Things you truly like to do

[NickSTFU]

I truly like sex.

I'm surprised no one else has mentioned this.

Am I weird?

[Gerontophile]

No, just open about it.

[hobbes]

I'm fairly ambivalent about it, myself. It's alright I suppose. It just seems like a lot of work.

[Giggler]

I truly like sex.

I'm surprised no one else has mentioned this.

Am I weird?

I used to really, really, truly, truly like it. Addicted, probably.

Bet you never knew Michael Douglas supported Bury, did you?

[Bored Of Education]

Yeah, I am a fan.

Aside from that, many things on this thread already mentioned

Swimming especially in the sea and I would like to do a bit more wild river swimming and may do this summer. I know that snorkelling isn't a different thing exactly but that as well. I love a lido as well.

Travelling on trains - long journey, packed lunch, flask of coffee and a book. Fantastic. I pay extra to go on the train rather than the plane if I have time as, as soon as you step on the train, you are on holiday - none of that cattle truck/shopping mall airport shit.

Driving - I hate driving as I know the damage that it does but I love it in reality. I was fortunate enough to drive for a living for six years and it was one of the best jobs I have ever had. I even don't mind doing the same drive to work and back if I have to - it's the thinking about work that spoils it.

Walking - I love walking everywhere and will do it first if there is the chance. I live in a wonderfully walkable city and all my favourite ones are the same - New York, Havana, Budapest. I love London and still will walk vast amounts of it where possible but don't mind the tube there, similar with Paris.

Trams - I love a tram and see it as a sign of European sophistication. Brexit to me is Britain's inability to embrace trams.

Cycling - I should cycle more. I hate running but do it all the time but I have a bike that needs doing up and would provide me with just as much exercise and the ability to see more when I do it.

Basically, I like all forms of transport aside from running and flying.

Cooking - I absolutely adore cooking. To have the time to make a lasagne from scratch is my idea of luxury. I love cooking just for myself but especially for other people. I love experimenting with flavours and trying out new combinations. I love cooking because it also leads to...

Eating - I can't understand people who regard eating as just refuelling. Every meal should be a treat. Even if you don't cook, you should be aware of everything you are eating - its provenance, how it is prepared, how it is stored etc.

Drinking - I do like beer, wine and the odd spirit. I don't drink alone (aside from the odd Giggler-esque event - which is a treat - or celebrating the start of my summer holidays with a beer accompanying lunch) and prefer to drink with friends in a pub or at a house. I do absolutely adore pub - specifically British ones - but being around a friend's house or house is lovely

Being with people - I suppose it follows that I love people. Obviously, there are a load of arseholes but even they can engage me in a challenging manner. People make me laugh, inform, educate and entertain me. I love to be with people at the pub, football, gigs but also on fora like here. When I was a bit more insular as I wasn't working, this place and others were a Godsend as it became like a virtual pub right down to the entertainingly curmudgeonly landlord, EIM.

Playing music - probably the most important thing that I do. I love going to gigs as well but, being an egotist, playing gigs is where it's at for me. I once spent about 5 years without a band and I drove my wife up the wall. I need to do a gig about once a month to keep happy. It isn't even the smell of the greasepaint and the roar of the crowd (such that they are). It's just that I have to experiencing whatever it is that I experience when I am on stage and interacting with an audience. It isn't just playing music as recording bores me and rehearsing is just a necessary means to an end.

Playing football - Like music, I prefer playing football to watching it. Although the standard is much much worse, it is still more satisfying to be intrinsically involved in it and to even play at such a fundamental level. I think that I have actually improved as well which is nice. There is a lot of frustration as well but that is part and parcel of watching football. After our usual Thursday 6-a-side, we always go to the pub for a rehydrating isotonic beer. I can't play football and then not have the beer after, it just isn't right. Interestingly though, if I don't play football but meet the lads for a beer after, it still doesn't feel right. If I play football, we never talk about the game we have had but about TV box sets or Premiership games that I haven't seen. You can guarantee that, if I haven't played, all the conversation will be about the amazing match they have just played. Hmmm, there may be something in that.

