Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with hobbies

Help him adaptto finger amputation

shylady — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 10:41:12 -0800

My wonderful great uncle had to have his right index finger amputated at the middle knuckle a year or so ago. He is 92 years old, lives alone, and has coped with loneliness (since the loss of his beloved wife 8 years ago) by keeping himself busy with construction related hobbies and cooking. I found out that he is really suffering from the loss of his normal pincer grasp. He specifically mentioned trouble using a hammer and nails. What can I do to make his life/hobbies easier, other than suggest a thumb and middle finger pincer grasp? Are there any products or tools you can recommend?

How do I make the most of the Internet?

logicalsequence — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 06:05:42 -0800

How do I make the most of the Internet? I find myself reading the same (primarily boring) websites on the Internet and want to make more use of my online time. What can I do to connect with others more effectively, to discover new ideas more easily, to partake in my hobbies more effectively, to become more innovative/creative or to contribute to society more?

All I seem to be using the Internet for at the minute is for checking Facebook and a couple of forums and blogs relating to my hobbies.

Please feel free to suggest ideas or specific websites.

Thanks.

New Things for the New Year

stennieville — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:39:54 -0800

My goal for the year 2010 is to try one new thing every week. I'm compiling a list of new things to try, and would love input! Looking for ideas in all different areas -- new skills to learn, new hobbies to try out, fix-it projects, tech/computer projects, new recipes to try, magic tricks, you name it. As examples, here's a few things that are on my list already:

- Fix my broken lamp
- Build a lightbulb terrarium
- Learn to knit
- Make an origami crane
- Install Mac-on-a-stick
- Bake bread from scratch
- Eat fried gator (a local Cajun restaurant I go to serves this; I've always wanted to try it)
- Ride in a hot air balloon

There are no wrong answers (except "learn a new language" or something that takes longer than a week to do). I have found some good ideas from these previous AskMe threads, but would love to hear more! Help me fill up my weeks with fun new stuff for the year. Thanks in advance!

PS: Today I did a new thing -- posted my first question to AskMe.

Tell me the best movies with knights, swordplay, and the like.

mtphoto — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 11:35:05 -0800

What are some of the best medieval movies? What are some of the best movies set in medieval times? Hint: Not A Knight's Tale.

Suggest some online stores for DIY electronic gadget making.

Charlie Lesoine — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:57:51 -0800

Can you recommend some good stores like http://www.goldmine-elec.com/ and http://www.sparkfun.com/ I'm looking for little motors, gears, metal rods, rubber rollers/grommets as well as electrical components.

Seeking clicking mechanism or design...

pallen123 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:21:02 -0800

What kind of small toys or devices click when you rotate them forwards and backwards? Seeking mechanism or design... I’m trying to help a friend design a small toy and she needs a mechanism that will click in very small increments as she rotates a small (1 inch diameter) dial that turns 360 degrees on its axis. She needs the dial to click precisely as it turns clockwise and counterclockwise in smallish increments. I was thinking a fishing reel mechanism might work, but that just allows turning in one direction. Then I thought a ratchet wrench mechanism might work, but that also turns in just one direction (and I’m not sure how the inside of a ratchet wrench works either). Can anyone think of existing toys or devices that have a clicking mechanism that freely rotate? Novel solutions? Suggestions? Thank you!

I want to be a scientist in my spare time!

adverb — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:32:01 -0800

How can I be use my spare time to advance a scientific cause? I always thought I'd be a scientist when I grew up, but it hasn't worked out that way. I'm happy with what I'm doing now, but something still gnaws at me to get involved with something scientific - astronomy and other physical sciences, mostly.

I'm looking for something that I can do to help a scientific cause or project - something more involved than SETI@Home, but is not too demanding on what little leisure time I have. Any ideas?

A ring....

tropikal — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 12:41:09 -0800

OK, I've searched all over the internet, MeFi and tons of blogs. I've learned a lot, but I haven't found what I'm looking for. I want to carve a simple ring design for my girlfriend, out of jewelers wax, then send it to a professional silversmith and have it cast. Now I could do it myself, but I neither have the space nor the equipment to do it properly. So yes I have seen and read just about every tutorial about DIY casting. So...anyone out there know where I could find an actual silversmith, only found one, they want a minimum of 25 pieces....

