What's a major hobby/interest you've lost touch with and why

You have time for other things??  How does that happen? 

I used to go to a lot of Dirt Oval car races here , but my local track shut, and i am too busy to fit in the travel to go to others. 

F1.  Used to be my living, but at the point they politicised it , i checked out, not watched a wheel turn since. 

They told me they didnt want my money.  Shame because my daughter goes to the races and is mad into it, but i am over it. 

I got into hiking, i think that is just a chance to enjoy peace and solitude that seems more and more valuable as you get older. 

Snowmobiles, rode them from 1982- 2014.  Raced speed runs, ice drags, grass drags and snocross.  All at a high level (pro).  Quit racing in 2010 to do more things with my family and kids.  Kept sleds for a few years hoping they would ride with me.  After a few years sold all my sleds. In 2020 I got one of my old race sleds  back.  I thought it would be cool to restore it.  Still sitting in a shed untouched. I watch snowmobile racing on tv but I have never attended a race since I quit racing even though I know people who still race.

Also snowmobiles for myself. In addition to muscle cars,dirtbikes ,archery and hunting . Pretty much everything I thought was the stuff that defined "me" . Now my kids get all of my free time . I do plan to hunt this weekend.

Sailing.

Had a good friend who repaired, and sold sailboats.

Went sailing with him a few times a week. 

Eventually bought a Nacra 5.2 racing catamaran. Sailed it multiple times a week.

We'd sit out in Galveston bay and watch skydivers from the nearby dropzone.

Went over one Saturday afternoon to watch them up close.

Next day, took a static line class, made an evening first jump.

Skydived for close to 18yrs after that.

Sold the Nacra to buy my first jump rig.

Never sailed again. 

I am not keen on getting into aeroplanes, let alone jumping out of one. 

For someone who makes aeroplanes , i really dont like them.

A friend has a cessna 206, and a piper cub. Fly with him occasionally. 

Always feels weird getting in his cessna without wearing a rig.

I raced Lasers for years, then the local yacht club started getting weird, and I pretty much quit. A bunch of Laser guys bailed and the fleet went to shit. I had no desire to get a Catalina 22. They were the last decent fleet.

I'd show up and crew for fast guys on different boats for a while, and did so on a guy's Nacra. I think it was a 5.2. First cat I'd ever been on that actually pointed. That thing was a blast.

I have a long list of abandoned hobbies. Songwriting/recording, building guitars, programming, building Doom maps and astronomy.  I am getting back into astronomy a bit. Picked up a small scope and some camera equipment. I used to have a large scope and went to remote places at least once a month. Sold it all over 30 years ago. I'm still repairing guitar amps. Mainly because a music store in Long Beach keeps bringing me work. Going there later this morning to pick up a 60's era Ampeg Gemini.

Rented a hobie cat, it definitely porpoised though the water. 

That Nacra was a rocket, and ran level.

Bought a huge jib for it.

Would reef the main, and fly using just the jib for balance.

That thing was a blast. 

That first little bit of acceleration as you took off, and turned it up on one hull, was one of my favorite things. 

Honestly, this past year its been moto for me.  26' wasn't the easiest year personally or professionally and I found myself with no desire to load up and ride even though it would have helped.  Nice clean 350 just sat the entire year.  

Life gets in the way for everyone I'm sure, but if you're not in a great head space it makes it tough.  Very much hoping for a better 27'.

Thinking back, it seemed longer than 5.2m.

Maybe it was the 7. whatever. 

I do know it hauled ass.

Freaking Hobies don't go to wind for shit. Everyone just reaches them. They just park if you try to beat even a little. 

I was very involved with music growing up, event competing at the state level on most instruments. Graduated HS and played bass guitar in a few punk bands (my rebellious years) and then 9/11 happened and I joined the Army two months later. I haven't touched an instrument since, I should, as N. Illinois winters are long and boring. Ok, maybe I'll stop at the local guitar shop and see what they have. I wouldn't mind exercising the mind. 

