Depending on money level and time of year... paintball, hiking/climbing/caving/exploring, skiing, music, movies, message boards, reading (a ton), drawing, archery, throwing knives, and gaming. But I'm not near as busy as that may seem, some are relatively constant like reading and gaming, others are much more rare like skiing (because of money and time of year).

i end up gaming(baldur's gate currently) or reading books most of my free time(wheel of time book 1)
just started with squash coz tennis&table tennis were getting too frustating...2 months without any improvements
bought myself a 'teach yourself japanese' last week...been dabbling with that also while rewatching my anime collection lately

it's funny... rewatching anime actually never gets boring to me. I can't even count how many times I've watched Martian Successor Nadesico. So I completely agree with you on the anime.

more hobbies of mine:

trying to learn website creation. I'm horrible with PHP, so I'm trying to learn, and it's going oh so very slowly. :(

Online video games.
Reading.
Writing.
Programming.... although this one has become more of a chore than anything else.

And akito I can offer you some help as far as website information.

If you haven't learned html (you probably have) then you need to learn it first ;).
After that I'd either try and find helpful websites or go buy a php for dummies book (I've never read it but I know it exists). Those books tend to give useful information.
Another good way to get through the struggle of coding (works for almost every language) is to borrow matterials. I don't mean steal to make work, but go to a large php based website and view the code. Cut and paste things until you find out what each statement is doing and why it's working like it is. This may help you out a bit, if you have any questions be sure to ask (pm if needed =). Sorry that I can't really help with php, I never bothered to learn it. But I'll try if need be.. code seems to be my thing.

2 things I would currently consider my hobbies

Gaming - only one specific game (NS, it's a half-life1 mod). I like NS because there is a lot of community and teamplay. Usually 1 or 2 good players (even really good ones) cannot win it for a team, so it's more about cooperation and communication than individual skill. I like this because it lowers the number of people who brag about themselves. I personally don't care if I win or lose, just playing with people I know is fun enough.

Photography - I started this when I got annoyed with my camera's shutter lag, got a DSLR, then realized I was college student who spent way more than he should have. I felt like I had to pick up this hobby to justify the costs. Hah. But it's becoming better. I like photography in general. I have something to talk about with people (that's not computers ... I already fit into the "young Asian guy who's good at math, science, coding but can't socialize worth a lick" pretty well). I'm understanding this whole field of stuff that I didn't think I'd get into when I first got that camera, so it's been more rewarding that I had thought.

I'm trying to read more, but it's hard to finish a lot of the books I start. I guess my attention span isn't what I thought it was.

Collecting music: Trying to get 320 kbps files of all top 40 songs from 1950 till now. Have them all but about 75 or so. I intend to eventually set up a large jukebox type arrangement with ease of selecting playlists etc..

Riding my Harley: I used to take a long 3000 miles or so trip every summer for the last 10 years or so but have since moved to the country and just ride around here now.

Fantasy sports: Baseball, basketball and football. Like to compete against others in league formats via the internet.

Reading: Mostly non-fiction, science, history, anthropology, etc... also some classics.

I am the comissioner of a simulated baseball league online. It's different from "fantasy" baseball in that the game simulates games based on player ratings/physics/etc. as opposed to stats being based on what real players are doing in real games.

I do it because I love baseball and the challenge of building a winning franchise year in and year out is great. Plus the other GM's in my league are great and we have a very competitive league. Plus I get to mix in some photoshop and web design talent in there as well when I create/update the website for the league.

Other hobbies include:

Xbox
Playing Guitar
Movies
Listening to Music
Reading (I have a lot of catching up to do on the "classics")
And now that I have a house, working on the house and yard.

Two hobbies really taking up my time right now are

Anime/Manga (japanese comics,animated series & movies)
and
FishKeeping

I'm a web surfer. There are great sites - eurekalert.com is cool. I read but not like the old days. For about 25-30 years I read book/day + . . . most anything really but I am a fan of historical and speculative fiction, and I find our origins and roots fascinating. Plus the physical universe is just so amazing too. I draw too.