Real life hobby for someone who enjoys building structures in computer games?

wastelands — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:10:18 -0800

Real life hobby for someone who enjoys building structures in computer games? Recently I enjoyed creating awesome defensive lines in Plants versus Zombies and playing the engineer class in Team Fortress 2. I loved Legos as a kid. Whenever I play a board game with friends, I'm always building little towers out of the pieces.

My question: What's a good non-software based hobby that would be good for someone who likes building structures? Bonus points for something that's not super nerdy. I don't really see myself painting Warhammer 40K miniatures or anything.

Thanks!

Looking for goal-oriented, creative hobbies

Quizicalcoatl — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 18:48:01 -0800

Ms. Quizicalcoatl is looking for an artistic hobby, but she is very goal-oriented. Help! Now that all the schooling is done and the job is got, Ms. Quizicalcoatl is looking for a creative outlet. 30-odd years of working towards a career type goal have left her a very goal oriented person.

She'd love to explore some artistic or creative activities. The problems she's run against are 1) she's not a naturally creative person and 2) she likes objective benchmarks and much of art is subjective.

Things she's already explored are amateur level knitting, and jewelry making. She's mentioned accordion lessons, but doesn't really know where to begin with it. She'd like something unique and something where part of the artistry is being able to complete it at all.

Finally, between job and family, a suggestion to spend a year in Tibet learning Buddhist chant would probably not be the best suggestion.

I seriously need to meet some new people and get out of the house. Can you help me develop some new hobbies that will enrich my life and put me in social situations?

mintchip — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 18:21:42 -0800

I seriously need to meet some new people and get out of the house. Can you help me develop some new hobbies that will enrich my life and put me in social situations? I have a number of interests, but they are mostly either quite expensive (traveling, home design) or won't really help me become more social. Truth is, I'm not really sure what things might be of interest to me, and I'm rather shy and hesitant to try something new.

I'm seeking general or specific suggestions for how to become more involved in life and less of an observer. For example;

--What types of things did YOU get involved in to help you get out of a rut?
--Where did you meet your closest friends?
--Are there event lists or sites that have been particularly helpful to you?
--What is the "standby" activity that you turn to when the weekend arrives and you are bored/lonely/haven't made plans?
--Are there any web sites that list a lot of hobbies?
--How far in advance do you try to make weekend plans?

Etc.

Housebound and bored - help us find an evening diversion.

lottie — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:57:29 -0800

We have turned into my parents: What do housebound couples do for kicks in the evening, besides the obvious? Quite the pathetic question, but here it is anyway. My husband and I live in an inner city with our young son. We take care of his needs early in the evening, and he is generally tucked into bed before 7pm nightly, and asleep shortly afterwards.

Then my husband and I look at each other, shrug, and say "So waddya want to do now?"

In short, we are out of ideas of ways to entertain ourselves in the evenings, and have begun going to bed, like retirees, at about 8:30pm. It's pitiful. Last night we tried to remember what we used to do for fun back in the day. We are joking that we should get a hobby, which is probably ridiculous considering the various ways our lives are over-extended during the day with parenting, studying, working etc.

So what should we do for kicks? I would love some ideas.

Factors:
• We loathe TV, and never watch it.
• We only have a few nights a week together because of work schedules, so we generally abstain from things we could do alone, like surfing the web or studying, and stick to doing things together and shared interests.
• We can't go out, because junior is in bed.
• We live in an inner city apartment, so no garden
• We are lovers of cultural things - music, art, film, architecture, travel, design, cooking as well as having shared interests in history, politics, pop culture, philosophy, astronomy, and other sciences. I would say our interests are very diverse, and our conversations tend to be about cerebral things. We are curious, nerdy people who enjoy discussing "ideas". We both LOVE to cook.
• We like to laugh
• We already know how to have sex, and probably don't need help with that
• When we weren't housebound we used to walk around the city, eat out, meet friends for drinks, go to movies, and go to rock shows. We rarely stayed in together

Any ideas? A project, games, at home cup cake business, slow and quiet renovation of our home... God help me, we're in a lame rut and we need your help.