Homebrewing

Me and my buddy jumped in head first for like 7 (?) years. At the end we had a 3 vessel 1 tier system that we pumped out 12 gallons of finished beer every 2 weeks. Custom made all kinds of goodies to make the process easier. Everything from cleaning to fans to packaging. His basement had a freezer converted to 6 tap kegerator. Even had a whiskey barrel that we made sour beer in. It was super rewarding trying to make different styles and building your own recipes to make it to your own tastes and to share with others. Plus it was a hell of a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Good people, music, food, and of course beer. And then over about 6 months my buddy could barely drink a beer. He would start to get a headache before he finished his 1st beer. And it wasn't just our beer it was every kind of beer. He could drink a white claw  or something but something happened with beer. He can still drink 0.0 beers and I keep some around for when we still hangout but we closed the basement brewery. 

I really didn't and still don't have the urge to brew without him and it's a hell of a lot of work to make great beer by yourself. Good/ok beer is kind of easy but I'm not interested in that. Might as well buy it off the shelf at that point. 

hitting bars listening to live rock bands and chasing loose women after I turned 21. It was in the 1980s. Aged out of it and decided I probably should try to be a productive adult.

It's motocross for me; sadly.  It sure feels like way more than a hobby when I'm doing it regularly, but I haven't ridden much over the last two years and don't seem to have the desire anymore.  I am going to ride next weekend actually, with the intent of doing what will probably be one final trip to SoCal for a long riding weekend in November.  After that, not sure.  

Playing guitar. It's been at least 10 years now. I still have my electric, acoustic guitars & amps. Just can't seem to get rid of them. I guess it's the great memories and the procrastination that I'll get back into it. Also moto for me. Loved it but don't missing being hurt most spring/summers. But I picked up a new toy last week to bomb around on to scratch the itch. It's so slow but so much fun. My wife was the encouraging factor in getting it.

Going riding. Combination of getting slower,... having to put a flag on my bike that always broke...jumps got too big and tracks faster with everybody switching to 4-strokes...tired of working on the bike..

Another is archery deer hunting. I used to do the late hunt in a neighboring game management unit from Nov 20-Dec 8. Combination of a LOT less deer to chase with the same number of hunters chasing them. Couldn't justify the cost.

Jogging. I used to jog every day then life got hectic when I was 44-45. Put on a quick 10 lbs which made my knees hurt if I did go jogging and basically it feels like life hasn't taken its boot off my neck since. 

To end on a light hearted lol note....there is an obvious joke about not talking politics anymore. 🙃🤓

Does drinking count?  

I've definitely lost touch with my old ways when it comes to that......!

Concerts. In I believe 1990 they opened a new venue outside of Pittsburgh, but a quick 25 minute drive for us just West of there. Probably hit between 8-10 concerts every summer. Place is still there, we went in '23 for the Pantera tribute show. Between prices and not wanting to deal with people lol I just skip them

Talking Politics on Vital was one that I had to quit cold turkey recently.  I had to stop because I guess there were enough people that  lacked enough self control to not click thread, that hurt their feelings enough they felt the need to complain . I don't really miss it ,but  every so often I see something happen and I think about what could have been.......

 But seriously,  MTB'ing is the hobby that I was the deepest into that did not turn into a job that I stopped doing . Painting helmets is another , but that had turned int oa job and that business is still going now , just taken a little different direction.    Many moons ago I was riding my MTB 100's of miles every week. And a handful of friends and I would ride together  we all had MX bikes as kids . A few raced and did decent.  And then when we all started working full time and having more money to play with  we all started to ride dirtbikes again and then I got into racing MX. I did ride my MTB to train ,but none of my friends that I rode with were riding their MTB's anymore. I kept mine so I could go on rides with my Dad . Even in his 60's he was somehow in good enough shape that he was able to hang with the quickest riders of the group. But I rode less and less on the MTB.  And got more and more into racing MX, then got hurt a few times before getting injured bad enough that it took close to 11 years and multiple surgeries to "fix". 

