Your hobby stuff in the PAW?

[Flying Lead]

You will need some type of activity to entertain/amuse yourself in the PAW. I have several hobbies such as hiking/backpacking, diving and astronomy. The backpacking stuff is a gimme for the PAW but I would want to drag along (if in a Bug In or at a BOL) my telescope gear. Useful for observation and keeping up morale in a long term BO situation. Of coarse a nuclear winter would really suck for observing. The diving gear would be useless after air was exhausted, so I really think it would be a waist of time other than using a tank for a container for storing something.

What hobby items do you have that would be useful or a morale booster?

[duodecima]

Lesse, my current most common hobby is cooking - I think I'm good there. Followed by reading - lots of books in the house, I don't mind re-reading, I do that a lot. Gaming! Role playing gaming in particular, I think the biggest problem will be who's stuck on guard duty and can't game... (viewtopic.php?f=35&t=89021) Board games also fun. Card games, dice games. I keep thinking I should take lessons on either the piano (which I have) or violin (which would be easier to transport). I like gardening even tho I'm not good at it. I've started to work on quilting - but this is really a middle-class hobby, less useful than you might think in a PAW.

I think another question is, when your "hobbies" become a necessary part of life (hunting, gardening, cooking, sewing, backpacking, fishing) that you can't skip if you're not feeling well, will you still like them?

[KnightoftheRoc]

I'd probably get back into whittling, maybe work on my carpentry skills, and get them to progress beyond only being good at framing. I see myself on a farm for my BOL, if I can make that happen, and wood carving tool handles and parts for things would be pretty much a given, if I'm on my own. Fortunately, I can always use my screw-ups as fuel

[Doctorr Fabulous]

Yeah, reading, carpentry, working on bushcraft skills...Definitely some D&D.

[JesterODX]

I plain to do a lot of drinking.

It depends on the type of PAW and the population. With limited population I plain to do a lot of collecting. All the stuff I always wanted, that no longer applies or is worth anything.

[Babidoll85]

I plain to do a lot of drinking.

It depends on the type of PAW and the population. With limited population I plain to do a lot of collecting. All the stuff I always wanted, that no longer applies or is worth anything.

I plan on doing a lot of drinking too. I'm in the finger lakes wine country, so I should be set right?

[Tater Raider]

Garden railroading? Electricity could be an issue though... so I'll put a live steam loco on my "to buy" list.

Model rocketry? No issues there... I've even got a cookbock for propellant. Yes, it's legal, but buying it put me on a BATFE watch list.

My Jeep? While parts may eventually become an issue, but I see fuel as the bigger one. Converting it to woodgas should be interesting.

So I'm not set, but I should be busy.

[NamelessStain]

I think most of my time will be spent doing chores but when I get some spare time ....

-RPGs (PnP type if people available)
-Cards (if i can find 3 more for Euchre) otherwise solitare, again.../sigh
-Dice games
-Card games (UNO, Mille Bornes)
-And just sitting on my buttocks and relaxing

[JesterODX]

Model rocketry? No issues there... I've even got a cookbock for propellant. Yes, it's legal, but buying it put me on a BATFE watch list.

It dont take much to get on a watch list. I'm fairly certain two manuals I've bought have put me on the watch list.

[Bob Bobberino]

It would depend on the situation. I love to read and exercise, but in a PAW I think that everybody would get either a lot of exercise or none at all, again, depending on the situation. I might have time to read, or play obnoxious practical jokes on other survivors.

[Tater Raider]

It would depend on the situation. I love to read and exercise, but in a PAW I think that everybody would get either a lot of exercise or none at all, again, depending on the situation. I might have time to read, or play obnoxious practical jokes on other survivors.

I don't suggest sneeking up on people while wearing Zombie makeup.

[Bob Bobberino]

This is on topic because it's about my hobby of practical jokes:
I don't mean sneaking up and scaring people, that would just be irresponsible. I mean things like swapping ppl's food stuffs with canned Alpo, drinking lots of water so my pee's clear then peeing in bottles and stashing them in strangers' gear, dumping huge amounts of Tide in any well I happened to come upon after filling up my water containers and moving on, finding a nice place to sleep and staying there for awhile before leaving the place in pristine condition but painting 'DO NOT ENTER, EXTREMELY DANGEROUS' or 'PLAGUE HERE' on the front door, etc. Just harmless fun stuff for giggles.

[raxar]

I keep thinking I should take lessons on either the piano (which I have) or violin (which would be easier to transport).

This is a very good idea, any musical ability would be a valuable asset after any kind of disaster.

[Dawgboy]

Hobbies are for idle folks. I suspect that most survivors of a major crash will be spending most of their time trying to find something to eat... Also, people will be going to sleep a lot earlier due to light restrictions (No electricity), so I suspect parlour games will evolve back into fireside games...

[Jeriah]

If I was fortunate enough to find myself with free time, I'd read anything I could get my hands on, and draw whenever I could.

[ZombieGranny]

Many people in the NAW react badly to 'practical jokes'; one would need to be extremely careful whom one played them on in the PAW.
One at the least would risk get beaten to a pulp for peeing in a bottle or stealing food and replacing it with dogfood.
Doesn't sound like "harmless fun stuff for giggles."
Ruining someone else's chance for life as a 'joke' is not funny in any time.
-
A previous thread related to this one.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=90476

[mariposa]

I would read, knit, sew, listen to music, probably try to take up gardening, socialize and relax.

