How long do your obsessions usually last?

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dougn
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23 Mar 2009, 1:21 pm

I had childhood obsessions that, I guess, lasted a few years each.

I have two major obsessions (one more intense and slightly older than the other) that I have had since I was 4 and, I guess, 6. I assume those will be life-long.



Jkid
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23 Mar 2009, 3:47 pm

Weeks, sometimes months. In some cases even years.



MONKEY
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23 Mar 2009, 4:52 pm

I've got life long obessions that changes it's intensity depending on other obessions that appear. My main life long one has always been mythical creatures especially mermaids and when I was a child I used to go on and on about making my own mermaid tail and I used to fantasize all day, my mum never made one though, sadly.
My "medium" obsessions last a couple of years, I had an obsession from 2005-early 2007 with the band tA.T.u, and I used to talk about them all the time and I mainly said the same stuff and I used to bring up the subject of tatu in nearly every conversation resulting in annoying everyone I know, but I didn't care haha. I even had my hair cut like yulia (the shorter haired member) in 2006! I'm still a big fan of them now but not as obsessive as I once was.
I have "mini" obsessions that last from a few days-months, and they're usually websites or something I'd been reading about maybe a band or something.


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Optician_Of_Urza
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23 Mar 2009, 5:13 pm

One of my obsessions that has fluctuated in intensity has been my Magic: The Gathering obsession. Since I came to uni about a year and a half ago I've been able to indulge in it because there is a local games shop with regular tournaments. I've now also become a level 1 judge so I can go to judge at larger events (and I get paid more when I do).


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Whimsi-Cal
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24 Mar 2009, 6:46 am

Usually I have 1-2 intense interests for anywhere from 3 months to a year. Sometimes for 5-6 years. I often alternate and sometimes alternate back.



Whimsi-Cal
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24 Mar 2009, 6:49 am

Optician_Of_Urza wrote:
One of my obsessions that has fluctuated in intensity has been my Magic: The Gathering obsession. Since I came to uni about a year and a half ago I've been able to indulge in it because there is a local games shop with regular tournaments. I've now also become a level 1 judge so I can go to judge at larger events (and I get paid more when I do).


Magic the Gathering was one of my long lasting obsessions. I use to be obsessed with collecting certain card types like dragons or Slivers. I have a bunch of Shivan Dragons, Sliver Queens, ect.

MONKEY wrote:
I've got life long obessions that changes it's intensity depending on other obessions that appear. My main life long one has always been mythical creatures especially mermaids and when I was a child I used to go on and on about making my own mermaid tail and I used to fantasize all day, my mum never made one though, sadly.
My "medium" obsessions last a couple of years, I had an obsession from 2005-early 2007 with the band tA.T.u, and I used to talk about them all the time and I mainly said the same stuff and I used to bring up the subject of tatu in nearly every conversation resulting in annoying everyone I know, but I didn't care haha. I even had my hair cut like yulia (the shorter haired member) in 2006! I'm still a big fan of them now but not as obsessive as I once was.
I have "mini" obsessions that last from a few days-months, and they're usually websites or something I'd been reading about maybe a band or something.


Lena and Yulia are hot! lol. I love all of their music, especially Dangerous and Moving CD. As far as mythical stuff is concerned, I had an obsession with Greek and Roman Mythology. I loved Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess.

McTell wrote:
I've been obsessed with the blues since 2006, I think, and specifically Blind Willie McTell from mid-2008. The longest obsession I've had was about Lego and lasted from 1994-2002, and shows signs of a rebirth.


I had an obsession with Legos castles. lol I also had an obsession with trying to build the Super Mario 3 airships out of legos.

Well, I used to have an obsession with Legos at 6-12 years. Then I had an obsession with History until my obsession with Drawing. After that came writing which started three years ago and still counting. But the biggest obssesion I have now is anime, starting with Pokemon when I was 6. Along with writing, this is my biggest obsession.

Every now and then I get a minor obsession, like Lilith or Leviathan or Behemoth or Go, Risk, and chess. I'm still have an obession with Lilith and Leviathan as we speak, but I don't think about them as much as anime and writing.

I was obsessed with Dragon Ballz, Naruto, Death Note, and especially Pokemon. Risk is how I learned geography when I was 8 or 9. It helped a lot to picture the world in my head. I love chess too.