(psst . . . the art thing - I'm the real deal ;) and it's time to let the world know :). Pass it on)

being long of tooth and short of hair, i enjoy cooking on the grill, growing herbs and riding my bike on the beach.

i guess my most expensive hobby is raising and showing registered hampshire sheep with my dad. i started when i was in the first grade (i'm 27 now). it's really a relaxing thing for me day-to-day. show time and lambing time gets a little hectic, but otherwise i can go out and sit with them and their not expecting me to make conversation or anything. as long as i feed and water them they are happy.

less expensive hobbies: movies and reading. for some reason i remember things about movies. i wish i could remember important stuff i'm supposed to remember as easily as i do stuff about movies. i read a lot of different things. i tend to find an author i like and stick with them.

Art...and fine craft. I've gotten more into it since I've started displaying and showing my work. I've been doing original crafts since I was a little girl. I started making pictures as soon as I could hold a crayon or brush.

I like cooking and baking too. Sometimes I'll just make something because I feel like it.

And my boyfriend...he's a hobby... hehe

My hobbies are the playing of the games of video, and the telling of other people how little they know about music.

This is fascinating.

Everything from video games (no surprise there) to scrap-booking to raising sheep!

Makes me feel boring.

Thanks guys! You're a wide and varied lot.


Mr Mephisto

2 hobbies - fixing computers and playing poker.

I like my hobbies to be profitable. :)

I have all manner of 'hobbies' really. I sing, write, draw, think about all manner of things *yes, sitting down in a comfy place and just thinking to oneself is a very nice hobby*, listen to music, and play games. I do a lot of swimming too. I particularly love singing though. I can express a lot of emotion through my voice, and my words. More so, than when I suddenly am inspired and draw something. Not saying I suck at drawing, but I feel more in sync with my words than I do with my images.

My hobby is draining (exploring storm drain tunnels). I love to drain so much. I feel good when someone should, and sad when someone should, but draining is where my real true happiness is.

I started a topic about it a while back, but nobody seemed to give a shit really. :)
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=84420

1. Reading. Anything and everything.
2. History. Especially the Civil War. I was a reenactor, but I haven't fielded in a few years now.
3. I also collect Mutoscope cards, and other assorted vintage pinup art.

I'm in to amature (ham) radio. I've had my ticket for a couple of years now, and i'm also into making homebrew antennas. always been curious if there were any other hams on tfp.

My biggest "hobby" is dance. Specifically Middle Eastern dance aka belly dance. I also spend a fair amount of time (and $) with related sewing/costuming. It's a *huge* part of my life, and I'm quite good at it (if I may say so myself :P). It's something I can do where I feel very confident, and that right there is worth it's weight in gold. And omg performance is so fun! Especially when the tips are good...please people, tip your belly dancers well!
Standard notice: No, it's not like stripping. Nothing against strippers at all, just not the same thing. It's really family entertainment.

Because of dance I became interested in fitness (esp. weight-lifting and yoga).

Also becoming interested in the history of Burlesque and in Neo-Burlesque performance (I have a friend who's very involved in the LA scene, she gives me the inside line on folks, shows, how-to, everything).

I also like to travel (don't get to do much, but I do what I can), read fiction, learning about anime (rank, rank novice here. but I'm willing to learn) and wine.

in no particular order:
poker,
listening to music,
watching GOOD movies,
playing AND making Footbags,
doing some 3D in 3dsmax,
photography,
and if it's a hobby, playing videogames on the PC or PS2.

engines/ motorized vehicles.

they're just plain amazing.

and its amazing that they work so well despite the fact that 99.999% of people (myself included) who use them cannot even fathom the complex scenarios involved in making an engine "perfect".

not to mention the cheap thrills of acceleration.

Did I not post here?

