What are your other hobbies?

[MassExodus]

As the title says. I'm curious, and since I asked I'll go first.
I've been collecting weapons since I was a kid. Guns, knives, swords, etc. The real stuff, not wall hangers.

Recently I bought a motorcycle and since then, I cannot stay away from it. I ride it everywhere, I don't even drive my truck anymore unless I absolutely have to. Ive modified it to the point that it doesn't look like the same bike. I've heard a lot of bikers say that motorcycles are the greatest cure for depression. Sometimes I have moments of self reflection when I realize I'm flying down a dirt road at 80 mph smiling like an idiot, and I start laughing hysterically.. I love my bike I have a do-anything dual sport, but I'm planning on adding a few more bikes to the garage. I need a cruiser, a Harley or an Indian, and I need a sport touring bike, like the FJ09..

Anyways, the plan is to take my street legal dirtbike out and search for tarantulas this year. Should be fun.

So, what do y'all do for fun? What are your hobbies when you're not obsessing over your spiders? I'm curious..
I have this theory that most of us are introverts. Most of us.

 

[Tortoise Tom]

I've also been riding since I was a kid. Still have my dirt bikes but I sold my CBR 600 after 22 years of riding it. I kept seeing too many bloody sheets on the street at accident scene after accident scene. The straw that broke the camels back was a dude that had just come home after two tours in Afghanistan unharmed. He'd been home for two weeks when some dumb lady on her cell phone killed him. My daughter was in the car with me when I saw this one, and I couldn't stop thinking what it would do to her if that were me under that sheet. I miss it every day. I can feel the thrill in my bones every time I see a guy riding while I'm driving. There is nothing like it, but be careful man. When I drive a car, I pay attention to what I'm doing. When I was on my bike, I paid attention to what the whole world around me was doing.

Other hobbies:
Falconry. Became a general this year. Finally.
SCUBA diving and free diving. Got Certified in '92.
Shooting. I'm also a shooter and not a collector. I enjoy taking defensive classes.
Protection dog training and competition. Won 6 National Titles!
Aquariums. My Dad had fish when I was born, and I started keeping my own at age 13. Down to just one 135 gallon tank at the moment.
Roach keeping and breeding. I think I'm still a roach breeder with a few tarantulas. Soon I'll be a tarantula keeper that also breeds roaches.
Tortoises. Lots and lots of tortoises. Breeding three species right now and working on a fourth. One of my species is extinct in the wild, and I've hatched 41 babies this year already. I expect to hit fifty by the time the season is done. Two of the other species are endangered in the wild. The last species isn't endangered, but they are relatively rare in the US, and just super cool in every way.

Great idea for a thread. Thank you for posting this.

 

[MassExodus]

You're right. I look at every vehicle as a danger, I keep my distance and watch them all. Cell phone use while driving is as popular as ever..I can understand not riding because you have a family. I don't have a wife and kid, not even a gf anymore I live my life a quarter mile at a time..lmao. As far as SCUBA and training protection dogs, thats awesome! What breed(s)? And have you been to Thunder Ranch? Always wanted to take the defensive course there. Its supposed to be good.

 

[Metalman2004]

Current hobbies:

Hunting
Kids
Cooking (it fits well into the family life and I enjoy it.)

Pre-kid hobbies:
Motorcycle riding (just sold it actually...)
Homebrewing (I still help my friends every once in a while)
Guitar (hoping I can get one of the kids interested in this one)

 

[Metalman2004]

I've also been riding since I was a kid. Still have my dirt bikes but I sold my CBR 600 after 22 years of riding it. I kept seeing too many bloody sheets on the street at accident scene after accident scene. The straw that broke the camels back was a dude that had just come home after two tours in Afghanistan unharmed. He'd been home for two weeks when some dumb lady on her cell phone killed him. My daughter was in the car with me when I saw this one, and I couldn't stop thinking what it would do to her if that were me under that sheet. I miss it every day. I can feel the thrill in my bones every time I see a guy riding while I'm driving. There is nothing like it, but be careful man. When I drive a car, I pay attention to what I'm doing. When I was on my bike, I paid attention to what the whole world around me was doing.

Other hobbies:
Falconry. Became a general this year. Finally.
SCUBA diving and free diving. Got Certified in '92.
Shooting. I'm also a shooter and not a collector. I enjoy taking defensive classes.
Protection dog training and competition. Won 6 National Titles!
Aquariums. My Dad had fish when I was born, and I started keeping my own at age 13. Down to just one 135 gallon tank at the moment.
Roach keeping and breeding. I think I'm still a roach breeder with a few tarantulas. Soon I'll be a tarantula keeper that also breeds roaches.
Tortoises. Lots and lots of tortoises. Breeding three species right now and working on a fourth. One of my species is extinct in the wild, and I've hatched 41 babies this year already. I expect to hit fifty by the time the season is done. Two of the other species are endangered in the wild. The last species isn't endangered, but they are relatively rare in the US, and just super cool in every way.

Great idea for a thread. Thank you for posting this.

If I had more time, falconry seems interesting as hell.

