Most of my interests tend to be typical for someone my age in my area, such as the outdoors and computers. The only real interest I have that I hide is my interest in real estate. It's not weird, but I guess I hide it because I'm unemployed and it seems like something I shouldn't be taking interest in as someone in my position. I especially like judging the more expensive housing. It's funny what people try to pass as a multimillion dollar home these days (might have been worth $2mil in the '80's but now... Yuck!).
The one interest I have that's odd to other people is vandwelling. Basically it's a van converted into a small RV, but you live in it fulltime. I, personally, don't find it odd, but most people tend to associate vandwelling with homelessness and deviants of sorts. However, most people I've found who vandwell tend to be young 'work-at-home' professionals, who want to keep costs down while being able to travel, and who don't want the cost and size of a traditional RV. Because of that I find there's a bit of romanticism to it. I'd love to do my own conversation one day.
Back in the early 1980s, my ex-wife (one reason she is an
EX-wife) and I decided that it might be nice to go see the country while we were young enough to appreciate it. We (mostly me) did a school bus conversion into an RV. It took awhile, and I had some of the work (mostly to do with the propane system) done by professionals. It had a propane furnace, propane/electric refrigerator, propane stove, and flow-thru hot water heater. It was quite comfortable and had as much space as a studio apartment.
One thing I discovered was that you cannot hide your true self in a home that small. What I discovered about my ex was that she was a greedy, inconsiderate taker with more than a dash of faker (as in the old saying, "There are Makers, Takers, and Fakers"). I ended up walking out with some furniture, my sword collection, my books, and my clothes, plus a mountain of debt it took more than seven years to pay off. And at that, I counted myself fortunate. But that's by the way.
If you go to do a conversion, here are some hints learned the hard way.
1. Make sure the base vehicle is sound before you buy. This is why school buses are often a good conversion vehicle; they have had constant maintenance. Sometimes the bus is being disposed of because it needs a repair that is not cost-effective, and you need to watch for that. But often they are being disposed of because of the law says a school bus can only be X years old. They often are still sound, but the town is obliged to buy new ones due to the law. Always ask.
Ideally, what you want is one of the long-haul coaches like the ones Greyhound uses. The cargo space underneath the passenger compartment is a godsend when converting. But they aren't easily had at a cost ordinary people can afford.
2. Write to the manufacturer and get the book on your bus. This is not the owner's manual. It's more like a Chilton's manual, with this major difference: It includes the part number and model of every bit of the bus as well as the how-to of installing and repairing same. If you are not a master mechanic, this is a godsend.
3. Start the conversion by stripping the bus out completely. I mean back to the bare floor and bare walls. Then you take down the walls, the ceiling, and the floor a little at a time, remove the minimal insulation, and replace it with better insulation. You will be doing your cable runs and HVAC runs at this point.
4. Get hold of yacht construction magazines and study them. I know, you're not building a yacht. But boatbuilders have been dealing with storage issues since before there were cars and buses. They know how to make use of every cubic inch of space in tight quarters. Don't reinvent the wheel; learn from them.
5. Read the RV magazines. You want to do this before you start, of course, while you are still planning. The reason is the same as for No. 4. Learn from what others have done, especially their mistakes. It save time and money.
6. Make scale drawings as you go. They don't have to be architect-grade, but they do have to show where your electric cables go; where your power outlets are; where the HVAC lines run; where the water tank is and how it connects to sink, shower, and toilet; where the hot water system (previous comments about flow-thru water heater) is and where its runs are; how shower, toilet and sink connect to waste tank; how chairs, tables, and beds are anchored.
7. Learn how to mig-weld. All buses regardless of type (and if possible, avoid getting a 'conventional,' engine out in front type; fifty years on, these still carry the stigma of 1960s "hippie buses" and are looked at askance by campground owners and other RV owners) have lots of window glass. That's fine for a bus full of people traveling down the road, not so good for an RV that is your home on wheels. You are going to want to remove some of the windows, especially in the bathroom area, and replace them with sheetmetal and insulation. Doing this work yourself will save you money. And remember, bondo, grinders, sanding blocks, and paint conceal a multitude of sins.
There is a great deal of satisfaction in doing a project like this yourself. I haven't listed all the hints that I could, because each conversion is unique based on bus type, what the owner is after when it's done, and how skilled the owner is at which sorts of work. But this is enough to get someone started if they want to try it, and might help them miss or at least soften the bumps you encounter along the way with such an ambitious goal in mind.
Like that makes the old ones obsolete or so. Didn't get it. Nor do I see what's so strange about keeping and using typewriters around, or the tapedeck and walkman I bought a while ago, or the multitrack tape recorders, or even vinyl records. All stuff someone at some time has uttered some critique about. Or the old photo developing enlarger, which I use to blow up and trace drawings and pictures. They all have their use, it's not even that odd. 
