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This is a thread for you to tell about something you do that you find particularly unique. Lots of people watch The Office, play solitaire when they're bored, read Harry Potter. Who out there has flown an airplane? Goes spelunking? Plays mandolin? I'm curious.
I sing barbershop music--in quartets and choruses. There's nothing quite as fun as ringing some really rich harmonies with a few other guys. There's also a large, bizarre subculture of guys who are obsessed with barbershop music. For anyone who's curious, here's one of my favorite quartets, FRED. Annnd these guys too.
Posts: 1314 | Registered: Jan 2006
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I read threads on Hatrack... I don't know anyone else who does this, so I consider it to be fairly unique...
Oh wait, never mind, I know you. I have no unique hobbies, unless you consider "sticking it to the man" to be unconventional.
And by the way, you didn't listen to my latest piece even though I posted it on facebook. :glare: From my sole fan, I expect more.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Oh dear... Which one--the reckoner remix? (I'm listening to that one now--pretty sweet).
Whatever, Lloyd, musicology is a weird hobby--being an early music enthusiast and an electronic composer--both pretty unique.
Posts: 1314 | Registered: Jan 2006
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When I am at a supermarket I make stick men out of the twisty ties for fruit bags and leave them in random places in the store.
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I tend to research random subjects - and go to Yahoo Answers to argue with people on the Adoption section.
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YES. I spent about two years completely engrossed in the genetics of gerbils, breeding them to create different colors. So. Much. Fun. I imagine that would take a lot longer with horses, though.
Hmmm, my unusual hobby...I guess that it would have to be collecting paint chips. Yeah, I have a box with every Behr and Frazee paint chip. I'm starting on a few lesser known brands.
Actually, it's the most embarrassing thing ever. I grab about ten every time I go to Home Depot. I've considered just going down the aisle and taking one of each, but that might look weird to people. Wouldn't want to give them that impression. <_< >_> Reading this now is making me feel like a nutcase. Maybe I need a new, slightly less OCD hobby.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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You know those little dots/gouges/whatevers in ceiling tiles? I count them. The one above my pillow has between 6,500 and 9,000 thingies. Every time I count, I get different results.
I find it incredibly relaxing, if not, perhaps, the best possible use of my time.
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I love tracing the genealogy of the royal families of Europe. I tried branching out into the Middle East and Asia, but their info isn't nearly as available online.
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I collect Pez dispensers. I have hundreds and hundreds -- I've lost count -- all of them different.
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I buy nursery plants and cultivate them into bonsai trees.
I invent, design and print board games and submit them to publishers. Out of the Box (publishers of Apples to Apples) was interested enough to have requested a couple of my prototypes for testing, though none of them were published.
I play the trombone.
I sing, and I especially love to sing in barbershop quartets, too.
I own a Sphynx cat (hairless cat, like Mr. Bigglesworth on Austin Powers), and my wife and I have plans to start breeding them within the next couple years.
I write and finish a novel about once every 10 years. In between that time, I only start them Posts: 684 | Registered: Aug 2001
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I'm a documentary nut. I've been watching them since I was 5. I laughed out loud when Geico first ran their David Attenborough spoof. If I had more money I'd buy as many documentaries as possible. I avoid the religious themed documentaries on the History channel like the plague, they are painful to watch.
As a bonus I do much better playing armchair Jeopardy than I ever could otherwise. I also saved the day when my niece called me on the phone and needed 5 dinosaurs identified that neither her teacher or parents could figure out. Dinosaurs are what started this hobby, I am so pleased my niece has also discovered them.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I design and make jewelry. I Irish step dance. I'm on the board of the planning committee for an annual conference on usability of information technology in academic settings. I am trying to take up hang-gliding and playing the fiddle (most likely not at the same time).
Posts: 10177 | Registered: Apr 2001
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I realized last night that my hobbies I think are very normal, that I left off of here are pretty darn unique.
I collect and show plastic and porcelain horses, oftentimes creating tack for them to wear from leather, fabric, and wire I weave scarves, fabric, and art pieces on a loom I design knitting patterns I write lesson plans in my sleep
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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I make big model rocket and fly them - really really big model rockets. I recently launched a 40 pound, 7 1/2 foot tall rocket to an altitude of 1.25 miles above ground level.
Posts: 3275 | Registered: May 2007
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quote:I regularly have conversations with myself, it's like predicting what people will say. Although I'm usually wrong it's still fun!
Holy crap, I do that too! Good to know I'm not the only one.
I am learning contact juggling. (note: this youtube clip isn't me, unfortunately, but one day I hope to be that good.)
Posts: 681 | Registered: Feb 2004
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I like to cross stitch and occassionaly sew-which is hard cause the baby attacks the sewing machine if it is out so I can't leave anything out ever.
Posts: 2223 | Registered: Mar 2008
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quote:Originally posted by El JT de Spang: You guys are much more interesting than I am. I have only regular hobbies.
Shut up. You are a professional musician.
I have no interesting hobbies.
Well, if he's a professional musician, then music isn't a hobby. So maybe he's right.
On a related note, one of my unique hobbies is finding perfectly reasonable statements made by others and nit-picking them to death with needless semantic arguments. My work here is done.
Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
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I used to play chess, as launchwiggin can attest to. Nowadays I play ping-pong as well, and seem to be a devoted student of philosophy. At the moment, I'm working on an article on legal obligation. Given that it's almost ready for submission to a journal, I'm thinking about what to do for my next topic. I'm getting kind of sick of philosophy of law, and will be doing a presentation on the crito for a seminar next semester anyway, so I'm thinking of going a completely different direction and doing some research into stem cell research to see if anything glaring catches my eye. Unfortunately there are no professors at my university who have anything to do at all with philosophy of biology or bioethics, but so I'll have to do it without any aid.
Posts: 2705 | Registered: Sep 2006
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I do some pretty complicated origami. Sometimes I do large pieces of origami out of newspaper.
Posts: 3546 | Registered: Jul 2002
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I make sure to take and e-develop at least one picture every day. I have a collection of 'picture for the day' pictures, each in a publishable form, stretching back to 2003.
I collect gospel music. Most of it's on vinyl.
I am completing a project to eat out in every restauraunt in boulder at least three times and review each one. I'm going to collaborate this on an interactive map.
I practice pickpocketing and legerdemain. I can pick simple locks. I can use a slim jim and hotwire old cars.
I hoard Pandora channels.
I am the go-to guy for zombie survival strategy and I keep myself current on that sensitive very serious high quality issue.
I retype Tom Robbins books out on an old typewriter, over and over, trying to get a feel for the way he used words. Then I write and re-write short novels a million times and then bury or erase them without showing anyone.
I make ringtones and then hack them onto people's phones for free.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: I am the go-to guy for zombie survival strategy and I keep myself current on that sensitive very serious high quality issue.
That sounds like a challenge to me! On that note with a couple friends we pick random locations and go through a plan of how to protect it best from zombies( we argueing about ice rinks, If the power goes out do they turn into pools of water?)
I collect plastic gift cards, some store clerks say i steal them when they have no money on them, but no one has really gotten angry yet. I have a alot of different types now, but i'm waiting to visit a big mall again to add to my collection.
Posts: 549 | Registered: Feb 2008
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quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: I practice pickpocketing
Teach me, please? I've locked myself out of my door countless times. This would save money on lock-out keys..
Posts: 1215 | Registered: Apr 2005
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I send back any junk mail that has postage prepaid. Although it's more sticking it to the man than hobby.
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Which one--the reckoner remix? (I'm listening to that one now--pretty sweet). ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
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