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What new hobbies have you picked up lately?

Ben Halpern on July 21, 2020

Your life has certainly changed during the pandemic, has anyone out there picked up new hobbies? Or perhaps a hobby took on before Covid and might want to return to later?

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Brenda Limón

I was super stressed about my MSc application (still am) so I wanted to do something a little different to try to calm down a bit, I started doing a podcast about video games and then my sister sent me a contest of short novels for radio, it looked interesting and I decided to participate talking about the gender violence that women have being suffering on this quarantine. It's been a while since I did a short novel but is a cause that is being silenced in Mexico and around the world. If you want to listen to it (is in spanish) and vote I'll be always thankful. airelibre.fm/contestants/547-carme...

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Ben Halpern

Good luck with your MSc application!

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Sarah Price

Before the Pandemic, I loved reading, bookbinding, and jewelry making. Since the Pandemic, I've kept those up and even started reading more often which has been a sanity saver. But a new hobby I picked up was making collages. I got a book of antique themed stickers and have been using those a lot along with a bunch of paper scraps. I've been great and challenges for me as collages break a lot of design rules.

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Brett Stevenson • Edited

I recently started going for a drive after work as a way to get out of my apartment and transition out of work-mode without risking COVID exposure. It seems a little weird to call it a hobby, but I usually try and find a scenic route through the redwoods or along the coast and it has been good way to clear my head and stay grounded.

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Sarah Price

I think driving around can be really nice when there's good weather.

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Raksha Kannusami

Writing on dev.to is my new hobby! 👩‍💻♥️

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Attilio Urbani

I started reading blog articles, answer to questions on stackoverflow, attending online dev conferences. I would say that next step would be to write articles, make my own blog/website and work on an Open Source project !

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Sarah Price

Those sound like great goals!

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Attilio Urbani

thanks ! :D

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Gaurav Sharma • Edited

Recently picked up a Rubik's cube after a long time. I had already learnt to solve it using the basic algorithm which took me about 2 minutes to solve. I got interested in speed cubing after watching few videos of people solving it within 10 seconds. So picked up the cube again and practicing some new ways to solve quickly. Aim is to solve it within 30 seconds for now.

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Michel Renaud

I'm not making the best use of my time, which is nothing new. :) I'm kind of stuck in a loop sometimes and a lot of time is spent freaking out/being depressed. I live alone so, despite the various stages of reopening, it's not like I can socialize much with all the restrictions with people "outside your household" (i.e. anyone but me - lol) Bottom line, a side effect of that mental state is feeling tired all the time, which makes it hard to do anything. I keep my energy to get through the work days.

I'm trying to get back into plastic models. I have a Mirage IIIC fighter jet on the table waiting for me to sit down and seriously get to it. I also have a bunch of unbuilt models stacked up in a closet, so that stuff could keep me busy for a long time. It's only a matter of getting to cruising speed one day and then it'll become a regular thing. I'm weird like that.

I'm trying to work out more, though a stretched muscle has put a damper on that one. I was on a roll for a while.

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Riccardo Bernardini

I am planning to learn to draw cartoons.

You see, I am not very good at drawing, but I also like to pepper my presentations with comics-like pictures. In few cases, every slide is a cartoon (if you are curious, check my slideshare profile), I find this a very effective way of presenting, although the it requires much more work than your average PowerPoint.

The problem is that, being not very good at drawing, I end up to stick figure solution. Stick figures are nice (xkcd proves it), but I feel limited and I would like to be able to get some more flexibility. Therefore, I got few books about manga drawing (the easiest to find) hoping to get some "tricks" and techniques.

I am not aiming to the manga level (but if I can achieve it, I would not complain...), just something more than basic stick figure.

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Gregory Sequeira

Ink drawing/doodling/sketching. It helps me relax and think. It is highly under-rated!

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Sarah Price

I found out I really enjoyed charcoal drawing in college but never got really into it. Then the pandemic happened and I suddenly had a lot more time to draw! I'm not very good at it, but I'm learning. What do you like to draw or sketch?

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Gregory Sequeira

Nothing in particular TBH, I am still a fresher one can say. But since you cared to ask, here are the two finished ink sketches I posted on my Instagram page. instagram.com/greg_in_hd/

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Dennis O'Keeffe

Our household is sewing masks to give out to the neighbourhood! I can't sew to save my life but my housemates can.

Melbourne in Aus has been ordered mandatory masks for the rest of lockdown from this Thursday onwards... great time to pick up that hobby.

