Mine would be creating pen and paper ciphers for my made up secret communication needs.
I try to make something that looks good (or at least doesn’t look like random static) by running pictures I’ve taken through audio editing software. There are some extra steps that go into it to “trick” the program into importing the picture as if it were a sound file, making sure the header (information that tells your computer that this is a picture) doesn’t get fucked with, and then exporting the data in a way that it will be saved as a picture and not an mp3 or something else.
On the rare occasion I do bring it up, I can literally watch people’s eyes glaze over. Until I show them a picture
Edit: internet is really bad right now, will reply with an image when I can
Edit2: picture was too big at 7MB. Hopefully a screenshot of the picture doesn’t look too bad
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Very unpleasant, basically just high pitched static. 1/10 wouldn’t recommend
Looks pretty good, like some Rorschach test. War sit a picture of trees?
It was! Taken during the winter so there were no leaves, and at night too
Starting and abandoning hobbies.
Model trains. I don’t bring it up because it’s obscure, but I’ve definitely found there’s a stigma. “Oh he’s the guy who plays with trains”. Screw the haters, I like to relax after work and do a bit of escapism. Eventually I got over it though and talk about it with friends, but it’s not the first thing I bring up either
Let’s see those train pics, my dude! Let that conductor-freak flag fly here.
Not quite ready unfortunately, still in the “lots of pink fiberboard and paper mache” phase, but oh I will when we’re done. We’re probably too small for a model trains community, but I’ll probably be hanging out in !trains@lemmy.ml
Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder. Usually gets an, “oh” and a sideways look
Oh, that’s safe. Try being into a more obscure ttrpgs like Mage The Ascension or worse, niche Powered by the Apocalypse games like Legacy.
I can’t even talk about them to people already into ttrpgs.
Please talk to me about Mage. I’ve only gotten to play it once and really enjoyed it.
Or FATE and its numerous incarnations. I feel like I get as far as saying “it’s like DnD except…” before it veers off irrevocably into talking about DnD
Running. Ok, I know it’s not obscure, however, if you say you’re a runner, or that it’s a hobby, you’re frequently met with hostility, or people trying to talk you out of it. The amount of times people have said “running is bad for you, you need to stop” is insane.
I was learning Gregg Shorthand at some point just for the fun of it and every time I brought it up people had no idea what I was on about.
Is that how Gregg’s remember which are steak bakes, and which are chicken bakes?
Video games. Even with how popular they are, it’s not something easily brought up in a casual conversation. I hardly ever run into people my age who even play games. :/
Masturbating to hentai bondage.
I genuinely like to engage with video games as an art form and I think some of them are among the actual best works of art there is.
It lands like absolutely nowhere. EIther people see you as a capital G gamer, but even the capital G gamers hate you because they want to enjoy product, not art
Playing terminal.
I’ve been playing Second Life for almost half of my life. I used to run a blog about it and often spend a few hours every day online chatting with people. Mentioning that I know anything about it inevitably triggers people to either ask “wait that still exists?” or “isn’t that a sex game?”
For me it’s coffee. Most people see it as a daily need. When I say my hobby is coffee they always say things like “that’s not a hobby”.
Knitting - if you find the right audience, you can chat for hours, but it can also lead to blank looks or lots of assumption.
I am learning lockpicking for fun. It helps me relax. I used a practice lock at first, then a cheap real lock. I’ve just learned that my firearms lock…yup, can be picked open in about 10 seconds. Equal parts cool and terrifying. Locks are waaay less secure than people think.
It has the same “internet hacker” stigma so I avoid talking about it.
This right here is why electronic locks could be way more secure than mechanical ones, if only their manufacturers would hire competent programmers and not boot camp graduates to write the firmware.
I read tarot cards and I’m considering doing it professionally so I can rip off the gullible petty bourgeoisie.
Yes, Sarah. All the planets in our solar system has aligned just to give you a promotion. Now give me 20 bucks.