Tackling the Tackle Box

rokusan — Tue, 05 May 2009 02:57:21 -0800

Santa and Mrs Claus need a storage system(s) for a million tiny parts... I have a delightfully crazy old aunt and uncle who are crafty types -- she's always making custom dolls and such, and he's making tiny trains and mechanical toys and things -- and their 'workshop' is like a kid's wet dream...

But it pains my process-engineering mind when I watch them look for things over and over again, so that a 30-minute task turns into an all-day affair because of the hours of searching through mason jars, coffee cans, muffin tins (I swear) and jewelry boxes for the right doodads. There's everything from little clockwork gears to battery leads to spools of thread and tiny bottles of model paint.

I've asked why they don't get some of those "bug boxes" with a hundred small drawers, like the kind used for nuts and bolts, but the answer I get is "Oh I can't take those upstairs to work outside" or "I need to see everything I have spread out." When I pointed out a small rack of open bins (a smaller version of this sort of thing) I was poo-pooed because "all my pretty parts will get dusty!"

I don't think I am being too nosy here, because I see their frustration in rummaging for things, so I'm looking for more ideas on how to help out. The ideal solution would be:

expandable, or at least huge enough to handle ~1000 types of part (I am guessing, but it's more than a couple hundred.)

either sub-sorted or modular so that "all the different kinds of googly eyes" could be in one place and "all the tiny wooden gears" in another.

explodable, so that it could all be opened (?) for scanning: they won't open and close a hundred drawers to find one thing.

protected, just least some of it, since there are some small delicate parts that I know don't like being bashed around and exposed to air and dirt. They're in jewelry boxes now.

semi-portable, so that at least parts of the collection (googly eye section and sewing bits, for example) could be taken out to the porch on nice days for working outside.

Links appreciated. The future of Christmas may depend on you all.

Penny press in Marfa, TX?

spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 19:48:43 -0800

Where can I press a penny in Marfa, Texas? My wife and I have been putting together a pretty kick ass pressed penny collection ever since our honeymoon. I'm talking about these.

My Google-fu has failed me, and it seems that several of the pressed penny websites we saw a few years ago are now offline. Has anyone personally seen a penny press in Marfa, TX, and do you remember where it was?

How can I decide on a college major when I have NO interest?

isopropyl — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:35:33 -0800

How am I suppose to decide on a major when I have no real hobbies, interest, or passions for anything. Other than sleep or a good book I don't really do anything. I'm not the greatest writer and you can't support a family with sleep so what so I do to find something I truly enjoy. Something that actually will make me look forward to the day while I'm wasting away in minimum wage jobs while I decide on a major; After 60 semester hours at my school you have no choice.

Need play area for child but too windy!!! What items can we put in back yard!!

lynnie-the-pooh — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 08:14:51 -0800

Need ideas for outside play area that is super windy! Hi, my daughter will be five soon and our back yard has nothing in it because it is super windy. We bought a trampoline last year and had it for two weeks, then it became a pancake due to the wind. My husband is reluctant to get a swing set, sand box or another trampoline. What ideas do you have that will secure these items to the ground? The swing set could be cemented into the ground. But if the swing is bent or broken over during the storm, we will have pieces of swing stuck to the ground by cement. And with the sand box, we are afraid the top will fly off and we will have sand all over our back yard. If my husband puts a cement block on the top of the cover, I will not be able to get it off every day, as I have a bad back. The trampoline we had was secured to the ground with anchors, but the netting around the trampoline acted like a sail in the wind and it just went up and then down like a pancake. Surely there is some way my child can have items in her back yard to play with?? We live in Iowa in a neighborhood, but behind us is a farm, so the wind is hard and very open by us. I'm looking for ideas, my daughter would be so happy if we could figure it out.
Thanks,
LYNN

Help me find something to DO before I drive myself crazy.

