I'm considering using this as the topic for an upcoming podcast. I'm wondering what you guys and gals do for fun in your lives? What brings you the most joy? What recreation, what activities etc?
I'd love to hear from you. Thanks in advance.
Computer games, often with friends. I really love complex games with lots of secrets and tricks to master. I love Dota 2 with my buddies because it feels good for our organization and our ability to help one another to win out over people who might be better players individually. I've also been addicted (again) to Dark Souls because it is so winding and labyrinthine. It's hard at first but becomes easy once you master the mechanics - the part that keeps me coming back is the story though. It never tells you anything outright, you have to search for answers, and put everything together like a puzzle. The gameplay is challenging, sure, but the story? The story is the hard part. That's the kind of fun I like to have.
I tried a PC port of Dark Souls but I couldn't get past the horrible controls. Do you play on PC or console? If you like action RPGs you might want to try Path of Exile.
PC. I've been using a Playstation 3 controller with motionInJoy emulating a 360 controller. With that it works superbly, if you possibly can use a controller I'd highly recommend it. Also, in case you don't know, DSFix is a great mod that lets the game's graphics live up to their full potential on PC. Between those two I find the port very enjoyable! I've heard good things about Path of Exile, I'll take a closer look though! The customization options seem really deep, which is always interesting.
Just started playing Squash. I play at my local community center which is a gorgeous building. Really well used and beloved by the community. I kick my roommates butt pretty consistenly too which makes it even more enjoyable.
I dare you to ask sounds_sound how many push-ups his roommate can do.
sounds_sound, how many push ups can your roommate do?
2 days later and I still don't have a witty reply to this. I even searched online for push-up jokes. Damn. I feel so inferior right this instant. Good thing I'm wicked at squash, otherwise I might dwell on it. Hey joelg236, I double dare you to ask thenewgreen how many ways he can use the word 'meow' in a sentence.
Then ask sounds_sound if he ever waited tables commando with just his apron covering his dong. What I wouldn't give for their minestrone and some bread right meow.
Ahh. Okay. sounds_sound have you ever waited tables commando with just your apron covering your dong? And only one meow? That's dissapointing.
Never did the dong. But once, and I shouldn't be telling you OR thenewgreen this, I rubbed my balls on a sundae spoon (the peer pressure was unbearable). Then, I put it in someone's hot fudge. Before everyone starts hating me, when I went to serve it, I set it on the table and INSTANTLY took it away. Just couldn't do it. I mean what did that little asian girl ever do to me?? Even I'm not THAT messed up. I ended up eating the sundae myself - like I was licking my own sweet nutsack. Careful where you eat out people!
You should talk about your spoon tainting for the podcast on "fun".
I play paintball and fly both model and "real" airplanes. I work at a paintball field so I am around it and play almost every weekend. I have been to many scenarios including the worlds largest a few times. I am more into woodsball and milsim because I like working as a team and using military strategies and tactics. Also there can be several thousand other people to shoot at. Model airplanes have been something I was always interested in. I find it to be a great hobby. There is nothing like spending hours building a model and watch it fly even better than you had imagined. As for "real" airplanes I am a third generation pilot. I grew up on an airport where my father was the manager. I have since moved away but still continue to fly, in fact I am on my university's flight team. I used to be big into video games but not so much anymore. I still play every so often but usually only when I can't go enjoy one of my other interests. About the only thing I play now is Flight Simulator X to mess around and practice instrument approaches. EDIT: forgot to mention camping and backpacking. Love that shit. This past summer I backpacked ~100 miles in 12 days. It is nice to get away from everything and all the people every once and awhile.
Good question. When I was a kid, I imagined myself at this age living this wonderful life full of outdoor activities, sporting events, going out to dinner, shows, movies, maybe a vacation every now and then, but all I do is try to get ahead of my bills. Probably like most everyone else, I just treasure an occasional run, joint or beer.
If you live in or visit Portland, I strongly recommend you try out the Portland Zoo Bomb. Behind the Oregon Zoo is a giant hill that ~30 people will bomb down at night every Sunday. We take a free MAX train back to the top and do it again. Loads of fun.
I love busting out my telescope and stargazing, especially in a desolate, open field. It's quite peaceful and there is always something new to find. See that "smudge" in the sky? That's Orion's Nebula. Or maybe the Pleiades. That dark spot over there? Not so dark through a telescope. Grab a beer and a friend and you've got yourself a star party! I like to use an Android app called "Space Junk Lite" to help identify more celestial bodies as well. Best of all, scoping is free (after the initial investment)!
Oh this is my kind of fun. Wish I could join you.
That does sound like fun. I'd be interested in talking to you more about this, would you participate in the podcast?