I have a couple of hobbies. One is gaming. I love playing computer games, especially world of warcraft. I also love learning--I'm a little sponge. I absorb nearly every bit of information I come into contact with--I know a little bit about everything from Fender guitars to malaria to the sumptuary laws of Elizabethan England. That goes with my main hobby, which is reading. I also love doing research of any kind, which is why I love the Internet. I also love music and have a few bands I like to follow.

I'm like Disk Pusher---I love to work on old computers---which I usually end up giving to my second hobby---kids. I find that when you use your mind and hands it helps to replace and refine your memory---I have a great fear of getting alzhiemers....and
my kids at church have always got something for "grandpa" to fix.

I would have to say my hobby is gardening. I know that sounds lame but it is what I love. I have a fairly stressful and busy job so when I get off work I love nothing better than to slip on the bathing suit and soak up the rays and tend my gardens! There is something very fulfilling in nurturing things and watching them prosper and bloom. I am ever changing my gardens as well, to trash what experiment didn't work and to try something new. I just love it!

My passion is wine. Growing, making, anything involved in it. I spent quite a number of years in a big wine region and that is where I developed my love for it. I could happily spend all my time with my fingers dirty in a vineyard. Heaven!

My other love is harness racing. My boss has a few horses and I am lucky enough to have gotten to know them well and go down to the barns to tend them. There is nothing better than sitting at the track on a nice hot sunny afternoon and watch your horses run! :)

The only other thing that I have a real craving to learn is fencing. Gah - I would just love to learn that sport!

Other than that....I'm a football fanatic and I am a terrible homebody! Boring! ;)

Definitly changes with the seasons and over time.

In the spring/summer/fall and even some winter months it's been disc golf for the last while. I play it because it's great fun, you can have fun playing with others or alone. It's usually free, outdoors and challanging and rewarding. Met a ton of great guys through it as well.

Same goes for skiing in the winter months, trying to get out into some more back country skiing lately.

Another bit of a hobby lately is working on the new house... deck, fence, garage and on and on and on. Starting to build a bit of a workshop as well so hopefully I'll be building some furniture and stuff soon as well.

Probably the biggest hobby of mine though would be music. Mostly listening to it, collecting it, fooling around with smart playlists in itunes. But also playing a bit of guitar as well.

I'm often a hacker in my spare time. For that reason I have a small collection of computers and computer parts at home, including infrastructure to maintain and debug issues with them, often while experimenting with some new software I'm writing (e.g. terminal server, remote power switches, ethernet switches, UPSs, A/C, etc). I repair and/or build new computers from time to time as well as admire unusual computers, such as S/390 (or their older cousins, System/360s), VAX, PDP, etc. Or sometimes large Sun servers, like E4500s or the newer Fire series. Unfortunately I don't have any room for those, so usually it's friends who have them (and they're really only cool to observe, not so much getting them to do something). But I do have some smaller ones, like an SGI Indy, a Sun Blade 100, & a DEC Alpha PWS. One day I'd like to own an oscilloscope or preferably a nice logic analyzer, but those are currently out of my budget. As it is, I've been doing this stuff for about six years, and it is now obvious to me that at some point I'm probably going to want a different hobby that doesn't reqiure so much brain power.

When I'm not experimenting with computers (or to a lesser extent electronics), I like playing sports of all kinds. In recent years, that's usually one of: racquetball, volleyball, ultimate frisbee, basketball, water polo, snowmobiling, skiing, water skiing, etc etc. I really don't have enough sports in my life as it is. I hope to change that in the near future, though.

I also like to play video games, watch movies, etc. Hardly surprising, right? :p

As for why.. well, the age-old motivations: fun, and that wonderful pang you get when you create something (whether it is new, useful, or not)! :)

And frankly, I think the best hobbies to have are the ones where you create something new... not the ones where you are just a consumer. ;)

Great idea for a thread Mr Mephisto!

My main hobby is dirt bikes.

