Expensive, short-lived special interests

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Anyone else have these?

For example I recently became fascinated with downhill mountain biking (DH MTB) and spent hours and hours just watching movies of it and reading different internet discussion forums. Eventually I bought a $3k DH bike. Have had it almost a year now and ridden it just a couple of times just to commute to work. Pathetic really and my gf is extremely annoyed.

Similar with computers. Recently spent hours and hours finding the best bang-for-buck laptop I could and spent over a grand on it. Barely used it and it pretty much lives in its bag now depreciating in value.

etc. etc.!

I also find it completely ruins my ability to save money as I always blow it all on my latest obsession. I already have several other expensive items on my weird wish list including a 3D printer and a Kawasaki KLX 250 S motorbike (I don't even have a driving licence). Not good and my needless spending drives my gf mad.

Cycling is expensive, but I have a road bike and I ride whenever I can. I'm into snowboarding too and that too is expensive but I go up to Tahoe with people anyway and I enjoy riding. Just find a good compromise when it comes to things like that.

I need a new laptop as soon as AppleCare on my current MacBook runs out. I'm just going to get a MacBook Pro 15" - it's a pretty good compromise between a daily use laptop and a gaming rig even though I don't PC game - I need the graphics power for virtualization.

We are heading into some rough times in this country. The media is saying we are in recovery but the statistics show the opposite...exspecally in the housing market. This is a bad time to be spending money on things that do not really interest you in the long run. However, it sounds like you have more of a interest in researching the subject than actually owning it. You could just research stuff and not buy it. If you absolutely must have it, with your track record, you are better off just renting it for a little while until you bore of it.

But really, you need to be saving money and stocking basic supplies and learning tradable skills. You need to be learning how to grow your own food and know how to provide for yourself outside of the modern comforts.

No. I'm generally just content learning about the subject.

At least it was mountain bike instead of a Hummer.

I spent many hours researching keyboards and electronic pianos over the past few weeks. I'm really really interested in trying to learn to play piano. Of course I won't buy a $50 keyboard and see if I should invest more. I'm probably going to spend a grand or more getting something with "progressive hammer action" so the keys feel like the keys on a grand piano... That I've never actually played, and really wouldn't know the difference. How the keys feel really won;t matter much if I can't figure out how to play, or it's more multitasking intensive than I's capable of. But, I going to buy a good one anyways.

So, yeah... I get where you're coming from.

Vintage Guitars. Most recently steel guitars. I do play them, but I really don't need any more. That being said I will buy more. My wife controls the money in our house and that is a good thing!! !!
I just relized you said "short lived". That would be tools. I went through this phase were I thought I was going to be some master crafstman. I am probably the last person who should own power tools. After many close calls with fingers and limbs. What finally convinced me this was not a good idea was when a board kicked back from the table saw and hit me just above my belt. (Thank god I am not taller!! !!) It knocked me to the ground and it took me several minutes to stand up.
I had a big sale the next weekend.

I spent ~4 years of my life practising and researching writing in exercise/nutrition. In that time:

1. I spent at least $5,000 and 4 years of my life reading, breathing, thinking strength trainining and muscle building.
2. Bought >100 books
3. Read and photocopied over 1000 articles
4. Published ~10 papers/chapters (2 were peer-reviewed)
5. Took or audited courses in nutrition
6. Got certified as a personal trainer and lifestyle and weight management consultant
7. Applied into a Master's program in kinesiology (but had no background in it)
8. Worked out like a madman and kept reports/diaries of strength and size gain progress


After this phase was over(once I realized no more progress/insight could be reached or I felt confused because of the uncertainty) I gave away all my books and threw my articles away, etc. I enjoyed every second of it! The best summaries that I came across can be found here:

Review-no difference between single and multiple sets: http://www.asep.org/files/OttoV4.pdf

Meta-analysis-Favouring multiple sets: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14971985
http://www.nsca-lift.org/HotTopic/downl ... 20Sets.pdf

Criticism of Meta-analysis favouring multiple sets: http://faculty.css.edu/tboone2/asep/OttoV2.pdf

Last edited by Kon on 01 Dec 2010, 12:26 am, edited 3 times in total.

My Little Pony and Invader Zim

Such things tend to be limited (even if they were to happen) by the fact that I never have enough money to blow on things like that and saving isn't an option (unless I want to lose benefits). I think if I were to ever end up with over $1000 in spending money (in reality I rarely have over $100 or so to safely spend and often less) I would feel too guilty spending it all on something like that.

Then again I once knew someone on the same benefits I get who somehow always had a crapload of money to throw around. I imagine she was getting money from someone because it's not humanly possible to spend at the rate she did without that. (And she didn't have a credit card.) She would also do things like spend all her food money on expensive toys. Really out of control. (And she'd ask for money for "necessities", often from several people who didn't realize how many people she asked, and use that on expensive toys too.)

Ok, so what all do you know about exercise and nutrition? I need to get to 175, and I'm at 150. I suppose what I need is an eating plan.

My interests are never expensive.

Does the interest not go away until you buy something like that related to it? If not, treat it like getting a tattoo. When getting one you're supposed to wait a few months to see if you still want it.

Strength train 2-4 times/week and increase caloric intake with nutrient-dense foods. That's the basics. The specifics you gotta figure out yourself through experimentation. My preferences:

1. Train 3 times/week using full-body routines
2. ~2-3 sets/muscle group
3. Periodically change exercises (exercise rotation)
4. 8-10 exercises/work-out

When I still used to buy things, I either went to one of those dollar stores or to Walmart. Most of the things I'd bought were crap and I rarely liked them for more than a week, but they satisfied my shopping urges and gave the illusion that I had more money than I really did.

If you have trouble controlling your impulses, throw away your credit cards and carry cash only at all times. Or better yet, stay home altogether and clean up the house or something. If you want to get rid of your money that badly, just hand them over to me. I have a paypal account, we can arrange something.

I do have short-lived interests, but usually I mainly read and learn about it ... intensely, and for weeks.

This was one of my (I thought) short-lived interests but became a longer-lived one finally, I used to play and practice for hours every day, I don't play very often anymore tho (blame it on my computer and online games) but I still like pianos and sometimes I feel like practicing again like I used to. Anyway when you mentioned pianos it caught my attention lol.

From my experience an accoustic piano (versus an electronic one) is much much better when you are learning, and also sounds so much better if you play classical music. Unless you have a lot of money I would suggest looking for a baby grandpiano (it is my dream to own one lol), they are really nice and you don't need as much room as a grandpiano. Electronic ones can be a lot of fun too tho for other music genres, but even with the progressive hammer action it never feels as precise as the accoustic piano and doesn't sound as good either (at least not to me - I have one of those, worth around $2,000 and a big old style accoustic piano), maybe there is some tho but they probably cost a lot of money.

Another of my recent interests. Been driving my husband nuts talking about it all the time lol including interrupting movies. Got into that one after seeing Ernestine Shepherd on tv, that woman is 74 yr old and still wins Natural body-building contests (i.e. No steroids/testosterone/drugs etc), when I saw her I thought wow I would like to be in good shape like her at that age. Here is a website I like, the guy gives tons of advices about exercises and nutrition http://www.scoobysworkshop.com/index.htm

Last edited by Shadi2 on 01 Dec 2010, 2:32 am, edited 2 times in total.

I do, so does dad. Its not cool either.