Can't choose which hobby or skill to get into
I know there are a few threads related to hobbies already, but i think mine is unique enough to have its own thread. Anyway, i just graduated college this past May with a Bachelor's in Comp. Info Systems. I just recently found a job in this field as well. I am both happy and thankful for this job, especially knowing how difficult it is for some who are currently looking for employment. I work Mon-Fri. 9am-5pm (sometimes a little after). This isn't quite enough for me though. I feel the need to pursue a skill or hobby, but i can't seem to pick one or maybe two to stick to. By the way, sorry, i can see at this point that this may get long :lol:.
I already know what things i would like to pursue, but i know that i can't pursue all of them for lack of time and if i spread my attention over too many things; i'll be involved with a lot of things but not particularly skilled at any of them. So here is a list of my potential hobbies. The list is not necessarily long, but each one will take a considerable amount of time to reach a high proficiency level.
1. Play guitar (electric, rock, metal)
2. Learn Japanese
3. Learn Chinese
4. Game Programming (either XNA or maybe flash based)
5. 3d Modeling/Animation (using blender)
6. Learn the art of hacking (grey hat; i don't have malevolent intent)
Told you it wasn't a long list ;). Now i'll describe what association i have with each and how it ties into my interests.
Playing guitar really appeals to my love of music. I love anything with cool guitar in it. Anytime i hear an awesome guitar solo or riff, i get that chill of excitement as i imagine being able to play it myself. I have all the gear i would need. I've started and stopped playing multiple times over the years, but at some point i'll either get frustrated or distracted by another hobby. But now i've decided that i want to choose a hobby and stick with it.
Next is learning Japanese. My love of Japanese started with DBZ and later Naruto. I watched Naruto on Cartoon Network only to get pissed because they would start and stop the series and i could never progress very far into the plot because of that. Then i found the episodes online. The episodes online went far past what was on tv here in the US. The only difference was that it was in Japanese with English subtitles. After watching a few of those, i learned to really love the language and of course watching anime. I wanted to learn Japanese so i could watch anime without subtitles and because i found it to be quite the beautiful language with beautifully artistic characters used for writing. I also found the culture to be fascinating. The only language i speak is English and would love to learn a second language. In school, i was forced to have two years of Spanish. I can't remember any of that now; mostly because i found it uninteresting (not to offend anyone who likes Spanish.) I just want to learn a language that is much more culturally different than English and a little more challenging. I also love Japanese music, more specifically j-rock and some j-pop that has cool guitar in it. It would be awesome to be able to play j-rock on my guitar and understand the lyrics as well. Anyway, enough of that, on to the next one!
Learning Chinese is a bit more recent of a hobby that i would like to pursue. So why would i like to learn Chinese? Because of a girl of course! Two years ago in my Business Law class (i had business administration as a minor), i met a beautiful and kind-hearted Chinese girl. She was shy at first and me too. I noticed that sometimes when she would talk or ask a question that some people would snicker or make fun of her, which severely pissed me off! She also didn't appear to have any friends that she would particularly choose to sit with. I sit next to a guy that i was somewhat acquainted with but not someone i would really call a friend. He was one that laughed at her :evil:. Anyway...i sat next to her every opportunity that i got and now she's the best friend i've ever had. I would love for her to be my girlfriend, but i don't know how she feels about me. I've also asked her to be my girlfriend several months ago, but she didn't think that the timing was right. Which is probably true. She went back to China over the summer which means she was gone from May 5th until August 20th. If we had been in a relationship; that time apart would have been much more painful. She also wants to go to school for her MBA. She's talked about going to school for her MBA in Florida, California, Washington D.C. or the same school she is in now (which is less than 5 minutes from where i currently live :D) but the latter is her last resort. Having said all of that, i don't know what the future holds for the relationship between us whether it be friends or more than that. Either way, i would love to be able talk with her in Chinese and learn more about her culture as well. The issues i have with Chinese though are that it seems much more difficult to learn than Japanese. Chinese is a tonal language, which means "ma" in four different tones means four completely different things. For anyone who can speak Chinese, you can see how difficult an obstacle this can be. One conclusion that i have come to though is that i've decided not to allow the level of difficulty to discourage me from any one particular hobby. Anything worth learning or achieving is worth the hard work that has to go into it. One other obstacle i see with Chinese is that the resources to learn it are much slimmer than those present with Japanese. There are many more websites available that teach Japanese than Chinese. Also, did i mention that i love anime? *points at avatar and description above avatar.* I think i've covered Chinese enough.
Wow, this is getting long. Game programming is something that i would also love to learn and do. I love to play video games. Seeing as how i graduated in IT, it is easy to see that i'm interested in things like programming. I think it would be awesome to be able to make a game the way that i see fit. Perhaps make a little $ off it as well :cheeky:. It has been a while since i've done programming, but i'm sure i could polish off the rust and get back into it. I would love to fit my other interests into this. Make a japanese, anime related game, with my own awesome music!
I would also like to learn 3d modeling/animation. I've dabbled in using the freeware blender and found it very enjoyable. There is a steep learning curve in becoming proficient, but like i said, anything worth achieving..blah blah (you know where i'm going with that.) I could make my own models for my video games. I could make cool Japanese anime related animations with cool soundtracks. I've already thought of an animation i would like to make, but it would be a distant goal considering all of the blending skills i would need to achieve it
Lastly, i have hacking. Hacking just fascinates me. Breaking into a program or system through a vulnerability that someone forgot to close or does not know it exists just sounds fun. But i don't have a desire to hurt, defame, or steal from anyone. I also like the thought of be on the outside of a prison cell rather than the inside, haha. I'm not really sure of what else i could say about hacking other than i find it interesting.
I might as well should throw lucid dreaming into the mix. I didn't want to put ld'ing into the list because that is something that i can do while i'm sleeping. I know it does take a lot of waking preperation, but that is something that i could do throughout the day without having to sacrifice too much time. I could also use it for improvement and inspiration for the other hobbies on my list, maybe with the exception of hacking. I've played guitar in a dream before and it was really interesting. It was a non-lucid, but i played very well. I also played a song that i never heard before. I just sort of made the song up on the fly. Too bad that i can't remember it :(. I could also use ld'ing to practice my Japanese or Chinese. I've used Japanese words in a non-lucid that i didn't know that i knew. I guess they were words that i picked up watching anime. After i woke up, i check to see if i used the words correctly in the dream, and i did :). As for game programming, i could make a game based off of a dream plot. It would be great for inspiration. I could even try things myself, before i put them in the game. 3d modeling/animation would be just as inspired. I could animate some of the my most memorable and interesting dreams. Creativity in a dream is much greater than anything my waking mind can come up with. If i wanted to make a model of a monster, i could just have a lucid and look for the most terrifyingly awesome monster my mind can conceive, then make it with blender. This would be great for those moments that i wanted to show somebody something i saw in a dream but couldn't.
As you can see, this did turn out to be quite lengthy. I don't know how to choose which hobby to go with. I interested in all of them, but there is no way i could pursue them all. I would rather be good at one or two things then crappy at a lot of things. Well, for anyone crazy enough to have read this far. Have you ever been in this same situation? What did you decide to do? Do you have any advice for choosing which hobby to go with? Any help or guidance will be greatly appreciated!:shadewink:
