I am bored with all my hobbies

I’m bored. I’m know as someone who can never sit down or just take it easy. Having hobbies gives me an avenue to focus that energy into something fun, productive, and rewarding. However, over the last 5 years I stopped enjoying my previous hobbies.

I need things that I do just for fun. Yes, I could bury myself in my landscape company, which I am partners with my brother. I already spend a lot of time doing that. I need something I do just for fun and just for me.

Hobbies as a young man

I was the typical bro through my late teens and early twenties. I watched a lot of sportsball, drank various beers, and played a fair amount of golf. The only thing I never got into as a bro was grilling/BBQ. I’ve been a vegetarian since I was about 20. Also, I generally don’t care about food. I hope that made at least one person gasp.

As I aged I became a more-rounded person. I try to become a better person every day.

Sportsball takes up too much time and disrupted my family time. I’ve been sober for 3 years and have lived most of my life around alcoholics. Golf is a climate catastrophe. Plus, golfers are jackasses.

I know I’ve become a better person as I’ve aged and I’m happy to have dumped some of my previous hobbies.

Tech hobbies

About the time I turned 30 I discovered Linux and it changed my relationship with tech. I don’t need to say how much I enjoy tinkering with tech, just look at the posts on this blog.

But, I’ve become extremely bored with tech. There are lots of reasons, but I will focus on just one for this post. The others are obvious, like the integration of A.I., no new tech ideas, massive spying by tech companies, etc., etc..

One of the biggest reasons I’m bored with tech is I’ve exhausted all the low-cost and free options. I’ve mentioned previously that our house is very low income. We simply do not have any extra money for hobbies. Finding open source and Linux opened a huge world to me and one I never would have entered if it wasn’t free (as in cost) to begin. We have always lived below the poverty line and buying new tech was never an option.

Back in 2008 when I found Linux it allowed me to learn and grow and find new hobbies without having to spend money (that I didn’t have). It meant I could play with fun projects without having to buy any hardware. I could install all kinds of Linux desktops for free on my existing PC. I could install ROMs on my phone. I could learn a lot about servers, containers, virtualization, and more. These are all things I could never do if I had to spend money, like getting into Apple devices.

Yet, I’ve hit a wall. I have no desire to distro hop. I have a great Debian desktop and no reason to switch. I use Dex-mode on my phone and use it for all kinds of things like a TV set top box, running Windows games with Winlator, running full Linux desktops with Termux, and even configuring a full offgrid mini internet for my bug-out-bag.

When I hit this wall I got really into building a homelab. Over the last few years I setup multiple servers with old PCs people gave me and have replaced any commercial service. I’m in so deep I’m hosting this blog on a Google Pixel 5. Here is a semi-current list of everything I self-host.

The issue is I still don’t have money. Any project I dream up now requires me to buy something and that is just not going to happen. Tech is an expensive hobby and I’ve tried to take it as far as I can with only having pennies to my name.

I can hear some people now. Learn to code! Why? I’m a landscape contractor. I have no desire to ever, ever work in tech. Learn Kubernetes! Why? Even the people who use K8S seem to hate it. They only learn it because it could get them a better job. Switch to Nix! Why? I’m not a developer and have no real use for declarative desktops or “infrastructure as code”.

Desperate for other hobbies

So, I’m on the lookout for other hobbies that also don’t cost money. This is where I run into another issue: What else could I do? I mentioned above I have a hard time sitting still for any length of time, which means I already do a lot of other stuff. For example:

• I read 2-4 books per month. Right now I’m reading Hell Divers XI: Renegades after finishing Aeon Burn and I already have another book picked out.
• I write on this blog 3-5 times per month. I could probably write more.
• I’m a gardener. This year I had a great harvest of raspberries and strawberries. I planted few new shrubs along the fenceline and grew a sunflower garden. I also work as a landscaper, so my yard looks pretty nice if I do say so myself.
• I do most of my own car maintenance. Not really a hobby, more out of self-reliance and cost.
• I am on another playthrough of Splinter Cell Blacklist, one of my favorite games.
• My wife and I love to watch movies, particularly 80s action, Bollywood films, and moves that are so-bad-they’re-good. We are currently watching the Dabangg franchise.
• I play the violin and learned some basic guitar and piano. I am very hard-of-hearing and wear hearing aids in both ears, so my attraction to music has waned.

I’m not into fitness because my job is incredibly physically exhausting. I spend most days digging holes and walk around 10 miles a day in work boots.

All this to say, I’m bored and desperate for some new hobbies. The key is it can’t cost money as I have none to spend. We are already looking at a very tight winter and don’t have any cash to spare.

Send me your ideas. What do you do for fun? What are your hobbies? What do you do that doesn’t feel like work?

Send halp.

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