I juggle! I like how versatile it can be with the level of concentration you need. If I want to think about stuff, I can juggle simple 3 balls patterns without giving it too much attention, and if I just want to juggle, I can practice new tricks or more balls (I can currently juggle 4 without to much trouble).
I juggle too! I can do 3, 4, and 5 ball patterns, and 3 club pretty well. Just got a couple more clubs last fall so been working on my 5club, and when summer is back and I can practice in my garage again. I just started flashing 5clubs right before winter hit. And 5 is a little too damaging for indoor practice... at least my 5 club is. :\ But it is very relaxing, and although it's "just juggling", there's a lot of pride and self respect that comes from practicing something until you get it right. Breaking the 5 ball barrier was a huge accomplishment.
Hey AlderaanDuran and phmongeau, would you two be interested in participating in an upcoming podcast about "what people do for fun". I think juggling would be a great addition and it would be nice to get two peoples take on the same thing. What do you say?
I'm super busy with work, planning a wedding, and have very little free time lately and for the forseeably future. I'd be interested, depending on what you need. I really only even have time to comment on Hubski from work in between conference calls and implementations. :( What would you need as far as participation? I may or may not be able to help. But if you would need audio or video of me or an interview, I probably won't be able to schedule anything of that nature. I'm away from my house most of the day lately, and can't do that stuff from work. I'm lucky Hubski isn't blocked!
It's pretty simple, I will PM you a few questions and then you record yourself reading the question and then answering it accordingly. Most people simply use something like the "voice memo" application on any iPhone and then email me the audio file. Brevity is important and speaking clearly but beyond that just be yourself. Let me know.
That I could probably do. When do you need it by? Just PM me the questions and I can probably do that at home some night. I have free time for stuff like that, but scheduling something for what I assumed would be a skype interview or "back and forth" is generally what I can't do.
Sounds good, I'll likely PM you the questions tonight. Glad you're on board.
Clubs are fun. I just use some cheapos that cost like $10 each. You don't need any of the expensive stuff to start out, in fact don't get anything expensive to start because they just get scuffed up anyway. Clubs are fun, but you're going to be knuckle-busting for a little while. :)
I play guitar everyday and learn new songs, not super great or anything but it's relaxing and fun to whip out the acoustic for an hour or two. Also play piano. I also play a lot of darts, both at the bar and at home. I juggle, you'd be surprised how relaxing and rewarding it can be. In the winters I also play outdoor ice hockey since I live in Minnesota and might as well do something in the cold. I'm not in a league or anything, but have a group of friends that I play pickup games with a couple times a week. Also I watch a lot of hockey, and happy to have the NHL back. I play video games a couple nights a week, used to be a lot more, but kind of got bored with them, but I gotta get in a couple rounds of CS every once in awhile for sanity.
Reading about computer things (programming, CS theory), playing music and going on here. Certainly the most fun I've ever had is skiing, but unfortunately I haven't had many opportunities to go while at university. I used to go skiing with my family in the Salzkammergut, in Austria.
My maternal grandmother was from Vienna. Being Jewish, she had to flee before the Anschluss for the UK. I find it strange that if not for the Nazis, I would never exist. There's got to be a joke in there somewhere... Family history aside, Austria is a lovely country - although I always end up quite a bit fatter after going there. Must be the fault of the (compared to south England) cheap beer, Schnitzel, Gulaschsuppe, Semmel, Würstl, Blunzngröstl...
My mother was born in Vienna as my grandmother was leaving on a boat to come to America. One of our great-aunts came over this past summer and told some incredible stories of the past. German artillery set on the family farm pointed to the valley below...having to sneak back into your own house to gather belongings during occupation by German soldiers...coming home from school and being strafed by aerial machine gun fire because they'd shoot at anything that was moving, including school children. I guess my mother as a baby was crying from hunger because they ran out of food on the cargo boat to America, and a kind woman gave my grandmother some money to buy food for her upon landing. Crazy stuff. Don't even get me started on the food. I'll take homemade spaetzle with some paprika chicken. I'm still trying to recreate the recipes of my grandparents. Shame I was too young to care before they passed.
Wow, that's quite a story. I'm afraid I don't know any from my family. My grandmother died when I was quite young. I don't really remember her as anyone other than someone who occasionally appeared on family trees and old black and white photographs. Another piece of history: family trees and old Nazi records show that my great-grandfather died in Treblinka* of "natural causes". A few years ago I went to visit Sachsenhausen as part of a school trip. They said that the Nazis often put down "natural causes" on the death certificates of Jewish people who had been killed in the camps - presumably so that they could cover up the genocide. After all, if they just destroyed the death certificates then they'd still have to explain how all those people died. So we have no way of actually knowing how he died. The evidence was probably burned, or swept under the carpet of history in some other way. EDIT: I looked it up, it was Auschwitz not Treblinka.
