Nerd hobbies & pasttimes..

Smallbit · 18-02-2010 01:45PM

I tried jewellery making as a hobby. I love cheap colourful stuff so I thought why not? I did a class, and admittedly, most of the girls there were a bit strange - actually it was a collection of social misfits. But, I pressed on and bought all the stuff, started into my new hobby and found out I was completely cack-handed with threading beads, bending bits of silver and so on. The expressions on various friends faces as they politely admired my lovely pieces was enough for me. I gave up after a few weeks...

Darksaga87 · 18-02-2010 01:56PM

dr.bollocko wrote: »

I do nerd stuff like counting the number of letters in a word as people are speaking. It's easier than listening to them. But you're not really a nerd unless you know who Alan Moore is.

My GF does that, Id be talking and she would be mouthing my words and tapping her fingers on her thumb counting what im saying. If what I say does not meet the requirments she wants, she re-arranges the words to make it fit.... Very annoying, But i just count what she said like:

"1,2,3,4 bull****, dont care, you still talking? 8,9...

Scien wrote: »

I actually completed that model T-Rex that came in parts with 'Dinosaurs!' Magazine.

Man thats hardcore, I got a good bit through that and the easons closest to me at the time closed down and i couldnt finish it.

Well done to ya!!;)

1nk3d4L1f3 · 18-02-2010 02:08PM

liah wrote: »

Oh it definitely still makes you a nerd. My housemate and I fix people's computers and the majority of people can't figure out how to use anything other than Internet Explorer and have actually asked us to link their ipods with itunes. These are people my age (22), these aren't geezers, these are people who should've done at least one computer class in public school in their lifetimes.

Unfortunately just owning a PC doesn't make anyone an expert, not by a longshot.. if it did, we'd be out of business. Lots of easy money to be made in the meantime though!

Ok, you've convinced me. You're a nerd in mullingar, have fun...

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 18-02-2010 02:25PM

pickarooney wrote: »

I did not realise other people did that. Do you also have a particular hatred for 11 letter words? Other primes I can deal with, but just can't abide 11-letter words.

****, 12, you've got me at it now!

G_R · 18-02-2010 02:38PM

i have the "number of letters in words" thing aswell, but for me it annoys me when things aren't in 10's.

Sometimes, when someone is talking to me, or I'm reading something, I find my fingers moving with each letter, and if the word doesnt end on a 10, then i go to the next finger and the next etc untill it does end on a ten. A couple of times I have even gone through the sequence again to make sure I got it right.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and cry about how pathetic that all sounds

dr.bollocko · 18-02-2010 03:02PM

I can't believe so many people actually do the letter counting thing.
I thought it was just me and I was a bit mad.
We need a support group.
And also a name for it. A cool sounding name.

18-02-2010 03:04PM

Just wanted to add:

"bum-de-ya-da,bum-de-ya-da,bum-de-ya-da,bum-de-ya-da......"

NothingMan · 18-02-2010 03:07PM

dr.bollocko wrote: »

I can't believe so many people actually do the letter counting thing.
I thought it was just me and I was a bit mad.
We need a support group.
And also a name for it. A cool sounding name.

The people who count the number of characters in a given sentence and they must be divisable by another number or they get frustrated... anonymous.

tpwctnociagsatmbdbanotgfa for short.

It just rolls off the tongue.

G_R · 18-02-2010 03:08PM

dr.bollocko wrote: »

I can't believe so many people actually do the letter counting thing.
I thought it was just me and I was a bit mad.
We need a support group.
And also a name for it. A cool sounding name.

agreed. But it has to be 330 characters long (10 x 11 x 3) so that it keeps eveyone happy

Scrambled egg · 18-02-2010 04:19PM

Lego, Supposed to be studying for my leaving Cert, bro's box of Lego beside my foot, I couldn't help myself, ended up making several factories ::cool:

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 18-02-2010 04:29PM

dr.bollocko wrote: »

I can't believe so many people actually do the letter counting thing.
I thought it was just me and I was a bit mad.
We need a support group.
And also a name for it. A cool sounding name.

Letter counting you say...? Ah ah ah ah ahhhhh!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xunXQPEcoHM

pickarooney · 18-02-2010 08:51PM

When I was younger I used also repeat sentences backwards in my head, first just reversing the letters, then phonetically. I've yet to find a use for it but I reckon one day, you know, if the world needs saving from aliens hiding messages backwards in their conversations, I might just be able to step up and...

Christ...

Thomas828 · 18-02-2010 08:58PM

Good grief! There are more loonies on Boards.ie than nerds!

tech77 · 18-02-2010 09:23PM

stovelid wrote: »

I love poring over maps of any kind: preferably urban ones like street maps or tube/subway maps, but also ordinance survey and atlases.

I used to draw my own street-maps of my estate when I was a kid.

Map drawing as well and designing crosswords as a 7 year old.
Weird now i think of it.

fontanalis · 18-02-2010 09:30PM

What about fly tying?

InKonspikuou2 · 18-02-2010 09:32PM

I love chasing tornadoes whenever i'm in the states in April or May. To me it's pretty extreme but a lot of people think it's nerdy.

epgc3fyqirnbsx · 18-02-2010 09:33PM

WOW!