Why? There's just something about a motorbike. I enjoy pushing close to the edge, but within my limited ability and not get too carried away. Which reminds me of an Army friend who was doing some abseiling. One guy in the group thought he was 'it and a bit'. He abseiled down way too quickly, was too slow on the breaking and hit the ground REAL hard. The Sergeant gathers the group around this guy who is lying on the ground in a heap and says to them "That, gentlemen, is what happens when your ego outweighs your ability". It was a quote I never forgot and it still comes to mind when I find myself pushing a bit too hard. I'm sure it's kept me out of a lot of trouble.

What drew me to it? The speed and the fact I've always enjoyed things that have a slight edge to them - (eg rock climbing, caving, etc - not that I've done those for quite a while now).

What do I get out of it? An adrenalin rush and the satisfaction of seeing developments in skills and techniques - making a great corner and jump and getting a whoop section just right. It's also satisfying to have ridden hard during the day, camp out at night then get up again the next morning to do it all again, then go home to a nice hot shower, hot meal and then collapse in a comfy bed for a good night's rest. Actually that sounds a bit like the guy who kept bashing his head against the wall because it felt so good when he stopped, but I really do enjoy the riding.

The next favourite hobby is music, which I actually did professionally for a number of years before taking a sharp right turn career change. My next musical challenge though is to learn to play a Celtic harp that I recently got. Great, mellow juxtaposition to the adrenalin rush of dirt bikes.

I also enjoy reading. Like Mr Mephisto I find the American Civil War interesting. I prefer the escapism of good literature though. My favourite author is Ernest Hemingway. 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' is sheer brilliance. I enjoy Dickens and other classics too.

me?
I play rugby
I have yet to find a person that I've met playing rugby that I just do not like. Some, I wont hang out with on a regular basis, but none of them I just do not like. I love the social aspect of the sport, you can rake someone in the back during the game and with a beer in one hand give them a high-five after the game. I love it a lot and am rather embarrassed that I haven't done it much lately.
I read
If I get a good book, I will lose all sleep and contact with outside individuals while I read said good book.
I relax
This is a good way of saying that I love doing nothing. Love it a lot.

I used to play hockey and want to get back into it as I miss it very much. I want to do a lot of things, write more, listen to music more, create more, wall climb more, so much to do so little time

Building my home theater.

Ah, let me see if I can think of something I do that might be considered a hobby.

Hmmm. This is tough. [Looks around the room at the bookshelves covered with hardbacks, trades, and stacks of individual magazines] Oh yeah, I collect and read comic books. I have about 120 hardback collections, another 200 or so paperbacks, 35 long boxes, and another 20 short boxes. All of the individual issues are sorted by publisher, title, volume, and issue number, with annuals mixed into the individual issues at exactly the right point. I have them organized well enough that if I want to find, say, a Batman 412, I'd have it in hand in less than a minute. This is out of, according to my comics database, about 12,000 individual issues.

Why? Because it ties into my childhood. When I was a little girl, and things weren't going well, escaping into the fantasy world of superhero comics, where there was always a hero around ready and willing to sacrifice his personal needs and desires for the purpose of helping others gave me a safe place to go, even if it was only imaginary. There were people who helped others just because they needed to be helped, and that made more sense to me than my actual life or my religion or my family.

I still read the comics because I'm hooked into the characters, I care about them and their lives. Comics is a marriage of literature and visual art, and does things no other medium can. I laugh out loud, I cry, I cheer, I'm offended and inspired, the way many people are by a great work of literature.

Which comics, at their best, can be.

My hobby is playing guitar. I played since I was 15. I'm not the best but I can carry a tune. I got a Fender Strat American, red and black. I play in a stupid punk band that I love. My brother plays bass.

The only think I can really call a hobby is collecting postcards. Been doing it for about 20 years now, and I have a really incredible collection. Not standard tourist postcards, but interesting and arty ones. I've always thought I'd like to display them all somewhere one day...they'd would make a really interesting wall display.

Why? 'Cos they're they're fun!

There are a lot of interesting hobbies on this thread. I think I'll add my own. :)

Reading is one of my favorite things. I love being engrossed in a novel and being in a new place with new people or learning about new things. It's just a great way to challenge your mind and your perceptions of the world around you.

