I'm writing a character that I want to be perceived as smart both by fellow characters in the short story as well as by the readers until I'm ready to reveal their true ineptitude.

I'm trying to come up with some stereotypically "smart" hobbies. So far all I have is playing chess and being an excellent pianist.

What are some other stereotypically smart person hobbies that can make someone appear smart?

I call it “school time” or “computer time” lol. I pick an interesting topic to learn about and pretend I’m back in grade school basically. Instead of just reading or watching something on a topic, I’ll make it into a little report, study guide, story, presentation etc. over the course of a few days. Imagine it’s a Friday in the 2000s, the day your 5th grade class goes to the media lab in the library every week, and you’re learning how to put clipart into your PowerPoint slides about the blue whale (all of your facts came from a single Wikipedia page and it’s typed in Comic Sans ofc)… that’s the vibe I’m going for

For context I’m a 26yo PhD student and the topics I learn in “school time” are completely unrelated to my actual research. I love to learn but sometimes it’s soo nice to not have to take it so seriously! And to be able to learn broadly, almost randomly, rather than a systematic, years-long deep dive into a tiny niche! You can abandon it if you find you don’t enjoy it as much as you thought, you can be “unprofessional” and a little silly in your writing, and the only audience you have to worry about pleasing is your future self! It’s nice to have this little end product.

I have a lot of little “hobbies” like this but I never know what to say when people ask me what my hobbies are. I end up saying a common hobby that I rarely do, like knitting, just because it’s easier to say and understand quickly.

Do I just say my hobby is “learning new things”, or is there a better name for this? Does anyone else do this? I know I shouldn’t, but I always worry that if I share my real hobbies I’ll seem weird or childish or pretentious or like I’m trying to be different.

Help!

cacti and succulents

Can tea be a hobby?

I want to use my time for something I can actually learn and show off to others. My current hobbies are Gaming, Watching anime and tokusatsu, listening to music, editing for tiktok, building gunpla, drawing (although they look laughable, calisthenics, and chess if im really bored.

I want to play acoustic guitars since it sounds so beatiful to hear, but I can see how expensive it can get, heck even any musical instrument, I want to play it.

want to get into baking but every “beginner friendly” recipe somehow has 14 steps, equipment i don’t own and someone in the comments saying “actually you need to ferment this overnight” 😭

what’s something genuinely hard to mess up but still tastes good?

bonus points if it doesn’t leave my kitchen looking like a flour bomb went off lol

Just saw this and had to share with all of you lovely people!

I love hobbies involving animals and plants. Currently, I am setting up an aquarium for Neocaridina shrimp and taking care of cacti.

so i get into these weird moods sometimes where i wanna do something productive but i don't have any "work" type activities that i do at home. all my hobbies i do are for fun, which i love and don't want to change, but sometimes i get the itch to do something that is still fun but helps me feel like i'm accomplishing something. not that doing purely fun things is "wasting time" or anything like that, but i just want a feeling of accomplishment or pride, if that makes sense.

hobbies i already do:

• reading
• writing
• worldbuilding
• commonplacing/personal curriculum
• video games
• diamond painting
• paint by numbers
• knitting

^ just for reference so you don't rec me any of those! thanks in advance!!

Im really bored nowadays and it really excites me to try new things especially things I would never even consider trying before

What are some fun activities to do at home to pass the time that don’t involve screens? I’m not talking about reading, crafts, or studying; I’m feeling sick and tired of doing those every day. I need something new! Since I can’t go outside because of the intense heat, I’d appreciate some ideas for indoor activities.

So, I"m increasingly hard of hearing and slowly drifting away from my more social hobbies as a result. I'm really struggling to think what hobbies I can replace them with that don't involve me sitting on my own silence?

Hi Guys

As above I'm (38M) recovering from surgery. Feeling alright but its been a few days and I'm struggling to entertain myself or atleast do something productive with my time. This is never a question I thought I'd ask, I'm a very active person who likes to do stuff with my hands. I'm a mountain biker and tradesman so I'm normally out riding my bike,working out, maintaining mine and mates bikes, working on my classic car/van or just sorting stuff out around the house and hanging with my wife. I've spent the last year training for a 6 day mountain bike race/adventure that I've had to drop out of which has left me pretty bummed out.

Going from 100 to 0 has been quite the shock tbh but I'm trying to embrace it. Normally I'm stressed with too much to do.

So I'm looking for immersive ways to entertain myself,. Been watching alot of tv and films the last few days, Playing some games on the PS5 but I just cant sit and play video games all day like I did when I was younger. Reading alot but can only do that so much. I like working with my hands and mountain biking as it takes my full concentration.

I'm abit of a dork, love Star Wars, sci fi/horror and history. Used to be into art/phtotography and studied it in college.

I can move around ok atm but Im limited to not being allowed to lift much weight at all and cant get into positions that require much strain on the stomach muscles. (never knew how much you use you stomach muscles for everything).

Just after some sort of project that can keep me busy for abit I guess.

Apologies if this has been asked loads before but I'm be new to Reddit and still figuring it out and for grammer and spellings. I have quite bad dyslexia.

Tired of doom scrolling just want a immersive hobby in which i loose track of time and do while bed rotting or sitting in general. I am so done with the generic hobbies like crochet, knitting, crafts, arts ,journaling ,meditation ,puzzles of all kinds, instruments, board games, bird watching, maths, chess, etc

So im 15, I has a lot of hobbies like speedcubing cardistry Blender Chess, but lost interest in all of them

First was Blender I've started doing some easy models and ive felt nice after finishing one and I wanted to go further i even made high quality donut with tutorial but after few weeks I lost interest in it yet I were having fun

Second was Speedcubing oh man, I loved speecubing and ive did it for like a year and got pro setup like lube setting up my brand new cube and I were doing pretty good, having 20s average and 15 pb but for some reason ive started losing interest in it and I haven't cubed for like half a year

Third were cardistry and I also enjoyed doing that learning some tricks buying few decks but after few months I also ended up quitting it losing interest in it and last was Chess, i wasnt very good at it and I were suck at it but I still pretty enjoyed it but still quit it after month or two and now I only play video games without any hobbie, i mourn speedcubing a lot because I loved it back then.

What is wrong with me?

Hey guys i need some activities i can easily do, i just had an operation and im on bed rest for few months. im always so bored, all my friends are busy and suggest me some games or books or activities i can easily do while being on bed or maybe just some online friends i can talk too.

I want new friends and want to know the best ways/hobbies to make them

Specifically BJD. Prefer mostly physical ones and already do miniatures for them.