WoW Petopia Community

Probably weird place to ask this, but I need hobby ideas. I'm on college break for a month or so and I seriously cannot sit here and play WoW all day. I need SOMETHING to do. I already collect stuff and have a neat little WW2 collection, but I'm looking for something more expressionary (Idunthinkthatsaword).

I just can't think of anything to do, normally I do a little bit of wood-work when I have a project or painting but I'm still just not uhm.. fulfilled? I guess is the word.

So far I've come up with two ideas:

Photography.
&
Piercing school.

The latter I probably cannot get any financial aid for and my family does not care for the piercings I have now anyways so. Any ideas at all will be considered and appreciated.

Having been gainfully unemployed for over a year now, I've gone through the "need SOMEthing to do" phase. =D Personally, I picked up a longbow on the internet for ~$130 and taught myself to be decently proficient at it. Borrowed my little bro's bass and learned a couple of scales, 5 Red Hot Chili Peppers songs and Bach's Prelude #1 for Cello. And (most recently) picked up a wood-burning kit online for $13 and am having a hoot of a time making funny marks all over the furniture my BF said I could mess up if I wanted. Not that any of that is helpful ... but ya never know!


I think there should have been semicolons in there somewhere.

Hrm hrm hrm...things to do for a long college break. Let's see, what did I do?

Books--read books! Pick an especially long series and power your way through it. Then it'll take a lot of time whether or not you're a fast or slow reader.

Art--Pick some art form you're not used to and just give it a whirl! Photography works if you have a camera. You could also do painting, ceramics, woodworking, something with textiles, writing, etc etc. I'd avoid metal-related ones just because they can be expensive though (took a jewelery class once; it demolished my wallet). You can look up some guides and stuff online to give it a shot but don't be afraid to just experiment.

Walking/Sport/Etc -- I personally try and take a walk once a day if I'm not at work or something. I bring some music with me and it's a great way to just organize my thoughts and plan stuff out, for my real-life troubles or for something like writing, to come up with ideas. You might have a local gym in the area too; you could always go work out, or see if they have a short term class for yoga or martial arts or something that you can try out. You might find a new hobby to continue through school, PLUS it'll be healthy for you

Part-time job -- Some places might just need seasonal help. This could always bring in the money and ease a load off those school bills.

Find a Different Game -- I did this a lot actually XD I'd get tired of WoW, so I'd pull out my ol' Gamecube or my even older Playstation and indulge in a little nostalgia with some classic Final Fantasies or Mario games. It was actually really fun!

Hope there is something here that appeals XD

~VelkynKarma

Leatherworking! A lot of stuff translates decently from woodworking, but there are huge differences as well, and some of the things that can be done with leather are amazing. Simple accessories, decorations, functional pieces, clothing...3 dimensional carvings, embossing, stamping, and even dying leather itself is an art form.

It's quite addictive... >.>

Let me know if you want more info, ill send you to a forum I belong to, and info and..whatnot.

I'll go ahead and suggest digital art and photography. I do both, and neither is particularly expensive, while still providing hours of fun.

I've found painting stuff to be fun and time consuming. I don't mean painting pictures because I just can't do that but I mean things like ceramics or little models. I used to paint Warhammer 40k models but sort of fell behind. Anyway, if you can find a local ceramics place I would definitely check it out! The place I go to is pretty cheap and EVERYONE there is really helpful and eager to get you started on the hobby. The game stores with 40k products will also love to help you out! There are SO many things to choose from that even just deciding on what to paint is time consuming! X] If you're interested in 40k or even regular Warhammer check out this website: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catal ... stid=70990

I prefer Lizardmen and Witch Hunters! :3

Korii wrote:Leatherworking! A lot of stuff translates decently from woodworking, but there are huge differences as well, and some of the things that can be done with leather are amazing. Simple accessories, decorations, functional pieces, clothing...3 dimensional carvings, embossing, stamping, and even dying leather itself is an art form.

It's quite addictive... >.>

Let me know if you want more info, ill send you to a forum I belong to, and info and..whatnot.

Even Guns n' Roses coasters? *grins*

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Teigan wrote:Sculpting...my vote is for Sculpey clay! It's really fun, versatile, you can play with the colors almost like paint and you can fire it in your oven. Amaze your friends and family with geeky game stuff you made with your own three hands.

I second sculpting, but I personally dislike Sculpey and instead suggest EZ Shape clay. It's FAR easier to mold than Sculpey, and while you can't bake it or anything.. It doesn't dry out at all so you can re-pose your creations and such! I absolutely love it <3

I also second (third? fourth?) some sort of art. It's not too hard to pick up GIMP to play aroudn with the digital side of things if you're so inclined. Sculpture is always fun too. I'm particualry fond of woodworking and metalworking, but as Velkyn said those can be a little expensive... And dangerous if you're not smart around the workshop.

