Talk me into a new hobby.

In speaking with some friends, it seems like my only hobby is cars. I like racing, I like watching racing, I like wrenching on cars, I like driving cars, I like talking about cars, I like car movies.

I write, but mostly about cars...

I used to snowboard, but I moved south. I used to wakeboard, but I moved away from my parents boat. I used to skateboard, but I am not good at it.

I like watches, but it's not really a hobby. I did get a dog, and we really like taking him to the dog park, he seems to have fun there, and it is nice to get out.

I also enjoy running, maybe I should do more of that. It is hard to find the motivation to keep running though. I used to run Cross Country in highschool, it was much easier to keep going when I had a coach.

Anyway, make me a more interesting person. What hobbies can I do with little to no investment?

How about a mountain bike - 300 to 500 $ , Learn to do wheelies , chicks and kids love wheelies - win -win

footinmouth wrote: How about a mountain bike - 300 to 500 $ , Learn to do wheelies , chicks and kids love wheelies - win -win

^^This, or, take up skateboarding again. Who cares if you suck.

Get an aquarium. Learn about water quality, fish compatibility and other such fascinating things. (Does require some investment, though.)

That's all I got. What do "normal" people (i.e - those without 2000+ posts on a car forum) do?

Fun, but can get pricy

Apexcarver wrote: Fun, but can get pricy

It can be cheap if you stick to .22s.

Joey

I collect and repair old clocks, build mini steam engines, collect brass cannons, geocacheing, tinker with antique engines and tractors with a couple of friends, and just took up hiking. Thrashing on old cars is a given. I don't do any of them as the be all and end all of hobbies. The hiking came about from wanting to find out what is out there that you can't drive to. The clocks and steam engines because I like making things work like they are supposed to. The antique engines and tractors because it give me a reason to hang out with my friends from high school. Geocaching because people hide the things in some neat places you would never know were there. Half the fun in any of my hobbies is the research involved in it. For little or no investment, hiking is cheap, clocks can be had cheap, a GPS is fairly cheap for geocaching. It depends on if you want a active hobby or a more sedate one.

Platinum90 wrote: Anyway, make me a more interesting person. What hobbies can I do with little to no investment?

garbage picking, walking, looking for money in parking lots......it's endless

Get this radio

And do this. I have that radio, and have received signals from thousands of km away on the AM section. I can spend hours doing it, and used to look specifically for hockey games from all over N.America.

Try hiking, fishing, or cooking.

Speaker building can be an inexpensive, rewarding, and technical hobby, but you need a table saw.

Start playing paintball! You can invest as much or as little as you want and still have fun. There is still a huge hardcore following of pump players who tear it up one shot at a time. However dealing with the young kids who are absolute punks (in the worst meaning of the word) can get old real quick.

+1 for shooting!

Drewsifer wrote: Start playing paintball! You can invest as much or as little as you want and still have fun. There is still a huge hardcore following of pump players who tear it up one shot at a time. However dealing with the young kids who are absolute punks (in the worst meaning of the word) can get old real quick. +1 for shooting!

I used to paintball too. It spiralled into the expensive range real quick. Started with a piranha, graduated to a tippmann A5, and eventually got out when I Had a pump pistol, and an Angel.

Man, you sound like you're in a blue funk! Almost ANYTHING can be a hobby. My own other-than-car hobby is model railroading, but it can be spendy. I love finding new ways to build things. My carpentry is so-so, but I can build things of wood at will, including patterns for casting aluminum. I've built my own lathe and used it for some fun things. Steam engines are a blast, and getting them to run better is challenging, especially when you consider that most of the really current knowledge is several decades old. But it's still viable. There's lots of stuff in the world: step out of your normal zone and see what you can find. Make a diesel-hydraulic drive for your next Challenge rig. TRY SOMETHING!!!

Model car building, HO-Scale slot cars, Nitro-powered R/C cars, oh wait... not helping.

