Getting some teenage engineering pocket operators is also something I'd strongly recommend. They're affordable and fun!
Check out this 8 year old building a tune with them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhFIUdICYSA
After a couple of years of work, I started to DJ for fun and met so many people, and as I got more into synths I go to synth meetups and music maker spaces. Basically unlocked a new friend group!
I have a different perspective. Ableton is fine, but the "Hacker tool" of the sequencer world is Reaper. Very programmable and it has great terms of use. But it does have a learning curve.
Also, I unfortunately didn't care for the pocket operators - only musical instrument I've ever returned. People will likely have more fun with the volcas, the Circuit or inexpensive Behringers.
Recently I got a Circuit Tracks and it's been a hoot. I like using it standalone more than with Ableton (because I haven't gotten around to trying to make entire actual songs). I mostly make grooves and ideas to play with. I got a MicroFreak to go with it but have yet to unlock its features.
I learned ableton through trial and error, but I have watched the whole video and got a lot from it. I wish I'd had that resource when I was starting out, would have saved me a lot of time. So I'd say: yes, it's worth it if you're picking up ableton.
I like running (now). I never played sports growing up, and would not consider myself particularly athletic. I joined my country's military as an officer, and always found myself running at someone else's pace, which was also awful.
When I finished my undergraduate degree, I found I had a huge vacuum of time. So, I started running. I signed up for a marathon with some friends and the training was fun, because I was running (!) the show. I ended up running pretty well, and kept it up.
Nevertheless, I met a girl while running who really put me through the ringer on a "running first date"-- She turned out to be an Olympian in track. This past week, I actually got to watch her compete at the World Championships in Budapest in the 5000m, and was even luckier to propose to her about two days ago.
I still think it's kind of funny, as a guy who really hated exercise growing up. She's a great foil to my dorkiness. Anyways, feel free to ask us anything about running. We're just killing time right now.
Very cool. I'm guessing one of the two US athletes!
It was a great race - love watching Hassan race too. Also enjoyed the mens 5km and was very happy (as a Brit) to see Josh Kerr beat Ingebrigtsen in the 1500m :)
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu - It's an odd combination of intense physical activity and human chess (setting up attacks in advance while also trying to deflect your opponents attacks, except using chokes or joint breaks). Grapplers are either freak athletes, 120lb stoners, or business professionals. BJJ is one of the most unique sports/martial arts out there, and I encourage everyone to try it at least once.
I started after enrolling my children in it, and then figuring "why the hell not, I should train too."
BJJ is great. I wrestled folkstyle in high school, and then transitioned to BJJ and submission wrestling as an adult. It's a ton of fun and a great workout. Can't recommend highly enough.
I only got out of it because of a combination of A. lack of time, and B. injuries (note: the injuries were more from mountain biking than from BJJ, but I did tear a hip adductor muscle once in BJJ training).
Currently, birding. Got really into it in 2021 since it pretty much runs in the family. I feel that observing the lives of our fellow creatures helps me really destress and put my mind off work. Interestingly, I find that birding while walking in the nature works better in this regard than just walking in the nature.
Get a good pair of binoculars, a bird sound recognition app for your mobile[1], and a bird field guide (as a European, I prefer [2]), and you're good to go.
Nice, i'm an amateur birder, meaning i'm just standing in front of the office building and ..watch the birds. But lately i have been thinking more and more about professionalizing it.
It's so calm and fascinating.
I love to spot any raptor - I'm even a little superstitious about them and tend to take sighting a hawk as a good omen. I also always love to watch a heron/crane - they just seem so dinosaur-ish. Very interesting birds.
Woodworking - It started when someone on my work slack posted an image of an arcade machine they had made. I thought "I want one of those". So I borrowed a circular saw and made one. Then I was hooked. Now I'm doing lots of home improvements, such as building a coffee bar and converting an unused area into a pantry. I'm currently building some shop furniture, then I'll be converting an unused cupboard near our entry way into a mud room.
