What a neat idea for a non-gaming discussion. I always enjoy to know more about you, people.
Personally, I’m way more into art/drawing/creating concepts than gaming itself. I’ve been doing that since I have memories of being able to hold a pencil and scribble on paper. 
Hope you don’t mind me sharing a couple of things:
I’m also into running and bike-travelling.
That’s really good. Looks very Aeon Flux. Did you ever see that show?
Thanks dude!
I loved Aeon Flux (and Alexander too). I’m a huge fan of Peter Chung’s style.
I enjoy hiking, reading, cooking and casually playing sports in my spare time. Love to travel abroad too. Used to play Bass…I guess I still do every now and then. Recently swapped out baseball for basketball every Tuesdays.
I would recommend “DDP Yoga.” It’s really awesome. My wife and I really enjoyed doing it. I gotta get back to it at some point.
For being a design student, I always sucked at drawing. I bought myself a little sketchbook recently to try and get back to it. Hopefully I actually stick with it.
My only hobbies nowadays besides gaming is reading and going to live concerts (usually rock and metal). I used to be a volleyball nut (indoor and beach VB) but with my first kid and moving away from the beach, those things just went away I guess.
I have three teen boys so I don’t have a ton of time for true hobbies other than gaming, but I’m very into auto racing and travel locally and often nationally to see racing. Mostly that’s racing of the open wheel variety. I’m at the Indy 500 every year as well as Pocono and Watkins Glen although IndyCar won’t be back to the Glen in 2018. I plan to go to Road America in July for IndyCar as well.
In Central Pennsylvania, we have lots of sprint car racing, and I attend that often. I was at two of Kyle Larson’s wins in the sprint car last summer. I take pictures at these events just for me because it’s fun to capture cars going fast. These were taken at Williams Grove Speedway when USAC was here last year.
Pocono IndyCar…
Watkins Glen
Port Royal Speedway
Awesome photos!
I’m mad I didn’t go to see F1 in Baltimore before that crumbled. They played it up as if it was gonna be an annual thing going forward but there was a mess with funding and ownership or whatever and that was that.
Cool to see some racing fans in here. I follow F1 mostly but used to follow WRC as well. I used to autocross or do a track day several times a year. With little kids now I’m lucky to get out once a year.
Following the before kids theme, I used to hike a lot. I also enjoyed building plastic models. I have some nib still from like 7 years ago or something lol.
@New002 Baltimore was also IndyCar and the American LeMans Series too. I was there for the last year and it was a great event. The circuit was pretty amazing save the chicane they needed because of the railroad tracks. Even that had its moments though as they blasted through there rather fast.
There were a couple places you could literally get about eight feet from the cars at speed. It was a very unique venue. Dinner at the waterfront after. Rode the train in from Lutherville. Good times, man. Live played a concert on Saturday night too. I was sad to see it go.
I have photos from there too. I’ll have to dig those up later.
Usually far more limited these days because I tend to be busy at work. Like to cook (Indian) and bake (French pastry), build technic Legos, do lots of puzzles. I have an Instagram under the name of arcadestick since I love those but only get one or two per year now.
Interesting to learn more about you fellow retro gamers!
For me, I have a son, so there isnt that much time, but I am big into history, and spend a lot of time reading and writing about history/social science stuff. Which is basically my job, but also my hobby lol.
I like going to concerts (heavy/stoner metal). I recently started playing X-wing the miniatures game. It’s addicting, and feeds into my collecting desires. I like motorcycles and fast cars, but don’t have the money for either anymore.
Outside of gaming, I spend a lot of my time outside with my wife. (Camping, hiking, snowboarding primarily.) She and I also started getting into sprint-triathlons a couple of years ago.
I’m very interested in art and design, and do print design stuff on the side as a hobby. (Designing and screen printing cards and posters primarily.)
We bought a house recently, and I am really enjoying some of the projects that have come along with home ownership.
I commute to work via train, and have been using that time to learn 6800 assembly programming, with the hopes of one day making a Neo Geo game.
I sabre fence, a lot. It’s just so much fun, and a hell of a workout too.
(the guy with the lights on just scored)
That’s so awesome
I enjoy board/card games although since getting into retro gaming a couple years ago I haven’t made much time for it. I wish I had a dedicated game room with a big ol table in the middle so I can play some of the more in-depth games that take up a lot of space.
I guess dogs could be considered an interest! I have two, one recently adopted. We take them out on long walks in the neighborhood and to some nice parks in the area. About 99% of the time I’d rather do this on a nice weekend than venture into the city where it’s loud and crowded. Very relaxing.