[Tater Raider]

Hobbies are for idle folks. I suspect that most survivors of a major crash will be spending most of their time trying to find something to eat... Also, people will be going to sleep a lot earlier due to light restrictions (No electricity), so I suspect parlour games will evolve back into fireside games...

Yes, but sometimes you need to have a bit of fun. Fishing with a pole isn't very smart survival-wise but as a pastime in a PAW? Yeah, I could make time for that.

[Dawgboy]

And there you have it Tater, our new hobbies would become hobbies that produced something, such as fish, or a scarf, or a rug.

[Tater Raider]

And there you have it Tater, our new hobbies would become hobbies that produced something, such as fish, or a scarf, or a rug.

My reply below is not a fight because you're right. I mean stuff we used to do for fun we will do to suppliment our preps and transition to a PAW. This is just friendly discussion with a different perspective.

I think some old hobbies would remain even though they produce nothing because they are a way of keeping tech alive. Take my Garden Railroading for example. Completely and totally useless, seriously. Except that I would like to have one loco as a live steamer. That keeps the tech alive so that others can backwards engineer useful steam items, like generators and what not. Others will also be able to look at my reference materials to build the next generation of railroads because the scale I build uses the same roadbed construction methods and will have reference materials to the 1:1 scale stuff. Or use my rocketry. Yeah, that's useless until you consider that the low tech application could be used to DIY signal flares and such, some of them reaching stupid altitudes to really reach out long distance to say, "Yo! Over here are people!" And rocket science is rocket science, be it a 30" carboard tube or the Soyuz - same laws of aerodynamics and physics apply so, again, old tech stays alive for future generations.

Not to mention people doing what they enjoy keeps everything else in perspective and connects them to their old life.

Fishing with a net is a bit of a lost art in 1st world areas, but it's far more productive than a cane pole, making pole fishing more of a passtime than something useful, so a hobby it remains - somewhat useful, but a hobby.

Hobbies matter. They keep a sense of normalcy. They give us a link back to how things were as well, our old lives, and in some cases they are useful in and of themselves or keeping the tech alive is important enough to make time and do it.

Of course this could all be me justifying my uselessness, but I think it's a fair point.

[KnightoftheRoc]

This is on topic because it's about my hobby of practical jokes:
I don't mean sneaking up and scaring people, that would just be irresponsible. I mean things like swapping ppl's food stuffs with canned Alpo, drinking lots of water so my pee's clear then peeing in bottles and stashing them in strangers' gear, dumping huge amounts of Tide in any well I happened to come upon after filling up my water containers and moving on, finding a nice place to sleep and staying there for awhile before leaving the place in pristine condition but painting 'DO NOT ENTER, EXTREMELY DANGEROUS' or 'PLAGUE HERE' on the front door, etc. Just harmless fun stuff for giggles.

I see this course of action, this course of thinking, as being a major factor in limiting your days as a live human being- pre or post PAW. If I spotted you dumping something- ANYTHING in MY well- you'd never live long enough to hear the report of the rifle. If you were peacefully passing through, and on my property, I'd be watching. If all you did was fill up with water and pass on, fine, I'd let you go on your way. But messing with a persons' food or water supply equals messing with their LIFE, and I don't see that ending well for you.

I'm working on getting a farm of about 80 acres. That's an awful lot of ground to search. I'm just sayin'. Many people have that much, or more.

[TacAir]

As a hambone, I would think there is some value to the 'hobby' - not that long ago, hams provided a real service in sending and receiving messages over long distances...

Kinda like in my story here on the board

[MadMichigander13]

Let's see:
1. I plan on taking the SAS survival guide, the US Army Ranger's Guide, a Bible, and The Art of War for reading material.
2. I have a deck of playing cards in my 'emergency kit' (fits in a Pelican 1050 case).
3. I have a pair of binoculars (guess I will have to take a sky atlas with me.)
4. Thinking of taking a camera and film (to record the events of what might be the final days of our republic, and otherwise provide evidence or a warcrimes tribunal...)
a). I could also take my Celestron-90 Maksutov-Cassegrain which can also serve as a spotting scope, and telephoto lense.
5. Taking a 'Write in the Rain' journal and Fisher space pen to matain a log.
But, I have a feeling that 'free time' is something that will be in rare supply; between trying to find food/water/etc, and trying to keep from getting killed.

Also, the some of the 'practical jokes' I heard another member post sounds like a fast-track to a 'Darwin Award'...

[Redeyes]

This is on topic because it's about my hobby of practical jokes:
I don't mean sneaking up and scaring people, that would just be irresponsible. I mean things like swapping ppl's food stuffs with canned Alpo, drinking lots of water so my pee's clear then peeing in bottles and stashing them in strangers' gear, dumping huge amounts of Tide in any well I happened to come upon after filling up my water containers and moving on, finding a nice place to sleep and staying there for awhile before leaving the place in pristine condition but painting 'DO NOT ENTER, EXTREMELY DANGEROUS' or 'PLAGUE HERE' on the front door, etc. Just harmless fun stuff for giggles.

It might be better for you if you don't survive the event that causes the PAW. Living in the PAW will be hard enough without all of the rectal trauma caused by angry people with Alpo cans, pee bottles and laundry soap containers.