2024 - The Year of the Great Hobby

What I've started doing this year, and why it's good to try something new

2024 was a big year for me. I went on one of the best trips of my life with 4 great friends to Mexico, a beautiful country with stunning scenery, fascinating history and the best guacamole I've ever had. I was one of the best men for one of my closest friends in a beautiful wedding in Paris. Finally, I also made the big decision to leave my job at the end of May, due to feeling unsatisfied and frustrated with some of the slowness of working for the tech side of a huge company but leaving behind some really great people (with some adventures since then, there's been the new fun adventure of looking for new opportunities in the job market). Throughout all of this, and with the impending sense of doom that being 27 has and starting to feel like I'm not 'young' anymore, I've consistently tried to do new things to keep busy, keep interested and interesting, and to try to keep that joie de vivre that the looming shadow of my 30's is attempting to cover.

The worlds best guacamole, in a traditional molcajete

I have a goal for myself that I think will help keep pushing me to try new things, which I aim to get to in 2025 (I'm currently 2/3 of the way there). A weekly schedule where in general 3 nights of the week are covered by certain activities. One being a night doing a hobby, something I enjoy which gets me doing something fun and meeting new people. Things like a pottery class (which seem pretty popular in our generation) or joining an improv group (which I do want to try but think sounds terrifying). This being something that, one night a week, helps me to learn a new hobby, make new friends and have something fun to talk about at parties. The second night in this ideal week would be an activity where I'm in some way improving myself. Something like running a coding group, going to a Spanish speaking class or finally biting the bullet and trying to learn the violin (I left it too late and my dusty beginner violin is my greatest shame). The final night would be a weekly commitment to donate my time to a good cause in some way. A volunteering opportunity that helps a cause I believe in like supporting the less fortunate / animals / the climate. This is the end goal and something I think will be more feasible when I live in a better location with more opportunities.

This all said, I've started or continued a great few things in 2024 that have helped with some of the benefits mentioned above. Through these I've made new friends, learnt new things and bettered myself. All while pushing back the dreaded stagnancy of sleepwalking through middle age with no interests or development. I've expanded on these below. Please note that some of these are more casual interests than dedicated hobbies to put a lot of time into, but I reckon these are still worth mentioning. I'd recommend any of these and can help with any queries about starting them yourself.

5 interests I've explored in 2024

#1: Volunteering as a Childrens Code Instructor

In March I did a quick google search to find code-related volunteering opportunities with children. I've volunteered with children before, at university I joined a great organization that took disabled kids on fun days out and volunteers were asked to buddy up. I love working with kids and trying to be a positive influence and would like to do this more. I found an opportunity pretty easily with an organization called Ignite Hubs, which does extra-curricular coding lessons, run by volunteers, for children who have an interest in getting into tech. So far I've done two terms of this and getting ready to start a third at the time of writing. The class sizes have varied from 2-10 in numbers, and with kids at different ages and abilities. It's been something different to what I'm used to, and with very little time commitment, no more than 2 hours a week, I've really enjoyed it. It's been a test of my confidence (teaching kids is scary) and communication, trying to get across pretty new concepts to the kids like booleans and truthy values. I hope it's been of use to the kids, it's definitely been useful for me. It's even been fun enough that I convinced a friend to get involved, and we got to support and run the same course of Python - Intermediate together. I've supported and ran lessons in courses of Game Development with Javascript and Game Development with Python - Intermediate so far. There are plenty of opportunities out there to get involved in something new and push yourself out of your comfort zone.

#2: Cryptic Crosswords

It started with a single youtube video recommendation, and since then I've been hooked. If you haven't yet heard of the phenomenon of Minute Cryptic, it's definitely not too late to get involved. It's the website and Youtube channel, soon to be an app with optional subscription, that helped me finally understand the esoteric world of cryptic crosswords. Every day the site shares a single cryptic clue, along with a hint and scoring system, as well as a video explaining the answer which is especially useful for beginners. It isn't as hard as it seems, and it's pretty addictive. I managed to get some friends into them as well and at the start of the year I wouldn't have guessed we'd have spent a couple of nights cracking entire cryptics together. I even managed to get my technology-resistant aunt to get hooked on them and she now does it daily as well.

Todays Minute Cryptic - A pretty tough one I thought so don't worry if you have no idea!

While I won't go into detail on how to start working these out in this post, there are plenty of resources online if you're interested. If you'd like to try your hand at them, I recommend starting with Minute Cryptic, but I also suggest the cryptic crossword in the Metro as an easier full crossword (though it does repeat some clues). The Minute Cryptic is the second of my 2 favourite online discoveries of the year, the first to be mentioned below. It's a fun interest that, while having a briefly exasperating difficulty curve for beginners, introduces you into a fun world of word trickery that previously seemed totally inaccessible.

#3: Archery

Another hobby that I've been interested in trying for a while, I finally managed to get started in archery in 2024. The waiting list was extraordinary at about 4 months long, but I've finally been able to start a beginners course. I've only had 3 lessons so far but I'm still counting it as a win for 2024. It's something I've wanted to try for years due to it's prevalence in fantasy as well as its historical relevance. After 3 lessons, I'm happy to say it's been great fun. Both the instructors and the other beginners are all super friendly. Some of the instructors are old men with long white beards who call each other hobbits and go to board game expos, so it's a pretty welcoming and diverse hobby to get started in.

