[NeoTifa]

Okay, so there hasn't been one of these for a while (at least the search doesn't show anything recent besides a guy whining about interning 3 days a week) so here goes: What sort of hobbies do you guys enjoy? I know programming might be one of those, but what specific kind of programming? Gaming, business, naughty naughty viruses, etc.? What non-programming hobbies do you enjoy? Working on any current projects?

tl;dr: I'm curious about your personal life

Me, I like languages. As some of you may know, I am currently learning German, and taken quite a passion for it I might add. In the past I've also really put effort into French and Spanish, epic failed Russian and Chinese, and can only say I'm fluent in English, but I'm trying. Language history also interests me. As such, I picked up a book on Old English today at the ol' bibleoteque, and I can pretty much say that my mind is full of fuck. This looks nothing like Modern English, and what most people think of as Old English (ye olde pubb) is probably actually Middle English, so I was completely blown away. And no, I've not read Beowulf yet. In fact, OE is pretty much it's own language in a sense that I have no idea what the fuck I'm reading. >__> 7 vowels, 5 bajillion different pronunciations for consonants, and the way I think it's telling me to pronounce it sounds like Scottish meets German meets Norwegian. O__o What the hell did I get into? (I also picked up an intermediate German book. )

This post has been edited by NeoTifa: 06 August 2012 - 06:33 PM

[carnivroar]

Ich studiere auch Deutsch et je parle le français couramment.

Many programmers I know like languages. Seems like a popular hobby among us.

Besides that I play guitar (only classical), ride bikes, and used to be a very dedicated powerlifter.

This post has been edited by carnivroar: 06 August 2012 - 06:45 PM

[jon.kiparsky]

My main hobbies are translation and music - translation from German, Portuguese, and Spanish, into English. Currently reading a total mindfuck of a book called "The Hair-Carpet Weavers" (Die Haarteppichknüpfer) by Andreas Eschbach. Really fucked up, I'm loving the shit out of it. It's been translated into English - possibly well, for all I know. The book itself is great. I've read most of Saramago's novels in the original, and some Amado as well, along with bits and pieces scattered here and there. Basically, I really love the depth of reading that's required by the process of rendering sentences from a source language into English. I end up really reading the book in a very fun way.

For music, I play a lot of Irish tunes. Lately, I'm playing them on flute, not the silver one with the keys all over it but the wooden kind like this guy plays. Not quite at that level of course. (yes, I know I've posted the link before. It's one of the greatest things humanity has ever accomplished, so cope) I also play various other stuff as need arises.

When I get time, I like playing games - Dominion and Ticket to Ride are currently getting a lot of play. I've been kicking around the idea of a game night/whiskey tasting, if I can just get the logistics to work out.

[ishkabible]

Programming language design and implementing certain parts if I feel upto it; only if the language is very small will I implement the whole thing.

playing video games

I used to be into shooting, like nutso into. I spent hours making ammo, small tweaks in my loads, testing them in different conditions, and cleaning what ever gun I used(generally my .222 anschutz)...it's a total time and money sink. also, depending on the event, it's either a match of calling the wind or who has the best engineering rig. the idea of "skill" other than those things, hardly matters as everyone can pretty much preform the same(silhouette might be an exception but it generally comes down to calling the wind too)

cooking, I really like to cook if I haven't had too long of a day.

eating, anytime, anything good or that just hits the spot. I love to eat.

This post has been edited by ishkabible: 06 August 2012 - 07:23 PM

[Mikhail]

Masturbating furiously.

Will update the list with hobbies later.

[xclite]

I used to like video games. Truth is, I rarely play them anymore - it takes a really good game to hold my interest for long.

My main hobbies, in random order (I used a random number generator):
-beer brewing
-fitness
-reading
-boxing(soon to be)

Those are sincerely the only hobbies outside of programming that I can claim I like spending time on.

[Lemur]

Classical guitar, primarily Bach and Rachmaninoff. Working on the Piano as well, I want to be able to play Saint-Saens music as well as the two listed for guitar. I used to play Jazz Trumpet but with college roommates, the guitar is a tad more acceptable.

Comics, I like drawing and doodling to myself a bit. If i could ever keep up with it I had a web comic going for a while: http://www.srccomic.com . I need to revamp it a bit, it'll happen with the new portfolio design.

Digital art, I used to spend 20+ hours working on a single piece of art just refining and shaping it. http://www.keystonel....deviantart.com

Writing, I've been working on two novels that I really should bother finishing already...

Fencing, I practice swordplay lefthanded just for the sake of being able to use the line from Princess Bride some day (ambidextrous, so I can anyways...)

Running, training for a marathon in October over in Tulsa Oklahoma.

Reading, over 10,000 pages this summer alone. From classics like the Count of Monte Cristo to technical manuals, I tend to read an average of 100 pages a day.

Zen meditation, starting to get into it a bit and my newest little obsession.

I like to call myself a polymath or renaissance man if you will.

[jon.kiparsky]

Lemur, on 06 August 2012 - 10:25 PM, said:

Classical guitar, primarily Bach and Rachmaninoff.

If you can get your low E to cooperate, the Cello suites play very nicely in CGDGBE tuning - you can get right down into the original range, instead of transposing them up (which is always disappointing to me). Most guitars have a hard time coping with low C, though - I find it takes a very gentle touch and a bit of reconsideration of technique.

[Lemur]

jon.kiparsky, on 06 August 2012 - 10:39 PM, said:

Lemur, on 06 August 2012 - 10:25 PM, said:

Classical guitar, primarily Bach and Rachmaninoff.

If you can get your low E to cooperate, the Cello suites play very nicely in CGDGBE tuning - you can get right down into the original range, instead of transposing them up (which is always disappointing to me). Most guitars have a hard time coping with low C, though - I find it takes a very gentle touch and a bit of reconsideration of technique.

At this point I only have a 400$ acoustic Ibanez to work with. I probably could buy a 2-300$ classical, but I'd rather wait for a while and get a nicer one when it won't break my budget.

[jon.kiparsky]

Nicely-made small-body steel-strings seem to work well for the purpose. I've had good results with a low-end Martin triple-O, for example.

[Lemur]

jon.kiparsky, on 06 August 2012 - 11:19 PM, said:

Nicely-made small-body steel-strings seem to work well for the purpose. I've had good results with a low-end Martin triple-O, for example.

I've been using Martin Folk Steel and Silk strings. Nice mellow tone and you can fake a classical pretty well off of them.

[jon.kiparsky]

They do work nicely, I've used them a lot myself. I can't use them for flatpicking, though, which is a lot of what I do, so with only one guitar on hand I'm just using straight steel.

For the low C, I built custom sets, with the heaviest 6th I could get (.065", if I remember right) and a beefy 5th as well. That did the work pretty well, but it's a good thing I usually play in drop D, not standard.

[strawhat89]

I used to play video games a lot, I don't get much time for 'em anymore. I write a bit, read a lot, just started guitar classes and I love languages (haven't tried German yet).

This post has been edited by strawhat89: 06 August 2012 - 10:39 PM

[jon.kiparsky]

Wieso nicht? Deutsch sprechen ist ganz toll!

[strawhat89]

I can guess to the words' meaning though. I didn't need Google to translate that. I only know a few of the very basic words in German that I picked up from movies and stuff. You know like - 'Guten Morgen', 'Herr/Frau/Fraulein', 'Mein Gott', 'Gott in Himmel', 'Danke', 'Auf Wiedersehen', 'Auto kaputt'...