My two are:
Making sourdough. I personally always heard like this weird almost mysticism around making it. But I bought a $7 starter from a bakery store, and using just stuff in my kitchen and cheap bread flour I’ve been eating fresh sourdough every day and been super happy with it. Some loafs aren’t super consistent because I don’t have like temperature controlled box or anything. But they’ve all been tasty.
Drawing. I’m by no means an artist, but I always felt like people who were good at drawing were like on a different level. But I buckled down and every day for a month I tried drawing my favorite anime character following an online guide. So just 30 minutes every day. The first one was so bad I almost gave up, but I was in love with the last one and made me realize that like… yeah it really is just practice. Years and years of it to be good at drawing things consistently, quickly, and a variety of things. But I had fun and got something I enjoyed much faster than I expected. So if you want to learn to draw, I would recommend just trying to draw something you really like following a guide and just try it once a day until you are happy with the result.
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houseplants and especially ferns: It all started with a gift: a bird’s-nest fern and a blue-star fern. i was already into cultivating offshoots, but the bird’s-nest fern does not generate those, and the internet said you can not divide a single plant into multiples. but how do they propagate then? the use spores and the internet said it is not easy to get new plants this way, but i gave it a try. and it was not that difficult…
currently i have about 12 nest-ferns of all sizes and fear the winter when i have to bring all plants into the small flat.
funny enough: the blue-star fern is easy to propagate via offshoots, but its even easier with spores: as soon as you have a medium moist pot near such a fern you get fresh ferns for free. they grow quite slow, but still look beautiful.
if your interested and German based, write me a PM and i can send you a letter with some spores to bootstrap your new hobby!
Fly fishing
Got yelled at as a kid for playing with your pole too much? Then it’s the hobby for you. Can practice in your backyard and it’s fun just to whip shit around
The cost barrier of entry is decently high though. Fly fishing is a huge rabbit hole for sure. I’ve never been but one of my coworkers goes almost weekly.
You can buy like $50 kits or go on Craigslist and look for someone selling their impulse bought gear.
Add in a license fee and even then it’s not too bad for time killing hobby.
I think when I first got into it I was put off thinking I’d need like the finest $3k in orvis gear and I’d need to buy $10 flies at my local shops.
Like there’s a weird bougie-classist feeling I think a lot of people have which turns them off of trying to get into the sport.
Cooking. A lot of really delicious foods have extremely simple recipes and as an amateur you have time on your side. You don’t have to rush anything for most recipes. A lot of times I measure and cut everything before I even turn on the stove and this makes cooking super easy. Sure it takes a while to cook when you are just starting out but you can just go at your own pace. I really feel like anyone can cook almost anything. You don’t even need fancy tools. I got started with a $12 wok and a wooden spatula. These days there’s a huge amount of resources to teach you how to make just about everything. It’s also really rewarding since you get to eat what you make and you get to make things you want to eat. Needless to say it’s also a very important skill.
Gathering, cutting, measuring all the ingredients before cooking is actually a very well regarded French method called mis en place so you’re basically already classically trained 😜
Cooking is much easier than it looks. Recipes are just suggestions and after looking at enough of them the commonalities to play around with it
Except baking. Unless you exactly know what each ingredient does.
Baking is about ratios. You absolutely can mess around with baking even if you don’t really know what to do, you just can’t mess up the ratios - and I mean liquids/wet ingredients, dry ingredients like flour, then eggs and of course the important baking soda/powder.
Like regular cooking, once you get a good feel, you can do a lot.
It won’t let you make your own recipe, though. That does take a level of knowledge above just substituting or changing an ingredient or two.
Never baking. That is different from cooking
Doom scrolling
Heck, even some clients have auto scroll, really really easy this hobby.
Has anyone found a way to get out of this hobby? Asking for a friend.
For an honest answer: someone else on lemmy once said they just scroll down on the homepage and let it free-scroll for a while, then stop and work back up. When they get to the top they leave lemmy and move on with their day.
Switching my phone screen to black and white actually does help, but the temptation to switch back is powerful.
Maybe you’ll find an answer if you keep scrolling down…
Have my angry upvote.
I’m back. Still nothing.
The answer will surprise you!
Quitting Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit (really all social media) really helped. Lemmy is nice because there are not nearly the amount of comments.
