As much as I try to be self-aware, I think I've done a good job ignoring the fact that my hobbies are not exactly diverse. When I graduated from college, I spent about four years doing the broadcast stuff for a living, and in my spare time I played video games, engaged in photography and even started some web sites. After that, I shifted into making software, and it seems like I spent all of my spare time... making software.
This can be a little problematic at times, because I go through periods of time where I'm very hands-on with software in my day job, and that's definitely the case right now. When it gets dark or the weekend rolls in, I don't really want to do that as much. In these cases, I find myself wondering what the hell to do with myself. So let's look at what I used to do.
I still play video games, but I have to admit that I rarely get into anything that isn't a Lego game, Tomb Raider or Halo. That's pretty lame, I know. A gamer I am not. I have an Xbox account full of games that came with my Live account that I have never even downloaded, so it's not like I have nothing to try. I can't quite explain what it is that draws me into games, but I suppose part of the problem is that I don't really pay attention to what's out. The Xbox One came with one of the Bioshock games, and I loved it. If I were to distill the problem, it would be that my discovery mechanism doesn't really exist.
I still enjoy photography... sometimes. I have nice lenses and stuff. At some point after Simon was born, I decided I was tired of being behind the lens, and I just wanted to be there in the moment. Every once in awhile, I get inspired and suggest that we do a little photo shoot, and I even did some portrait photography that I didn't hate this year, but I'm not shooting as much as I used to. I'm shooting even less video, which makes me sad, but my mind block there is that I really want to shoot something scripted, and I don't have anything.
Coaching volleyball is a non-starter in a place with so few high schools (giant schools, few kids play). Theme parks are fun, but I wouldn't really call visiting them a hobby. I'm fascinated by EV's and solar and all of that, but that isn't really a hobby either. Maybe I could call cruising a hobby, but vacationing isn't something you do for a few hours after dinner. Again, I do like writing software, but I can't do it when I'm doing it 40 hours per week. I'll burn out.
I'm jealous of Diana... her primary hobby is quilting, and she's crazy good at it. She has a nice blog audience, too.
I have taken a renewed interest in Lego, but that's kind of an expensive hobby. These "grown up" sets they have now are amazing, and I've accumulated quite a few over the last few years. This week, we'll bust out the train to put around the Christmas tree, but for the first time, Simon is able to help with most of the cars. A few weeks ago, I scored the Disney Castle, and it's an amazing build, if a little hard to get right now. I also ordered the gigantic excavator.
Whatever it is, I hope I figure it out soon. I'm not far away from midlife now. I need hobbies!
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