What do you do for fun ?

UnixGuy

This is way off topic - I know - but I really wanna what do you guys do for fun ?

I feel like my life is boring ! I just miss those college crazy days...


I can see that most of you guys have spouses and families ? Do you prefer family life or single better ?

JDMurray

Married family life better--definitely. I like the focus and structure it gives me; it teaches you patience with handing all of the interruptions. Plus, all of my kids are out of the house.

And most of my fun is computer-based, although I've been taking Yoga classes for a month now, but I can't says that I've hit the "fun threshold" in doing it yet.

msteinhilber

My life is boring as well, you're not alone

Having a wife and son (21 months), family life does has it's up's and down's I suppose. The upside is I've been able to watch how much my boy has grown and developed in the past 21 months and I get to witness new accomplishments all the time. The family life can be a bit of an impairment to going out with friends for a good time or for just having an evening to relax or go out and watch a movie with the wife. I suppose in some ways I miss that freedom, but nothing can get a bigger grin on my face than when my boy walks over to me and tugs on my arm and gives me a big smile and says "HIIIIIII!!!". Trying to get study time in as well really kills the fun time.

My wife has been trying to get out more here and there to spend time with some of her friends, and I think I'm going to start again as well now that our little guy has gotten to the age where it's not as crazy for one of us to take care of him. And if that doesn't work out, I'll just become an alcoholic and drink all the time at home

dynamik

Why don't you start, UnixGuy?

My goal for the summer is to spend more time outside. I recently bought a bike (that I've taken out nearly every day since), and I think I'm going to start taking my photography more seriously. I hit the gym once in awhile, and now that my night schedule has cleared up, I'm going to go back to Tae Kwon Do and get my black belt (left off at red nearly eight years ago ).

I still play Halo a bit, but I'm losing interest in video games. I primarily do that for the social aspect and spending time with people I know across the country. I haven't finished a single player game/campaign in probably a year; they just don't hold my interest any more. I don't watch a lot of TV, but I'll catch a few shows I like on Hulu, and I will occasionally watch a movie.

I recently started Toastmaster's too. My primary goal was self-improvement, but it has turned out to be a good time, and I've even gotten a friend to join and go through the first manual (10 speeches) with me.

Other than that, I might do a bit of traveling and/or camping over the summer. I have a friend trying to get me into golf, and I might give that a shot if I can find a cheap set of clubs.

Single life is probably pretty sweet, but it's taken some getting used to after being married for nearly seven years. I got married shortly after getting out of high school, so that's basically been my entire adult life. I'll adapt quickly, but in the mean time, I'm just trying to keep myself busy (I'll be taking my third exam this month next week ).

Paperclip

Yeah, this is what I do for fun, lol.

I guess I just do normal stuff like watch movies and hang out with friends. I will have my 15th anniversary this summer, but we don't have kids so we can pretty much do whatever we used to do in terms of going out whenever we want.

Kaminsky

Before you settle down you should experience as much as you can of what you like. Do not waste your time doing something you hate or trying to please an ugly or too demanding current spouse. Never waste your time with boring/miserable people or those that are too afraid to try anything. These things will suck the life right out of ya and you will be gray before your time.

Try and do things so you can avoid a mid-life crisis later on. I've been in the British army for a short time and also been through university (yep that was a lot of fun... I thought I learnt how to drink in the army) Try flying a plane during a cheap trial flight, Parachuting, Binji jumping, Parascending, Scuba, travelling to far off places for lengthy terms (I missed the Berlin wall coming down by a month when backpacking around Germany... gutted). Clubbing / socialising as much as you can. There is plenty of time in old age to be alone... Shag A LOT ! but safely. (can't emphasise this last one too strongly) but don't get hung up on any one seemingly good partner worried that you might never find another.

Eventually you meet the one (don't ask me to explain how you know... you just do) and then eventually you start having kids when the time is right (again... you just know - life is very odd like that.. I was 36 when we had our first so there is no rush!) and you fun moves to other places. Fun with the kids, taking the family out for a picnic, etc, etc. You don't miss the old things you used to do before you settled down becuase you have been there and done that. Now when I go to a club once ina blue moon I am ashamed to say I find the music too loud and not being a tall person 5'7, I am constantly amazed that every bugger seems to manage to stand on my feet or spill drinks on me at the bar.

