Obsessions and interests you can't afford

[Misery]

@OP, have you thought of becoming a mechanic? I dont mean the sort of mechanic that works for some big damn corporation. I mean one that handles projects directly and such with no corporate involvement.

I say this because I have an uncle who does exactly that, and he gets to spend LOTS of time doing the very things you're after. Seriously, a quick trip out to his place, and there's always a bunch of random cars just sitting around. Some are his, others belong to clients, and so on.

Honestly I'd guess that ALOT of people that get to own multiple cars or whatever, end up doing so via a similar setup as how he does it. Just because a hobby is "expensive" doesnt mean that only the rich get to do it.

I thought people were addicted to their cars as art and expression of the human spirit and capability, and set out to express my self.

They often are though. To be honest, this viewpoint is almost as dangerous as the ultra-focus.

Here's the thing: The views/behaviors/motivations of the people you specifically ran into do not reflect the whole of those with interests like this. In other words, it doesnt work as a blanket statement. The assumption that it works that way is one of the nastier manifestations of ASD in a general sense. I've noticed that ALOT of people on here do this. I catch myself doing it every now and then.

But yeah, there are lots of people that are really, truly into cars, and not in a "showboat" sort of way.

Source: Loads of family members (not just my uncle) who are into cars even more than you were. And various friends and people I've met. I myself have zero interest in the subject... my only interest in cars is that they work without exploding or something. But yeah, I've met so many that are super into this stuff.

Now that being said: NEVER trust anything that is on the *TV* specifically. TV shows are not made for "passion" or anything. Just ratings. They can be amusing, but when you want to find people that are TRULY into whatever, you have to go elsewhere. And you may have to go to more than one "elsewhere", in case the first one turns out to be crap. That's how it is with social gatherings related to specific subjects. Some are great, some are terrible. It's not an all-or-nothing thing here.

 

[Dr. Eh Hol]

...The views/behaviors/motivations of the people you specifically ran into do not reflect the whole of those with interests like this. In other words, it doesnt work as a blanket statement. The assumption that it works that way is one of the nastier manifestations of ASD in a general sense...

I believe you are correct. The people I tried to run with were part of a metro-wide group so, obviously, I though they were homogenous. I was never welcome enough to learn differently - as was so often the case. And it's too late now.

 

[Tom]

Jeeps. We have two, a his and a hers. These Jeeps are money pits. There is a ton of aftermarket stuff that you can get for them and we have lists for each. But these parts are very expensive, so it takes time to get the money together for this stuff. They are a never ending project because the aftermarket people keep coming up with new stuff that we just have to put on the want lists. Then we go off road and tear things up. But it is a ton of fun and these are the only off road vehicles that my wife will allow. No more dirt bikes or snowmobiles.

I haven't ever really been a car person except for brief periods, but did fall in love with those old WWII jeeps I would see at the Red Ball Express rallys. But I guessed about the prohibitive cost and noted how each one was more fitted out with WWII equipment and relics then the next. A halftrack would be cool too, but really bad on gas I imagine.

 

[Tom]

I haven't ever really been a car person except for brief periods, but did fall in love with those old WWII jeeps I would see at the Red Ball Express rallys. But I guessed about the prohibitive cost and noted how each one was more fitted out with WWII equipment and relics then the next. A halftrack would be cool too, but really bad on gas I imagine.

Just as an aside I used to frequently work on electronic warfare ranges co-located with live bombing/straffing ranges. And there were always these parks of old military vehicles, junk and even aircraft they would use as targets. In one place they had dozens of the old jeeps and I wondered if one could put a good one together out of the batch. Individually they were in rough shape. Not shot up but while the main metal was good, all the hoses, rubber, etc, were just falling into dust.

 

[Isadoorian]

Video Games (new games here in Canada, particularly BC, are $80 ($79.99), unsure of other provinces) and that's for BOTH Digital & Physical copies. With Taxes, which is 12% for us, that's $89.60.

Mechanical Keyboards

New Gaming PC (I was lucky enough to get the funds with enough saving up over the course of a month, my current, new PC is just over a Grand alone, before Taxes (and Shipping/Handling)

Magic the Gathering; new Booster Packs are ~ $5 to $6 a piece, and I haven't played in several months, so I'm way behind in Standard Format; this is PRIMARILY why I try & stay with Commander & Modern.