Just got a tablet so I can get back into reading comics and manga. I always fell out of it because of subpar digital reading experiences, but this time I got an actually good, page-sized tablet with an excellent screen and great performance, per recommendation from @Socksfelloff. Already put to good use in my morning commute. Got a Marvel Unlimited sub. A shame DC doesn’t have a similar service because I’m more into DC than Marvel.
I used to be into non-competitive MMA training (BJJ, kickboxing) and attended a gym regularly. A combination of chronic injury/pain and costs at the time pulled me away. Now it’s a combination of the same injuries (now under control, but still makes me weary) + being older + working full-time that makes me weary of making the leap back in. I’d really like to since the cost issue would be trivial now. It was so much more fun than a regular exercise gym and it got me fitter than I had ever been.
On a related note I watch UFC regularly, probably the only sports-related thing I really care about. Any weekend with a UFC main event on TV or PPV is instantly a better weekend for me! But still haven’t attended one! They’re expensive when they roll into town and unless you pay a ton, you’re sitting so far back that you’re basically watching a screen anyway.
I’m a horror movie fan. At night, lights down, the scarier the better. I try to watch regularly but there’s a lot I still need to see be a real aficionado of the genre. The last few I watched were the Annabelle prequel (pretty good), It (excellent) and rewatches of Rosemary’s Baby and Saw. Looking forward to The Nun!
I enjoy science fiction books with a military theme, like Starship Troopers, The Forever War and Old Man’s War… but like everything else my time has been preoccupied gaming and haven’t done much reading lately. Also really dug the Lovecraft short stories and would like to find more stuff like that.
I’m really into the paranormal and UFOs (videos, books, articles), ever since Unsolved Mysteries, Fire in the Sky and checking out every paranormal, cryptid, and sighting/abduction book at the local library as a kid. It’s all mostly fun for me, but some of the UFO stuff I take more seriously!
I used to be really into drawing until my teens but fell out of it completely. Had no patience to learn properly and advance my limited skills.
Besides video games, I like to work out, run, hike, stand up paddle board, shoot, snorkel and stay in shape, but my main other hobby is bodyboarding. I’ve been bodyboarding for years and years now, and I’m fortunate to live in the San Diego, California area, which has a nice mix of beach, reef and shore breaks. The bodyboarding community here is pretty good and has produced a handful of world class pro bodyboarders over the years. Although the high cost of living in Southern California has put the kibosh on being a full time pro bodyboarder, as there isn’t enough money in the sport to support living here.
I also enjoy music, mainly punk rock, hard rock, rockabilly and some techno punk. Two of my favorite bands are Social Distortion and Tiger Army and I’ve seen then in concert countless times. I even have a Tiger Army tattoo. I’m psyched, as I just got tickets for the Sabroso craft beer, taco and music fest in Dana Point for April, featuring The Offspring, Pennywise, Unwritten Law and The Vandals. 
When hobbies collide! My VS/Skies of Arcadia board.
Since everyone else is posting hiking pics, here is a recent one from the far eastern portion of San Diego County, looking down into the desert.
HA! I am from OC. I used to go to SD to bodyboard a lot back in the day. I got to a point where I thought I could go pro too but too many of those guys were burnouts and had no money to show for it. I had an opportunity back in the early 2000s to go to Australia to help a US BB manufacturer distributing in Australia. I never took that offer. I stopped bodyboarding after a Great White encounter. I want a bit more board between me and the mouth of a killer.
2 years ago I went out at my local spot and saw another GWS this time it was about 13+. The Fin was about 2-3 feet out of the water. I was on my SUP (stand up paddleboard) so i just got my legs out of the water and paddled away.
Sometimes I feel like I am a great white shark magnet and my wife always asks if I saw another one. I have probably seen about 10 or more in the line up through the years but the one on my bodyboard made me nearly shit myself.
Edit also almost died surfing a 12-15 foot swell in Hawaii(they measure from the back so that is closer to 16-20). Got a 3 wave hold down followed up by a 4 wave hold down. Got a break and broke for the channel. My dreams of going pro ended with that.
I used to never miss a UFC, but these days I’m mediocre on it. I personally don’t like watching fighters who weigh less than my wife, lol. I’ve been two a couple fight nights, which were local to me. Those were really cool. I got to meet LaVar Arrington at one, which was awesome 'cause I’m a huge PSU fan.
UFC’s PPV numbers are in the tank, too, so I am curious to see how they’ll turn it around.