Reading - don't do it enough. I get the kids to do quiet reading and they will do anything else but. I point out that, to sit there and read a book quietly for 15 minutes would be a luxury for me but they look at me blankly. Having said that, when I get the chance, like I suppose I do now, I am invariably doing this instead.

Writing - not so much like on here or Facebook as I see that more as a written conversation - although I do write the odd post that is a bit more than that. However, I have written a script and now done a few articles and, of course, all my writing for my degree and Masters'. I love every part of it from the research to the editing and I even like sending it off into the world and seeing what editing happens to it if I have got someone to do it for me. Once it is off though, I rarely read it. It's a bit like music I have recorded in that way

'Rithmetic - I put this in as a joke but I genuinely do like doing maths. I love algebra and mathematical puzzles but also just the process of arithmetic. I also really love stats and data and, if I have to find out, say, my average first mile on my parkrun, it will engage me for ages.

Filing - I find filing very soothing. I suppose it is about getting things in order or having control or something but give a pile of paper to put in alphabetical order and I am happy.

Teaching - not my job as such but actual teaching the act. I suppose it appeals to the same performing instinct in me that drew me towards being in a band and doing stand up. However, it is a bit more than that, it is the dialogue that you have with children, the genuine interest that they can show, the things you learn off them and the satisfaction of seeing a child get something finally and progress.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

Writing - not so much like on here or Facebook as I see that more as a written conversation - although I do write the odd post that is a bit more than that. However, I have written a script and now done a few articles and, of course, all my writing for my degree and Masters'. I love every part of it from the research to the editing and I even like sending it off into the world and seeing what editing happens to it if I have got someone to do it for me. Once it is off though, I rarely read it. It's a bit like music I have recorded in that way

Has there ever been a thread about books about writing?
There's a lot of crap out there but also some I've enjoyed and found interesting. Both dealing with writing books and screenplays. I have no ambition to write a screenplay but enjoy reading or watching documentaries about every aspect of film making.

[Bored Of Education]

I am not sure that there are any books about writing that aren't sort of technical handbooks. I suppose writers' biographies may be the best ones but they are more likely to concentrate on the life rather than the process of writing. I am the same as you in that I do like documentaries and books on the creative process. I love those "The making of <insert classic album here>" documentaries even if I am not a fan of the band or the album. Which is weird, in thinking about it, as, as I mention above, I hate the actual process of recoding when I have to do it myself. I also have enjoyed books and docs about film making and also about the process of stand up comedy.

[elguapo4]

Without getting off thread too much,Stephen king "ON WRITING " is entertaining and informative,I don't have a creative bone in my body but still found it enjoyable reading

[Bored Of Education]

Oh, thanks, sounds great.

[WOM]

Without getting off thread too much,Stephen king "ON WRITING " is entertaining and informative,I don't have a creative bone in my body but still found it enjoyable reading

Second. It's great on the mechanics and discipline of actually sitting down and doing it.

[Aitch]

Just going away for the weekend, somewhere I know or somewhere I've never been to before, doesn't matter. Just back from a long weekend in Germany, couple of days cycling, couple of days sightseeing, lots of food and drink. Wonderful.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

Without getting off thread too much,Stephen king "ON WRITING " is entertaining and informative,I don't have a creative bone in my body but still found it enjoyable reading

I listened to the audio book as late as yesterday. I sometimes put on a couple of chapters when I need to fall asleep but can't. Not at all because it's boring, it's brilliant, but certain audio books help make me fall asleep when I'm overly tired. I'v read the book three times and listened to the audio version, probably ten times by now.

And don't worry about the getting off thread bit. It's what OTF is known for.
Brawls about religion, people challenging one another whether a comment was racist and if the member might not after all be a Nazi, any football topic no matter how far away the league is from England turned into a debate about Man Utd/Liverpool, Adam Ant, and any given topic hijacked by EIM and his cronies who suddenly turn a debate about the political climate in Burundi, to a discussion about cookies.

[Bored Of Education]

So as not to derail this further, I have started a thread in "Books"

[NickSTFU]

I really like building Lego. I find it therapeutic.

I used to do 'Lego therapy' with young people when I worked in SEN.

[delicatemoth]

It just seems like a lot of work.

This is the truth.

I truly like lying on my bed, doing absolutely nothing, just listening to environmental sounds (especially the fridge and the fan) and watching the changing light and shadow.