Formerly: Warhammer 40k. I have a model, which is a ship, which cost me ~ $100 alone when I bought it many years back (I think around 2014/2015).

 

[FreeDiver]

Now that being said: NEVER trust anything that is on the *TV* specifically. TV shows are not made for "passion" or anything. Just ratings. They can be amusing, but when you want to find people that are TRULY into whatever, you have to go elsewhere. And you may have to go to more than one "elsewhere", in case the first one turns out to be crap. That's how it is with social gatherings related to specific subjects. Some are great, some are terrible. It's not an all-or-nothing thing here.

One of the most dangerous things about trusting TV isn't so much about know that it's fake in general. But knowing how much fake it is. I've been burned several times in the past because of this. There are a lot of suttle things that don't seem fake, but in fact they are and if you try to apply them, especially in social situations. You may find that you're making a fool out of yourself and not knowing it. I did a lot of this in my teenage years.

 

[FreeDiver]

Video Games (new games here in Canada, particularly BC, are $80 ($79.99), unsure of other provinces) and that's for BOTH Digital & Physical copies. With Taxes, which is 12% for us, that's $89.60.

If you can't afford it, pirate it.

Magic the Gathering; new Booster Packs are ~ $5 to $6 a piece, and I haven't played in several months, so I'm way behind in Standard Format; this is PRIMARILY why I try & stay with Commander & Modern.

I remember when MTG first game out in 1993 and we all played sealed decks back then. When people started building custom decks. I soon lost interest. To me, it felt like cheating doing that and it kinda ruined the game for me. I haven't play MTG ever since.

 

[Metalhead]

Home theater systems. First off, I can’t afford that large OLED screen that would take up half my living room wall. Second, if I got the nightclub style home theater speakers with the deep bass subwoofer, I would be evicted from my apartment pretty damn quickly.

 

[ftfipps]

travel

Traveling is actually not as expensive as you would think. Berlin is dirt cheap. I wanna see Toronto, best food scene in the world from what I hear. Singapore and Japan are extremely expensive.

 

[Misery]

I believe you are correct. The people I tried to run with were part of a metro-wide group so, obviously, I though they were homogenous. I was never welcome enough to learn differently - as was so often the case. And it's too late now.

Aye, unfortunately, some places are just absolutely full of jerks. To some degree I believe this can depend on the area you're in. Big cities & urban areas tend to have a high measurement of jerks per square inch, for instance. But even calm, rural places sometimes have spots where it's just impossible to avoid idiots. Though I find that with the rural zones it's MUCH easier to avoid that and find places that dont suck. Still, I always go into any new situation with a healthy dose of "this is likely to get stupid, better not get my hopes up" just in case.

Video Games (new games here in Canada, particularly BC, are $80 ($79.99), unsure of other provinces) and that's for BOTH Digital & Physical copies. With Taxes, which is 12% for us, that's $89.60.

If you have a usable PC... just buy from Steam instead. Specifiically, wait for a sale. Those 90% off sales are popular for a reason.

Or, you know... just pirate it. Nobody actually cares all that much. Even alot of developers are very "meh" on the issue. I think alot of them get just as frustrated with badly priced games as the players do. It's usually the publishers that get so bothered by it, but they're also the ones pulling crap like lootboxes and such, so who cares what they think....

Magic the Gathering; new Booster Packs are ~ $5 to $6 a piece, and I haven't played in several months, so I'm way behind in Standard Format; this is PRIMARILY why I try & stay with Commander & Modern.

Formerly: Warhammer 40k. I have a model, which is a ship, which cost me ~ $100 alone when I bought it many years back (I think around 2014/2015).

I used to play Magic. I had so many cards, way back when. Holy heck am I glad I dont do that anymore. WotC is one hell of a predatory company. Something I found out upon entering the board/card/tabletop gaming community is that WotC is a VERY despised company overall, even by those in such a community. And Games Workshop is right up there with them. Very nasty companies, both of them. Not that those games dont have their fans in the community, of course. But neither company has a good reputation, and that's putting it very mildly.

I always liked the IDEAS behind Magic. Well, the gameplay ideas, anyway. But WotC's entire function is forcing players to keep buying more and more, and keeping the prices high when they do so. I'm so glad I found things that give me the same feel as Magic, yet dont involve buying 10000 trading cards that may or may not be any good.