Emor wrote:
I can only handle 1 major obsession at a time.
They all vary. My obsession with ants ended when my Mum moved my ant farm to the garage. I don't know, I didn't like spending all my time in the garage.
My obsession with Triops(Notostraca) ended when they all died.
My obsession with Tamagotchi(both plural and singular, afaik) ended when my Tamagotchi died.
My obsession with magnets ended when my computer obsession became too strong.
Now all do is go on the computer with brief obsessions which I learn about on my computer. For example, religion. Every lunch time for around a week I'd just read religious statistics. Then I got a bit bored, and moved onto reading about Anonymous(I already new a bit, but not that much), then Area 51, then Coke conspiracies, etc.
EMZ=]


I had an obsession with Ants as a kid. I use to read all about them and try to raise them in ant farms.

Zyborg wrote:
Only hobby which was destructive was period when I was 15-17 years old and played Starcraft very much. I was always playing as Zerg. One time, I sat up 48 hours in row.


I played that game non-stop. lol My favorite race was the Protoss. They are finally making Starcraft 2. Can't wait.

Warsie wrote:
been a Star Wars Fan since I was 10 or 9, when I played the first Rogue Squadron game on the N64. The strength does vary, there were years when I didn't pay too much attention to it but kept my knowledge, then I increased it again,

hardcore chanfag since august 2007 and been paying attention to it since 2006, and seeing gurochan a little in 2005

what else?


I went into a Star Wars obsession phase. I had a fascination with Star Destroyers.

As you can see I've had a lot of obsessions. I've been told that I know a little about everything. Thing is I usually only focus on one and maybe two at the most at any given time.



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05 Nov 2011, 6:28 pm

Mathematics , several years now , 4 at least.



Kiseki
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05 Nov 2011, 10:35 pm

Nowadays anywhere from 3 days to 3 months. I tend to get really manically obsessed with one subject and just study it all day long until no more information is available. Then the obsession dies. I've never had parallel obsessions. I can only concentrate completely on one thing at a time.

When I was a kid and teenager my interests lasted MUCH longer, as long as a few years. I'm not sure what changed in my neurology, but it seems impossible to be obsessive about things like that now. Maybe, in youth, you just don't know as much about things so everything becomes a learning experience. I have gotten gradually more jaded since finishing college.

When I've not had proper special interests, I have actually made people I knew special interests. I did this with all 3 of my major crushes. Anyone else do this? I hate that I do it and I don't know how to stop.


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johnsmcjohn
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05 Nov 2011, 10:47 pm

Shortest was a few days(the time it took me to watch an entire season of a certain show) up to about 9 years or so. Depends on the amount of knowledge there is to absorb.


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Kiseki
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05 Nov 2011, 10:54 pm

johnsmcjohn wrote:
Shortest was a few days(the time it took me to watch an entire season of a certain show) up to about 9 years or so. Depends on the amount of knowledge there is to absorb.


I was wondering if other people did this with TV shows. I feel the need to watch every episode one after another- watching nothing else in between- until it is finished. When I am off work I will do this all day long, for about 8 hours. Right now I'm working on BBC Horizon.


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CockneyRebel
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05 Nov 2011, 10:56 pm

My special interests have included Computers, The Kinks and The Olympics - bot summer and winter since I was 9. I've had many obsessions come and go, over the years.


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06 Nov 2011, 3:06 pm

Life


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Irulan
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06 Nov 2011, 4:50 pm

It differs. From a couple of days (like a week) to a couple of months but I keep all my obsessions in one big mental store to pull them out in some time again - they remain as interesting to me as they used to.



Chibs
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06 Nov 2011, 6:32 pm

Depends on the definition of "obsession"? But they vary.

Often when I first start playing/watching/reading something, and I like it, I might like it a lot and gain a slight obsession. Often this lasts from 2 weeks to 3-4 months, then I'm not that interested anymore, though I still like and enjoy it. Other things are pretty much for life. Like Pokémon, been into it for 8 years(though I knew about it and sort of liked it before that, my real interest came from playing the video games myself) and I can't really see my interest stopping, though I guess at this time, I can't call it an "obsession" as much as "game I like". (At this point, I'm just more interested and fascinated with the Pokémon themselves, and the game world and universe it's set in, than actually playing the game)

There are also some interests I go in and out of "obsession" with over time... like Pokémon. Each "obsession" period for this typically starts when a new game comes out, and lasts 3-4 months.