Special interests that find you.

[Adora]

I don’t know if anyone else is the same, but I find that I usually don’t pursue a new interest but it can end up finding me. My newest one is Eric Carr from KISS and for some reason his life story and his time in KISS grabbed my attention and he has become my special interest. Have you had any interest that seem to have caught your attention even though you weren’t actively looking for a new topic of interest or hobby?.

 

[Progster]

Yes - I never go looking for them, they find me. Deliberately staring a hobby doesn't really work for me because it seems like a chore if I'm not genuinely into it, it has to be something that grabs my attention.

 

[Misery]

This stuff:

My 3D fractal art

Which involves using programs that often look like this:

Yeah, the surprising part is that I tolerated the initial learning curve. The whole thing was just so darned fascinating that I was able to deal with that aspect. And after not too long I started adding MORE such programs to the list of tools I can use (as each is good at specific things), so that meant even more stuff that needed to be learned.

I have no idea how in the world I even found this stuff. I dont remember. I sure didnt go looking for it though, I know that much... it just sort of appeared. But I cant imagine where/how, wish I could recall that bit.

 

[AGXStarseed]

For a long time I had an interest in Doctor Who, which started back in 2005 when I accidentally tuned into the 2nd episode - End of the World - of the rebooted series (or "Nu Who", as some call it to differentiate it from "Classic Who") and found myself really enjoying it.
After that (and learning a bit more about the show) I became a fairly regular viewer of the show, as long as I was at home to watch it and there wasn't something else on the other side that another member of my family wanted to watch. As such, I continued watching through Christopher Eccleston and later David Tennant's "eras" as the Doctor.
I started to drop off during Matt Smith's era and skimmed through Capaldi's era (the writing really became terrible for a lot of episodes) before turning off completely during Jodie Whittaker's era, but it was a good special interest for as long as it lasted - even if it was by accident.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

I would say, pretty much every one of my special interests "found me". Someone in my life, at one time or another, introduced something to me and it just took off from there. Some things like plants and cars,...pretty much a life time. Then there are the ones that may last for a year, or so,...I am 54, so, the list of previous special interests is quite extensive at this point. Right now, it's investing in the stock market. I've always got to have something to focus on.

 

[Aspychata]

Recently since l seem to be stuck at home paying down bills, l discovered duolingo and like it's format for learning or in my case, relearning Spanish and French. Spanish is for possible future work, and French is simply fun. So l like to take French because l like their grammer syntax, however Spanish doesn't entirely grab my putrid brain.

 

[Aspychata]

Duolingo.com is free and the ads aren't too bad. You can even learn Hawaiian, Irish, Navajo languages. It's easy to do on my phone. No, you don't have to even sign up to start.

 

[Nervous Rex]

For a long time I had an interest in Doctor Who, which started back in 2005 when I accidentally tuned into the 2nd episode - End of the World - of the rebooted series (or "Nu Who", as some call it to differentiate it from "Classic Who") and found myself really enjoying it.
After that (and learning a bit more about the show), I begin a fairly regular viewer of the show as long as I was at home to watch it and there wasn't something else on the other side that another member of my family wanted to watch - watching through Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant's "eras" as the Doctor.
I started to drop off during Matt Smith's era and skimmed through Capaldi's era (the writing really became terrible for a lot of episodes) before turning off completely during Jodie Whittaker's era, but it was a good special interest for as long as it lasted - even if it was by accident.

I had almost the exact same experience. I caught one of the early Christopher Eccleston episodes and went "What. Is. This?!" I immediately went full fan-boy. The early writing was so good because there were hints at what's going on throughout the episode and the Doctor puts it together at the end. You loved the Doctor because he was just so brilliant. But by the time they got to Matt Smith, the writing had changed from showing you how good the Doctor is to just having side characters telling you the Doctor is good, and expecting you to just take their word for it. And instead of intelligent plots, it was "Monsters! Run!". I quit watching after the "Kill the Moon" episode. I hated that episode and it made me realize that I had been trying to force myself to like Doctor Who for a full season or two.

 

[Nervous Rex]

I don’t know if anyone else is the same, but I find that I usually don’t pursue a new interest but it can end up finding me.

You're absolutely right. I don't go looking for new obsessions because I don't have the time for everything that I think is interesting. But a lot of them have found me.

