I am an aggressively mediocre singer but the 2 hour rehearsal on Monday is the highlight of my week. It’s so fucking fun man!

Hobbies are about enjoyment, not skill. You should never measure your accomplishments with hobbies based on how good you are at them.

That said… when I was younger, I only indulged in hobbies that I had any skill in. If I sucked at something, I typically gave it up quickly and looked for something else to do.

Video games were an exception. I enjoyed the gameplay so much, it didn’t matter that I was awful at them. I’d grind the same levels over and over, hoping to finally beat it this time.

Interestingly enough, I’m actually really good at video games now. Not professionally so, but I have a lot more skill than most of my friends. I’m usually appointed team leader in any co-op games I play with my friends because I’m really good at tracking the mission objective and keeping everyone together. And now that I’m retired young, I spend a lot of time gaming throughout the days, which only makes me better.

I don’t play games for the challenge or skill, though. I mostly play to enjoy an interactive story. So I usually turn the difficulty down to the easiest option so I don’t get stuck from progression at any point. I can handle really difficult games, but I just don’t want to. Unless my friends want a challenge, then I’ll crank it up and then be constantly bailing them out from the nightmare they chose to play.

Not good at all, but I’m just happy to be there.

I feel bullied by this question

• Creating games: Good enough that my IT teacher was impressed enough that he recommended that I go into the game industry

• Drawing: Good enough that I’ve got hundreds of followers and a lot of people like my art

• Games: I can beat the original Pikmin in 7 in-game days and I also beat Mushihimesama Futari’s final boss on Ultra Mode.

In a few of my creative hobbies, I’ve been complimented by others in a way that I would consider sincere to the work.

I’m shit at video games.

A hobby becomes a job when you worry if you are good at it.

Video games? Bad at them. I play lowest difficulty and still die but I have fun. Baking? Pretty good! People like my baked goods and they are almost always eaten before they go bad (unless I make far too much)

As good as I care to be. Hobbies are supposed to be fun.

Not very good, but that’s sort of the point for me; my favourite part of any hobby is the learning. I did a woodworking class the other day!

It’s taken a lot of work to get to the point where I can be comfortable with being mediocre at something and just doing it for the joy of it. I’m quite an intense person, with perfectionist tendencies, so it’s nice to be able to carve out some things that I can be more chill about.

Um, I beat Noita once. I beat FTL: Faster Than Light on Hard sometimes. I beat Pocket Rogue once. I also scored first-place in some hard-difficulty Moon Rider VR beatmaps, but I gotta get back into that.

I’m a good enough cook that several friends have seriously suggested I apply for Masterchef, but I have no interest in the restaurant side of the competition.

Boardgames, around 75%

Badminton, around 55%

Mediocre at best, and I lack the mental fortitude to work at much of anything these days, so wherever I’m at, I’m not going to improve much.

Some people relish the feeling of swimming through molasses* for the next hit of progress dopamine, or they don’t get that feeling at all, but that’s what happens to me and it basically short-circuits something in my brain. It’s bad enough that I struggled to write the last part of that sentence, and it’s happening while I’m proofreading this as well.

* or treacle if the unintended concept of small mammal anatomy bothers you.

I think it is a trap to think about it this way. My hobbies are meant to bring me joy and challenge, no matter what level i am on