Me, I’d set up a reef tank. Scroll down the page for some awesome photos.
Woodworking - Right now I can’t even afford the exotic woods I’d like to use, much less the tools [DEL]required[/DEL] that I want.
There are probably a dozen shooting related hobbies I’d like to have the time and money to try, but time is the primary problem with most of them.
I’d love to have a stingray tank again. Potamotrygon Hystrix are a blast to have around, but that flake food doesn’t really do the trick with them so feeding can get a little pricy. I’d like a custom tank, too. Depth isn’t so important for them, you understand.
Pre and early Celtic Irish (bronze and early Iron age) history/archeology.
I usually go through a couple hobbies a year, so the list is long
I’d upgrade from single malt Scotch to expensive single malt Scotch.
As per a recent thread I started in Cafe Society, I’d probably take up playing Warhammer 40,000 (a miniatures based science fantasy wargame) if money weren’t an issue. It takes a couple hundred dollars just to get one playable army up and running. At the very least I’d be collecting the miniatures and painting them, finding people in my area to play with who aren’t highschoolers would be somewhat difficult though.
I don’t think I’d get another hobby if I had a bit more money, I think I’d just do more of my aviation hobby, which in regards to money is somewhat of a black hole.
I’d get into target shooting and paintball.
I would have far too many musical instruments. Like that CF Martin tiple I saw in Mandolin Brothers 5 or 6 years ago? That jingled like a little bit of Latin American heaven and made me sound like I could sit in with the Buena Vista Social Club? That only cost like $600? I would so totally own that.
I might go back to my old hobby - aviating. I got my pilot’s license in January of 1975, and the last time I sat in the pilot’s seat was October of '78. One thing led to another, I bought a house and a car, got married, had a kid, started sailing, put kid thru college… well, you know.
It’s been so long now, I don’t know if I could allow myself to fly anyway. I used to pay $15/hr for a Cessna-172. I understand it’s gone up a bit since then.
Sailing.
I’d get serious about photography.
I’d grow tropical plants, raise tropical fish, and aquatic plants. None of those will make you shit for money, though.
I would go back to flying gliders. I would also go back to aquaria. I would be a lot more serious about off-roading. I would try to learn gardening.
Funny thing, I don’t think I would spend a penny more than I already do on my two passions, music and cooking.
I’d go back to my old hobby for scale ship modeling, but I’d do it in style. I’d go all out and purchase a couple of copies of John McKay’s plans for the HMS Victory (2800.00 for the complete set), and I’d make the trip to england to photograph her every corner. I’d invest a few thousand in precision miniature tools (micro table saw, lathe, milling machine, sander, dental drill, etc.) and spend several thousand dollars on ultra fine grain wood (boxwood, pau marfin, applewood, ebony, walnut, pear, etc.) and I’d take the 4 to 5 years off from work to build her in 1/4" scale. Everything (from individual frame futtocks to rigging line) would be manufactured from scratch, including the standing and running rigging, and she would be completed at museum quality, though not admiralty style.
She would look very close to this, but the masts and rigging would be completed and the quality level would be about 15% to 20% better. The finished model would be more than seven foot in length and height and would be worth approx. $85,000.00 or more.
Boating (Chris-Craft woodie).
I would purchase a really nice camera and take a photography course. I would also expand my collection of scrapbooking “toys”.
I’d learn some new instruments. But time (and effort) is just as much of an issue as money.
I’d garden. I’d buy huge exotic plants and trees and create something fabulous.
Yep. In fact there are quite a few hobbies/interests I’d love to be indulging myself more in already, but can’t due to lack of time. Of course part of the reason I lack the time is because I work for a living (10+ hours a weekday plus commute), so I guess if I HAD a lot more money (as opposed to “making” more money) I would definitely try:
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Taking up golf. Several friends of mine have encouraged me to, and it’s just the sort of obsessive, execution-oriented and ego-tripping type of thing that would just suck me in.
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Taking up fencing (epee). I did a year or two of foil fencing in high school and really loved it, and have always regretted not continuing in the sport. This time around I’ll try the more “hard core” epee style, which is more akin to true dueling and where the entire body is a legal target.
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Properly learning any of a number of languages. Improving my Chinese, for a start. I can speak and understand it natively, but my vocabulary is limited to what I’d talk about in a family context with my parents; I can’t even follow a TV news program or read more than 100 characters. I also got about 75% of the way to fluency in French back in college but never finished that last step. I think I could pick up Spanish in about a year if I really tried (especially since I have a BIA Ecuadorean brother-in-law that I see about once a month, and my best friend is a BIA Guatamalan), and I studied Latin for four years and got pretty good at it but don’t really remember more than the mechanics of some of the noun declensions/verb conjugations now.
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Learning to juggle. It’s the sort of thing I just feel I should be able to do, but haven’t got the knack of yet (just the three beanbags at once bit, never mind the clubs and chainsaws).
Like Bobo, time is my choke point right now.
But with time and money, I would (I will) get into team roping. I’ve been around the edges of it before, but I’d like to get a place and a good horse, and really throw myself into it.
Or expand my hunting hobby with some out-of-state stuff, or possibly even some out-of-country hunting, if we’re talking some serious bucks.
I’d buy a tonne of lego and build a lego city.