The two downsides are:
* It's easy to want to buy all the shiniest tools, which are expensive
* I don't want to buy furniture anymore, I want to make it. But there just aren't enough hours in the day.
Actually, if you want to get out of this cycle, turning is a good subset of the hobby. A good small turning setup will cost around $1500 brand new (for the lathe, carbide tools, vices, drill bits, etc.). After that the wood tends to be cheap because you can use other people's offcuts or waste material.
Pens in particular are easy to learn, make gifts that people ooh and aah over, and don't take a ton of time. Materials for a pen range from $10 (for a cheap kit) to $35 (for a top of the line kit plus a fancy blank). Once you've made a few you should be spending an hour to an hour and a half per pen. If something goes wrong mid-project you lose the wood and the tubes, and replacement tubes are cheap, so you don't have to re-buy the whole kit.
Once you master that there are a variety of projects that will ramp up the skill step by step. And there are tons of classes around that'll help you gain those skills.
For me too. Though it’s more DIY in general (plumbing, electrics, decorating etc too).
Built myself a shed from scratch earlier in the summer as a warm up for building a garden office.
Currently have the roof off the porch (somewhat regrettably given the state the summer in the uk) because the ivy got to it before we purchased the house and it was rotting away. Having to learn a new set of skills around tiling hip rafters. Thank the Lord for YouTube!
It’s amazing the number of tools you end up needing as you go along. Though a circular saw and an impact driver will take you a long way.
yeah this is the same for me. I've slowly built most of our furniture and it's really hard to pay moneydollars for the crappy stuff (even high end) sold anywhere. I can't stand veneered products from Herman Miller for $2k that would be fun to build, but I don't have enough time to build them.
Not the healthiest of hobbies but I stumbled into DOTA (the league of legends precursor) 20 years ago and have never fallen out of love.
It's been a dangerous addiction at several points of my life, but in many ways has revealed to me more insight about myself than any other activity.
There is so much variation and nuance, there's always something to learn. For a naturally curious and slightly competitive person, it's quite an intoxicating cocktail.
That's hardcore. I play StarCraft 2 (Protoss) arcade style--quick ladder matches.
Before that my obsession was Go, the board game. Still enjoy it but don't ever feel I have 40min - hour to spare for a game and don't enjoy smaller/faster formats. I'll sometimes do problems on a phone app.
Music is a fantastic option. I've always loved listening but didn't dig into it for a long time. I imagined myself getting into synthesizers and DAWs and figured I didn't need another hobby that keeps me at the workbench or computer. During the pandemic I decided to buy a bass guitar and it turns out there is something to these analog instruments after all. A key part of it for me was intentionally avoiding electronics like pedals or obsessing over amps and pickups. Being able to grab an acoustic and play some tunes around the firepit has been great.
I'm in the same boat, but I like recording too so I got a "digital 8 track" that can completely replace a DAW and allows me to record my acoustic or electric instrument or my voice, and edit the recording, and mix it down into a final product, all on the device.
If you have any interest in recording & want to maintain the part where you stay away from the computer/workbench while you play music, I cannot more strongly recommend a digital 8-track recorder. It's been life-changing for me.
Motorcycling is a high bandwidth sensory experience both alike and unlike the puzzles of flying a high resolution monitor and keyboard during the day job. It is an endless excuse to explore the endless physical world. It is something for sharing but also fundamentally a personal experience.
Motorcycling was my father's midlife crisis. I learned on dirt bikes when I was 11, riding old Japanese dual sports through closed strip mines and down power line cuts. Getting lost, getting stuck, and then getting home.
Readit News
https://www.ableton.com/en/live/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iuRsiKtObw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxY0x1i3XhY
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9oiyAGA6zOTSPR5-ttojODT4...
Getting some teenage engineering pocket operators is also something I'd strongly recommend. They're affordable and fun! Check out this 8 year old building a tune with them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhFIUdICYSA
Btw thanks for the links, they look super helpful.