I also genuinely like smoking, which is pretty shit because I'm supposed to have stopped.

[Sam]

FF speaks for me, although in my case it's less actual work, and more the feeling that if I go out and do something enjoyable I'm cutting into time I could be spending networking or pitching editors ideas for articles that I know they'll say no to, or writing those articles for my own blog to stick up for free (which I don't do because why would I write for free?). And as a result I end up just spending all afternoon sitting on the computer doing nothing in particular. Doing editing will hopefully pick up, and I have a potential job interview at some point next month. Regular work and enough money to start saving again will mean free time becomes free time again, which would be amazing.

From time to time I still have moments, though. I went through a real conflict over the podcast last year, to the point where I almost jacked it in, but putting it on Patreon and being able as a result to hand some cash to the boys for recording it (seriously. Obviously I take a cut as well and that's the bottom line reason for doing it, but when I finalise the spreadsheet at the end of each month and find I can pay out a bit more than I was expecting to that feels brilliant) has got rid of that fed up feeling and brought back the enjoyment I used to feel for it. I'm slowly rediscovering the buzz of reading, which I've been obsessed with since I was small but haven't done enough of lately. And I always enjoy playing pool, and still find there are few feelings (to the ... I won't say obsessive, but ... let's say perfectionist side of my personality) to match up with the time perhaps every fourth or fifth visit to the pub when I get on the table and a very high percentage of the shots seem to go just how I'd planned.

Still love travelling too, but can't do much of it now, having moved to somewhere that's too big and too expensive to get from city to city quickly and easily (if you live here, like; if you're holidaying from the global north you'll be just fine).

[gavc23]

We’ve been going on holiday to Charente (just north of Bordeaux) the last couple of years, driving from Edinburgh with all 4 kids and the dog.

I enjoy doing my own little cost/benefit analysis of different ferry routes, times, some of going by train or plane instead. For those interested (and who wouldn’t be), the optimal drive/cost route is driving to Portsmouth and getting the boat to St Malo based on my research. Though next time we’re experimenting with my wife flying with kids 1,2 & 4 whilst 3 and I do a road trip and seeing if the extra cost (probably about £100) is worth the reduced stress of them arguing with each other for 3 days there and 3 days back.

Wonder if this belongs in the mundane thread now.

[Flynnie]

Sitting in the paddling pool with my son, the single best part of this cursed weather.

[Simon G]

Playing darts - going to a football match on a Saturday was always my thing to get away from the real world, but when playing darts I can do it whenever I like (within reason).

For some reason, I just love flinging some pointed sticks at a block of sisal just over 7ft away. I'm not particularly good at it, but it gives me a chance to listen to the radio or podcasts, have a couple of beers and just throw and walk. Being quite poor at it also means that there is a lot of swearing coming from my garage most nights as well.

[Toby Gymshorts]

I like being quiet.

There's not enough of it in the world, TBQFHWY.

[Gerontophile]

I like swearing at unexpected times, and doing drive-by jukebox fucking*.

*This is a thing.

[Bored Of Education]

I really like building Lego. I find it therapeutic.

I used to do 'Lego therapy' with young people when I worked in SEN.

I love putting those plastic 1cm cubes that you have in a school that link together in to block columns the same colour.

[Bored Of Education]

I like swearing at unexpected times, and doing drive-by jukebox fucking*.

*This is a thing.

I have looked at as many "safe for teachers" links as I can and they seem to describe different things and don't mention the word "jukebox"

[adams house cat]

Playing snooker. Or, as I now live in the US, pool. Pretty crap at it really. Best break of 22 but I can often string a few balls together when playing pool.

[Sam]

I've played snooker three times, on one of the very few tables in Buenos Aires. The first time, I'd arranged to meet a mate for a game and he got delayed, so I set up and had a practice while I waited, playing against myself. The first time I got in among the balls, I made a red-black-red and thought, 'Hey, this isn't that hard! Clearly a few years of playing 8-ball several times a week has been good practice!' That was the highest break I managed all day. I did manage a break of 15 the next time we played. Snooker is really fucking hard, isn't it? If I move back to England I'll definitely be getting a cue and at least going to practice on my own semi-regularly, though.