I did it that way and now have three kids aged 6, 7 & 9 and been with my mrs now for 14 years and in all that time we have had about 3 to 4 arguments. I guess I am quite lucky but I put in the single life ground work for it so I have no regrets and therefore no frustrations constantly nagging away in the back of my head.

To answer your question I would say don't waste time harking back to your past glory days but get on with making new ones. Life is a lot of fun as long as you are prepared to live it. The more you live it, the more you get out of it and the happier with it you will be ..

Now I am knocking on 45 in June, I probably have 20-30 years left and that really isn't a lot of time but I am comforted by what I have done and achieved in my work life and most especially the next generation I have brought in to follow in my footsteps.

[ wow, long post and only my second beer too ]

UnixGuy

I'm single and afraid of commitment, and I can't do much during the week, except for movies and series, sometimes GYM or jogging. There's always a book with me, I like literature in general.

I hang out the whole weekend, but even that is becoming routine..I don't know, I think I need some serious change !

I never miss any concert, party, event, new movie...but I don't know, it gets boring at times...

UnixGuy

Kaminsky, you kind of talked about pretty much all of my concerns !

Kaminsky wrote: »

. Never waste your time with boring/miserable people or those that are too afraid to try anything. These things will suck the life right out of ya and you will be gray before your time.

The problem I have old friends and it's really hard to find outgoing people ! lol...they're indeed making me gray before my time !!!

Kaminsky wrote: »

.
Try and do things so you can avoid a mid-life crisis later on.

I agree, but oddly enough, I see it work the other way around with people !

Kaminsky wrote: »

.
but don't get hung up on any one seemingly good partner worried that you might never find another.

+1

dynamik

Originally, I was hellbent on fixing my marriage. I'm not going to go into great detail, but I went very far out of my way to deal with a lot of things that had been hanging over me for the better part of a decade. I was convinced these things were robbing me of joy and not allowing me to be the person she deserved. I went so far as to even confront a few people face-to-face about how I felt they wronged me. I wasn't an assertive person, and that was a terrifying endeavor for me.

As I went through all this, I started to realize how rewarding it was to get out of your comfort zones and just get things taken care of. I would have never, ever done this had I not been in some catastrophic situation, but now, in many ways, I'm a completely different person than I was at the beginning of the year (in a very good way). I'm now seeking out situations that may be socially and/or emotionally uncomfortable for me because I've seen the benefits of struggling through those types of ordeals.

While your frustrations may not be tied to a relationship, maybe you need to bust out of your routine and do something you've been wanting to but have been avoiding because of superficial reasons. It might be as simple as something as me and golf. I'm terrible at it, which is why I've always avoided going out with my friends. However, had I started going five years ago, I'd probably be as good as the rest of them now. I'm not sure if that's helpful to you or not. You seemed to be looking for something deeper than what we do for fun. Just start expanding your horizons; there are plenty of things to do.

UnixGuy

I'm glad to hear your doing well


well yes, I actually want to do a lot of things...and I just realized how I kept on postponing them...some of them are not possible because of financial issues and other stuff


Music is one thing, I like music, but never got the chance to get into it...maybe I should do that...I will definitely do that...let's see

dynamik wrote: »

Originally, I was hellbent on fixing my marriage. I'm not going to go into great detail, but I went very far out of my way to deal with a lot of things that had been hanging over me for the better part of a decade. I was convinced these things were robbing me of joy and not allowing me to be the person she deserved. I went so far as to even confront a few people face-to-face about how I felt they wronged me. I wasn't an assertive person, and that was a terrifying endeavor for me.

As I went through all this, I started to realize how rewarding it was to get out of your comfort zones and just get things taken care of. I would have never, ever done this had I not been in some catastrophic situation, but now, in many ways, I'm a completely different person than I was at the beginning of the year (in a very good way). I'm now seeking out situations that may be socially and/or emotionally uncomfortable for me because I've seen the benefits of struggling through those types of ordeals.

While your frustrations may not be tied to a relationship, maybe you need to bust out of your routine and do something you've been wanting to but have been avoiding because of superficial reasons. It might be as simple as something as me and golf. I'm terrible at it, which is why I've always avoided going out with my friends. However, had I started going five years ago, I'd probably be as good as the rest of them now. I'm not sure if that's helpful to you or not. You seemed to be looking for something deeper than what we do for fun. Just start expanding your horizons; there are plenty of things to do.

vCole

• Video games
• Playing around on the computer
• Spending time with my woman & my family
• Reading
• Movies

Hopefully I will be getting into some sort of martial art soon, as well as hitting the gym regularly.

bsddaemon0

UnixGuy wrote: »

This is way off topic - I know - but I really wanna what do you guys do for fun ?

