Year-end hobby roundup
Dec. 12th, 2023 08:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spacealien_vampOnce again I have been derelict when it comes to regular updates. This is because I have far too many hobbies and not nearly enough free time to indulge in all of them as much as I would like. As WoW is in the middle of its weekly service downtime at the moment, however, I can tear myself away long enough to run through what I've been occupying myself with over the past several months.
Photography
In August I went to visit family in Hawaii for a week. I spent a lot of time with my fancy digital camera taking pictures. Since the time zone was three hours behind, it was relatively easy to wake up early, allowing me to take a bunch of shots of the sunrise over the ocean. I also got a bunch of pictures of waterfalls as well as closeups of various flowers, leaves, and mushrooms. This one is my favorite because I managed to get the flower in perfect focus (which was super hard, as the branch was blowing around in the wind) with a delightfully blurred yet still interesting background. That said, the sunrise photos are pretty spectacular. I plan to go through all the hundreds of pictures and have a few printed out to hang on the wall in my guest room, which has a Hawaii theme.
Computer games
I'm still playing Diablo IV, sporadically, but I have transferred most of my online gaming time over to my reactivated World of Warcraft account. Yes, getting sucked back into that after 10 years is probably a lapse in judgment. But the latest expansion is all about dragons. Dragons! I couldn't resist that. The sad thing is that my former guild is no longer active, though some of the members are still playing on other servers. At least the guild itself is still there, and my characters weren't kicked out of it.
Manga
I took a few weeks to get caught up on reading and reviewing the past year's worth of manga that I ordered online, but I have no place to put it anymore, as my storage is full. That set me on a mission to cull volumes from my collection...again. I've already gotten rid of any titles of below average quality in previous purges. Now I'm going through from A to Z, reading the ones that are borderline to solidify my opinion of them, and culling anything that's simply average. If they're inoffensive yet not memorable, they have to go. I've been making steady progress since summer, and I'm currently in the M section. (One might think that's halfway, but due to the distribution of author names, it's more like a third of the way through.)
Board games
I've acquired a number of new board games, and I'm busily playing through them with my parents. The game boxes also have a storage problem, as I have filled all my available shelves. Once the stacks of manga have been put away, that will clear up some space for the games, but it's still an issue. That concern has set me on the task of cleaning out and organizing my garage. It's a huge task, as the garage is crammed with stuff that I didn't have space for in the house, but I'm trying to tackle it a small section at a time. I managed to get rid of a bunch of useless stuff this past weekend, which is a good feeling. With space opening up there, I can shuffle things from my closets out to storage tubs in the garage, which provides the games with new storage options.
Fiber arts
I've picked up a lot of new yarn this year, and I'm continuing to work on various knitting projects. This summer I completed a sleeveless blouse, and I'm currently working on a pair of knee socks. As if that weren't enough, I ordered a 24" loom for myself for Christmas. I've been interested in weaving for a while, and I'm going to try practicing some small items. Did I really need another hobby? No. But it's knitting-adjacent, so I think I will enjoy it.
Traveling
I didn't get to go on an international trip this year as I had hoped, but maybe I'll get something scheduled next year. Visiting Hawaii was fun, and I'm planning to go back next March (if the annual leave draw lottery goes in my favor). I also went on a short road trip through Northern California with my parents in November, staying in Napa for some wine tasting and Mendocino for vegan cuisine. The redwood forests are truly amazing, though the curvy mountain roads can be unnerving, particularly in the dark with the occasional deer peeking out at the headlights. I've been living in the state for 15 years now, and I still haven't seen very much of it, which is a shame.
That pretty much covers everything (outside of work) that has been occupying me since my last post.
PhotographyIn August I went to visit family in Hawaii for a week. I spent a lot of time with my fancy digital camera taking pictures. Since the time zone was three hours behind, it was relatively easy to wake up early, allowing me to take a bunch of shots of the sunrise over the ocean. I also got a bunch of pictures of waterfalls as well as closeups of various flowers, leaves, and mushrooms. This one is my favorite because I managed to get the flower in perfect focus (which was super hard, as the branch was blowing around in the wind) with a delightfully blurred yet still interesting background. That said, the sunrise photos are pretty spectacular. I plan to go through all the hundreds of pictures and have a few printed out to hang on the wall in my guest room, which has a Hawaii theme.
Computer games
I'm still playing Diablo IV, sporadically, but I have transferred most of my online gaming time over to my reactivated World of Warcraft account. Yes, getting sucked back into that after 10 years is probably a lapse in judgment. But the latest expansion is all about dragons. Dragons! I couldn't resist that. The sad thing is that my former guild is no longer active, though some of the members are still playing on other servers. At least the guild itself is still there, and my characters weren't kicked out of it.
Manga
I took a few weeks to get caught up on reading and reviewing the past year's worth of manga that I ordered online, but I have no place to put it anymore, as my storage is full. That set me on a mission to cull volumes from my collection...again. I've already gotten rid of any titles of below average quality in previous purges. Now I'm going through from A to Z, reading the ones that are borderline to solidify my opinion of them, and culling anything that's simply average. If they're inoffensive yet not memorable, they have to go. I've been making steady progress since summer, and I'm currently in the M section. (One might think that's halfway, but due to the distribution of author names, it's more like a third of the way through.)
Board games
I've acquired a number of new board games, and I'm busily playing through them with my parents. The game boxes also have a storage problem, as I have filled all my available shelves. Once the stacks of manga have been put away, that will clear up some space for the games, but it's still an issue. That concern has set me on the task of cleaning out and organizing my garage. It's a huge task, as the garage is crammed with stuff that I didn't have space for in the house, but I'm trying to tackle it a small section at a time. I managed to get rid of a bunch of useless stuff this past weekend, which is a good feeling. With space opening up there, I can shuffle things from my closets out to storage tubs in the garage, which provides the games with new storage options.
Fiber arts
I've picked up a lot of new yarn this year, and I'm continuing to work on various knitting projects. This summer I completed a sleeveless blouse, and I'm currently working on a pair of knee socks. As if that weren't enough, I ordered a 24" loom for myself for Christmas. I've been interested in weaving for a while, and I'm going to try practicing some small items. Did I really need another hobby? No. But it's knitting-adjacent, so I think I will enjoy it.
Traveling
I didn't get to go on an international trip this year as I had hoped, but maybe I'll get something scheduled next year. Visiting Hawaii was fun, and I'm planning to go back next March (if the annual leave draw lottery goes in my favor). I also went on a short road trip through Northern California with my parents in November, staying in Napa for some wine tasting and Mendocino for vegan cuisine. The redwood forests are truly amazing, though the curvy mountain roads can be unnerving, particularly in the dark with the occasional deer peeking out at the headlights. I've been living in the state for 15 years now, and I still haven't seen very much of it, which is a shame.
That pretty much covers everything (outside of work) that has been occupying me since my last post.
