Mine would be creating pen and paper ciphers for my made up secret communication needs.
I’ve spent a good chunk of the year making ebooks from out-of-print dead tree books. Proofing and formatting takes a ton of time. Nobody reads them but me.
You’ll be that guy that records old shows on VHS and when he died the only record of old shows was donated to an archive/museum. A priceless contribution to humanity.
I’ve never let it stop me, but:
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ethical philosophy
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social dance, especially contra and square
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chromosomal / genetic inheritance simulations
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I like learning about random ass hobbies without ever indulging in them.
I watch an ungodly amount of aquarium / terrarium videos, lurk a ton of aquascaping communities. I owned a betta fish in an empty bowl when I was 12 and that’s it. (poor fish)
I read all you could know about book binding fanfiction, never done it.
I read a hundred pages long horse breeding guide for the game black desert online and I have no idea why. I only played the game for a month, spent most of it reading a google doc about horse. I’m not even sure I owned a horse in the game.
Sometimes I try the hobby, for example mini painting, and don’t have the patience for it. But I still watch some random dudes on youtube paint for hours and sometimes they don’t even talk!
No idea why I am like this
Listening to jpop.
I’m a math teacher. I use my video game making knowledge from Godot to make little video games to review skills. Each takes a few weeks to make with game design, making all the art, programming, and making the worksheet.
Here is my Disco Dj-Demo if you were curious what I mean.
I think it’s fun, it’s not something I can really chat with others about.
You’re amazing and your students are lucky to have you. Thank you for being you!
In a way, my interest in internet privacy is almost always met with uninterested “ah” IRL. Even when I dont come off as preachy, when I just try to sell it as “watching YT without ads”, people often don’t care.
Talking to people I know about Window and Googles intrusive software they just go “Oh they know everything anyway” like just try? simple things like switching browsers, using frontends and alternative/opensource software and using https://justdeleteme.xyz/ to get rid of unneeded accounts is easy but effective
There was a time that I thought people didn’t understand the consequences. Now I realize that most people are just entirely apathetic.
Pretty much all of them at this point, I’m in the construction industry. Video games, reading, computer repair, anime, dungeons and dragons, miniature painting, watch making, chess… There are a few brave exceptions, but most people give me that glazed over look when I bring it up.
Cat juggling.
Weather watching (not the extreme kind) - I basically note down the current weather and interpret my own forecast then later see if I’m right.
Lockpicking - it’s basically a tiny little puzzle and I can buy different solutions for a few bucks at any store.
Gardening - this is less obscure/quirky and more that I don’t want people to think that I’m bragging about how many tomatoes I have because I will in fact brag about how many tomatoes I have.
For me it’s coffee. Most people see it as a daily need. When I say my hobby is coffee they always say things like “that’s not a hobby”.
Each quirky hobby mentioned here, deserves its own Lemmy community!