I love to cook/bake. If it sounds good I will try to make it. I have really been focusing on Italian food lately especially homemade pastas. My lasagna noodles are getting better all the time. I love it because not only do I get to make something nourishing for people I love, but it's a way for me to take care of people. I really like that. A lot of my baking ends up going to work with my husband, and I love to say that I have many fans.

I also love to crochet. Another way to take care of people for me. I haven't made anything for me yet, just afghans, scarves, slippers, and pillowcases for friends, family, and babies on the way. It tickles me when I look down and see that I have made this huge blanket and that someone I love will be kept warm by it. (Sappy, I know)

I cross-stitch at times. I really like taking something blank and watching it slowly come to life with every stitch. It also is a great way to pass the time if you are no where near a computer. Haha.

I'm a music nut. I play it badly, sing it adequately, collect it fervently, and dance to it involuntarily. I adore music. It's the one thing that I can always go to when I need my mood enforced or changed. I love especially to listen to it while my husband plays bass along with it.

Finally, I work in stained glass. I got all new tools for my birthday this year (July 6th) and am starting my first project. I am restoring an old armoire that had stained glass panels in the doors that were atrocious. So, I am making rose panels as replacements and then we will rewire the light inside the doors and refinish the whole armoire. I am so excited about getting it all done. I will definitely post pictures when we are through with it.

A lot of my hobbies allow me to express the caring nuturing side of myself which is more like 75%. I have been like that since I was a little girl and I just don't see myself not wanting to take care of my family and friends any way that I can, even if it is just a hot meal or a crocheted blanket. It's a good thing I like to or these probably wouldn't seem like hobbies.

Looking through everyone's hobbies hasn't helped me much. My hobby is trying to find a hobby that I will actually make a hobby. I have tried painting. I have a sketch in a corner with 4 months of dust on it because I have not gotten around to painting it yet. I have partially filled journals of my ideas and dreams. I have incomplete video games. I have about 10 books on the bookshelf I have started and put down. I have a bike sitting in the bedroom begging to go outside. I go to the gym about twice every 3 months. However, while babbling on, I have discovered my hobby that I have stuck with is fashion and celebrity gossip. I have a growing collection of shoes (my new obsession) and am already starting my fall wardrobe. I also look at the MSN celebrity section everyday after checking my e-mail.

Hopefully, one of my unfinished or resting more credible hobbies will become a regular hobby in the future.

I have many hobbies. The two really big ones are:
Reading - for a fertile mix of knowledge and escapism and
Homebrewing - because it's like painting or poetry or music, but with flavors instead of colors or meanings or sounds, and, at the end of the day, you have kick-ass beer.

Other frequent hobbies:
Aiki-bujutsu (Karate for most purposes) - Por una poca de gracia and to get in shape, and bcause that to is knowledge.
D&D - To keep my geek cred current
Bass Guitar - Need something to keep my fingers busy now that I have quit smoking. This'll do until the kids go off to college.
Cooking - because I am good at it.
Graphic Design - So I'll have something to put on my beer bottles.
Carpentry - So I'll have something to put my beer bottles on.
Bottle Collecting - So that I'll have a better idea of what I can brew (I only collect bottles I have drunk. I have more than a 500 different ones at this point.)

Time to dig up another interesting thread from the past!

I have a small handful of hobbies, which tend to intertwine.

-Road tripping to natural landscapes (I like hiking over visiting cities)
-Photography (strictly amateur, nothing on the level of some of the professional work I've seen here on TFP)
-Filmmaking (I do the independent film scene- no money or fame in it whatsoever but I love it anyway. I lean towards screenwriting, directing and editing)

I usually go places, take photos and HD video, and turn it all into a DVD for the family- great for the holidays.

i read voraciously - whatever grabs me, but i have a select group of authors to choose from...

i golf - as often as i can - and i love it...

Since this thread was started, I've developed a baking addiction and enjoy knitting.