Geocaching. Thought it would be a fun activity for me and my son.
Lame. Like a treasure hunt, except no treasure and not much of a hunt. Every damn cache is utterly predictable. Top of the little hill. :rolleyes: And what do you find? Nothing worth a shit.
Boring.
Good source for free ammo boxes, if you need them. 
Gardening. I love being in nature and thought “hey, when I can’t get out camping, this is something that would get me outside”. Found out rather quickly that it was a hot dirty experience, it costs a lot, and I suck at it… completely. The topper was that we were having a drought summer (all three times I tried it, coincidence?), so instead of going camping I had to stay home in my hot buggy yard and water my stupid plants that were dying from my shitty gardening skills.
Guns. I have tons of friends that like to shoot guns, and when they’re not shooting, they like to talk about guns. I’ve shot guns before, but – I don’t know, I just don’t find it fun. And I certainly don’t research guns to the point where I can hold my own in a conversation about them, so whenever a friend starts talking about them I pretty much resort to the nod and smile. It sure would be convenient for me if I liked them better!
I can enjoy whiskey and bourbon straight, but also have never gotten used to Scotch.
I live in ski country, have not gone since living here and have no interest in going for all the hassle. I have a bike with flat tires, but haven’t years as my area is not the best place to bike without an expensive mountain bike and/or deathwish.
Music, specifically guitar. I occasionally have fleeting dreams of rock stardom, but don’t put any effort towards that anymore.
I will take fishing etc. equipment off anyone’s hands!
Mountain climbing
A friend was really into it and I thought I’d love it. I did four 14’ers and hated every one of them.
It hurts, it’s scary, and the altitude makes you fart like a Billy Goat.
Except for the farting part, I felt the same about spelunking. Did it with some friends and realized it was just dark, cold, filthy, and painful… not my idea of a good time at all.
I was a rabid athlete all my life until I turned 50 this year. I have kayaks, bikes, ski equipment, snorkeling stuff, and more. The combination of a bad foot, herniated disks, and sheer lounginess has made me lose interest (though I am getting my bike tuned-up for a gentle, flat ride with some friends next month).
I went skiing with my daredevil brothers at Jackson Hole a few years ago and, after 25 years of loving it, suddenly didn’t. I don’t spring up from wipeouts like I used to and I hadn’t skied for years because East Coast sucks compared to the resorts I grew up with in my backyard (Sundance, Alta, Snowbird, Jackson Hole, et al). I also got a touch of altitude sickness, as I’ve now lived at sea level for decades and my body wasn’t loving mountaintops so much.
I’ve tried and have lots of equipment for woodworking, fossil/rock collecting, oil painting, and so on. I get enthusiastic about a new hobby, do it for a while, then lose total interest when it’s boring/difficult/I’m not getting better at doing it.
I don’t know if it’s considered a hobby, but I’d love to learn to speak Italian. My grandparents came here from Italy around 1910 as kids. They were fluent, of course, but never taught my dad or his brother. I think they just wanted to be Americans. I wish I would have asked my grandma to teach me. I’ve purchased numerous CD’s and books and just can’t get into it. I’ve thought of taking classes, but it just seems like school and homework and makes me feel stressed just thinking about it.
Classical dressage and show jumping. I absolutely love being out on a horse, and I understand that having a firm grasp of basic horsemanship and riding makes the experience better and safer. However, dressage lessons just seemed like endless hours of circles, being yelled at to keep my heels down, and a general waste of time that could’ve been spend enjoying some time on a horse.
I appreciate the skill, talent, and sheer hard work that goes into being a good competitive rider (dressage, jumping, whatever). But I just couldn’t get into it.
That’s actually one I really enjoy!
I’ve been studying Italian for 4 years but only discovered duolingo a couple months ago. Having listened to Michel Thomas for years I flew through the first ten or so lessons of Duolingo in no time, and continue to practice every day. I’m more of a visual learner so duolingo is perfect for me, and coupled with the easy Italian reader book I have I feel like I’m finally making progress.
Wheelchair basketball. Ugh, I hate it. There is virtually nothing similar to basketball as most people know it and wheelchair basketball. Basically the only thing they share is a basketball, hoop and court. From that point out, though, the two share no similarities. Being a lifelong athlete, playing basketball was a very common occurrence. So I thought it would be likely that I would fall in love with the wheelchair version just as I had the “AB” way.
Suffice to say I did not fall in love. It was nothing like the basketball I had known all my life. The players were arranged on the court according to the number they were assigned. The numbers ranged from 0 to 3 and it didn’t matter how many players were on the floor at any one time, so long as neither team exceeded 10 points at any one time. “0” was designated for the most severely handicapped, “3” for the least severely disabled. I was given a 3, meaning after me our team could include 7 more points worth of players, however they wanted that to be. This meant that we could put ALL of the quad/head injury/combo players out on the court in their motorized wheelchairs at the same time. And we did. These guys couldn’t even grip a ball or catch a pass, much less shoot or defend or really anything. IMO, it was silly.
I’m competitive, I always have been. Because of this, I played basketball to try to satisfy the competitive athlete in me. The athlete who felt he didn’t have all that many options as to how he could continue to be competitive post spinal-cord injury. So when I played, I played because I wanted to compete (in a friendly way) with my peers. Well the reality of this wheelchair basketball team was that it seemed to serve more of a therapeutic, social function than one of exercise and competition. We spent more time huddled in a circle sharing stories than we did actually playing basketball.
On top of all this, the physical game was totally different. Shooting a basketball was now exclusively a function of the triceps muscle, as opposed to a full-body exercise/movement in AB basketball. I had to totally relearn how to shoot. And it’s still not easy like it was before. I just don’t enjoy wheelchair ball because I spent so many years of my life playing basketball as an able-bodied athlete.
You’ve most certainly seen it, Ambi, but just in case, check out the movie Murderball.
mmm
I was just getting ready to post that! You definitely must see it. The object of the game is to kill the other players.
Yep. Quad rugby. 
Marriage. I tried it for about 18 years, but it just wasn’t for me.
Guitar too. My fingers are double-jointed, and although you’d think that would be an advantage, it actually makes it more difficult for me to press the strings. I learned about a half dozen chords, and struggled through some easy songs, but there’s no way I was going to get any better.
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I love you guys but do you realize just how many people have excitedly recommended this movie to me over the years? Lotsa lotsa
I’ve recommended it excitedly to LOTS of people, not just you.
Ambivalid, is that wheelchair ball different than what they play at the college level? I’ve watched the practices here at U of I and it is insanely competitive, never saw an electric chair on the court, mostly those ones custom made for the game.
Didn’t say you did.
Well there are different levels to wheelchair basketball. The Flint Flying Eagles is more of a recreational team than a college level competitive one. If I really wanted to, I’m sure I could pursue such arenas but there is nothing in my area at all besides FFE. If I enjoyed the wheelchair version of the sport at all, I’d definitely be already pursuing it.