This place is full of Rainmen!

Any of you excellent drivers?

sKepTics_George · 18-02-2010 09:42PM

Come on people these are nerds we are talking about,
PC games,
Anime,
etc.

Earthhorse · 18-02-2010 09:44PM

Michellenman wrote: »

I have a similar problem except mine's with car registrations. When I'm in the car, not driving obviously, I count up the numbers on the registration plates on the car in front/around me and add/subtract/divide/multiply the numbers until I get them to a number which is divisible by nine...

I don't do this any more but whenever I saw a clock, I'd have to reduce the time to the lowest common denominator. Hours over minutes for the most part. Or, similar to others, get them to equate in some way. It become so compulsive it drove me mad and I had to stop or lose my mind.

Smallbit wrote: »

I tried jewellery making as a hobby. I love cheap colourful stuff so I thought why not? I did a class, and admittedly, most of the girls there were a bit strange - actually it was a collection of social misfits. But, I pressed on and bought all the stuff, started into my new hobby and found out I was completely cack-handed with threading beads, bending bits of silver and so on. The expressions on various friends faces as they politely admired my lovely pieces was enough for me. I gave up after a few weeks...

Aw. Don't give up Smallbit. Being good at anything takes time and a lot of a lot of practise.

Thomas828 · 18-02-2010 10:01PM

stovelid wrote: »

I love poring over maps of any kind: preferably urban ones like street maps or tube/subway maps, but also ordinance survey and atlases.

I used to draw my own street-maps of my estate when I was a kid.

I was doing that sort of thing at the age of 8, and I used to create whole towns by drawing street maps, and even whole countries!

seanbmc · 18-02-2010 10:16PM

Deleted User wrote: »

Just wanted to add:

"bum-de-ya-da,bum-de-ya-da,bum-de-ya-da,bum-de-ya-da......"

"I love the whole world, and all it`s sights and sounds"

El Siglo · 18-02-2010 10:36PM

Built model planes, was a member of Astronomy Ireland had a telescope and binoculars for this, was interested in chemistry (got my own chemistry set for Christmas), used to take stuff apart to see how they worked (I think I've broken every toy I've ever had doing this), obsessed when I was younger about building submarines, rockets and robots (I kept a notebook of designs and worked on how they might run), was interested in birds and ornithology (had a few books on bird species when I was younger), interested in military stuff; wars, battles, equipment, uniforms etc... interested in ballistics and rifles, pistols, machine guns etc... (had an encyclopedia on it). All in all, I was a nerd without realising it fully. I didn't get into Warcraft until 5th year of secondary school and even then I wasn't into it, bit of an interest in computers but that's kind of picked up now because I want to try and get into learning Python. At the moment my hobbies are kind of dead because I've either college work to do or I don't have the money, but having the time to that stuff again is a real pain in the face.

biko · 18-02-2010 11:16PM

I was in a UFO spotting club at 13-14. Used to camp out in the wilderness and set up telescopes to try and spot one but never saw any.

Dudess · 18-02-2010 11:32PM

I can't think of any nerdy leanings I have, which is quite disappointing...

I collected stamps for a few weeks when I was a kid, that's about it. Although I'm very good at remembering the years stuff happened - even back to when I was extremely small (as in, two/three) and I'd be a bit of an encyclopaedia when it comes to music and film trivia... but that's not really nerdy. Although the term "nerdy" is subjective I suppose...

phill106 · 18-02-2010 11:46PM

Warhammer fantasy battle.
Magic the gathering.
Life long it geek

Jammyc · 18-02-2010 11:49PM

Listening to ATC and on VATSIM now!:D

rainbow kirby · 19-02-2010 12:02AM

Well... where do we start? I've loved video games since I was very young, I even used to organise the video game events for UCD Gamesoc (and have been a member of said society since 2002). I used to play WoW far too much. I enjoy recreational mathematics, and read a lot of popular science books.

Naikon · 19-02-2010 12:19AM

Programming, Quake, Nethack, and fiddling around with Unix servers.

Naikon · 19-02-2010 12:28AM

liah wrote: »

Oh it definitely still makes you a nerd. My housemate and I fix people's computers and the majority of people can't figure out how to use anything other than Internet Explorer and have actually asked us to link their ipods with itunes. These are people my age (22), these aren't geezers, these are people who should've done at least one computer class in public school in their lifetimes.

Unfortunately just owning a PC doesn't make anyone an expert, not by a longshot.. if it did, we'd be out of business. Lots of easy money to be made in the meantime though!

It amazes me how otherwise "smart" people act like fools in front of a computer. Besides, setting up ipods and linking itunes is not a nerdy pastime.
If I had it my way, a basic test of computer competency would be required to be passed before being allowed to touch a computer.

General concepts such as basic hardware operation/software concepts should be taught. Hell, even a BASIC "hello world" would be appropriate.
It's not acceptable that some people think internet explorer is "the internet". The ECDL cert is basically useless for any prospective user.

fuelinjection · 19-02-2010 12:39AM

fontanalis wrote: »

What about fly tying?

Have you got fly fishing by J. R. Hartley ?

:pac:

Nerd hobbies & pasttimes..

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