  After healing I was focused on growing the business I started while injured and then My parents needed me because of some health issues. During that time lots of people I met racing MX had started to get into MTB's and I started to read about them and ended up buying a Canyon EMTB that I am slowly getting back into riding more again. I missed MTB's so much, many memories  riding with my Dad, racing, and I never felt as comfortable riding a MX bike as I did on a MTB.  I'm hoping to get that comfort level back on the MTB and then start riding mt dirtbike more again if I can stay healthy. 

And I've also recently found myself wanting to get back into painting some helmets again. But I need to setup an area I can paint before I can do that. Its in the works though.  I just want to do my own and see how it feels . See if its as fun as I remember  and see how the new paints are to work with. I had stopped right around the big shift towards more water based stuff. I hated how that stuff sprayed I hope its better now or that I can still find solvent based paints.. 

Yep, moto and jet skiing for me. Once my kids were born, my focus completely changed as it should have. I do miss it but things have changed a lot at local tracks. Thinking about getting something like Darth Blaze posted above. Looks really fun and safer than mx. lol 

Snow skiing for me. It was my winter sport until I got into riding desert. We took our kids occasionally when they were young , but because of finances , they had to choose skis or bikes. They chose bikes. I’m thinking about getting back into it in retirement , but it would cut into my riding time. I’ve already thought about how I could do a week at Jawbone , leave the rv and bikes at my buddies place in Ridgecrest , ski Mammoth , then pick the stuff up and hit Spangler. Somebody please talk me out of this 🤣

Surfing. Used to be daily, good, bad, flat, big, whatever. Get up, go surf. Then go about your day. Then came marriage, kids, injuries, more injuries, and life in general. That am time frame got harder and harder to justify. Then when I did surf I wasn't happy because I hadn't surfed in so long I was a kook again. Not right away, but like a slow fade into kookville.  Nothing better than paddling out into the lineup, out jockeying all the little future world champ rippers into position, turning around to takeoff and getting pitched over the falls like a goober because your hip gives out, or your knee won't bend far enough. Then you can get to where you only want to surf when it's good. That doesn't work either. To surf good enough to surf good waves good, you have to surf all the time. Once in awhile doesn't cut it, especially past 40 and into your 50's. In my 50's I figured out surfing long board and point waves are fun, but I like hollow high intensity barrels, and there was no way I could surf those. That's when I got more into bodysurfing and boogie boarding. Most people aren't interested in hollow semi closed out beach breaks, so the crowd wasn't an issue. I get a lot more "Yuck for my buck" getting rolled in the shorebreak 🤪  

I'm done with f1.... after decades of getting up at 3-4 am, I just can't stand it now days.... 

I'm done w the ufc now too... now it's not about skill, it's about who can create the best instabanger.... it's literally wwe now... 

I was never obsessed with skiing, but I enjoyed it and usually got my money’s worth out of my season ticket. Stopped skiing when the kids were born but as they got 9-12 years old or so I started again to chase them around the hill as they learned to ski and snowboard. After a few seasons I could no longer keep up with them so I started listening to my knees and hips and decided that they could take the ski bus to the hill!!!

Surfing was one of my main sports from 10 to 25. When I could swim to the end of the pier and back my dad let me get a board. Some of my most memorable days were down in your neck of the woods at Trestles. I wasn’t the best in the lineup, but I was one of the best at getting out. 20 foot faces and nobody to talk to out there 😆. Once I got my first Ski boat , sitting and waiting for waves, and the slow speed associated with many of those waves made it less intriguing for me. Got into it a little when my daughters were teenagers, and I am sure that their daughters will be learning to surf when the time comes. They like wake surfing with mommy. That will get Papa back out there for sure. 

I used to love to screen print. coming up with designs, separating the colors, then preparing the screens. It was a lot of fun. Then I had kids and it all just sorta stopped. But I think I would like to show my kids how to do it one day.