Shooting, mostly handguns.

cbigbrick

This..........

coffeeking

Muscle Building, picked up seriously about a year ago...been eddicted to it since then. lately I have build some good muscle but with fat, right now trying to go into a cutting stage where I will try to eliminate some of that extra flab....look into it mate! it can keep you busy if you know what you are doing.

msteinhilber

coffeeking wrote: »

Muscle Building, picked up seriously about a year ago...been eddicted to it since then. lately I have build some good muscle but with fat, right now trying to go into a cutting stage where I will try to eliminate some of that extra flab....look into it mate! it can keep you busy if you know what you are doing.

This is one of the things I've been wanting to devote some time to. Not looking for extraordinary results, just to shape up a bit. Once I'm finished up with my bachelors around August I'll be able to work more seriously towards it.

I actually think I'm going to devote some time to fishing this year. I don't own a boat, but there's plenty of shoreline spots around me. Haven't gone fishing in many years but I enjoyed it in my early 20's, my boss loves to fish and proclaims it's the only thing that keeps him sane

Super99

I'm single. I try to watch two movies per week. I work out MWF. Other than that I like to watch Science Fiction shows and other comedies. It would be nice to get hitched though.
My goal is to get my MCSE & CCNA before that happens.

Pash

bsddaemon0 wrote: »

Shooting, mostly handguns.

You and sparky mark should have a battle!

Back on topic, what others have said. Being confident, assertive and active does help a lot. Find your "things you like to do" and then peruse them, nothing worse than spending your time doing nothing that you are enjoying.

Myself - I got back into drawing/digital painting and I am loving it. Im losing weight at the moment, dropped 12 pounds in about 3 weeks. I got exams booked so im busy studying for them, its all good.

Keep at it and have fun!

Lee H

Hi

Playing online poker, dont get much time for it as I have 3 kids but I can easily spend 6 hours straight playing for fun not for real money that would be stupid as I cant play that well

PKR - let's play. 3d online poker room. check it out if you like poker then you will love this, 3D environment

also I enjoy eating big fat dirty kebabs on naan bread

apart from that my life is pretty dull, lol

Lee H

Ahriakin

Sorry to hear it went that far Dynamik, but it sounds like you made the choice for the right reasons. I'm a firm believer in what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.

As for spare time I play a bit of TF2 and now Left4Dead but most of all I've finally gotten back into writing music again. I've done it on and off since my teens and even tried to make a career of it, that..em...didn't pay so well. I stopped about 6 years ago to get my IT career back on track and kept putting off going back to it for different reasons. I promised myself I'd start again after the CCIE but started a new job and began digging into the CCNP. So last week I figured screw it and slowed the study down, did up a clean install of Vista and upgraded/installed my audio software. It felt great working on it again, though there's still some lack-of-study guilt in the back of the old noggin'

jryantech

What a lovely question... :]

I do music www.myspace.com/treeandthemachine
I also play World of Warcraft and Starcraft
College Parties, Watching Hockey, reading about Science (Space and evolution) and the Humanities (Information about old civilizations and religions)

Other then that I love my job
And school is just sort of passive for me

Sepiraph

I know generally in interview and casual conversations people ask you this question, and I usually just give them some clique answer.

But to be honest, I think networking is pretty 'fun'. And well my college's day was filled with reading Quantum Mechanics and mathematics, to be honest I wouldn't really mind doing that for 'fun' either. I find solving logical puzzles are pretty 'fun'. I finding thinking of ways to make money as 'fun' and things like planning for my own business.

Also I spent a large amount of time reading on the internet forums and sites like slashdot, luckily I am naturally skinny as I really don't exercise that much, although I did go to the gym and went skating over the winter.

In terms of games, I used to play Starcraft/Warcraft but that was years ago, but I did recently begin to play a bit of Street Fighter over the net.

Since I'm in my late 20s, I also have been dating on and off, and quite recently been dating a wonderful woman. Will see how that turns out.

evanderburg

I built a home theater in my basement over the winter so I enjoy watching movies in my spare time. I am still working on putting the rear surround speakers in the ceiling so that is also something that I do in my spare time. Now that the weather is nice again I will spend time outside. I have a few outdoor landscaping projects that I want to do this summer.