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 15:52:22 -0800

Help me find something to DO before I drive myself crazy. I'm bored all the time and nothing seems to appeal to me anymore. I think it may be because for the last few months I've not done much of anything besides sit around at my computer, sleep, repeat. Please, help me find things to do that will get me out of the house. "Take a walk" won't do, I don't know this neighbourhood well at all but from what I've seen it's just rows of depressingly identical suburban houses. I'm so tired of wandering around aimlessly bored out of my skull, both IRL and on the Internet.

I'm in Vancouver, CA if it matters, moved here late last year. Entertainment budget: low to non-existent. That's not to say I'm blaming a lack of money for a lack of recreation, I know there is plenty of fun to be had for cheap or free, it's just that I can't seem to think of anything right now. I have time on my hands, obviously, just not a lot of money to spare. I need to do things that will make me feel alive again. I feel so inert that it's surreal. I find myself crying sometimes thinking about what to do next. Normal everyday things look impossibly huge in the light of not having any other hobbies. Some days I literally can't do anything at all because I can't seem to stop fretting about being bored and concentrate on anything else. Schoolwork is taking a hit.

I have a boyfriend and ideas for couple-y activities are welcome.

Find me a new active hobby

phrakture — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:00:43 -0800

I am looking for an active hobby that isn't time restricted or seasonal. So I'm a big hiking/backpacking fan, and that occupies lots of my time when the weather is nice, but that's just the problem. I get all lazy in the winter or when it's rainy.

I'd like to find a good hobby that is active (read: no video games, etc; I have enough sit-on-the-couch hobbies) that isn't necessarily constrained by weather or time of day. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Cheers

Can I go out to Play?

Funmonkey1 — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 08:00:09 -0800

[HobbiesForKidsFilter]: Hobby suggestions for a bright 11 year old boy who doesn't like sports. Familiar story probably for many as he is bright, considerate, thoughtful and somewhat outside his mainstream classmates obsessed with football and the like. Mrs Funmonkey's nephew is going through a bit of a rough patch trying to find friends and interests outside of school. Small town child with access to the big city, quite bright and inquisitive but no interest whatsoever in the usual sports and trading cards like most his peers. The end result is he is pretty much on his own and lonely. Has tried acting and some other things but unfortunately nothing has stuck.

Any advice towards helping him overcome or find activities that will help him find some new friends is greatly appreciated.

Please note this is a scandinavian askme, so any type of links or advice that is country specific, e.g. meet up websites for kids in USA etc.. won't help.

Hobbies for RSI sufferers?

simonw — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:00:05 -0800

My girlfriend is suffering really badly from RSI. If she's going to heal she needs to avoid using her hands... but this is leaving her bored to tears. What hobbies are suitable for RSI sufferers? She's not too keen on sports, although she has recently taken up yoga.

How to make a paint-by-number in Photoshop?

macrowave — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:20:07 -0800

What's the simplest way to create a series of paint-by-number patterns from digital photos? I have access to Photoshop and Illustrator. My Photoshop skills are a bit rusty (it's been a few years) and my Illustrator/vector understanding is pretty lame. My DIY xmas idea for the family this year is to create paint-by-number kits of all of the siblings/parents/grandparents and package them with paints/brushes,etc. Nothing too fancy... I just want to print numbered line drawings onto thick cardstock.

I'm assuming that Illustrator is the way to go. Is there anyone out there that knows it well enough to break it down to a few easy steps? I'm assuming that all I really need to do is break my family's headshots down to four or five colors and then outline and number the color fields.

Instructions anyone? Or links to a tutorial? The hints that come up in my google search involve just tracing with the Photoshop pen tool and/or tracing manually with carbon paper. There has to be any easier way, no? I vaguely remember the livetrace Illustrator command from school, but, again, really don't know how to mess with vector graphics.

Also- I'm on a mac and don't want to buy any extra software.

Thanks!

Is there such thing as "spare time" during maternity/paternity leave?

