Picking a hobby

[andrey]

Hi all,

I've been a fan of MMM for a few years and finally decided to ask for some advice. I'm on the lookout for a hobby that is mustachian friendly and I'm not really sure where to begin, so I thought I'd turn to the wealth of knowledge here. :)

I've gone to a few high performance driving education events (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Performance_Driver_Education), flown a helicopter for a half hour, and tried tandem paragliding. These interested me on many levels. All of them require:
1) high skill
2) sensitivity to the environment around me
3) a subtle touch on my part in response to sensory information from that environment

Unfortunately the activities mentioned above aren't very affordable and are a bit risky.

I'm already commuting to work by bicycle and have tried surfing, but neither of those are filling the void. Surfing came close, I'd just prefer something without the wait in between waves of excitement.

Are there any similarly minded mustachians? Or anyone with suggestions or ideas?

P.S. In case it helps, I am in my early thirties and live in an apartment in Los Angeles.

[SRJay]

Freedive spearfishing is great, and surfing only gets better with time ;)

[Aggie1999]

Like radio controlled activities? Quadcopter (i.e. drone) racing has become very popular and very easy to do. Find a park, empty field with some trees and race around them. One of the cheaper radio controlled racing activities also. Does have the sensory input to a degree through the goggles. Also requires a decent amount of practice to get the skill level up. No real physical activity to it though.

[HawkRider]

Motorcyling, if you get the right training and equipment to reduce your risks.

https://www.amazon.com/Total-Control-Performance-Street-Techniques/dp/0760314039/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1494157244&sr=1-3&keywords=total+control

[Blatant]

Asking strangers on the Internet what your hobbies should be is like asking what should be your favorite food. No one knows you and even if we did, it wouldn't help. You end up with people just telling you what they like.

That said, I am a huge fan of A hobby. Not hobbies plural. A hobby. My opinion is most folks can really only do one and be any good at it.

I like stuff that is physically difficult with some element of danger. Thus, mountain biking for me. I'd be perfectly happy to ride every day for the rest of my life. If not that, I think rock climbing would have been the one for me.

[SwordGuy]

Armoured medieval combat is a hoot.  Plus people in the organization teach a lot of cool crafts, too.

www.sca.org

It can be a very affordable hobby, particularly if you make most of your own gear.   

"When you stick a spear in someone's gut and give it that extra shove, you just feel better for the rest of the day."

--- SwordGuy

[COEE]

How do you 'pick a hobby'?  My experience is that my favorite hobbies have picked me.

Sounds like you like high throttle type of activities.  Have you tried kayaking?  Lots of danger (including death) and a steep learning curve makes it an adventure every single time you go.  I enjoy it, but prefer surfing because it's more laid back.  I think there's kayaking opportunities in the LA area... but I'm not sure.  Startup costs are not cheep... travel costs can be expensive though.

[zenyata]

It isn't necessarily a high adrenaline type of hobby but if you don't do this already I've found learning the guitar to be extremely rewarding  (and you CAN get pretty much as energetic with it as you want - take a look at some videos on-line of Pete Townshend from The Who)...

I'd say it fits very well in your list of the three characteristics you are looking for...  it can very likely challenge you through every skill level you reach while playing it - very few of even the great guitar players think they've attained a skill level sufficient to yield half of what a guitar is actually capable of doing...  and if you consider "the environment" to be the guitar and surrounding listening space - it responds to the most subtle inputs you can imagine with an extremely nuanced output (take a look at some of the masters of classical guitar - Segovia once said something like guitar was the greatest of instruments because contained within was the capability to emulate the sounds of all the other instruments of a symphony)... or alternately if you went the electric route you can produce an absolute sonic thrashing - if that's your thing.

I started from absolute zero about 5 years ago and have learned enough on my own to keep myself interested and wavering between obsessed and despondent (haha) since it has become clear to me that now in my late 40s there would probably be several lifetimes worth of learning this hobby if I had that much time.

Like many other hobbies you can of course spend pretty much to the moon with this gig if you wanted to... but a decent guitar (this is KEY - get something decent to start on for a few hundred bucks) and a few bucks a month maybe for something on-line or even getting some lessons which typically won't amount to much $$ unless you are going several times a week - that's it for expenses... the biggest cost is time - but if you're looking for a hobby to fill time and one that you can do pretty much anywhere anytime I think it's a great option...