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Steeve • Edited

Since the quarantine, I started to look at the best storage solutions to save all my personal data (images/videos/documents) and after a lot of products/solutions analysis and feedback from social media, I decided to set up a NAS! The benefits:

  • Private Local Cloud Storage
  • Availability
  • Redundancy
  • Easy to use and setup
  • Automatic Backup (also sometimes backup in cold storage)
  • Add more storage space if needed
  • Most of all, the Peace of Mind

By searching for the pieces of information (hardware/software/etc...), It became a kind of temporary hobby 😽

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Mike

Smoking meats! I bought an electric smoker during the pandemic and it has been awesome. We've done pulled pork, corn, mushrooms, salmon, chicken and ribs a few times. We're trying a brisket tomorrow!

It's the perfect work from home project because it forces you to go check it every hour or two and add more woodchips.

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Jacob Colborn

Picking back up a hobby from a long time ago with Astronomy in my backyard. This time I got a whole setup for astrophotography to go with it. Now, if I could just get one clear night I would be loving it.

The other thing I've started doing is learning a new language (Swedish since my wife and I are considering moving there in the future). Learning a new language is so much harder than I remembered from when I was in high school learning French, but it may just be the resources I am using.

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J Beetz

It's not a new hobby, but a prior profession turned hobby. I've gotten back into woodworking / home renovation. I find it to be a very good way to leave the laptop turned off on the weekend.

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Ben Halpern

Absolutely! I dream of getting into woodworking more seriously some day.

What prompted the profession change originally?

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J Beetz

I was offered a job at a startup assembling equipment and working on helping to develop the core technology. I took that job and left a self employed home remodeling gig. This was in 2008, I stayed on and supported the IT needs, which is my main job today. There are many mirrors between tech and woodworking. Challenge and Mastery, they really can compliment each other very well. I'm grateful to have been able to experience both sides of life. I can't really say if one's better than the other, they're just different. I will tell you that I don't miss roofing in the winter at all.👍

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Sara Cunningham

Trying to use the internet to better myself:) of course there are times when I aimlessly scroll, but i am trying to make a constant effort to use technology and the internet to improve my self through informative readings, tutorials, and educational videos

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Anton

Mine is making VR180 stereoscopic 3d videos.

I got VR headset and its insane! Never though i can play quake 2 like i am really inthere, inside in the game! And i got my new hobby is to make stereoscopic 3d images and Videos. Also alot of ppl public this kind of videos on youtube "#vr180".

So, if some one have VR headset you can check my youtube: youtube.com/c/spain3dcom

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Sakshat • Edited

I picked up writing as a hobby. Going good so far 👌🍦

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Jethro May

I recently started to get into philosophy literature, I started with Plato's Republic. I have a long road ahead of me!

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rocketman10 • Edited

I was carried away by reading literature of the 19-20 century. I continue reading All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. I can say that the book is very fascinating and while doing other things, I often think I would like to quickly finish and start reading a few more pages. Honestly, even though I love to read, I rarely have this feeling.

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Carlos Magno

I've started to draw again and I'm also trying to teach myself digital illustration as well. Plus, I've also started to wake up 5am to walk and run every day of the week.

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Margo McCabe

Finding more ways to be active outside of a gym! Paddle boarding, biking, virtual yoga, etc.

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Swastik Baranwal
  • Reading at least 5 articles a day
  • Doing home chores
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kethmars

Creating content in YouTube 😍. Still need to find something to be done away from computer.

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Cesar Aguirre

Sudoku

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Ishaan Sheikh

Reading📚 and I'm enjoying it.

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Andrew Baisden

I used to be passive on here for months but now I have decided to be more active. I am writing blogs on Dev.to. And I am also trying to read some webtoon comics.

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TheOnlyBeardedBeast

3d modelling :)

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Keff • Edited

Yup, anxiety is my newest hobby lol! Just kidding, that is my profession xD

PD: We can go out here in Spain so I've returned to climbing after quite a while, and I love it more than ever :)

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Anik Khan

Cooking. Struggling with the salt part consistently 😁 Can't find my way out of determining the perfect amount of salt to put in.
Cooking is an art, I realized. Takes patient🙄

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Tawanda Nyahuye

I'm kinda getting obsessed with writing posts here on Dev. I started writing 6 days ago and I've published 5 articles. Been spending some time reading posts as well. I can say its a new hobby.

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Shawn Humphreys

Just recently started writing Dev.to blogs!