Also, "natural causes" could be euphemism for some combination of starvation, disease, exposure, and exhaustion, of which many, many people died in the camps in addition to the death chambers. Do you know which camp he was in? They had a great documentary on PBS at the time of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. In it, they said that there were two camps at Treblinka, one was more of a pure death camp and the other a slave labor camp. Knowing which one he died in would probably give more insight into how he was killed.
I have found a page with the Jewish side of my family's geneology, by the way. My grandma was Ilse Hirsch, so by that reckoning my great grandfather died in Auschwitz (not Treblinka - I think I got it mixed up with Theresienstadt, where many other relatives of mine died).
Wow. Do you have any older family members you can have over for dinner and drinks to tell old stories? From talking to my relative who I never see, I learned so much about how my mother and grandparents came over, and what their lives were like. I recorded it all. I tried to make one of my younger cousins sit down and listen. He's a young teen and just couldn't really care less. He's addicted to Call of Duty and I was trying to get him to listen to the experiences of someone who literally ran from machine gun fire as a school child of the same age and who's bed was occupied by soldiers. Uphill battle I swear O_o
I tell you, I was exactly like that kid when I was younger. Although I do vaguely remember writing an essay about my grandmother for a primary school history class, which my teacher and family were rather proud of. I am just wondering how to ask my grandpa - I haven't really expressed an interest in family history and everything else before... Certainly worth a try! That is a crazy juxtaposition, though. A kid idly playing a video game where the objective is to shoot at the folks who were shooting at the person who was talking to him at the time. Gosh.
| I am just wondering how to ask my grandpa - I haven't really expressed an interest in family history and everything else before... Certainly worth a try!| Do it while you can :) He is one of the strongest connections to your familial past you have. It is hard to predict when you are young the value that that may hold for you in the future, when it may be to late.
It's usually music related, be it playing guitar, making chiptunes (electronic music) or just listening to it. I could go on for a while about music. I also like to play games like pool or badminton, things that are fun to play without being terrible competitive. If I'm serious about a game, I get way too competitive with it and it sucks the fun out of the game so try to limit that one.
Tangential: I've been reading this guy's formal theory of fun.
For recreation I inspire to make video games, its an awe inspiring experience where education on the subject only makes you want to go further and further and though it can be frustrating, once you figure something out it gives you this wonderful feel of relief. And to better this, once I learn the necessities for what I want to do, I'll be making a video game, so the fun never really stops. Activities, I play Eve Online, I absolutely love the si-fi genre and Eve has one of the most incredible stories behind it that I've ever read and if that isn't enough the story is only furthered by the players of the game, it's truly a work of art.
Computer games (In the winter), juggling (In the summer), cardmagic, wine and music-production all year!
I don't do the computer games thing, but wine and music production are RIGHT UP MY ALLEY. You ought to share some of your music/work here. I'd like to have a listen.
Hey :) Uhm... I haven't published anything for a while. But you could check out mathiasfekjaer.com for some of my chillout tunes... Nothing new though :/ I'm working on a new album now. Hope it'll be finished later this year :) Can I listen to some of your stuff maybe?
Sure, we give away our last album free here I'll check out mathiasfekjaer.com Thanks. edit: I enjoyed the listen. Very chill, really nice.
I play guitar alone or with my fiance singing along making up impromptu songs. I, uh, read news for recreation (don't laugh) often. Outside of that, I read books, play some FPSs, don't play enough tabletop games for my liking but enjoy those when I do. Go out and see shows. Was playing soccer and promptly snapped my metatarsal. I've recently started researching how to home roast coffee. I don't feel like I have a ton of time, but I sort of can't resist and the barrier to entry seems low. All you need is an old popcorn popper really. My taste in coffees has kind of wandered into weird territory (lighter citrusy roasts) so if I can't buy them I'm going to try and make them :p Hopefully I don't ruin too many batches :)
I like that you've gotten to a point where you need to take your coffee enjoyment in to your own hands. I mean, we do this with most other consumables, right? Food, cocktails, even beer and wine but not many people roast their own beans. Good luck.
I am pretty sure that I only play. making music, art, coding, doing research etc. The only things I do that are painful are writing and starving.
For me, the most entertaining thing out of life, at least what brings me the most joy, is constantly searching for the spark of madness in the mundane, the dorkiness in the drudge, the quirkiness in the quiet, the silliness in the... uh... stilted...nessss o.o I like alliteration. Besides tickle-torturing Dupurz, I am thoroughly entertained by any medium that can tell a compelling story, particularly movies, shows, and games. And in particular there, any that plays with language a lot. Hence I'm very much a Joss Whedon fan. Beyond that, food is a great passion of mine. Sadly I'm more of an eater than a cooker. However, it's hard to screw up tea. Long walks on the beach, candlelit dinners, pina coladas and getting caught in the rain blah blah...