Also, I unfortunately didn't care for the pocket operators - only musical instrument I've ever returned. People will likely have more fun with the volcas, the Circuit or inexpensive Behringers.
When I finished my undergraduate degree, I found I had a huge vacuum of time. So, I started running. I signed up for a marathon with some friends and the training was fun, because I was running (!) the show. I ended up running pretty well, and kept it up.
Nevertheless, I met a girl while running who really put me through the ringer on a "running first date"-- She turned out to be an Olympian in track. This past week, I actually got to watch her compete at the World Championships in Budapest in the 5000m, and was even luckier to propose to her about two days ago.
I still think it's kind of funny, as a guy who really hated exercise growing up. She's a great foil to my dorkiness. Anyways, feel free to ask us anything about running. We're just killing time right now.
It was a great race - love watching Hassan race too. Also enjoyed the mens 5km and was very happy (as a Brit) to see Josh Kerr beat Ingebrigtsen in the 1500m :)
I started after enrolling my children in it, and then figuring "why the hell not, I should train too."
I only got out of it because of a combination of A. lack of time, and B. injuries (note: the injuries were more from mountain biking than from BJJ, but I did tear a hip adductor muscle once in BJJ training).
Get a good pair of binoculars, a bird sound recognition app for your mobile[1], and a bird field guide (as a European, I prefer [2]), and you're good to go.
[1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.tu_chemnitz...
[2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.natureguid...
My favorites are Corvids.
The two downsides are: * It's easy to want to buy all the shiniest tools, which are expensive * I don't want to buy furniture anymore, I want to make it. But there just aren't enough hours in the day.
Why would you spend $400 on a piece of furniture when you could make it yourself for $800?
I too have been bitten by this bug.
Pens in particular are easy to learn, make gifts that people ooh and aah over, and don't take a ton of time. Materials for a pen range from $10 (for a cheap kit) to $35 (for a top of the line kit plus a fancy blank). Once you've made a few you should be spending an hour to an hour and a half per pen. If something goes wrong mid-project you lose the wood and the tubes, and replacement tubes are cheap, so you don't have to re-buy the whole kit.
Once you master that there are a variety of projects that will ramp up the skill step by step. And there are tons of classes around that'll help you gain those skills.
Built myself a shed from scratch earlier in the summer as a warm up for building a garden office.
Currently have the roof off the porch (somewhat regrettably given the state the summer in the uk) because the ivy got to it before we purchased the house and it was rotting away. Having to learn a new set of skills around tiling hip rafters. Thank the Lord for YouTube!
It’s amazing the number of tools you end up needing as you go along. Though a circular saw and an impact driver will take you a long way.
Do it myself and any issues are easier to live with as they are my fault.
It's been a dangerous addiction at several points of my life, but in many ways has revealed to me more insight about myself than any other activity.
There is so much variation and nuance, there's always something to learn. For a naturally curious and slightly competitive person, it's quite an intoxicating cocktail.
Before that my obsession was Go, the board game. Still enjoy it but don't ever feel I have 40min - hour to spare for a game and don't enjoy smaller/faster formats. I'll sometimes do problems on a phone app.
If you have any interest in recording & want to maintain the part where you stay away from the computer/workbench while you play music, I cannot more strongly recommend a digital 8-track recorder. It's been life-changing for me.
Motorcycling is a high bandwidth sensory experience both alike and unlike the puzzles of flying a high resolution monitor and keyboard during the day job. It is an endless excuse to explore the endless physical world. It is something for sharing but also fundamentally a personal experience.
Motorcycling was my father's midlife crisis. I learned on dirt bikes when I was 11, riding old Japanese dual sports through closed strip mines and down power line cuts. Getting lost, getting stuck, and then getting home.
You, or anyone in the US, can learn from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation basic rider course: https://msf-usa.org/start-your-ride/basic-ridercourse/