I stumbled onto Doctor Who and went full fanboy on that for a while.

I learned about Happy Numbers from a Doctor Who episode and studied them extensively. I even contributed to an OEIS article on Happy Numbers.

I learned about the Collatz Conjecture from XKCD and delved into it for a while.

12 years ago, I learned about Chromatic Polynomials from an article that a lawyer friend sent me. I've worked on that since, expanded the language, and am writing my own custom program for calculating things related to that.

My daughter introduced me to Brandon Sanderson after she read The Rithmatist. Then I found Warbreaker at a used book store and read it. Now, 5 years later, I think I've read almost everything by Brandon Sanderson.

I really try to limit my special interests because I know that once I get interested in something, I'll want to know everything about it. But they find me and grab me, and I can't break free sometimes.

 

[AGXStarseed]

I had almost the exact same experience. I caught one of the early Christopher Eccleston episodes and went "What. Is. This?!" I immediately went full fan-boy. The early writing was so good because there were hints at what's going on throughout the episode and the Doctor puts it together at the end. You loved the Doctor because he was just so brilliant. But by the time they got to Matt Smith, the writing had changed from showing you how good the Doctor is to just having side characters telling you the Doctor is good, and expecting you to just take their word for it. And instead of intelligent plots, it was "Monsters! Run!". I quit watching after the "Kill the Moon" episode. I hated that episode and it made me realize that I had been trying to force myself to like Doctor Who for a full season or two.

Yeah, the last one I watched was Twice Upon A Time, which wasn't brilliant but was overall a decent way to end my Doctor Who viewing experience - especially since they 'brought back' the Brigadier and the First Doctor (although it was notably soured by them making one too many cringeworthy jokes at the latter's expense regarding how times have changed since the 1960's, like when he threatens to give Bill a "smack bottom" for using a rude word - which just had me slapping my hand against my forehead).

I did try Jodie's era but I couldn't get into it - especially with showrunner Chris Chibnall's laziness (such as having Gallifrey get destroyed again after several seasons of Nu Who showing the Doctor trying to save it before finally succeeding) and his refusal to accept any criticism of his work, along with hiring a bunch of writers with barely any experience (certainly none writing science fiction) and arguably dumping on over 60 years of history with the "Timeless Children" episode among other issues.
Anyhow, I'll stop myself here before I derail the discussion by going off on a rant.

 

[Tom]

I didn't choose the Stamp Collecting Life...

 

[Sherlock77]

I think that is what happens most times, for both Aspie's and NT's

To make a rather long story short, the beginnings of what has became a major hobby for me was April 1999 just outside a classic car show here in Calgary, seeing a Mercedes-Benz Unimog motorhome conversion owned by a German couple traveling the world... The truck was so unique I just had to get a photo of it, 1999 was long before cell phone cameras, but I went to a nearby store to buy a disposable film camera for really just one photo... And since it was a car show I had to finish off that disposable camera with many very crappy photos...

And over several years the volume of my photography gradually increased, and my interest in it... But ultimately it happened by accident, it found me...

Here is that rather crappy first photo (literally the very first I took on a 20 year journey):

 

[SRSAutistic]

I would say, pretty much every one of my special interests "found me". Someone in my life, at one time or another, introduced something to me and it just took off from there. Some things like plants and cars,...pretty much a life time. Then there are the ones that may last for a year, or so,...I am 54, so, the list of previous special interests is quite extensive at this point. Right now, it's investing in the stock market. I've always got to have something to focus on.

Hi @Neonatal RRT,

Some of my special interests, such as Disney Cars, Thomas the Tank Engine, and Disney Planes, lasted a few years. Other special interests, such as the FIFA World Cup (football/soccer tournament), the American Revolution, and Apple devices (iOS software updates, release dates of every iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, etc), lasted a few months.

Also, I was addicted to some video games such as Clash of Clans and Grand Theft Auto/GTA. I was addicted to those games from 2016 to 2019.

Two of my special interests, time zones and electricity (plugs/voltages) are still ongoing.

Recently, in April 2022, another special interest popped up, this time about electronics.

Right now, I have three special interests: time zones, electricity (plugs/voltages), and electronics.

Regards,

SRSAutistic