# Your Odd Hobbies **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 22, 2019, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638 "2019-09-22T02:54:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638/21 "2019-09-23T02:05:45Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I build cairns where nobody can see them. Wild horses eventually knock them down. Completely pointless. This is the absolute best hobby/activity I can think of. Take lots of pictures. You’re a bad, bad man Gatopescado:) But cool as hell. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638/22 "2019-09-23T11:11:45Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I build cairns where nobody can see them. Wild horses eventually knock them down. Completely pointless. Kick it up a notch and [teach your dogs to do it](https://imgur.com/a/m4KCF). ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638/23 "2019-09-23T13:39:08Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I also used to collect, or perhaps just accumulate, “vintage” computers. I haven’t added to the collection in over a decade, but one of my spare bedrooms is full of old computers from the 1970s and 80s. Stuff like an original IBM PC from 1981, and my pride and joy, an Intel Intellec 8 from circa 1974 – basically a big blue box with a bunch of lights and switches on the front. Cool! I don’t collect hardware myself, but I collect software and emulators. I’ve run all of what I consider to be the legendary mainframe and minicomputer OSes under emulation: ITS, Multics, various Unix versions, VMS, and MVS. I’d never be able to manage actually owning any of the hardware that software would require to run natively, but my interest is in the software anyway, and a good, modern laptop can easily emulate a 1970s mainframe without breaking a sweat. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638/24 "2019-09-23T13:40:53Z")
I collect foreign language versions of theatre musicals. Mostly Andrew Lloyd Webber. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638/25 "2019-09-23T14:05:38Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Anyway, my odd hobby is reading old newspapers. Not as part of genealogy, just because I like history and I think newspapers help bring it to life better than textbooks or novels. I do almost the same thing, though I generally stick to one specific paper. Most mornings I skim the New York Evening World for today’s date 100 years ago at the LOC Chronicling America site. I enjoy it because newspapers weren’t written as history, they were written for a contemporary audience, so you get a sense of the opinions of the day. I’m also experiencing history in real-time, and sometimes I catch myself thinking of things that happened then as current events. For example, in July there was the heavyweight boxing match between Jess Willard and Jack Dempsey, and when it was announced I found myself genuinely looking forward to it. Maybe another odd hobby of mine is watching old auto races. This past May I watched all of the old Indy 500’s from 1961 to 1978, though not always the entire race. Older ones in particular were usually edited down to highlight newsreels. Right now I’m working through Formula 1 starting in 1988, and I’m up to the '89 Montreal GP. The late-80’s is about when I started having a general interest in F1, though coverage was hard to find in the U.S. at the time so I’ve never actually seen most of these races. > [@Gatopescado](#): > > I build cairns where nobody can see them. Wild horses eventually knock them down. This sounds like a song lyric. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638/26 "2019-09-23T14:18:06Z")
I’ve been picturing dozens of untamed stallions, snorting and running everywhere, looking for rocks to knock over…aha! They have a scent… a whinney, a snort, and as one, the troop wheels and gallops full tilt towards the last unmolested cairn… ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638/27 "2019-09-23T16:48:51Z")
I do what my wife calls “pointless carpentry.” I have a big pile of scrap wood from various projects over the years, and sometimes when I get bored I’ll just grab some of the scrap, grab some tools, and just start drilling holes, nailing stuff together, and cutting things up for absolutely no purpose. It’s not even Homer-Simpson-esque “outsider art,” it’s really just me making sawdust. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638/28 "2019-09-23T22:10:02Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I do what my wife calls “pointless carpentry.” I have a big pile of scrap wood from various projects over the years, and sometimes when I get bored I’ll just grab some of the scrap, grab some tools, and just start drilling holes, nailing stuff together, and cutting things up for absolutely no purpose. It’s not even Homer-Simpson-esque “outsider art,” it’s really just me making sawdust. It’s like carpentry stimming! Sounds like fun ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638/29 "2019-09-25T14:24:05Z")
> [@racer72](#): > > I thought I was the only one that did this. Pickup trucks in Washington State have 5 numbers. Best so far is B50555J. Woohoo - 28-point hand!! 😃 > [@Gatopescado](#): > > I build cairns where nobody can see them. Wild horses eventually knock them down. > [@Jet\_Jaguar](#): > > This sounds like a song lyric. _I’ve got no **roots!** _ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638/30 "2019-09-25T16:01:02Z")
I think I’ll take up that cribbage numbers game. My equivalent brain busywork has always been to find as many words as I can within words. A hobby I’ve had for 50 years now is to draw house plans and detailed landscape plans. Sometimes I really get going and lay out small islands, complete with village main streets. I also play the various computer simulation games, though they’re limited compared to free-form pen and paper. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638/31 "2019-09-25T16:53:27Z")