Warhammer 40K

Platinum90 wrote: I also enjoy running, maybe I should do more of that. It is hard to find the motivation to keep running though. I used to run Cross Country in highschool, it was much easier to keep going when I had a coach.

find out where the local runners' store is, and go there. ask about running clubs. honestly describe your ability and you'll find people to run with.

oh, and a big +1 to mountain biking, especially since you live in them thar hills. i heart the singletrack.

Any martial art is a good one for the money.

I have too many hobbies, or too little time and money. If I could somehow retire right now I would get busier, not the other way around. Pesky work and all.

Photography. It's like tuning a engine. Except light=fuel shutterspeed=injector pulse aperture=injector size iso=octane level. Kinda

Platinum90 wrote: I also enjoy running, maybe I should do more of that. It is hard to find the motivation to keep running though. I used to run Cross Country in highschool, it was much easier to keep going when I had a coach. Anyway, make me a more interesting person. What hobbies can I do with little to no investment?

A key to staying motivated for running is to run races that you have to train for. If I know I have a race, I do my best to be prepared for it. It's not like I'm going to win (or even be close to the top) but I HATE to feel like I left something on the table because I didn't train. Having goals is good.

All that said, another key is to run with someone. My buddy and I drag each other out to run when one of us is unmotivated; we never regret it.

When I'm running a lot, I spend ~$200/year on shoes; races are cheap, too (5K & 10K), usually $20-$30 and often a bunch of that ends up with a non-profit, e.g., arthritis/diabetes/hospital foundations, etc.

Finally, more women than men run, so the scenery is nice if you go where others are running, too...

Gardening is what I do to keep sane when the cars get to much. Plus I play ukulele for the old ladies at the retirement center for their Hula classes.

Nothing like working with the earth and hanging around those soon to be in it to get you off your butt.

A guy I work with does ballroom dancing, he seems to enjoy it.

+1 to both martial arts and ballroom dancing. Double-especially the latter if you're single, lol.

I've always wanted to give gas powered RC cars a try, but i suppose that's just like real cars in miniature.

PubBurgers wrote: I've always wanted to give gas powered RC cars a try, but i suppose that's just like real cars in miniature.

It's not cheap, either.

rc short course rigs, or RC rock crawlers. the short course rigs are stupid fun to drive, and look so realistic going around a track or just plain having the snot beat out of them in your yard, and RC rock crawlers, while they can get expensive QUICKLY, can be loads of fun and require a lot of technical skill and to some extent, it teaches you how to read terrain to see how certain obstacles are going to affect your crawler/scaler, and that could translate over to 1:1 if you ever get the itch to try rallycross or stage rallies

Race aboard other people's sailboats as their crew.
It can be damn near free and the owners are often begging for people to come out.
A quick check of your area shows Lake Lanier Sail Club. http://www.llsc.com/Calendar/Events.asp
Calendar shows races happen every Sunday at 2:00 so arrive around 12:30 and start talking to everyone you see. Be upfront that you have never done it before but promise that what you lack in skill you will make up for in enthusiasm and desire to learn.
It also seems that they do races every Weds night at 6:30 so on those days show up about 5 - 5:30pm.
These are typically small boats that require 2 - 6 people to run them effectively. When a boat does not have enough people they will instantly be at a competitive disadvantage so drivers will be more than willing to take an eager newbie over having no one at all. Do well and you will be invited back. Doing well means just be open to learning and enthusiastic, no one expects you to really know what you are doing. I know plenty of owners who would rather find some "moldable clay" to teach over some dickhead know-it-all who will not listen.
I understand if you read this and say, "it cant be that easy to get started." Trust me, it is and this same logic applies to anywhere in the US and even world where the are sailboats.

Sailboat racing will provide you with excellent mental exercise of a mechanical mind.

Once you do this long enough you will be turning down opportunities because you have many offers but only so much free time.

If you do not own the boat this hobby can be ultra cheap but once you own the boat the sky is the limit on price.

John - who has been crewing aboard other people's boat for more than 15 yrs on all 4 coasts of the US.

It goes anywhere you care to take it, entertains you and others, it can challenge you if you want it to or you can just relax with some cowboy chords and take it easy. Low initial cost vs a lot of other hobbies as well.