2026-08-17
Update
Here is the full updated list as of 2026-08-17
Meta notes
- In accordance with the heuristic "think about next week or next century, don't think about anything in between", I will only maintain two lists - one for stuff I can do in the "next 1-3 weeks", and one for "later possibly never".
- Hash mark (#) indicates that I am more excited to one day shift this item into the "next 1-3 weeks" list, but excitement level could always be quite different 2 weeks from now.
- Basic heuristic I still endorse - "Either learn hobbies with good gender ratio, or learn skills (not hobbies) for combat. Nothing else seems worth learning." For everything else, do the bare minimum and then stop, just refresh your memory every few months or something. Learning muscle memory-based hobbies takes a certain minimum amount of time, and ASI may be less than 5 years away, so use your time efficiently.
Next 1-3 weeks
- Continue learning more
- Do minimum intro and stop
- Ham radio - get license and stop
- Chess - get FIDE rating and stop
- Do minimum intro and then decide
- Drums - Learn 1-2 songs and decide whether to continue
- Massage - Learn basics and decide whether to continue
Later possibly never
- Do minimum intro
- Victorian flower language (#) - learn basics
- Shooting (#)
- Running
- Infantry combat training (which is a superset of shooting, running and a bunch of other skills)
- Learn more
- Swimming - improve form
- Driving - practice more to refresh memory
2026-08-11
Update
- Append to "later but not too later" list:
- Spend a few days studying Victorian flower language properly
- It doesn't seem that difficult, but also, I want to study some primary sources instead of relying on gpt-N
- I want to burn a bouquet of white lilies and cypress in order to mourn the dead. It would be sad if the world ends before anyone had done a ritual such as this. Also reminded me of the white roses that President Snow wore.
- Shift from "later but not too later" to "now":
- Get ham radio license. Exam seems easy, I will just give the next exam whenever it is.
- Append to "now":
- Get a FIDE rating. Very easy, can do this over a weekend or two.
Lol it looks like this is becoming a live document, not a static one.
2028-08-09
Update
- Append to the "later but not too later" list:
- get a ham radio license. atleast learn basics of operating a ham radio
2026-08-06
Update
Prioriting because I have limited number of free hours per week, and chaos and decay are the natural state of things i.e. go enrol into something ASAP otherwise it won't happen
now
- dance
- playing music
- massage
- ???
later but not too later
later possibly never
2026-08-05
My hobby wishlist
Disclaimer
- personal
- target audience - strictly myself
Main
- Playing instruments
- I'm already decent at it, might as well use it to socialise with more people (esp. women)
- Shooting
- Useful for worst case worlds, cannot elaborate more here
- Massage
- Seems popular with (some) women.
- Also I will reiterate my current hypotheses on how to get good at persuasion - you need to either work on very surface-level bullshit that can be judged in a few minutes (like stimulate their eyes, nose, ears, mouth, skin, make sure your content is in their working memory, play confidence games, use music/rituals/etc) or you need to go very deep and shatter the core of who they are on a decadal time scale (actually shift their position on MtG colour wheel, actually help them cope with a major source of suffering). Getting good at massage sounds like more surface-level stuff just like getting good at music or experimenting with fragrances.
- Driving
- Can always get better. Idk, seems like a very common hobby that couldn't hurt to try as well
- Low priority
- Swimming
- Can always improve my form, plus it is fun in low doses
- Low priority
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