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I'm in that age bracket and I've turned to spunking the little amount of disposable income on amateur radio kit and equipment.
I wish I'd picked up a debilitating cocaine habit instead. It'd be cheaper.
Oh hey that's something I've been vaguely interested in for a while!!! You enjoying it? What do you do?
Very little 😂
No I got into it to learn the theory of it more than anything. I've been faffing about with a VHF setup to see if I could establish a little station that could be heard anywhere in the town I'm in. That's inexpensive to do and you can probably knock together a basic station with decent range for £100 and the time and effort needed up a ladder.
The next step is to look further afield and build a station that operates in the 20m band, but I'm yet to be able to convince Chief Girlfriend that an end fed antenna dangling across the back garden, or a fiver metre whip mounted to the roof is a good idea. HF transceivers are exponentially more expensive, and require some support devices too.
Otherwise, I go "hilltopping" and head up elevated positions with a quarter-wave antenna and a cheap handheld radio to listen out on what's happening. It's good for the geek in me; it's good for the mind being at such pretty viewpoints; and it's good for the body walking or running up hillsides.
Alternatively, I'll sit in the garden while the kids play around with FlightRadar24 open on a device and a handheld radio tuned to the local airport approach frequency, and talk about what an aircraft is or may be doing while listening to the chatter.
So yeah, I don't do a lot really. I live quite close to the coast so getting into marine frequencies is something on my list to do; and speaking to folk worldwide would be a laugh!
Everyone should learn new things as often as they can. Pick up a new hobby or skill, become very proficient at it, incorporate it into your life, repeat. This active mental engagement is the best way to prevent dementia and keep your mind sharp.
This active mental engagement is the best way to prevent dementia and keep your mind sharp.
It's also... you know... fun
My midlife crisis is degoogling, switching to Linux, eating less meat, reducing the footprint I leave on this world, spending more time with my wife and daughter, treating my recently diagnosed ADHD and not giving as many fucks regarding work. Oh, and I took up archery. Pretty ok I guess. I'm 42.
This sounds less like a crisis and more like 'getting your shit together'.
You're setting things up to enjoy life more. All power to you!
God forbid people pick up new hobbies as they grow older, we should all make as much money as humanly possible and then die i guess.
Some even try to stay healthy! What a bunch of losers!
fuck yeah i love money
I have really enjoyed my midlife crisis (which looks a little different as a woman): lost 30 lbs, began dressing like a scary executive, got rid of the imposter syndrome, and give very few fucks. It has been delightful.
Please explain the scary executive getup. I am taking notes for my own impending midlife crisis.
Yeah is this well fitted suit scary, or turtleneck scary. I personally leaned the other way and wear literal rose tinted Lenon glasses now. Fuck it, I tried everything else to see this world as anything other than a shithole filled with idiots, may as well take a metaphor out for a spin
This has some good stuff: https://www.caspermagazine.com/feature/the-art-of-tailoring-with-an-edge
I see that to dress like a scary exec, I must first earn like a scary exec...
I'm not sure how a midlife crisis would look for me because I've basically kept the same weird interests I had as a teen.
So basically a life-long midlife crisis?
😏
Entire-life crisis
Nice live you have...
Ooooo!! 🙋♂️, I can relate to that!
similar, i went from not having transportation besides my feet to having an ebike. we joke that it's my midlife crisis, but really it's just my transportation.
my midlife crisis will involve so many saxophones. when i can afford a midlife crisis.
I've been finally realizing my dream of having a home studio filled with all sorts of synthesizers, samplers, drum machines, effects, mixers, etc. Pretty frustrating since now that electronic music has been incorporated into mostly every genre and there are also a lot of collectors all the now vintage pieces that my favorite artists used back in the day are priced insanely out of reach. Upside is there is a ton of cool new stuff coming out, too much cool new stuff.
Damn it. So it seems like I am prototypical 40-something.
Life can be fun, so trying to make the best of it.
Brewing decent coffee however is fine (or tea, or caffeine pill it & hydrate) but dang nothing like having a bike that can get into some hills! Until the ski mountains open for winter but can be too far, too expensive
Can confirm. I did exactly this at 40. Now in my 50's I just traded in the gravel bike for an ebike and bought a milk frother for my espresso machine!
no gravel bike at 40? A deeply disturbed individual
Are we still on for historical wargaming at 40? Or has that moved to 50 now?
30 something, regular MTB, Areopress. I’m on the right trajectory.
Is a gravel bike something specific or just like, a regular bike?
It's something in between a road bike and a mountain bike.
Okay yeah, so exactly what it sounds like. Wasn't sure if it was a brand maybe or something.
I might take up the tumbak.
Me who just went to see a friend this morning on my fixie "Neat... I totally fit the stereotype!"
I turned 40 this year and turned my office in a darts room. Does that count? I still have my office there though (far enough to not get damaged by the bounce off darts).
Hey, gravel bikes are good fun.
I had no idea what a gravel bike was so here's for the other folks who don't either:
You're certainly not going to carry a lot of gravel with that bike. Maybe if you added a little carriage?
Hmm I've been a coffee geek and bicycle nerd (hobby mechanic) since my teenage years, and ran a half-marathon in my mid 20ies ... guess I've been 40 for a long time now ...
I can't find a single job to save my life because all the job postings are saturated, what's wrong with me?
Nothing is wrong with you, the job market is a hellscape. It's a job posting written by AI being applied to by AI. Most entry level jobs get thousands of applications when a few years ago it was only a few dozen. You literally can't compete in that. My suggestion is network. Goto job faires and meet people who are looking for or match people to jobs.
The only thing wrong, judging by that statement, is the hellscape you (and I) live in.
44 here and zero of this applies to me lol. My hobbies are still video games and art; the same hobbies I’ve had since I was a kid.