I scuba dove once on vacation after taking the half day course for crazy folks who just want to scuba dive that day. Popped my ear drum on the 2nd ocean dive because I hadn’t gotten certified... doc says I should be able to do it again so thats on my list whenever I actually get time for it.

 

[PanzoN88]

Other hobbies:

1. Martial arts (sport taekwondo, wing chun, considering adding american kenpo to the list)

2. Watching the NFL (packers, Cowboys), NBA (Spurs), college sports (longhorns, buckeyes)

3. Drummer (not in a band or anything, just domething i've been doing for fun for the last 12 years)

4. Paranormal (television shows, public paranormal investigations/tours)

5. Listening to mexican music (what do you expect, i'm an american of mexican descent, just because i am a US native doesn't mean i have to adapt as far as mudic is concerned)(to top it off, i don't like any other type of music)

6. Billiards (pool)

7. Cooking (i like to eat)

8. Gardening (i save money for eight legged additions this way, got to have cilantro for my salsa that has very few equals in flavor)

9. Church (LDS church)

10. Volunteer work

 

[Tortoise Tom]

You're right. I look at every vehicle as a danger, I keep my distance and watch them all. Cell phone use while driving is as popular as ever..I can understand not riding because you have a family. I don't have a wife and kid, not even a gf anymore I live my life a quarter mile at a time..lmao. As far as SCUBA and training protection dogs, thats awesome! What breed(s)? And have you been to Thunder Ranch? Always wanted to take the defensive course there. Its supposed to be good.

I've never been to Thunder Ranch, but I've heard nothing but good about Clint as an instructor and mentor. I did accept an invitation to Gunsite for a week long "everything" class and I got to meet Colonel Cooper and his lovely wife in The Sconce. She served us tea and lemonade while The Colonel told stories to an enthralled audience.

I've done protection training since the early 90's and trained just about any breed you can imagine. Malinois is my weapon of choice, but the Dutch Shepards are nice too. Bullet, Brownie and Hank:

And I took this shot of a TV while my current dog, Seven, was on it. We did an episode of "Zoo", and this was his close up:

 

[Dave Jay]

I've always kept animals since I can remember, my grandfather was a bird trapper and breeder so I can't remember not having bird aviaries of my own, even when I was too young to do more than "help" Dad look after them. My great grandfather was a goldfish breeder so I can't remember not having aquariums of my own. I usually run around 15 aquariums but I'm down to 5 now because I've been changing over to inverts because it's less physically demanding.

I have a backyard full of empty aviaries because I gave up bird keeping a few years ago.

I have lizards, frogs and aquatic tortoises.

I have tarantulas, scorpions and centipedes but I also like keeping the "feeders", I have 3 mealworm colonies which I do use as feeders for the lizards, frogs and fish but I changed my Wood Roach colonies to display enclosures and keep them purely as pets now, escapees are fed to my Paratilapia polleni cichlid though.

I would say that setting up enclosures/aquariums/terrariums/vivariums etc is as big a hobby as the actual keeping of the animals and plants involved, I find it artistically satisfying to set up miniature worlds.

I recently started keeping dermestid beetles which are lively little creatures, and I found a Queen ant a few weeks ago and I'm enjoying watching her build her nest and tending her first batch of larvae, ant keeping may be something I will expand on especially once I get out into the bush and see what I find.

I like photography, that goes nicely with keeping animals and holidaying in the bush.

I like gardening of most types and am qualified in horticulture, but I particularly like Bonsai, my style is a more natural approach involving pruning and weights rather than intense sculpting.

I have also been in bands since I was 15, I'm a singer by preference but I can play guitar, bass and drums when I need to.

I'm also an avid reader, I like non fiction books about animals and nature, and fictional books in the fantasy, science fiction, horror and comedy genres.
I'd like to say I write novels but I've never actually finished writing one despite having a few in progress.

I wouldn't have thought to list it as a hobby if others hadn't already but I do enjoy cooking, even as a teenager I was told I should be a chef but that would entail strictly following recipes which is not my thing. I've been cooking for my family for the last 20 years or so and while there's been a few "well that didn't work" moments, I have built up a repertoire of my own recipes that work well and the family loves.

 

[Tortoise Tom]

Other hobbies:

1. Martial arts (sport taekwondo, wing chun, considering adding american kenpo to the list)

2. Watching the NFL (packers, Cowboys), NBA (Spurs), college sports (longhorns, buckeyes)

3. Drummer (not in a band or anything, just domething i've been doing for fun for the last 12 years)

4. Paranormal (television shows, public paranormal investigations/tours)

5. Listening to mexican music (what do you expect, i'm an american of mexican descent, just because i am a US native doesn't mean i have to adapt as far as mudic is concerned)(to top it off, i don't like any other type of music)

6. Billiards (pool)

7. Cooking (i like to eat)

8. Gardening (i save money for eight legged additions this way, got to have cilantro for my salsa that has very few equals in flavor)

9. Church (LDS church)

10. Volunteer work

I too am a lover of cilantro and fine salsas. I've worked in Mexico many times and Mexico City has the best food in the entire world.

I did Kenpo many years ago and loved it. Go for it. You won't regret it.