Honestly social media does nothing for us anymore. It’s no longer serving its original purpose and is now a derivative version if MK Ultra level shit to feed us rage and sell us crap.
Tying fishing flies
Looks really hard. Not terribly hard to make some respectable flies with a little bit of instruction.
The bizarre culture (pun intended) around sourdough is maddening. The obsession over the “ear,” bannetons, lames, daily feeding: all bro club bullshit. This is the bread humans have been making for millennia; the only tools you need are one hot rock and one not-hot rock.
Lul reminds me of the coffee bros. With their 3.4 sec at 666 degrees vs 8.9 sec at 69 degrees pour or whatever they call it.
It’s the exact same phenomenon. Surely astroturf bullshit started by whomever is selling the useless tools.
That and I think there’s a fair bit of elitism as well. Everyone is always trying to one up each other and since you can only go so expensive with the beans and equipment the next step is to be pretentious with the prep.
There is a point of diminishing returns with coffee brewing, and you can quickly spend obscene amounts of money for infinitesimally small increases in quality of the brew.
However, a few hundred dollars worth of investment in a grinder and basic equipment, and you’ll never again be able to choke down the sour, burnt tar they attempt to pass off as coffee in stores and restaurants.
elitism* pretentious* 🙃
Thanks bud, I be struggling here.
The struggle is real, mang
Do you even sour, bro?
There are some serious differences between a badly made loaf and a well done one though. You never stop learning. But yeah, it’s easy to get something passable.
None of the differences have anything to do with the Bro Method.
Uh, I must admit I don’t know about that bro method.
This was awhile ago, but playing dungeons and dragons! I showed up one night at the local gaming store, asked the group playing that night if they had space, and bam! I’m playing a terrifying monk in World’s Largest Dungeon!
I try to play D&D but most weeks I play schedule conflict.
Making desert coffee at home. I got a French press because i drink one cup of coffee a day at most and I wanted make sweeter more rich coffee.
I now can use all cream line milk or oat milk, soak my fresh ground beans (and chickary root sometimes), add sweeteners to taste.
Blame better coffee than most coffee shops (for me). No 1000 dollar machine
Soak grounds in milk? Then just press the milk with no water or anything? Never heard of doing this.
Yeah! I started it because I partner wanted a more latte like drink, and I like a very creamy coffee.
I will say contrary to what I expected, I had to lower my soak time because it gets bitter faster, but I still prefer it.
I got tired of paying $20 for affogato out, so i bought a moca pot for like $20 online and some preground espresso. Now I can make it whenever i want and it tastes basically the same. Fully automatic espresso machines are overrated.
Sorry, I’m european.
Do you mean the little conical pot with the long handle you use to make mokka?
Or an italian bialetti ?
Because mokka and espresso are quite different.
If you mean a bialetti, I absolutely agree and I recommend to buy an original ‘bialetti’ brand, because they will last you several lifetimes. It’s worth it. I’d find it a bit weird that you call it moca pot, when it makes espresso.Turkish or Greek mokka is also awesome, but you need to know how to poor the coffee so you don’t have your mouth full of coffee grounds. I never mastered this.
I’d find it a bit weird that you use mokka to make affogato, but that might be a question of taste…I’m talking about the bialetti.
Don’t let an Italian catch you calling a Bialetti coffee an espresso.
If I’m understanding though it is closer to espresso because of the higher pressure, right?
It comes out dark and flavorful enough for my affagato, that’s all i care about. 😆
What’s your recipe, ratios and wait times. I use a press to do cold brew. Every time I try it for a hot cup it tastes a bit “dirty” or earthy to me, plus by the time it steeps its not as hot as I’d like.
I take my coffee cup fill it full of whole milk, microwave at 60% power for ~3 min. Fill the bottom of my press with a layer of course ground bean, sprinkle in the chickory (maybe a whole layer), another layer of bean, power the hot milk in, wait 5-10 min, press and pour.
If I’m making some for guests I just add their cups of milk as well and a little thicker layers.
Oddly cold brew has that dirty flavor to me, so I never, despite wanting to, got into it.
I never thought to do a French press with milk instead of water.
For cold brew I filter it though a pour over after pressing. 1:7.2 ratio, 18 hours.
Speedcubing. There are good cubes for < $10 now and beginner’s method is easy to learn. There are many resources online and can be learned within minutes. Then you start improving and getting faster quickly.
