I’ve never let it stop me, but:

• ethical philosophy

• social dance, especially contra and square

• chromosomal / genetic inheritance simulations

Contributing to OpenStreetMap. I try to bring it up because it would be great to get more contributors to the project, but either I have to explain “It’s Wikipedia, but a map” or they come out with misunderstandings about the project that aren’t worth correcting. E.g not liking the icons used to display points on the map.

Cat juggling.

I train in swordfighting. It’s good exercise and trains hand eye coordination as well as good balance.

The funniest part is it’s actually helped me a lot in my day to day because I know how to move my body

I kill and butcher animals for myself and sometimes friends together with my boyfriend. Mostly pigs, some sheep and goats, poultry. Sometimes injured animals who are too injured or in too much pain.

The idea is to save the stress of transport to animals who are raised in good conditions as part of diversified restorative small-scale agriculture.

The killing and butchering is just one part of a circle of activities around the farm throughout the year, but probably the most unmentionable in any social setting other than among meat fanatics.

Not too quirky or obscure but I really just like to fix shit. Clocks, washing machines, cars, crooked door, hole in a sweater, electronics… Nothing is outside of my interest.

On the more obscure side I like to fiddle with wrist watches by adding aftermarket parts and modifying their overall look.

Weather watching (not the extreme kind) - I basically note down the current weather and interpret my own forecast then later see if I’m right.

Lockpicking - it’s basically a tiny little puzzle and I can buy different solutions for a few bucks at any store.

Gardening - this is less obscure/quirky and more that I don’t want people to think that I’m bragging about how many tomatoes I have because I will in fact brag about how many tomatoes I have.

I’ve spent a good chunk of the year making ebooks from out-of-print dead tree books. Proofing and formatting takes a ton of time. Nobody reads them but me.

Each quirky hobby mentioned here, deserves its own Lemmy community!

Dildos, especially Bad Dragons. I genuinely love just collecting them

Fountain pens. Honestly, most people look at me more weirdly when I mention a nib’s feedback than when I mention the means of production.

Contributing to localization in my language. (I use Localizor or weblate) I’ve helped translation for the Godot Engine and many released games. It’s a free hobby granted you have a PC and some knowledge. I’ve always liked translating stuff for those who can’t speak English. And it keeps my language skills sharp in both.

Working on my (private) servers is a hypnotic activity for me. It can be interesting or I can hate it and still want to do it. It can also be relaxing. Last time when I was sick in bed I played around with wireguard VPN configs all day to get a routed VPN for my VPS. I’m going to fix it today because something doesn’t work the way it should.

Also, I learn Japanese. 日本語が大好き！

Starting and abandoning hobbies.

Programming… Maybe not the most quirky, but just doesn’t make for good conversation