There’s two types of costume contests, cosplay contests that break things down by experience, and random Halloween contests that are basically reenactments of popularity contests in high school.

The former you’re gonna enter as a journeyman unless you built something so outrageous they gotta up the difficulty level. Make sure you have a TON of documentation and pics and explanations on how you did things. The judges are gonna wanna know how hard you worked on things and the amount of detail you put into it. If you spent 8 hours on the gold colored filigree on your bracers you damn well better mention it Typically unless you’re doing best performance, you get three poses and you’re off the stage. By the time you hit the stage the judges typically made their decisions so play to the crowd and do what looks good on film. If you are going for best performance, don’t feel pressured to use your full five minutes, or however long they give. Waaay to many people overstay their welcome, you wanna leave the people wanting more, not less. Hit your points, your high note, and if you’re still only halfway through your time, whatever. You’re not disqualified if you don’t use your time completely, and people will greatly appreciate someone moving the schedule faster than usual.

For the latter Halloween costume contests, effort means NOTHING. You could’ve thrown the damn thing together in five minutes and win, and if you spend 16 hours on it it will not improve your chances. The venue is looking for costumes that look great on the social media, is a character they love, makes them laugh, blows their mind, causes the venue to cheer, and (this is the most important bit) appears in front of whoever the hell is judging the competition. It’s 1 to 3 people who pick on the previously mentioned criteria. Each judge is gonna be a little different. Some judges listen to the crowd, some judges love horror films so every slasher villain goes on stage, some judges do NOT know what the hell a star wars is. The one thing that all judges have in common though, is that they exist in a 3 dimensional space and only have eyes in front of their head. If you’re a wall flower that doesn’t interact with people, you will not win the contest unless the judge is also sharing your wall. Build a dance circle, tip the bartender to figure out who’s judging tonight (they may or may not know) but if you wanna win, physics dictates that you appear in front of a judge as they wander the venue. That is more important than your costume.

Foraging! Don’t eat things unless you are 100% sure.

Woodworking

Measure twice cut once is rookie numbers. Measure 10 times, cut a test piece 5 times, measure twice after each, then do your real cut.

This is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea.

Also, measure after each operation to check your work as you go so you can spot mistakes as early as possible. This includes checking for square, doing test fits, and all manner of sanity checks to ensure that your operations are achieving the desired results before you repeat them on other pieces or move on to do more work on those same pieces that may already be ruined or need fixing.

For glue up, always always always dry fit first. Then plan ahead. Put all your clamps on and have them adjusted before you add glue. Once the glue is on the time is short and you need to have everything ready and waiting.

If you use a table saw, take it seriously. Always use your riving knife when possible, be mindful of the control you have over the pieces, use push sticks and sleds and jigs to improve stability and safety, always wear ppe. Check that your blade is aligned to your miter slots and your fence. Having a slight relief angle on your fence can be good, but never have it canted towards the blade. That can be dangerous. Also make a crosscut sled, they’re amazing.

Beware of dust. It causes cancer and it lingers in the air. Wear a respirator and use ventilation when possible.

Make or buy a workbench with a vise and some hold down capabilities. Being able to hold your work easily is a huge benefit.

If you are looking to improve your accuracy and precision, buy a nice hand plane and learn how set it up, sharpen it, and how to use it. They are absolute game changers. Also make or buy a shooting board for it. Also, buy a machinist’s square, a set of feeler gauges, and a nice 36in aluminum straight edge and learn to use them.

Etc

Obviously that’s a lot, and a lot of it it depends on what you’re actually trying to do, but those are all things that have helped me a lot in my journey towards making furniture, picture frames, cutting boards, etc

If you’re interested in getting into bicycling check if there’s a local co-op. A good one will sell you a cheap bike and even let you pay a decent chunk of it in labor of fixing bikes (and learning to fix yours). Not only is this two hobbies for the price of a few drinks, it’s also a good way to make friends, build skills, learn good trails, and feel connected to your local community. You also can get cheap used parts. The bikes won’t be high end expensive ones, and you may decide some parts are worth paying manufacturer prices for (several used trigger shifters led to me buying new), but when all is said and done they’re usually pretty decent bikes. And you can find weird shit you may not have known was a thing.