Alabaster — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 11:21:37 -0800

Is there such thing as "spare time" during maternity/paternity leave? Our first child is due this month and we're both taking a few weeks of leave from work to stay home with our newborn. Never having been through this, I'm fairly ignorant:

Some people tell me that the baby will monopolize every moment of every day and that we will be too exhausted and busy to think about anything else during our leave time.

Others tell me that the baby will sleep a lot and the down time is good for catching up on projects, creative work, etc.

I'm guessing the answer is somewhere in between, and that it depends greatly on the baby.

What are your experiences?

(I'm asking specifically about the first few weeks, particularly when home on leave from work -- however I'd also be interested in advice on how to balance having a baby/young child with hobbies and creative work--especially when these require hours of intense solitary work).

Part time-jobs / social groups / hobbies that are a great workout -- Help me find my Mr. Miyagi!

jkl345 — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:52:53 -0800

What are some physical jobs or hobbies that I can get involved in to be more healthy, but also something that will be regular enough to require me to keep going? I have a problem. I can't seem to stick to a workout routine.

You know how in Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi tricked Daniel into doing the household chores, while also training him awesome ninja skills and getting him physically ready to crush all the Cobra Kai jocks? You know -- wax on, wax off, sand the floor, paint the fence, etc.? I need something like that.

Whenever I get into a workout routine, it's great for a few weeks, then I tend to let other projects side track me or I'll get bored. I've tried changing my workout every few weeks but it doesn't really make a difference.

Back when I was in school, I worked a handful of physical jobs in warehouses to make good money, while also getting in shape. I need a solution like that to trick myself into working out. In general, I always seem to work much harder and stick to things when I'm working for or depended on by other people, but when it comes to myself I'll often let things slide. (Please hold your lectures on discipline. I know, I am weak and inferior to you.)

So I need to find a job, some sort of hobby or social group to be active with and I'm looking for suggestions.

For example:
Possible hobbies / social groups: Fight clubs, hashing, Grizzly bear wrestling, ???
Possible jobs: Construction, lumberjack, warehouse work, ???

Anyone have any other suggestions?

Ideally it'd be:
+ Available / easy to do in the evenings and weekends
+ Available year round so I won't lose focus when a sports season ends
+ Not too crazy expensive (Something that I can actually make money doing would be really cool, so I'm kinda leaning towards job ideas, especially since there's a rigid schedule)
+ Bonus points for activities that have social or personal development benefits

Thanks for any advice you can offer!

Horseback riding for big kids

Meifa — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:43:32 -0800

I want to take horseback riding lessons. I'm 24 years old. Oxymoronic? Details follow. Way back when I was... Oh, I don't know, 8 or 9 or something, I took English riding lessons. It went on for awhile, probably closer to two years than not. I'm not sure why I stopped; my mother says I got spooked from falling while learning to jump. I beg to differ, but who am I to say?

A few days ago, for whatever reason, I thought "Man, I wish I could take horseback riding lessons again." Soon thereafter, however, doubts came a-knockin':

1) I would be starting pretty much from scratch. It's been ages since I've been on a horse. 2) I live in suburban south Florida, so there aren't a lot of stables around (there are some "horsey areas," but they're a bit posh); cutting to the chase, while adult group lessons seem really attractive to me, I don't think there are many around here. So it looks like if I follow through on this, I would be going for private lessons.

My sticking points: Is 24 too old to learn how to ride seriously? Am I going to stick out like a sore thumb, an adult among children? And something I haven't mentioned: I'm not in any great shape. Can I hack it?

Drawing me on are a few big pluses, though. One, I really want to do it. What's more, I really need to develop new hobbies and meet new people. I think this might help me there.

Any tips, suggestions, advice? Help me get over my horse fright!

Help me duplicate this unique trophy

Flying Saucer — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 09:48:25 -0800

I am trying to duplicate a unique trophy any way possible. I recently won this trophy.

I'd like to share it with some other people involved in my success by making as close a copy as possible -- multiple copies, in fact.

I'm asking Mefites for any method they can think of, from creating it myself to hiring a trophy manufacturer. Cheap, reasonable, or expensive; it doesn't matter. I'd like to hear all options.

Thanks.