Collections
A while back[a], a friend and I exchanged subjects for blog posts, which turned out to actually be a lot of fun.
A week ago, he, I, and another fedifriend[a] got together to exchange[b] blog post ideas/prompts, round-robin style.
The prompt I was given (with purposefully no context) was “Collections.”
The prompt made me think about collection-based hobbies. A lot of folks enjoy collecting stamps, coins, baseball cards, vinyl records, you name it.
As someone with recently diagnosed ADHD (a blog post on that is planned), I have my own particular collection hobby:
# I collect hobbies 😄
Many ADHDers refer to themselves as “serial hobbyists,” and the term is quite apt. I don’t think I can list them all out here, but from memory, here’s all of the hobbies I can come up with that I’ve done for at least a week:
- Programming (a few different languages, none very in-depth except Shell and some Perl)
- Digital art (I found out quickly that purchasing a Wacom tablet didn’t impart any actual artistic skill)
- Embedded/micocontroller programming
- Electronics (basic soldering skills)
- RC Airplanes (building and flying)
- Drones (not very fun when the software does 90% of the flying, honestly)
- Photography (haven’t busted out my dSLR in probably three years)
- Amateur Radio
- I have a handful of “hand talkies” and antannae collecting dust upstairs
- I’ve listened to ham satellites before, but never had the gear to actually talk successfully
- I’ve participated in APRS using some software on a phone and some audio adapters
- I’ve run WSPR software on a software-defined radio to hear stations as far away as Japan on nothing more than a set of “bunny ear” antennae indoors
- Creative writing (hello!)
- Piano (I can play the black keys real good)
- Recorder (I can play that one rennaisance-sounding beginner song everyone learns)
- Didgeridoo (I sound amazing… for 2 seconds at a time)
- Electric guitar (very short-lived due to unfortunate physical limitations)
- Sculpting? (I made a couple abstract things out of plasticine and then threw them away)
- Singing (not great, not terrible)
- Woodcarving (carved one thing, and man my hand hurt)
- Raquetball (decades ago)
- Rubik’s cube (got good enough to solve the 3x3x3 in 2 minutes, and was happy with that)
- Pottery (this was in the early 2010s. I made a couple things with some family members, which was kinda fun)
- Fountain pens (this actually revolutionized my handwriting)
- Poetry (I’ve got a poetry blog somewhere on the fediverse)
- Journaling (Mostly on the computer nowadays, but I’d like to get back to (fountain) pen & paper)
- Audio editing (I can do basic stuff with audacity. I’ve used other audio editors here and there going back decades)
- 3D Printing (the Ender 3 is cursed, man!)
- Tabletop RPGs (filed my saturdays in the latter half of the 1990s with lots of fun and friendship)
- Languages (I know literally a handful of words in a handful of languages)
- Annoying zoomers with 80s cultural references (Yes, that IS a hobby!! 😂)
The ADHD Hobby Cycle looks a little something like this:
- Find out about a new hobby/interest
- Learn quickly that the new hobby gives me lots of yummy dopamine
- Spend HOURS watching Youtube videos on the subject
- Invest modest financial resources getting into the hobby
- Enjoy the newfound dopamine from building/playing/running the hobby
- Come across any roadblock
- Crash the RC Airplane
- Practicing the instrument sucks
- Working on vocabulary and grammar rules sucks
- Any kind of physical discomfort sucks
- Spending real money to expand the hobby sucks
- Getting ink on your hands sucks
- Practicing anything sucks
- Lugging around a 3-8 pound camera when your phone is always in your pocket sucks
- Find that your dopamine suddenly dried up
- Go back to whatever you were doing until you find the next hobby
Such is life 😉