SeilerBird
Well-known member
Astronomy is one field where the amateurs get as much recognition as the experts.camperAL said:
Need a hobby
- Thread starter Bayou Talker
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Ex-Calif
Well-known member
@BT - Yeah I've done a ton of hobbies, scuba, tennis, water, snow and jet ski, skydiving, flying power and glider, sailboats, power boats. I've been a wrench all my life and upon returning to Ohio restoring and maintaining MGs was my go to thing. Still have 2. Still have the bike but cross country riding is now out for me because people don't know how to drive and I had a close call last year and had to lay the bike down. Now I tow it and use it for local sightseeing.
The MGs were taken on when my kid was in last year of HS. I thought it would be cool to take on a project he and I could do together and pass on some mechanickin' skills. He didn't take to it and aside from helping me bleed brakes and clutches pretty much stayed away. He sure liked to drive it thought - LOL...
Project MGs are really cheap and a lot of fun. I did the car show circuits every summer but covid killed that hence all my new hobbies last year. The car club still does drives but by nature the car guys are all old farts and social distancing is pretty important so club meetings are virtual.
I hope you find something. I only have a couple things left on the bucket list and that's liveaboard again in the Caribbean this time and hole up in Cartagena during hurricane season. I also plan to get my SCCA sports car license so I can do track days in the MG and scare the pants off myself. We also plan to put a lot of miles on the RV as soon as lock down is over and see the rest of the USA that we wanna see.
Quilting is gonna be a one time deal for me to save the t-shirts but I will keep your wife's offer in mind.
The MGs were taken on when my kid was in last year of HS. I thought it would be cool to take on a project he and I could do together and pass on some mechanickin' skills. He didn't take to it and aside from helping me bleed brakes and clutches pretty much stayed away. He sure liked to drive it thought - LOL...
Project MGs are really cheap and a lot of fun. I did the car show circuits every summer but covid killed that hence all my new hobbies last year. The car club still does drives but by nature the car guys are all old farts and social distancing is pretty important so club meetings are virtual.
I hope you find something. I only have a couple things left on the bucket list and that's liveaboard again in the Caribbean this time and hole up in Cartagena during hurricane season. I also plan to get my SCCA sports car license so I can do track days in the MG and scare the pants off myself. We also plan to put a lot of miles on the RV as soon as lock down is over and see the rest of the USA that we wanna see.
Quilting is gonna be a one time deal for me to save the t-shirts but I will keep your wife's offer in mind.
scottydl
Site Team
Ex-Calif said:
My wife and I met in marching band (drumline) in college, and had a ton of T-shirts from that era of our lives. She unearthed them from storage boxes (unknown to me at the time) and made a T-shirt quilt for Christmas... with help from a sewing friend. It's a low cost, but high time, effort... but the results are AWESOME. Brings back such great memories by remembering stories behind all the shirts, and it's a really comfortable blanket!
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
Seems to me a hobby has to be something YOU find interesting, not what suits the whims of others. If you enjoy building or fixing things, a hobby that crafts something can be fun, anything from knitting to model airplanes. If you lean towards arts or culture, language and music are more enticing fields. Or maybe just reading or listening to books on subjects of interest to you. Or join a blog site like this one and chat about topics of interest or help others with their problems. Does money & finance intrigue you? How about joining an investment club and playing in the markets. It doesn't have to be your life savings - just a hundred or two to play with as a hobby. Do you ever look at the coins in your pocket and notice differences? Maybe coin collecting is for you. Or old tools or knives. There are a zillion tings you could collect, even if just by photos.
aguablanco
Well-known member
Bayou Talker said:
How about Ham radio?
RichH
touchracing
Well-known member
About a year ago I got into 3D puzzle cubes. (Rubik?s cube) Good for mind and dexterity. It?s inexpensive and takes up little space.
grashley
Well-known member
Model Railroading can be fun and as cheap or expensive as you make it. Simple oval track in N scale will fit on the dining room table. I have a larger oval mounted on a 2 ft x 4 ft board.
HO is the most popular scale and a 4 ft diameter circle is about the minimum for most rolling stock. It is 1:84 scale.
N scale is what I have. A 2 ft diameter circle will handle most rolling stock. It is 1:168 scale.
Z scale is even smaller. 1 ft diameter circles will handle most rolling stock. It is 1:180 scale if I remember correctly.
For inside a camper, HO would be a bit big, and S, O or G scale are completely out of the question.
Incidentally, SCALE refers to the size, like 1:168.
GAUGE refers to the distance between the rails. They are not always the same?!
HO is the most popular scale and a 4 ft diameter circle is about the minimum for most rolling stock. It is 1:84 scale.
N scale is what I have. A 2 ft diameter circle will handle most rolling stock. It is 1:168 scale.
Z scale is even smaller. 1 ft diameter circles will handle most rolling stock. It is 1:180 scale if I remember correctly.
For inside a camper, HO would be a bit big, and S, O or G scale are completely out of the question.
Incidentally, SCALE refers to the size, like 1:168.
GAUGE refers to the distance between the rails. They are not always the same?!
Larry N.
Well-known member
You're close, Grashley, but HO is 1:87, the gauge (distance between rails) being 16.5 mm; N which is 1:160, the gauge being 9mm; and Z is 1:220 with 6.5mm between the rails. Of course there are a number of other, larger scales, S, O, G, etc.) and a smaller scale too, T, which is 1:480 or 3mm between the rails. Of course there is also (for example) HOn3, which models the real life narrow gauge RR such as the Durango & Silverton and is also 1:87 but the gauge is 10.5mm.
