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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be fascinated by "hobbies"

213 replies

SmileEachDay · 22/02/2017 22:07

"I/DH/MIL have "a hobby" which takes a couple of hours/3 nights a week/the whole of April"

What ARE these hobbies? And why so mysterious?

OP posts:
Hygellig · 03/03/2017 10:21

I go swimming once a week. I also like reading. Not sure if these count as hobbies! My other current hobby is watching the entire box set of Breaking Bad.

I would love to go walking more but long walks are not compatible with small children (yes I know there are some six-year-olds who love climbing mountains but they are not mine).

I don't do anything like serious photography or doing anything competively.

Hygellig · 03/03/2017 10:23

I grow vegetables in our garden as well, if that counts as a hobby.

Ineedmorelemonpledge · 03/03/2017 10:52

At the moment mine are Prancercise and smoking.

On a more serious note I agree with the gender disparity. My STBEXH used to spend a fortune on his interests, and they were never Cheap pursuits. Diving, building remote controlled cars, cricket, motocross, drumkits. Always had to have the best gear, the best tools etc. Then a new hobby and set of equipment and requirements would begin.

So in the end i gradually ended up sacrificing my time and money to the family and the things I got joy from slowly disappeared. When I tried to take up an activity generally it was ridiculed and I lost confidence and stopped.

I'm moving in new DP soon and he's hankering after a workshop in my cellar. My stomach went into knots at first mention, but he's a different animal to my ex. And I give him the benefit of the doubt. He's very creative and likes to invent things from nothing.

When I suggested (almost as a test) I turn the box room into my study/office/art room he couldn't have been happier for me and said it was important for me to have somewhere to work and do things I enjoy.

Sad that I needed someone to tell me that but I'm very excited about the possibilities. Art for me was like meditation and therapy.

HerOtherHalf · 03/03/2017 10:54

In manspeak, a hobby is a sport we are shit at but still enjoy.

GrapesAreMyJam · 03/03/2017 11:25

This reply has been deleted

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

OdinsLoveChild · 03/03/2017 11:34

My hobby is cosplay. It takes up most weekends and during school holidays too.

DH does mountain biking badly and the children do Kickboxing, Archery, Fencing, Horse Riding, Trampolining, Swimming and youth theatre.

The reason the children do that stuff is because it ties in with my Cosplay and they get free tuition from the other re-enactors/cosplayers. DS wants to be a stunt actor type person so he's getting in as many activities as possible to add to his cv. He will probably end up being a chef fingers crossed I love naice food rather than a stuntman but he's only 9 so got loads of time to perfect his stunt skills cookery would be better

dangerrabbit · 03/03/2017 13:05

Yeah OP I'm with you in this. If it is really too identifying why can't people just lie and make up some hobby instead of going all CIA and trying to give themselves a false mystique?

RitaMills · 03/03/2017 13:30

The mysterious hobbies crack me up too. There was a thread a few weeks ago that an OP made about her DHs hobbie, it was too outing apparently to reveal the mysterious hobbie but after a while it was revealed as...... cycling 😂

Hygellig · 03/03/2017 13:49

I suppose anything I write could be outing it someone I knew happened to read it, thought it sounded like me and then cross-referenced it with other posts. I'd rather that posters name-changed every so often or changed a few identifying details in their posts rather than constantly trying to be cryptic for fear of outing themselves. And I can't think of any hobbies that are that niche that they are instantly outing.

pandarific · 03/03/2017 13:57

I write fanfic. Or did, when I wasn't a dead-eyed full time office worker. I wouldn't mention it in real life though as people tend to give you the side-eye, perhaps justifiably! Grin

pandarific · 03/03/2017 13:58

So my hobby actually IS mysterious. feels has achieved something

TheIncredibleBookEatingManchot · 03/03/2017 14:46

This thread has reminded me of the panic that went around my sixth form college when we all realised we would need to write about our hobbies and interests in the personal statement in our UCAS applications, and apparently we wouldn't be allowed to write about going to nightclubs, even if we phrased it as "socialising and dancing with friends."

We all quickly found "proper" hobbies.

Hygellig · 03/03/2017 18:38

I had a lot more time for hobbies at school - I used to play the piano (badly), go horse-riding once a week, read (and write stories when I was younger), swim from time to time and do conservation volunteering every other Sunday from age 16. DH had an interview at Cambridge and they asked him about his hobbies. Surprisingly (considering he went to private school) he had not been well-prepared for his interview and thought that they wouldn't want to hear about the ones he'd written about on his UCAS form so tried to make some up on the spot! (He didn't get in).

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