I remember when MTG first game out in 1993 and we all played sealed decks back then. When people started building custom decks. I soon lost interest. To me, it felt like cheating doing that and it kinda ruined the game for me. I haven't play MTG ever since.

Yeah, that was the OTHER reason I stopped playing Magic.

Making a deck was just a total pain, and then it turns out that most players just "net deck" and simply copy decks they find online... no creativity whatsoever. It got really boring, really fast.

If you like the sealed deck format, you might like playing a deckbuilder of some sort. AKA, game where the deck is built DURING gameplay, as a PART of that gameplay. Those are very popular and there are alot of them.

 

[Pats]

Traveling is actually not as expensive as you would think. Berlin is dirt cheap. I wanna see Toronto, best food scene in the world from what I hear. Singapore and Japan are extremely expensive.

I would love to have a small camper and just travel the U.S.

 

[Ylva]

I can totally afford my sushi-and-comics habit.

 

[Mia]

Guess that I've been happy with what I have and can do. And I don't expect or want more. I've lived different kinds of lives growing up poor, not having much extra of anything. And later on being able to live a reasonable life. The way I live now, I have most things I want, a place to live, food I like and the ability to do things I want to do. Used to travel, don't really want to do that anymore. So I think all my desires have been fulfilled. If I had tons of money, I'd buy up land and turn it into nature preserves for animals.

 

[Tom]

Guess that I've been happy with what I have and can do. And I don't expect more. I've lived different kinds of lives growing up poor, not having much extra of anything. And later on being able to live a reasonable life. The way I live now, I have most things I want, a place to live, food I like and the ability to do things I want to do. Used to travel, don't really want to do that anymore. So I think all my desires have been fulfilled. If I had tons of money, I'd buy up land and turn it into nature preserves for animals.

I am basically in the same place. If I did suddenly have a big, big pile of money, besides helping family and animal rescues my pipe dream has always been buying a ruined castle to excavate, preserve and restore, at least a section, to livability.

 

[FreeDiver]

Does anyone here have obsessions and interests they can't afford to pay attention to?

 

[Progster]

I most definitely can't afford to collect all the music releases I would like to own - at least, not in decent mint or near mint condition.

 

[Streetwise]

I am obessed with seeing new places. But age has slowed me down. I wanted to see Singapore but it hasn't happened. Books,music, movies, l need them all. I also love computers, when married, there probably was at least four in the house. So of course l allowed my daughter as much gaming consoles as she wanted, because electronics runs in the family genes. Now l can't afford books so l shop discount instead of B&N.

are you bothered if it was in the form of an e-book if you are don’t go to archive.org open an account it’s San Francisco based so if you want to contact them and you’re on the West Coast you have the best chance of them getting back to you

 

[Streetwise]

I am basically in the same place. If I did suddenly have a big, big pile of money, besides helping family and animal rescues my pipe dream has always been buying a ruined castle to excavate, preserve and restore, at least a section, to livability.

View attachment 59762

go to the conservation/restoration website of any country and find out the regulations for living in a graded habitation.
in the UK it is exorbitantly expensive to turn a graded habitation into something liveable,Grading just means how old it is grade 1 is older than grade 2, I presume other countries have a similar system.

 

[christopher.k]

travelling at the moment I often fantasize about adopting a wandering lifestyle deciding which way to go on a whim
im hoping I can make it a reality when I stop being tied down by my family and find financial independence but being the reckless person I am ill probably get myself killed.

 

[FreeDiver]

travelling at the moment I often fantasize about adopting a wandering lifestyle deciding which way to go on a whim
im hoping I can make it a reality when I stop being tied down by my family and find financial independence but being the reckless person I am ill probably get myself killed.

Actually I was able to make travel a reality for me when my mom pass away in 1996. For about 3 years. I traveled all over the country and in some other places in the world. I mostly went to nerdy base events during my travels since I was trying to find out who I was as a person and of course, in the end, that never happened.

But here are some things to be aware of then traveling alone. What would happen to you if you got injured or arrested? What would you do if you found yourself in the hospital or jail? I don't mean to cause fear mongering here, but if you're traveling alone, you really need to ask yourself these questions. Who gonna bail you out of jail? Who gonna be there for you when you need to recover from a hospital stay? Just something to think about when traveling alone.