Get a heart rate sensor (wrist or chest) and train by heart rate. Most of your cardio should be heart rate zone 2 on the 5 zone scale. This builds your aerobic capacity with minimal damage and can be done almost indefinitely. Harder efforts do more damage and add recovery time so should be limited to about two a week.

If you’re going slow you’re doing it right, it will suck less, and you’re more likely to continue. Your slow speed will get faster over time.

If you ever start playing Warhammer 40k the miniature game and plan on building your own miniatures use magnets on the weapons. A lot of models come with 2 or 3 different weapons that are good for different situations IE better anti tank, fly, infantry ect. Instead of buying the same model 3 times building and painting it you can buy one, attach small magnets to the weapons and the part of the body they attach to, then you can switch them out on the fly. I didn’t do that when I started and it gave me a lot of issues with some of the armies I played against.

For indoor rock climbing (probably outdoor as well): you need, at least, two pairs of climbing shoes. One pair will be out for a re-sole and you can use the other. Though, don’t buy your own shoes until you are sure you’re going to stick with it for a while. No point ending up with used shoes you’ll never use again, because you finally decided the sport isn’t for you.

VX hobbyists- I’ve noticed a lot of people start off by configuring their encabulators with the original series of kleinhoffer cam ratios, trying to get maximum deltas with the least vacuum pressure possible. It’s really better to start with dylomatic induction coefficients even if it initially seems more complicated, you’ll have an easier time later with the more commonly available j-discs.

Trumpet playing: The room you’re playing in really affects the sound you hear. So does your position in that room. If you are having weird issues with pieces you know you can play, try playing in the corner of the rooms, so your playing into the largest physical space possible.

flyfishing

be quieter than you think you should

Observing groups is a very useful skill, in minutes you can tell who’s where in the hierarchy, what the cliques are, how well they coordinate, how information flows, and where influence springs from.

This let’s you not only insert yourself at the right moment, peg, and place for maximum efficacy, but also informs you of barriers, challenges to overcome, and next steps for the group to act better together.

Group dynamics for coaching, creating community, project organisation, and group coaching.

Servers: it doesn’t have to be built for the purpose. In a pinch, any PC will do.

Chess: Fried liver attack doesn’t work above 700 ELO and is easily countered with a possibility for a smothered mate.

Guitar: Playing 5 minutes every day is better than playing an hour once a week.

For camping, in cold weather switching from being active to resting can be miserably cold. To combat this you can fill a heat tolerant water bottle with some boiled water, wrap it in a shirt or sweater to prevent burning, and put it into your sleeping bag to warm it up quickly. You can also sort of do the reverse for when you wake up. You can put your clothes for the next day in a small bag and sleep with them in your sleeping bag. That way they won’t be frigid when you’re trying to dress.

The best way to write a good story, for me, is to write a story I want to read. That seems obvious but bear with me. If I plan out all the details, it’s like someone spoiled the book for me, I just can’t get into it. I have to create characters I’m interested, plunk them in a situation, and just start seeing what happens. I dont fret the little details unless they start getting me into a place I’m not enjoying. Later on I go back to the early parts and tie them together with whatever happened. Done this way, writing a story feels like reading a story, one that is specifically tailored to your own interests (and that none of your friends have read, so they can’t talk to you about it)

Being a DM is not about telling YOUR story, it’s about coming together with your players to create a story. So even if you are going off a pre-written campaign or story you created, you are incharge of the story. Let the rule of fun reign. If a battle is taking forever you can cut down the number of enemies or the enemy’s abilities. Your in charge and if done right your players don’t even know.

Thanks to the internet you also don’t even need much. Get your hands on a core book and a dice set used by all is all that you need to play. Sure maps and miniatures are fun but some systems don’t need them, some players are perfectly fine with the theatre of the mind play, or some small toys on a self drawn grid on sheet paper can work.