Unfortunately I don't have any action shots yet to share, but you'll have to believe me when I say I'm not actually too bad. The course covers a range of bow types, the first week was with beginner friendly barebows, but the majority of the course and what we are working with now are the most popular type - recurve bows with sights (the type used in the Olympics, so we're told). We also get demonstrations of longbows and composite bows. The composite bows are unbelievable, about double the weight of our recurves at 40 pounds or so and look more similar to a large part of a Lamborghini than a bow. They also cost at least £2,000 new so you wouldn't want to drop one either. I was pretty nervous when I went for my first lesson at the prospect of meeting new people (at 27, imagine) but it was a confidence booster meeting so many friendly people who are wanting to either learn something new or share their love of the sport by volunteering their time to mentor every Saturday morning. I couldn't recommend trying a starter course enough. the only problem I see so far is similar to my friends problems when trying a beginner course in fencing, the fairly expensive cost required in getting your membership and mainly your own kit when rolling off the beginner course. I haven't made my mind up yet about the extent of my future archery career, but I know for sure I want to carry it on in some form when I'm able to.

#4: Digital Bird Watching

Stick with me for a second on this one - let me explain! I know I've made a couple of comments above about doing hobbies not to age too quickly, and this seems to be going in the opposite direction. I also would've never guessed this would be an interest of mine in 2024. I had a fair bit of convincing to do to my friends when I first told them but I even managed to get them on the bird watching train too. The secret? The best use of technology I've seen in 2024. A fantastic little app called Merlin Bird ID.

I haven't yet seen a Great Egret, to my great regret

I discovered the app through a podcast, and it was a total revelation for me. Picture the summer of 2016. It was a great summer for a few reasons, one being the release of Pokémon GO which was a cultural milestone. Strangers would speak to each other and work together, and apart from a few notable incidents the app encouraged people to get out of their homes & explore the great outdoors, while helping to encourage community, especially among younger users. Merlin Bird ID gives me the same feeling, encouraging users to go outside and really see what's there. The app, made by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, works by using computer vision and machine learning technology to identify birds submitted either through photos or by sounds. When the app identifies the bird through one of these methods, the user has the option to add them to a kind of digital collection named the users 'life list'. It's the closest we have to a real life Pokédex for birds and it's absolutely fantastic. At the time of writing my life list is 30 strong.

While it gets harder to find new birds, you never know when it could happen

I've noticed a change in myself as well through this. Walking outside I can now identify different birds from the birdsong I hear. For example, my area has a lot of Eurasian Jackdaws which are easy to identify. When correctly scanned, you can also access an interesting overview of information about the species, the areas it can be found in at different times of the year, and audio clippings of different types of birdsong it can produce. I appreciate it can be seen as a bit of an odd hobby by some, and for me it is only passive (no huddling in bird shelters waiting for a rare glimpse - yet). However for me, I've always wanted to be able to casually identify birds but never had the enthusiasm or memory for it, until this app changed my perception. Sometimes I get pessimistic about the future of technology until something like this comes and proves me wrong, and to me it shows that if used correctly technology can be used to make some genuinely incredible products. Something like this helps educate the public, improves appreciation for nature and wildlife, helps professionals track bird sightings and numbers, and hopefully helps bridge the gap between technology and the real world in a positive way.

One last comment on this: I have seen some great birds this year. My favourite I've seen that's on my life list is the humble but beautiful European Goldfinch, seen in a park in Bristol. My favourite bird overall is the Bali Myna, which I saw in Chester zoo (I didn't add that to the life list - I think that's probably cheating)

#5: Teas and Tisanes

I know it's not helping the developer stereotype of being into games, yoga and coffee, but I'm starting to go down the slippery slope of different teas and tisanes (a word I learnt this year for herbal teas). I bought my first loose leaf tea container and when I'm settled somewhere new I'll probably invest in a nice teapot and a greater selection of different teas. I started shopping at Whittards, which is a pretty nice but also pretty expensive supplier of a wide range of different hot drinks, the tea selection covering both bags and loose leafs. I shopped there pretty extensively and found some nice flavours. Some of my personal favourites this year from there were the Afternoon Tea (black, jasmine and oolong tea with flavours of bergamot) and the Piccadilly Blend (black tea with flavours of rose, strawberry and lotus). They have some good deals too, though they are still a little more on the expensive side.

More recently a friend introduced me to the smaller chain of Søstrene Grene, a Danish chain of crafts, sweets and other things with a pretty nice selection of loose leafs. My absolute two favourites of the year came from there, a simple black tea with mango that's so refreshing, and a green tea with blueberry that I thought too bitter until I used a lower temperature (green tea gets very bitter if boiling water is used) and now I think is delicious. Furthermore, the price of these loose leafs is a fraction of Whittards. The range of flavours and the price point is unparalleled and I'd recommend it to anyone curious. I know it isn't a hobby per se like archery is, but I see it as an interest which can be explored deeper and which investment can be put into. I once did a tea ceremony with a friend at Zen society at university, ran by a Buddhist monk, and while the tea wasn't my favourite it was a great experience and a lot of fun.

Thanks for spending the time reading this article. Hopefully it was of interest and maybe even contains something of note you'd like to explore yourself. Who knows what 2025 will involve, I just hope it'll include time to explore new things, get new interests and explore more of what's out there.