m not sure there’d be enough interest. Which bots do you use?
I already set up one at [email protected], so let me know if you’re interested. As for the bots, I DIY’d my own, using the OpenAI API.
Cool! I hope to be able to locally host one some day. I joined your comm, but it says the feed is empty. I’m not sure if that’s the case or lemmy being janky lol
Edit: yep, lemmy being janky.
The ability to identify practically any bird or reptile in North America. I get friends asking me what things are all the time… then trying to extend my knowledge to fungi and plants (which I’m getting better with, but not at the same level). It doesn’t feel too niche until I interact with my friends outside of biology.
Hi there! There are a bunch of active nature-centred communities on mander.xyz you might enjoy :)
I have an account for that instance too, hah. I might make that my main. Definitely my people!
One of us! One of us!
Home server take an old pc setup with a load of old harddrives noodle about with all the self hosting apps.
I got into 3D printing this year also. I wanted it to feed into my other hobbies and general tinkering. Aside from getting the printer to run well, it’s really satisfying to design something functional. I was so proud when I replaced my broken washer knob with 10 min of CAD.
@GeeRad @_cerpin_taxt_ what software do you use for modeling? I’ve had my printer for awhile but still struggle with quick/efficient modeling (blender for me but I’m not great at it),
I use fusion 360 personally. I like the 2d sketch to 3d aspect. There’s a free version for personal use, you just have to look for it since they tend to hide it on their website
Blender terrible for cad. It’s an art tool, not an engineering tool. There is at least one plugin to make it a parametric modeler like cad programs, but I’ve never used it.
Blender does have its place in manipulating/repairing STL files though. You just can’t get the same vertex-level control out of any other program.
Surprised it hasn’t been mentioned already but Mechanical Keyboards. I’ll spend hours scrolling for different builds. There’s also something therapeutic about spending hours lubing and soldering switches.
I’m a big fan of amateur radio, specifically portable operation, and Parks on the Air.
I’ll take my radio out to a remote location, throw an antenna up into some trees, and talk to people all over the US.
Currently I need mains power, but I’m looking to buy a battery soon, and I already have some solar panels gifted from a club member.
I live in Michigan, and last time I was out, my most distant contacts were in Dallas, Texas, around 1100 miles away, while I was sitting at a picnic table at my local state park campground.
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More of crime than a hobby.
Still, it’s niche as far as I know.
Street photography! Check out my post submission history.
Rubik’s cubes or speed cubing. I’m not great with my best time being somewhere around 45 seconds (which really is slow compared to some of the best), but it’s fun to do, feels better to do than mindlessly scrolling through Lemmy and it’s something I juet always carry around in my backpack. So whenever I have a few minutes to kill, I whip out my cube and just practice my algorithms for a bit.
Also, it’s really fun the looks you’ll get when you casually and quickly solve a cube while on the bus or something.
I find it pretty relaxing to practise too. I’ve also known full CFOP for a while and I’m not learning any new algs so it’s something I can do pretty easily while listening to a Youtube video which is less visuals-focussed or a podcast or something
Gunpla. It’s literally assembling Gundam (Japanese transformers) models. Modern gunpla kits are very cool with what they can do. This can be a pricey hobby if you get really into it (painting, air spraying, even 3d printing) but it can also be a $20 a month hobby. It all depends on how far you want to take it and what aspects you enjoy.
I got into this recently. Seeing that there were Evangelion kits helped too. Blows my mind how intricate it is. It’s so relaxing.