 

[MassExodus]

Fantastic! Very interesting stuff. It's eight fifty five, and a nice morning for a ride. Hope to hear from a few more people!

 

[Dave Jay]

Fantastic! Very interesting stuff. It's eight fifty five, and a nice morning for a ride. Hope to hear from a few more people!

Just a note on time zones, it was 11.26pm Thursday night my time when you wrote that!

 

[Whitelightning777]

Other hobbies?

Shooting
Nyx, my dearest rescue cat, aka the nippers.
Linux

 

[MassExodus]

I've always kept animals since I can remember, my grandfather was a bird trapper and breeder so I can't remember not having bird aviaries of my own, even when I was too young to do more than "help" Dad look after them. My great grandfather was a goldfish breeder so I can't remember not having aquariums of my own. I usually run around 15 aquariums but I'm down to 5 now because I've been changing over to inverts because it's less physically demanding.

I have a backyard full of empty aviaries because I gave up bird keeping a few years ago.

I have lizards, frogs and aquatic tortoises.

I have tarantulas, scorpions and centipedes but I also like keeping the "feeders", I have 3 mealworm colonies which I do use as feeders for the lizards, frogs and fish but I changed my Wood Roach colonies to display enclosures and keep them purely as pets now, escapees are fed to my Paratilapia polleni cichlid though.

I would say that setting up enclosures/aquariums/terrariums/vivariums etc is as big a hobby as the actual keeping of the animals and plants involved, I find it artistically satisfying to set up miniature worlds.

I recently started keeping dermestid beetles which are lively little creatures, and I found a Queen ant a few weeks ago and I'm enjoying watching her build her nest and tending her first batch of larvae, ant keeping may be something I will expand on especially once I get out into the bush and see what I find.

I like photography, that goes nicely with keeping animals and holidaying in the bush.

I like gardening of most types and am qualified in horticulture, but I particularly like Bonsai, my style is a more natural approach involving pruning and weights rather than intense sculpting.

I have also been in bands since I was 15, I'm a singer by preference but I can play guitar, bass and drums when I need to.

I'm also an avid reader, I like non fiction books about animals and nature, and fictional books in the fantasy, science fiction, horror and comedy genres.
I'd like to say I write novels but I've never actually finished writing one despite having a few in progress.

I wouldn't have thought to list it as a hobby if others hadn't already but I do enjoy cooking, even as a teenager I was told I should be a chef but that would entail strictly following recipes which is not my thing. I've been cooking for my family for the last 20 years or so and while there's been a few "well that didn't work" moments, I have built up a repertoire of my own recipes that work well and the family loves.

I was a bookworm as well, for most of my life. Now I never seem to have time. I do make time for riding though.

 

[MassExodus]

Fishing mad! I love being in the wilderness....

Beautiful country, I envy you..

 

[Dave Jay]

I was a bookworm as well, for most of my life. Now I never seem to have time. I do make time for riding though.

One thing I find when writing articles is people expect references for every fact given, I've read every animal/nature reference book in every library I've ever had access to, every school library and town/suburb library. I even travelled to the city library until I ran out of books there. Then there's the piles of tfh magazines I've read ragged, how can I remember what I read where to cite 40+ years of information I've absorbed? Not to mention 40+ years of personal experience and observations plus information passed down from mentors.
The Internet opened up a lot of sources for information, but a lot of it can't be trusted, even museum sites are vague or iffy. I prefer to read scientific papers, but so many times you're expected to pay to read more than the abstract. I'm sure 90% of people citing various papers haven't actually read them through. I found that a lot on another forum, a certain 'expert' is fond of saying "here's the science" , I read the whole paper and it doesn't support what they are saying anyway, in fact it often contradicts the point they were making so I doubt they read past the abstract before posting a link.
(Sorry, went off on a tangent there!)
The best place for reading reference books is in the toilet/bathroom imo! Although I dropped my scorpion book into the bowl one day so maybe not!
If it wasn't for reading on the loo I'd rarely get time to read "real" books!

 

[Arachnoclown]

Rock crawling in my jeep, drinking beer, Motocross racing, drinking beer, hunting, drinking beer, fishing, drinking beer, and my dog Lucy.

 

[Dave Jay]

Damn! I forgot my favourite hobby of the last 33 years, drinking Ale!

 

[LC72uk]

My latest hobby is now " Ha Ha Ha Ha --Staying Alive Staying Alive" , especially now with some of the Reptiles I keep at Home

 

[Luna]

Hi! As with many in this thread I LOVE to ride my motorcycle! He's an old boy, being an '81 CM400e that's been half cafed and half bobbed. All blacked out, of course

But other than that I've always been a fisher and reptile owner.

Currently housing:
4' rescue iguana named Skye
Two leopard geckos, Leia and Gauge
A bearded dragon named Puffaluffagus
Two grey tree frogs
And Cirilla, the beautiful Cobalt Blue that brought me here!

Edit: OH, AND ACOUSTIC GUITAR!

 

[Tortoise Tom]

My latest hobby is now " Ha Ha Ha Ha --Staying Alive Staying Alive" , especially now with some of the Reptiles I keep at Home

Sooooooo… You've taken up disco dancing to 70's songs???