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Unlikely Obsessions

kasmanaft08

Well-Known Member
V.I.P Member
Any of you guys have (or had) any obsessions that seem a bit out of character, or unusual compared to the rest?

Generally, most of my obsessions seem to fit with me somehow as far as I'm concerned, it's usually other people that think they're unexpected for whatever reason. A lot of people are surprised "how nerdy I am" for instance, maybe I don't look like the stereotype to a lot of people.

I also have a handful of things I'll get obsessed with (usually they're brief, but its frequent enough) that do seem a bit random compared to my other obsessions, even if you know me well.
 
Meh... I don't know... there's a lot stuff I like or have an interest in some people consider weird... while others kinda consider it "me". Perhaps it has to do with people knowing different aspects from me.

For instance; I'm more likely found on a rave than a concert. However, I do prefer rave music mostly for raves & metal for instance for home & my ipod. My liking for most of Danny Elfman's stuff is weird to some people as well. The fact that I like to dance at raves is weird to some people.

It's just as weird that I don't really nerd out on computergames and don't care that much for computers and programming. Yet I nerd out on the specific geeky parts considering music, software synthesizers and such.

Apparently some people think I'm along the lines of the stereotypical "man" but I don't care for it that much... and have gotten looks that I actually care for certain perfumes/scents instead of just grabbing a can of deodorant and settling with that.

Another thing people found weird with me, was that despite me having spades instead of hands (yes my hands are quite big), that I was able to paint 28 mm miniature figures quite well in short amounts of time. People thought that was weirder than me playing a game with toy soldiers. Even most gamers found it weird because most of em weren't that good of painters. The game itself (Warhammer) is something that is played by a lot of... well, let's say; a majority of the players fall into the geek/nerd demographic, so me playing that game wasn't that weird.

As a kid I used to obsess over most cartoons I saw and liked. It went way further than just being @ home to watch it. I'd usually look for any information I could get of it... mind you that was the late 80's, early 90's, when there was no wikipedia. (along the same lines I used to read encyclopedia's instead of normal books as a kid)

That's some stuff I can come up with from the top of my head... don't think I have that much really obscure interests... I tend to keep my interests just go in way deeper than most people would. But then again... what is obscure. I've talked to people whom I told that I liked X and they kinda expected that, how "weird" it might be.
 
I don't think that I have any weird obsessions. In fact, I find that my obsessions are somehow linked to me. For example; I used to be obsessed with collecting toy diggers - I had family in the construction industry. I am obsessed with computers - I have an uncle who is a top ICT teacher. I have recently got into photography and am increasingly becoming interested - I have an uncle who is a professional photographer. Another interest is emergency vehicles (particularly police vehicles) - yes, I also had family in the force. A final interest (to a lesser extent) is politics. I have some family members in local politics.

Maybe it's just coincidence how those are all linked to me.
 
Heh... funny to see how that all links up with you Droopy.

Thinking of it, I don't have anyone in my family or such who had a "specific" job. My dad used to drive a forklifts, my mom had some minor cleaning job... both not educated and no real interests in anything besides going to the pub and watching tv. And besides my aunt we don't have anything to do with the rest of the family... and she's more like both my parents. So uncles & aunts in general, they weren't that much of an inspiration to me for interests.

In a way I always felt that my parents just put me in a room with books and such and expected me to just find out what I'd like. That's probably why I go around kinda living in my "own world" I guess... however, I never got the impression that my parents (or any other near family) gave me critisism for what I was up to at a given moment.That could be good... could be bad as well, seeing as I didn't have someone tell me what would be weird. Hence my frame of reference to "weird" stuff is kinda out of the window I guess.
 
I wouldn't classify any of my obssesions as very unlikely or wierd really, but my level of obsession rather than interest most ordinary people would classify as extraordinary most likely. For instance my obsession with certain aircraft. With the anxieties I experience, it's rather extraordinary that I would push myself to be in the middle of a massive crowd, and crowd is an uderstatement when it has exceeded 800,000 people, to see an airshow. Most people I notice are just there with their kids so they can see the "cool airplanes" I, a grown man, get butterflies in my stomach when I see a particularly favorite aircraft coming in the distance and am totally enthralled while watching it perform it's demo. If I explained that to someone else even there witnessing it, they would likely look at me like I had two heads.

My obsession with gardening is another which is a bit unlikely as the stereotype of the typical gardener is not one I fit. When I am at a garden center buying soil amendments or straw mulch, seeds, tools, ect. for instance, the typical person I see alongside me are elderly ladies buying wood mulch and seeds for their flower beds. I have also wondered how many people out there considering the usual stereotype, listens to heavy metal music while tending their crops. HAHA!

Being a book nerd and overall geeky person as I am is not stereotypical of me either as I look nothing like the stereotypical glasses wearing, frail geek in the movies/media and such. Though in school, those are typically the people I chatted to and sat at the lunch table with.
 
I more often than not find my obsessions to be directly related to my own personal hierarchy of needs. I was a mechanic, I obsessed on cars. I found out I have asperger syndrome - I obsess on psychology (still stuck here). I want a reason to interact with the few friends I have - I obsess over airsoft games. I want to have alone time and forget the world - I lose myself in a video game. I lost my job - I obsessed on traditional blacksmithing to forge knivez from scrap in hopes of selling them. My list continues on and on as such. I would say my most out of character obsession was crafting with my wife, I sit for hours on end molding clay and painting polymer clay figures with acrylics. I always seem to excel in my obsession briefly at which point I lose interest.
 
I have had a few obsessions that when I mentioned them to others they looked at me strangely. But, most of them have become sort of mainstream now. Tattooing for example. I became interested in it in the late 70s and now it's everywhere.

I think all my obsessions have been a bit unusual. But nothing way out there, like collecting dryer lint or fingernail clippings.
 

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