Starting doing something you’ve never done before? Getting back into something you used to do? Is it fun and exciting? Is it challenging?
I recently starting to learn roller skating (quad skating). It is so thrilling! I can’t do a lot yet, I can barely stop, can’t skate backwards, and definitely no transitions. I can skate forward, scissor, scooter push, and I am getting tight with turns.
I take classes on the weekends, which are an hour, and then I skate 3 more hours in the regular session.
I am inching my way through the fundamentals, and I am not falling as often as I did just a week ago. I am wearing a helmet, because I care about my head, but I have become comfortable enough to take it off since it is not required, just wrist guards.
I own my own skates, Riedell R3s with Sonar Caymans (indoors), and Sketchers 4 Wheelers (outdoors), which I modified by replacing the plastic plates and trucks with Sure-Grip Super X. Now they are not so scary.
ALSO! I just got my first skate board! I walked into a local skate shop I had no idea existed until someone mentioned it, and only went in to see what offerings they had for roller skates so I would not have to order online. They got wheels and bearings, plus tools and protective gear, which is all I need and expected.
I walked out with an 8.5 Real deck (recycled), Ventura trucks, Slime Balls 78a wheels, Bones Reds bearings, and black tape. Assembly was free in-house and the dude got it together under 10.
I have yet to ride it, but I learned there is a skate park near me, so I have a lot to look forward to!
Edit: fixed details
I’ve been getting really into DIY stuff lately, mostly electronics. As someone with a lot of sensory issues, mechanical keyboards are fantastic since you can tune them so much to your own preferences, and as a retro tech freak (and staunch believer in repair rather than replace), learning the basics of soldering and general electronics modding has been great (and custom Gameboy stuff is right up my alley). I’m even thinking about learning PCB design stuff and some general low level computing stuff I didn’t learn before. Unfortunately, I haven’t really been able to afford much in this regard lately since I’m disabled and I have been having nerve/joint issues lately, but friends did help me get parts for a slightly more ergonomic keyboard (Alice layout instead of standard) so I can use the computer more comfortably (and I guess I’ll have to make getting a nice split keyboard a long term goal), and I’m planning on doing some visual stuff to make it look nice and distinctly mine (it’s layered acrylic, so adding pressed flowers and stuff below the top layer).
That is awesome! I have been meaning to get into electronics. I got soldering irons. Solder. Mats. I even bought some starter kits off aliexpress just for the practice. I have a fuzz pedal I need to put together. Ask me how much progress I have made (please don’t).
You have a great outlook on electronics. I also believe that things should be repaired or repurposed. I hate waste, I hate that things most things are made of trash quality to not even be worth preservation.
I hope you manage to build a keyboard that suits your needs perfectly!
Thanks! The awesome communities around a lot of this stuff really helped me get into these things too. I got lucky enough to get a decent soldering station recently too (gift from family) so hopefully I also start to make a bit of progress. Honestly, having things break that I know logically have to be simple to fix was what got me most interested; why should we throw a set of speakers or a kitchen appliance into a landfill just because there’s damage to a single wire? And it really hasn’t been too intimidating so far.
And this whole shift to the fediverse has made me super interested in running my own server locally, both for storage purposes (I need too much storage space >.>) and for the sake of having the ability to host whatever I want locally - but I haven’t really played around with that yet since it costs a decent bit of money even buying used server stuff from China.
Start up costs are no joke. I have some used hardware from over the years so I am lucky in that way, but getting good quality storage that won’t fail on you is the pricey part.
Also, these old computers are not the fastest, but at still far ahead from an overpriced raspberry pi. Put that silicon to work!
Super cool gift with the soldering station. I think there is a point in everyone’s lives were they have enough to survive without buying another thing, but most people will never really stop purchasing beyond their needs. Me included I guess.
I hope you build your server!
Thank you! I’ll probably repurpose an old PC to reduce costs when I do because I have a little bit of hand me down stuff, but it’s not enough to really run a server that hosts anything important on so I’ll probably have to supplement (and yeah, the storage thing).
Still, it is good to practice learning how to set up a server, that way you know what you really need when you make a major purchase, and you can do it right the first time instead of fussing with it every other day, or worse doing multiple reinstalls.