Axe throwing. I play in an axe throwing league and I’ve been doing this since January 2018 AND my 17 year old daughter is in it too. I recently broke my axe handle so I’m in the process of replacing it and I’ll tell you that this is no fun. I ended up buying a new axe and I’ll finish re-handling the old one along the way. **DCnDC** , you can come over and make some more sawdust in my basement with the new axe handle is you want. I also like bird watching, but not to the extent of going out into the wilderness and finding exotic ones. I just like seeing a cardinal or titmouse at the bird feeder. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2019, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638/32 "2019-09-25T17:39:04Z")
I started buying model kits ca. 1991 and over the course of the next 10 years or so built maybe half a dozen models. It finally dawned on me when I realized I had literally scores of unbuilt model kits that somewhere along the way, my hobby had become collecting model kits rather than building models. In fairly short order, I sold them all off on eBay, which meant that in its final stage, my hobby became selling model kits. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638/33 "2019-09-26T17:31:44Z")
I collect odd books. Not quite sure how to explain this. I think one criterion is something like, if I say to myself _What in the hell is that?_, then I’ll buy it\*. Here are some examples. Isis Unveiled by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Basically, I’m a sucker for an author who created their own religion, or anything close. So I also have a copy of [The Vital Message](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Conan_Doyle_bibliography#Books) by Arthur Conan Doyle. (Incidentally, _Isis_ appears to be dedicated by, but not signed by, the author). I have several different editions of The Well Of Loneliness dating from the period when it was a banned book in the UK (so they are all illegal imports). The lurid paperback covers are a joy. I have The Book Of Artemas, plus the second, third and fourth books. Multiple copies of some of them. They are British political satires published during the first world war. I have a copy of the UK edition of Mein Kampf (English language but with the German title). Printed November 1939 (!). I have a load of slang dictionaries. j - - I do this in restaurants too. Yes, there have been disasters (which Mrs Trep particularly enjoys). ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638/34 "2019-09-26T17:44:43Z")
I used to tag trains as a teen. I’ve been told that’s bad and illegal here. So pretend I didn’t really do it;)shhhh!. (It’s bad and illegal kids, don’t take up this hobby, not good. You’ll get caught and be arrested, a shame on your whole family. Bad. Just don’t do it, you hear me?) Now I take pictures of train tags if I’m first in line at a train crossing. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638/35 "2019-09-26T19:54:42Z")
I machine small steam engines that you can hold in your hand. It combines my love of being a machinist with the joy of always being on the hunt for just one more tool. A new hobby that is starting to ramp up: I’m trying to get my hands on a vintage [Seeburg 1000](https://seeburg1000.com/) background music system–they are quite rare, so it may take a year or two before I actually find one. Once I have one, I will work on building up a collection of the old Seeburg records. These are a weird sized record that plays at 16-2/3RPM and has 20 background music songs per side (20 x 2 sides x 25 records in the player = 1000, hence “Seeburg 1000”). ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638/36 "2019-09-27T13:09:56Z")
Among other things, I collect business cards from the managers of any Starbucks that I visit. I do not accept cards from others if I haven;t been to that store. I also collect pocket schedules from NHL teams, as well as major and minor league baseball teams. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638/37 "2019-09-27T15:08:02Z")
Not really a hobby, just more of a way to kill time while waiting for traffic lights to turn green. I look at the license plates of the cars around me and break down their numbers into prime factors. So if it’s 3623, my mental process is: [ul] [li]The end digit isn’t even, so it’s not divisible by 2.[/li][li]The end digit isn’t 5 or 0, so it’s not divisible by 5.[/li][li]The digits don’t add up to a multiple of 3, so it’s not divisible by 3.[/li][li]Is it divisible by 7? Add 7, divide by 10, I get 363. Add 7, divide by 10, I get 37, so no.[/li][li]Is it divisible by 11? Add 77, divide by 100, 37 equals no.[/li][li]13? 3623 - 13 divided by 10 is 361, plus 39 is 400, so no.[/li][/ul] Then it shortcuts [ul] [li]17\>364\>330 no[/li][li]19\>368\>350 no[/li][li]23\>3600 no[/li][li]29\>371\>400 no[/li][/ul] etc ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638/38 "2019-09-27T15:41:10Z")
Oh, when I go to Home depot (or any home improvement place) I ‘swipe’ paint chip samples. I like to get seasonal colors (as in fall colors or christmas colors). I guess they’re free. Occasionally a worker will give me the stink eye for doing it. I have literally 1000s. \*\* I like the short golf pencils at lottery outlets, too. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638/39 "2019-09-27T18:51:16Z")
I breakdown numbers into prime factors too. Not just license plates, but the locker I’m using at the gym, or an office number. I also do things like count how many days until a particular event takes place, by running mentally through the calendar. I’m also into social dancing, which is not super rare, but definitely something of a niche activity. Same for learning and practicing foreign languages. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638/40 "2019-09-27T19:47:01Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > You’re a naval fetish away from having your own _Twilight Zone_ episode. > > 😃 sorry, not getting the reference. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-odd-hobbies/840638.md?page=3)