N and Z could be really good for use in an RV.
N and Z could be really good for use in an RV.
FunSteak
Well-known member
Gizmo100 said:
Have you heard of JamKazaam? It's an online jam space that uses some kind of voodoo to make it a latency-free experience. It's so cool! My buddy and I have been playing together on it, and it works amazingly well. Way better than we expected - it's like he's in the next room.
It's free to use. You just need an audio interface for your PC. I got a nice two channel (one for guitar, one for vocal mic) for around $100.
8Muddypaws
Well-known member
Better read up about JamKazaam. I was interested until I read that it doesn't work over WiFi. If that's the case I'll bet it isn't going to work over cellular either.
Skookum
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2018
- Posts
- 4,105
Start or join a Facebook group for something you're interested in, and become a moderator?
If you don't already, maybe read up to understand Cryptocurrency and make an inconsequential investment to see where it takes you?
Volunteering is a good one...sky is the limit there...and it gets you out of the RV for a while.
Watch a series on something you like. For example, we were rained out on our last RV trip, so I spent most of Saturday in the RV streaming Vice Grip Garage from Youtube. I don't relax like that often, I'm not really a sit-around kinda guy, but it was OK for a rainy Saturday.
I think meetup (dot com) is still a thing. They do all sorts of meets for anything/everything you can imagine. Your wife might enjoy it too - surely she could find others to knit with locally if she hasn't already.
If you don't already, maybe read up to understand Cryptocurrency and make an inconsequential investment to see where it takes you?
Volunteering is a good one...sky is the limit there...and it gets you out of the RV for a while.
Watch a series on something you like. For example, we were rained out on our last RV trip, so I spent most of Saturday in the RV streaming Vice Grip Garage from Youtube. I don't relax like that often, I'm not really a sit-around kinda guy, but it was OK for a rainy Saturday.
I think meetup (dot com) is still a thing. They do all sorts of meets for anything/everything you can imagine. Your wife might enjoy it too - surely she could find others to knit with locally if she hasn't already.
Gizmo100
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2018
- Posts
- 3,065
8Muddypaws said:
I was also interested. But the folks I jam with have trouble with email... I don't think they will figure out the needed interface.
Larry N.
Well-known member
Apparently it also needs to work through social media, such as Facebook.
Indoors, something to keep your hands and mind active, not take up much room?
I can suggest the following...
Crochet amigurami toys for the grandkids if young, or for charity. Crochet is pretty easy and lots of YouTube videos. I did some Star Wars characters which was fun.
Knitting same as above, could do beanie hats or scarves etc.
Drawing / painting
Clay modelling with air dry clay - whatever you make won't last too long but it's something to do, again there will be plenty of videos online.
Research your family ancestry and draw up a family tree.
Write a book about your life experiences, and/or those of your kids that they might find interesting and enjoyable. Do it in a book and add photos or drawings. I know I wish I knew more about my parents and even my life as a child. You could make a photo book online add in the text and give as gifts.
Might sound morbid but write up things you'd like for your funeral.
Solitaire of other card games.
I can suggest the following...
Crochet amigurami toys for the grandkids if young, or for charity. Crochet is pretty easy and lots of YouTube videos. I did some Star Wars characters which was fun.
Knitting same as above, could do beanie hats or scarves etc.
Drawing / painting
Clay modelling with air dry clay - whatever you make won't last too long but it's something to do, again there will be plenty of videos online.
Research your family ancestry and draw up a family tree.
Write a book about your life experiences, and/or those of your kids that they might find interesting and enjoyable. Do it in a book and add photos or drawings. I know I wish I knew more about my parents and even my life as a child. You could make a photo book online add in the text and give as gifts.
Might sound morbid but write up things you'd like for your funeral.
Solitaire of other card games.
PopPop51
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2010
- Posts
- 447
In my years in the retail hobby and craft business I met a lot of people who were "looking for a hobby" to fill a void. Some were successful, others were not. The difference was attitude. The activity didn't seem to matter a lot.
Those who were unsuccessful seemed to be looking for something familiar, something "new" that they could be good at right out of the box, something that gave them the same type of gratification as something they'd mastered but couldn't participate in any more for whatever reason.
The successful ones were looking for an entirely new experience. They approached hobbies with a sense of curiosity, as an exploration. They looked forward to the learning process, embracing the fact that they'd be a rank beginner at first and that the rewards would come from being surprised by the unforeseen things they'd learn along the way.
Those who were unsuccessful seemed to be looking for something familiar, something "new" that they could be good at right out of the box, something that gave them the same type of gratification as something they'd mastered but couldn't participate in any more for whatever reason.
The successful ones were looking for an entirely new experience. They approached hobbies with a sense of curiosity, as an exploration. They looked forward to the learning process, embracing the fact that they'd be a rank beginner at first and that the rewards would come from being surprised by the unforeseen things they'd learn along the way.
scottydl
Site Team
mel s said:
That's a lotta quilts!!
jackiemac said:
I was reading this thread, and , yep, Jackie, I was thinking the same thing.
Not much you can do in a camper on rainy days. Maybe your wife wouldn't mind if you cleaned the bathroom and kitchen and stuff like that. That should keep ya busy.