How about learning a musical instument? Again, can be expensive to get yourself a decent instument (depending on what you go I suppose) but can be very rewarding!

And if worse comes to worse, have a look around your local town, see what events/classes/gatherings happen. If you have a local RPG store, you can see if they have a few Dungeons and Dragons/Table Top RPG groups looking for new members, or maybe get involved in the RPGA. If you can handle the initial feeling of nerdiness, and you're decent at math, D&D/Tabletop Gaming is a lot of fun and a great excuse to have friends over. XD

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Teigan wrote: Oh, that sounds great. Next time I make the journey to a town with a real craft store (yay for living in the middle of nowhere!), I must look for this. Is it similar price? Range of colors?

I honestly can't remember the price, as I haven't bought some in a while, but I know it's not too expensive. As for colours? There's a lot of them, that's for sure. They come in somewhat themed packs, such as dull, neutral colours (which are black, white, gray, brown and tan), to even bright neon colours (which are pink, orange, yellow, green and purple. All neony XD) and just about everything in between. I haven't seen a certain pack in a long time, though... It came with a pretty moss green, normal green, normal blue, gray-ish blue (Or Troll-coloured blue, as I call it XP) and purple. Been probably a couple years since I've been able to find that pack.... You can also get packs of just one colour (usually white or black). And.. From what I remember, my mom found a website a couple years ago where you could buy it... Quite useful if you want a specific pack. (.. I should probably see if I can find that pack that I mentioned earlier.. It'd be nice to find it again. The moss green and gray-blue are actually pretty rare, as that's the only pack that I've seen that has them.)

Kaleos wrote: Even Guns n' Roses coasters? *grins*

Yes, even guns n roses coasters...lol...I still enjoyed making it. =oP

VelkynKarma wrote:Find a Different Game

I cannot honestly recommend any game higher than Magic. It's easy to get into, has a rich storyline, is relatively inexpensive and is updated regularly with more cards and new functions that always make it feel fresh. It's the longest running collectible card game and the most-played game of its type in the world. I suggest everyone gives it a try.

I've done woodworking and stuff normally have fun making frames for my posters of various bands I get etc I have fun painting designs on them and what-not. My dad's a carpenter so I have all the saws and basic know-how on how to use everything, so I might go back to this.

Also drawing on the comp I just cannot seem to do. It's weird I can draw much better using a pencil, a mouse seems so foreign D:.

I'm thinking about just going into a hobby store and seeing what I can find that seems fun. Ofc I have to drive to a huge town to find a hobby store so :\.

The magic the gathering thing some-how reminded me I need to learn to play dungeons and dragons. o.o

Moore wrote: Also drawing on the comp I just cannot seem to do. It's weird I can draw much better using a pencil, a mouse seems so foreign D:.

Mouse art is really, really tough. It is obnoxious, frustrating, and counter-intuitive--I do not recommend it. If you really want to learn how to draw on a computer, I suggest one of two things:

1. Play with a tablet. In case you don't know, it's basically an interface that plugs into your computer, but you draw on the tablet like a digital sketchbook. This means that all your pencil, pen, paint, etc techniques can be translated over easily, because the pens are usually pressure-sensitive and extremely versatile. I have a tablet and it's great for drawing on a computer because you get the feeling of hand-drawn art while taking advantage of useful digital filters (and the undo button, which doesn't exist in real life!)

2. Try to play with a vector-based program, like Adobe Illustrator (I'm sure there's some free comparable versions out there too, like the Gimp is to Photoshop). These ones take a bit of getting used to, but since a lot of the art circles around the pen tool, it means it is just as easy to manipulate with a mouse as it is with a tablet pen (in fact I actually prefer a mouse). I'll do something like scan in a rough sketch and then create a new layer, and create vector-based art by tracing over it or improving it. You get nice sharp lines and colors, like this. Bulletdance, on this form, also has a lot of great vector-based imagery.

~VelkynKarma

I'm an Artist, I sell my artwork online... well.. when stuff sells.

You can find my stuff here: http://andrewdbarker.deviantart.com/store/

*(Sorry for the shameful plug)*.


Other than that, WoW is my hobby.

Moore wrote:Photography.

Heh. Got money? My sister loves photography, and she does nice enough work to get freelance work, but her DSLR was four figures(it's only a mid-range one ). That doesn't even take into consideration the lenses, flashes and other bits like Compact Flash cards and tripods. Sure, you start out with the travel sized touristy camera, but next thing you know your freezer is full of film.

I'd say start a warhammer table top army but thats a bit costly but fun!