In my case I then went to a local competition and just amazed at how quick and how young these kids are.
When I got my first Rubik’s cube, I never thought I’d ever be able to solve it in under a minute. I still can’t, because it turns like garbage, but I got a 30 second solve on my MoYu cube recently.
I think the tricky part about getting people into speedcubing is them realizing that they shouldn’t buy Rubik’s cubes. I got one and just left it sitting for years because of how bad it is to turn. It wasn’t until I watched random YouTube videos before I realized I could enjoy it if I got a different puzzle
Whittling
Just buy a knife kit and some wood blanks, surprisingly affordable.
And, it only takes a few trips to the ER to find out how shite you are at it! Win! Time for another hobby that requires only a few fingers! 🤩🤌🏽
Yeah I should have added the cut proof gloves and thumb protectors
Cycling
I started biking to work after we moved closer and next thing I know I’m into mountain biking and have built 2 bikes
Reading
Thanks to e-books and the Libby app you don’t even have to physically go anywhere or pay anything to find a good book these days.
libby is such a game changer. i totally get why a lot of people want to only read physical books but for me, being able to read anywhere at any time instead of having to make a concious decision to find and bring a book with you means i read way way more than i used to
I’m a mix of both. I generally read a book for the first time on Libby and then end up buying a physical copy for my home library.
I like physical books in a theoretical sense. Some hardcovers are beautiful and it’s hard to resist the urge to collect them.
But I don’t really like reading physical books. I really don’t like the typesetting of 70-80 characters on a page. That leaves a lot of my books at maybe 2-3 paragraphs per page, and it’s really hard to get into a flow that way. On an ereader I can control the layout, the font, and really get into a book.
(And that’s on top of the fact that I can carry thousands of books around with me, borrow from the library, and take notes more effectively for nonfiction.)
What font/layout settings do you prefer that get you really into it?
And the too much detail follow up lol.
full page
That’s roboto size 13 on a boox go color 7, on moon+ reader.
macro
And a macro shot of the text to show that the apparent sloppiness is really just the picture. But other apps without the smoothing don’t always look the same. I’ve used different variations of the font on different apps to get the best result.
The actual hardcover
I use roboto. I especially like how Moon+ reader renders it with antialiasing. Font size depends on the screen and reading distance, but the end result is generally 50-100% more per page. I don’t feel like I’m spending all my time turning pages that way.
I still use PDFs for stuff with graphics, diagrams, code, etc. I don’t think epub maintains the formatting well enough. But if a book is mostly prose, I find the ability to reflow the text helps me a lot.
For me it’s that I have to think less about my choices. I don’t have a ton of time anymore so if I pick a book I am not vibing with I can just return it and pick another in a matter of seconds. It’s led me to taking chances on books I normally wouldn’t read.
Oh yeah!
I have a 75-page rule. If a book hasn’t grabbed me by then, I move on.
Also Anna’s Archive!
I’m a slow reader and get frustrated with how long books take. My “internal” reading speed is about as fast as reading aloud, so anything longer than a few hundred pages takes forever.
Try audiobooks.
I listen to them while doing chores like the dishes or folding laundry. If you get distracted, just repeat the last few minutes.
Audiobooks are not a replacement for actual reading. It’s still nice to have, but your brain fires off different synapses. They are nice to have in the car.
Don’t be such a book snob. I was answering to a person who has a hard time reading. Between making life harder on yourself, not reading or listening to audiobooks, the latter are a good alternative.
Read how you personally want (as do I), but don’t judge others for their reading or not reading habits.
Im the same with reading speed. You could try finding a block of time you would otherwise just be on your phone so it feels less an jnvestment (e.g. before bed, riding the bus, or break at work). I use e-books so i don’t have to remember it and opening the book is as easy as social media. Finding something you WANT to read is hard too.
If you’re into fantasy then branron sanderson is great. The Way of Kings grabbed me after getiing past the prologue (bonus points for women written decently). Alternatively Name of The Wind by patrick rothfuss. If only he’d finish the trilogy…
If only he’d finish the trilogy
Lol, never gonna happen. And he (Rothfuss) certainly doesn’t write good female characters. (Lookin’ at you, unnecessary author self-insert with the sex fairy bang sesh)
Oh yeah that’s a good call on the characters with rothfuss. Sanderson is solid though i still stand by that part.
