What is a new thing, a new something that you have recently gotten into, or that you have been a long time participant in, that you find very entertaining and fun and time consuming and distracting?
What things would we need to purchase to get into that thing?
How did you get into that thing?
Therapy.
if you don’t have one a steamdeck.
3D printing.
Get a used printer or build a new one (building it teaches you a lot about how it works).
Start downloading models… toys, gifts, tools.
Start seeing what little things you can fix and improve around your home.
Encounter something you need to print, but can’t find anywhere to download… Get into CAD and start making your own models.
Also there’s a nice side effect if you get into 3D printing: it’s suddenly really easy for your family/friends to buy gifts for you. There’s never enough filaments you could have.
I’m tyring to eat less animal food so have been buying odd vegan ingredients for cooking and substitution. It’s fun.
One (1) library card. No purchase necessary. Can do it online in minutes and with a free app like libby have access to more interest than you could ever satisfy.
cat cat kitty-cat kitty-cat-cat cat-cat-cat cat kitty cat
one need money
i got into it by going :3 and adopting a cat
I have had many wonderful cats in my life, and I do not currently have a cat, and I have not had one for some time.
Maybe I should get a cat.
Get litter mates. They teach each other to play nice so you don’t have to.
I read this and my only thought was “Factorio”. Oh well.
Get a shitty motorcycle and fix it up and ride it. You’d be amazed at what you can do with some time and and a couple youtube videos.
Go learn to SCUBA dive. Being 100 feet under water is amazing.
My wife passed away February 28th 2019 and I was lost in life. I wandered into a shop and was certified to dive on June 16th after a few classes. By January 16th 2020 I was Advanced Open Water certified and on June 28th I was Rescue certified. I actually want to become certified to instruct and use my underwater videos to pay for teens and young adults who have survived sexual abuse to become certified to dive and hopefully be able to provide them a set of gear.
I personality am a survivor of mental, physical, and sexual abuse. Diving has been the best thing in my life and in less than 100 dives I have seen things that people with thousands of dives haven’t. It has also helped my mental health more than anything else I’ve ever tried. Now I just want to be in the water every chance I get.
What you need to get started is training. Dive certification will run around 500. You can find some shops that charge a bit less and some that charge more. The biggest thing in the agency alphabet soup is to find a shop that truly teaches and then plan to do advanced certification as well. If you can travel to do the Advanced Open Water certification do it, a week somewhere warm with some diving is worth it.
Things you should really buy: mask, fins, and snorkel. Buy it before you start the class. You can go on Amazon and buy any cheap mask and snorkel set where the mask has a tempered glass lens/lenses. Skip the dry top snorkel, they don’t really do much other than cause issues (I have a design for one that would be amazing but need to prototype it first and don’t have the ability/funding right now.)
For fins you need a scuba fin, I prefer ones made for dive boots rather than barefoot ones. Then you can walk around in the dive boots and have more grip and a little protection vs being barefoot. The fins I use are Cressi Pro Light but if I was to buy a set today I would look at the SEAC Propulsion S. And buy yellow or orange fins, trust me.
After that a dive computer is a really smart buy. You have a couple choices there and they can get expensive. A good basic computer is the Cressi Leonardo series or the Mares Puck Pro + Series. I started started with the Mares Puck Pro and just updated to the Mares Quad CI but will use the Puck Pro as a backup. You can use the app that comes with the dive computer but if you use Android and want to keep all your logs in one place even if you change computers (and you probably will if you get started) DiveMate is worth it. It works with tons of dive computers and you can still have signatures in your logs. I haven’t used paper logs since my first certification. If money is no object the Garmin Descent Mk3i is one I (and many others) have drooled over.
Next is BCD and Regulator set. I’m looking at the Scubapro Hydros Pro with Air2 for my next BCD. Regulator I would suggest is the Scubapro MK25 with the G260. I use the MK20 with the G250, it’s a tank and works great. Grab a console with depth gauge and pressure gauge as well, if you can get one with a compass as well all the better.
We are in the age of really cheap, but high quality guitars. You don’t have to own an exorbitantly expensive gourmet brand like Gibson, Fender, Martin, or Taylor. There are lots of companies making very fun, playable, and CHEAP guitars.
If you want to play electric, there are companies like Firefly, Harley Benton, and Donner, making terrific guitars for less than $200.
If you like acoustic guitars, you can buy really nice new ones for under $500, but if you buy used (which I recommend for an acoustic anyway), you can find lots of nice 20-40 year old guitars from Yamaha, Washburn, Alvarez, Takamine, and others for less than $200.
Then comes the distraction part of learning to play, and practicing. It can take a lifetime, but if you are committed to it, you will be rewarded by steady satisfying progress for your entire journey.
Doing it, can confirm.
Check out www.justinguitar.com for top quality, free beginner’s course.
Justin is great, he’s probably taught more people to play than any other single human.
That’s the other thing - once you’ve got a nice guitar for cheap, there are all sorts of great resources on the Internet. The best guitar teachers in the world are all over YouTube, offering lessons, tips, tricks, licks, and more, for FREE!
Hiking shoes and poles. Spending time out on trails will be my next attempt at healthy coping.
Flashlights really do seem like an endless rabbit hole to sink into. They’re surprisingly affordable too - there are tons of Chinese models in the 30–60 euro range that outperform name brands costing over 100 euros.
You could even turn it into a challenge: try to research the absolute best everyday carry flashlight for yourself and see if it arrives in the mail before you’ve already found a better alternative.
air fryer and fidget toys
Rubik’s cube
I bought an analog camera (Canon EOS 300) for like 15 euros at a thrift store a year ago and luckily it worked. It has kinda kick-started my interest in photography. Analog photography is quite expensive tho, so a better recommendation would be to buy a cheap used DSLR. Personally I bought a Canon EOS 40D at MBP for like 80 euros, but anything like it would probably be fine.
A camera from 2008 doesn’t sound like something that would still be relevant today, but honestly it’s a great device. It’s kinda like an old manual car in camera form. If you know what you’re doing you can absolutely take amazing photos with it. It has all the buttons and options you might need, just not the fancy new stuff like face tracking autofocus, sensor stabilisation, EVF, etc.
My dad (who is a more professional photographer) let me use his professional grade lenses on this thing and the results are absolutely stunning. But even something like Canons 50mm lens is very decent. Will it beat anything modern? Probably not. But you sure can learn and take stunning pictures with it. Since then I got a more modern camera as well, but honestly the 40D still keeps surprising me. It takes a bit more effort to get something good, but it is also super rewarding.
The best thing about digital photography is that you can keep trying your shot with different settings for exposure, aperture etc. it’s a great way to learn what works best in what situation.
