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Mediocre at best, and I lack the mental fortitude to work at much of anything these days, so wherever I’m at, I’m not going to improve much.
Some people relish the feeling of swimming through molasses* for the next hit of progress dopamine, or they don’t get that feeling at all, but that’s what happens to me and it basically short-circuits something in my brain. It’s bad enough that I struggled to write the last part of that sentence, and it’s happening while I’m proofreading this as well.
* or treacle if the unintended concept of small mammal anatomy bothers you.
Hey mate, are things a bit tricky for you right now?
Thanks for your concern. I’m getting by.
Big hug
Why do you have to bring up my shortcomings like that?
Jack of all trades; master of none.
Boardgames, around 75%
Badminton, around 55%
And 80s arcades, pretty good.
Can 1CC about 15 games.
Hobbies are about enjoyment, not skill. You should never measure your accomplishments with hobbies based on how good you are at them.
That said… when I was younger, I only indulged in hobbies that I had any skill in. If I sucked at something, I typically gave it up quickly and looked for something else to do.
Video games were an exception. I enjoyed the gameplay so much, it didn’t matter that I was awful at them. I’d grind the same levels over and over, hoping to finally beat it this time.
Interestingly enough, I’m actually really good at video games now. Not professionally so, but I have a lot more skill than most of my friends. I’m usually appointed team leader in any co-op games I play with my friends because I’m really good at tracking the mission objective and keeping everyone together. And now that I’m retired young, I spend a lot of time gaming throughout the days, which only makes me better.
I don’t play games for the challenge or skill, though. I mostly play to enjoy an interactive story. So I usually turn the difficulty down to the easiest option so I don’t get stuck from progression at any point. I can handle really difficult games, but I just don’t want to. Unless my friends want a challenge, then I’ll crank it up and then be constantly bailing them out from the nightmare they chose to play.
Best part of having hobbies is that you don’t need to be good!
This!!
I suck at most of my hobbies, but half the fun is learning and improving
I’ve recently started to blindly learn instruments without any tutorials just basic overview and it’s so much more fun! It’s like playing video games without wikis and guides - great if youre not in a rush anywhere
Depends on the hobby. I tend to collect hobbies and then grow bored of them, then return to them a while later.
I’ll become absolutely obsessed with learning about “hobby x”, and spend two months basically getting as close to an expert on it as I can with self-teaching. (Video Editing, filmmaking, screenwriting, 3D modelling for flight simulators, Graphic Design, etc…)
Then I’ll grow bored and move onto a new obsession from the above list, focus on that long enough that at least 25% of my knowledge of the previous obsession vanishes and I have to relearn a bunch the next time that obsession rolls around.
I’ve been told that’s possibly ADHD, but since I suffer from depression I’ll take my bursts of obsessiveness over lack of any motivation any day.
This is me!!! Especially the relearning part 😆 Side bonus is I’m really good at reading docs(programming) now!
Reading (good) programming documentation is half the battle, or maybe 3/4ths, hahaha! I also remember when someone took the time to go in depth with the debugger and increased my programming efficiency by about 75%, good times, wow! Now I can only write code at 225% efficiency 🤣.
Awful! But the fun is having something i don’t need to be good at. Though i now have a lot of things i’m at least mediocre at, those are just old hobbies.
I usually learn my hobbies at small fraction of the rate i would have learned something in school. Years instead of weeks/months. I learn them deeper this way and don’t develop burnout.
A hobby becomes a job when you worry if you are good at it.
I don’t think that’s universally true, I agree with some other posters here that a big part of enjoying a hobby is the learning process and getting better at it.
Yes, excessive comparison to others and worries about performance and the like are killers for enjoyment, but the pursuit of skill is a major part of a fulfilling hobby for me.
My hobby has a leaderboard, so for better or for worse, I know exactly how good I am at it. Currently sitting around the top 0.01% of Power Shift players in The Finals, down from top 0.001% last season. Part of me hates knowing this, because I tend to obsess over it. But another part of me loves it because I never get to gloat about anything in life, so it’s fun to brag once in a while.
What is Power Shift?
It’s a kind of “side” mode in The Finals, which is an FPS game. In Power Shift, 2 teams of 5 try to push a floating platform from the center of the arena into their opponent’s base, in a sort of reverse tug-of-war battle. As the platform traverses the arena, it effortlessly demolishes all structures in its path, so the destruction and chaos are cranked to 11.
It’s sort of similar to “payload” type objectives in some other FPS games like Overwatch or TF2, but instead of teams taking turns, they’re both pushing against each other with the same payload. It’s a ton of fun!
Thanks for the explanation! I am not much of an fps player, so i had no idea, but it sounds fun for sure :)
Not good at all, but I’m just happy to be there.
I think it is a trap to think about it this way. My hobbies are meant to bring me joy and challenge, no matter what level i am on
Ages ago, before i started to teach my techniques to the masses, i was considered the international specialist in that field. I have withdrawn since then, but I am still good.
I’m a good enough cook that several friends have seriously suggested I apply for Masterchef, but I have no interest in the restaurant side of the competition.
Holy shit!! How did you get to that level?
I’m not entirely sure, a lot of it is instinctive. My weakness is baking because I’m mostly a ‘measure by eye’ kind of cook and baking requires more precision than that. I guess I also have quite a good ability to imagine flavor; if I can imagine how a combination of ingredients will taste then it’ll usually be a pretty good meal even if I’ve never tried it before.
Also, I enjoy cooking which helps a lot. I like playing with good ingredients, learning how they react to different cooking techniques and so on. And I love to entertain and watch people eat food I’ve prepared. Food is love!
[Come on over to !recipes@feddit.uk and !cooking_with_fire@feddit.uk - both could do with more regulars!]
Ahhh that’s a big issue for me. Even when I’m tasting a spice I can’t figure out how it’ll make the dish taste (unless it’s obvious like chilli). Good links thanks!
But I bet your cheese toastie game is on point!
Well I don’t want to boast… but yes, yes it is.
I love a cheese toastie. I do mine in a cast iron skillet these days because one less specialist gadget in my cluttered kitchen is a good thing and because the clean up is easier.
But seriously, post your cheese toastie recipe to !recipes@feddit.uk! It’s not for gourmet meals, it’s for recipes that people actually use and love. For e.g., here’s mine for a Sausage, fried egg, and Reggae Reggae Sauce sarnie.
Oh wow that looks amazing
Wait so you are telling me that people don’t instinctively have this skill? Maybe I should take a stab at cooking sometime too lol
I’m in a similar boat where generally everything I make comes out tasting pretty good even when I haven’t tried it before, I wouldn’t say anything has been like worldclass or anything but I also haven’t looked up much to level up my cooking.
I am an aggressively mediocre singer but the 2 hour rehearsal on Monday is the highlight of my week. It’s so fucking fun man!
