Picking a hobby

So I'm at an interesting cross roads, which I'm lamented about often enough here. For the last 7 or 8 years of my life, I've been into cars. I came into it a little late, but with a passion. I spent my time dreaming of turbo's and suspension. Cruising auto sites, looking for that deal. But my horrible luck with cars has soured me. First a 944 that barely ran, and now a Miata of questionable repute.

There's an issue now though. Recently I've really gotten into guns. Where I used to dream build cars, I now build dream AR's. I used to debate turbo vs supercharger, now I go on about AK vs AR (Or lately FAL vs CETME). Cars have been displaced by guns. And for a good reason. For less then the price of properly fixing the exhaust, I could have two more guns, and be competing in IPSC. Which is something I want to do.

But I still love cars. Just the other day a Civic SI challenged me the title of King of the Road (just kidding, we had an enthusiastic sprint on a backroad) and it got my blood pumping the same way it always has. I know I can't afford both, at least not on what I'm making now (which doesn't look like it's going to change any time soon, and will be further taxed by a baby).

So what do I go with? Cars, despite my terrible track record. Or guns, and my so far perfect record (I've bought two guns that both worth flawlessly)?

Both.

The two are not mutually exclusive.

I just picked up a bike, and don't even own a car that runs, but you don't see me ceasing to have an opinion about anything with 4 wheels.

I also like shooting, though I don't know much about it.

Hiking is fast becoming a hobby of mine.

I also enjoy collecting.....various things....

Easy. Cars with guns.

This also came up in the search

I've crossed the same bridge lately. I forgot how much fun shooting is, but its hard balancing hobbies. For me its autox/track time, mountain biking, and shooting. I notice that one usually takes more of my time at the expense of the other two. But it comes and goes. It could be worse.

I go back and forth - I used to hand load and obsess over groupings, etc but now I'm happy to get good store-bought ammo and take a .22, shotgun or pistol (or all of the above) and go enjoy myself plinking or killing clay birds.

Cars - are two different things for me. Driving at the limit is exhilarating, demanding and focuses the gray matter better than a psychiatrist. Building them challenges my mind and my fabrication skills so I can pretend I am that great inventor that I wanted to be when I was a little kid. Both aspects have made me some lifelong friends.

That was a lot of words to get to my point (if you can call it that) -- Cars are a lifestyle for me. Guns are tools I like to exercise once in a while when I feel like taking a hike.

I have more than one hobby. With a little creativity they don't have to be mutually exclusive. I enjoy tinkering with antique clocks. There is one from the 1940s on the desk in my shop undergoing refinishing. I worked on it last weekend for several hours. I probably won't touch it this weekend because Jensenman and I are going to be working on a project car. There are weeks at a time that I don't even look at the cars. There are also weeks at a time that I don't look at the clocks either.

Right now cars are an interest, not a hobby. All my efforts go into keeping 2 DD's on the road. I also dable in models, guns, and during the winter, WoW.

that's one gnarly Nova.

I have a problem.

Hobbies I like include:

• Hiking
• camping
• fishing (fly and regular)
• shooting (black powder and C&R guns.. Modern stuff is boring)
• cars
• 4 wheeling
• Jeeps
• racing (rally + autox + vintage)
• building crap
• knife making
• playing with my kid
• biking (moutain and road)
• working out (neck injury puts me trying to figure out how to work out now)
• I got some ideas for furniture as well..
• Running.

I can go on.....

I'm not very successful at any of them.

You could always try cars on a smaller scale.

Big ego wrote: I have a problem. + working out (neck injury puts me trying to figure out how to work out now)

Try and make friends with a physical therapist. They often have all kinds of tricks to help with that

Toyman01 wrote: There are also weeks at a time that I don't look at the clocks either.

How do you keep track of the time?

I have been into both cars and guns for some time now, with outdoor stuff thrown in as well. my desk currently has .38 brass needing to be reloaded this weekend and a cracked Audi basket weave wheel sitting on it, all next to the mtn bike that is undergoing restoration for next season. All these hobbies seem to have a rhythm where I work hard on one for awhile and slow down on others.

I would say get into everything you like, at a reasonable cost and play with whatever you want to that particular weekend. If it's raining out, tune up a bike or fiddle with a gun, nice day go for a drive to the range or an auto-x. Just don't buy into one too much so that you are financially prevented from doing the others.

Guns take up a lot less space and are cheap by comparison.

Unless you get into Class 3 stuff, in which case it gets expensive REAL FAST.

I change my mind to often to have a "real" hobby. Always loved cars and music. Recently picked up a set of drums again so I can try to get that skill back.............I figured auto-xing/tracking my new car with a warranty would be a bad idea.

So I'm saving up my money to either buy another E30 or maybe a nicely modded Miata about spring of 2012.

to the OP:

use gun to get sweet car!

i keed, i keed!

I'm just worried if I wait to long, I'll never get into racing like I want too.

And as if to make things worse, I found a gorgeous Mosin Nagant M44 at a gun show today. Matching serial numbers and everything. Damnit.

Lately, I have been having a lot of fun brewing beer. It's a fairly economical hobby, provided you don't go overboard on fancy equipment. It won't save you a ton of money, but you'll probably be doing a bit better than breaking even compared to buying in the store. If you're into fancy or obscure beer styles, there can definitely be savings.

I also find it a really good creative outlet where you don't feel like a jackass trying to impress people with your creativity. Leave out the technical jargon, and non-hobbiests are very interested.

It's also good for very technical, precise minded, engi-nerd types.

I see the unclosed bullets bug has bitten this thread. Sigh. Never did figure out a good fix for that one while I was still fixing things.

Anyways, I've figured out I'm only particularly good at one hobby at a time. I just tend to pretty much immerse myself in it to the exclusion of other hobbies.

Drewsifer wrote: I'm just worried if I wait to long, I'll never get into racing like I want too. And as if to make things worse, I found a gorgeous Mosin Nagant M44 at a gun show today. Matching serial numbers and everything. Damnit.

Which would put you out a grand 100 bucks. Buy it, buy a spam can of cheap buried in the Ukraine for 60 years ammo, shoot foot long fireballs, go home and work on the car some more.

moparman76_69 wrote:

Drewsifer wrote: I'm just worried if I wait to long, I'll never get into racing like I want too. And as if to make things worse, I found a gorgeous Mosin Nagant M44 at a gun show today. Matching serial numbers and everything. Damnit.

Which would put you out a grand 100 bucks. Buy it, buy a spam can of cheap buried in the Ukraine for 60 years ammo, shoot foot long fireballs, go home and work on the car some more.

M44's are closer to $200 these days, but your point still stands. I'm gonna take my 91/30 in and see if he'll take some off the price for a trade.

In reply to Drewsifer: Both. Until my recent move to Japan, I enjoyed, cars, motorcycles, and shooting IPSC/USPSA about twice a month (Glock 17 tricked out by SJC for Open, Glock 35 for Limited and Production, and an STI Edge for Limited).

In reply to Salanis:

I can second home brewing being a fun and worthwhile hobby. I stick more to home brewing my own hard cider since I have a sweet tooth but it is very cool to see the looks on peoples faces when you tell them you home brew. Also, there are tons of recipes online for any and every kind of beer. Look to see if there are any local homebrew places or clubs in your neck of the woods. They can give you some pretty good insight.

format change experiment, or its it just my computer?

It's a bug related to unclosed bullteted lists. It'll sort out either when someone edits wally's post above, or when we go to the next page.