Thu 24 October 2024

A while back, a friend and I exchanged subjects for blog posts, which turned out to actually be a lot of fun.

A week ago, he, I, and another fedifriend got together to exchange blog post ideas/prompts, round-robin style.

The prompt I was given (with purposefully no context) was "Collections."

The prompt made me think about collection-based hobbies. A lot of folks enjoy collecting stamps, coins, baseball cards, vinyl records, you name it.

As someone with recently diagnosed ADHD (a blog post on that is planned), I have my own particular collection hobby:

I collect hobbies 😄

Many ADHDers refer to themselves as "serial hobbyists," and the term is quite apt. I don't think I can list them all out here, but from memory, here's all of the hobbies I can come up with that I've done for at least a week:

• Programming (a few different languages, none very in-depth except Shell and some Perl)
• Digital art (I found out quickly that purchasing a Wacom tablet didn't impart any actual artistic skill)
• Embedded/micocontroller programming
• Electronics (basic soldering skills)
• RC Airplanes (building and flying)
• Drones (not very fun when the software does 90% of the flying, honestly)
• Photography (haven't busted out my dSLR in probably three years)
• Amateur Radio
  • I have a handful of "hand talkies" and antannae collecting dust upstairs
  • I've listened to ham satellites before, but never had the gear to actually talk successfully
  • I've participated in APRS using some software on a phone and some audio adapters
  • I've run WSPR software on a software-defined radio to hear stations as far away as Japan on nothing more than a set of "bunny ear" antennae indoors
• Creative writing (hello!)
• Piano (I can play the black keys real good)
• Recorder (I can play that one rennaisance-sounding beginner song everyone learns)
• Didgeridoo (I sound amazing... for 2 seconds at a time)
• Electric guitar (very short-lived due to unfortunate physical limitations)
• Sculpting? (I made a couple abstract things out of plasticine and then threw them away)
• Singing (not great, not terrible)
• Woodcarving (carved one thing, and man my hand hurt)
• Raquetball (decades ago)
• Rubik's cube (got good enough to solve the 3x3x3 in 2 minutes, and was happy with that)
• Pottery (this was in the early 2010s. I made a couple things with some family members, which was kinda fun)
• Fountain pens (this actually revolutionized my handwriting)
• Poetry (I've got a poetry blog somewhere on the fediverse)
• Journaling (Mostly on the computer nowadays, but I'd like to get back to (fountain) pen & paper)
• Audio editing (I can do basic stuff with audacity. I've used other audio editors here and there going back decades)
• 3D Printing (the Ender 3 is cursed, man!)
• Tabletop RPGs (filed my saturdays in the latter half of the 1990s with lots of fun and friendship)
• Languages (I know literally a handful of words in a handful of languages)
• Annoying zoomers with 80s cultural references (Yes, that IS a hobby!! 😂)

The ADHD Hobby Cycle looks a little something like this:

• Find out about a new hobby/interest
• Learn quickly that the new hobby gives me lots of yummy dopamine
• Spend HOURS watching Youtube videos on the subject
• Invest modest financial resources getting into the hobby
• Enjoy the newfound dopamine from building/playing/running the hobby
• Come across any roadblock
  • Crash the RC Airplane
  • Practicing the instrument sucks
  • Working on vocabulary and grammar rules sucks
  • Any kind of physical discomfort sucks
  • Spending real money to expand the hobby sucks
  • Getting ink on your hands sucks
  • Practicing anything sucks
  • Lugging around a 3-8 pound camera when your phone is always in your pocket sucks
• Find that your dopamine suddenly dried up
• Go back to whatever you were doing until you find the next hobby

Such is life 😉

Category: Life Tagged: ADHD Hobbies Non-religious post Non-technical post Life