That can happen. My focus is weird, and I strongly zone-in to what I’m doing, so for me reading is a very engaging and fun thing to do.
If interested, you might look into “sub-vocalization”. I mention it because you state your reading speed is close to your talking speed; possibly you are making miniscule movements with your larynx and surrounding muscles as if you were talking, without actually talking, and that limits your reading speed to talking speed.
People who get into speed reading often work on sub-vocalization suppression or interference techniques so that it isn’t a speed limiter.
Or you may just process written words at that speed. Everyone’s different.
Interesting. I’ve actually noticed myself doing that, and just assumed it was something everyone did. I’ll definitely be looking into it. Thank you!
A lot of people do do it. And it’s not necessarily a bad thing in all cases. Like when intentionally reading slower, trying to commit something to memory, sub-vocalization is helpful.
making mead:
honey, yeast, water, shake the carboy, pop on the airlock (fancy cork), wait two weeks.
wine making:
juice, sugar, yeast, water, shake the carboy, pop on the airlock, wait two weeks.
No camden tablets for sterilization?
I’ve never found them necessary.
I use a baking soda/water combo to clean out carboys between uses, and ill dip the airlock stopper in boiling water before attaching it, any cloth i use to wipe things down is boiled beforehand.
as long as everything is clean before the carboy is sealed, you’re good.
I’ve never lost a batch.
knock on wood.
Drumming! Buy an electronic kit, have tons of fun playing Rock Band, watch videos for technique, download a few practice books. You can at least play along with easy songs and it makes you feel badass! :D
Clone Hero is great for E-drumming (have to set it to Pro Drums because regular Drums works with old Rock Band and GH kits). I also paid for a year of Melodics and learned a lot from it.
Yeah I’ve heard about Clone Hero! Just kind of holding off for now because it’s supposed to be better than Rock Band, so I already know it’s going to be this whole “thing” for me once I get into it (trying to juggle a bunch of hobbies, as is my tendency lol).
I gave it up when I switched up my housing situation. I had downstairs neighbors and didn’t want to go through the hassle of trying to soundproof. I just moved again, though, and I now have a new bottom-floor apartment, so I’ll probably bust out my kit sooner or later.
But you see, I wanna git gud immediately
- Print one
, or something like 
- Get a scale/ruler, a pencil and an eraser
- Use the above to draw, first a
and then a 
- Then imagine and draw stuff like
The last one is not true isometric, but has a perspective. But you can make similar good looking stuff in isometric too.
To do perspective, you can’t use the Printed isometric line/dot paper.
Instead, it has an additional step of choosing the infinity points and making your own lines for it.
I tried to find a good instructions page, but unfortunately, search engines just prefer YouTube videos (which I don’t like to recommend).
Either way, this is one method that lets you
git gudpretty fast, albeit in a different drawing form.
Another thing: The last example picture I showed, has circles and semi circles. Avoid those in your drawing at this stage. That requires you to learn an extra method.
/restofthefuckingowl
Nah, these instructions are pretty clear. It’s just the same lines on a grid, but more and better arranged.
Take 175 lbs of chemicals and turn it into a human being!
Add some sugar and spice and everything nice. Leave out the chemical x
Essentially how that works.
At least in this case, you are using the same basics over and over again.
What to put where, is your imagination. The first 2 steps just explain how to put the stuff there. And since I recommended an eraser, I would expect you to know to use it when it comes to the point.
Since you desire togit gudat drawing, I would expect you to be good at imagining, which is the prerequisite.So yeah. I this case, the rest of the owl is the same as the first circle and ellipse.
Oh and ignore the shadows. That comes in a completely different territory. You will need to learn shading, first. I’d never bother with that and just use a CAD software.
Highlighted dimension is not provided.
Drawing implosion imminent.
Ah right, I should have said that too: don’t care about the dimensions. Just make a shape similar to that, which can be done using the vertices/dots in the provided paper (otherwise the print will be useless for the purpose of making the learning process easier).
You are just trying to learn how to draw nicely, right? You don’t really need to care about properly matching some random example I casually picked off google images. You can change the dimensions at will as long as you understand what you are doing.
That intermediate step is amongus sitting down.
- Print one
