Poll of the Day > Did you ever try to hide dorky interests/hobbies?

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TheCyborgNinja
04/17/17 9:34:22 PM
#1:


I never buried anything in the closet, literally or metaphorically, but I certainly was embarrassed about a lot of my favourite things during my "try hard to be cool" phase. I downplayed my interest in games and anime, though didn't outright deny them. My biggest issue was not wanting to seem like a loser so I could get a date. It later became apparent that my real problem with that was from a combination of obliviousness and cowardice... The irony about when I did try to cover my interests up a bit is that my lack of confidence driving me to do it was probably worse in terms of "coolness".

Ultimately what I learned was that nobody cared anyway. My high school was weird though, maybe, as I remember this dude in auto shop showing us all his Akira Toriyama related recreations like Crono and Goku and stuff.... The toughest ass-kickers took shop (I was not one of them) and we're critiquing artwork... I stopped feeling shitty about myself when I stopped worrying about all that. My wife breaks balls about some dorky stuff still, but she doesn't actually care. She said girls find it disarming.

Further proof in the pudding for "be yourself" for me was my buddy (who is more or less Zac Efron in that Neighbors movie, albeit smarter). We'd be talking about DBZ power levels and hypothetical stuff and girls would just be paying attention and not mocking anyone. Sometimes they'd try to participate, like when we were discussing our excitement for Skyrim and getting all hyped and some pretty girl randomly enters the conversation like "are you talking about the new Dragon Ball Z game or something? They're making one." - be yourself and good things will happen, the after-school specials were right.
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SushiSquid
04/17/17 9:46:45 PM
#2:


You know that kid in sixth grade who played Pokemon cards with his three friends at the lunch table? The one who, in eighth grade, would hook up his Gameboy Advance to his friends' at lunch and play Megaman Battle Network? The guy whom everyone asked for help from in programming class? I was that dude. High school was not fun for that dude.

On the one hand, I appreciate that society has moved so much in the past few years that I'm now getting video game recommendations from people in the shop I work at. Things that I had been long mocked for in school are now considered mainstream. On the other hand, I am bitter that I still got mocked for something that everyone else gets to have for free now.

It reminds me of how my mother feels about her hair. It was red all of her life, back when having red hair got you mocked, called things like carrot top. Then she gets older and when red hair is suddenly considered cool, her hair starts turning brown and grey. She dyed it for a few years, insisting it was only fair.
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wwinterj25
04/17/17 9:47:26 PM
#3:


TheCyborgNinja posted...
Did you ever try to hide dorky interests/hobbies?


Not exactly. I just didn't talk to many people about them back at school at least. However in my adult life I've got to know more people who share the same interests as me because I stopped caring what others think and mentioned my interests when talking to them or found out they like the same things too by the way the conversation was going.

For example this older guy came up to me once who was studding in my college class and asked me if I known any good places for second hand video games/consoles as he was interested in playing them and didn't know where to start. Being as I had said in class I'm a big fan of video games I helped him out with that and I became his "go to" guy for anything video game related.
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Claude_Frollo
04/17/17 9:47:34 PM
#4:


Whenever people tried to pry into what I do with my free time, I'd just say that I hang upside down from the ceiling all day. Like a bat.

Most people got the memo that I didn't care to discuss it, but one or two people seemed to think I was being serious, the buffoons.
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RedPixel
04/17/17 9:50:08 PM
#5:


Well...

One time when I was in high school... we were on this field trip to a science lab. I was standing over by a spider exhibit, and this cute girl was nearby. I asked if I could take her picture "for the school paper."

As I was taking her picture, I guess a a radioactive spider bit my hand. For the rest of my afternoon and that night, my body underwent some massive changes or something, because now I can make these intricate webs in my room. Like... spider webs. It's crazy shit, but I kid you not.
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DorkLink
04/17/17 9:51:08 PM
#6:


I still do
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SunWuKung420
04/17/17 9:54:57 PM
#7:


Nope.
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TheCyborgNinja
04/17/17 11:10:05 PM
#8:


RedPixel posted...
Well...

One time when I was in high school... we were on this field trip to a science lab. I was standing over by a spider exhibit, and this cute girl was nearby. I asked if I could take her picture "for the school paper."

As I was taking her picture, I guess a a radioactive spider bit my hand. For the rest of my afternoon and that night, my body underwent some massive changes or something, because now I can make these intricate webs in my room. Like... spider webs. It's crazy shit, but I kid you not.

Shit. Son.
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Kyuubi4269
04/17/17 11:20:15 PM
#9:


I don't bring up my interests as I don't like having to point out how completely different I am from whoever I'm talking to.
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RIP_Supa posted...
I've seen some stuff
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SunWuKung420
04/17/17 11:50:01 PM
#10:


Kyuubi4269 posted...
I don't bring up my interests as I don't like having to point out how completely different I am from whoever I'm talking to.


So you don't like talking about the things that make you unique?
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Kyuubi4269
04/17/17 11:54:58 PM
#11:


SunWuKung420 posted...
Kyuubi4269 posted...
I don't bring up my interests as I don't like having to point out how completely different I am from whoever I'm talking to.


So you don't like talking about the things that make you unique?

Unique is good when it's a blip from the standard path, unique is bad when everything you do is perpendicular to the norm. This is the nature of alienation, to avoid it you have to be reasonably similar.
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RIP_Supa posted...
I've seen some stuff
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TheCyborgNinja
04/18/17 2:39:22 AM
#12:


Kyuubi4269 posted...
SunWuKung420 posted...
Kyuubi4269 posted...
I don't bring up my interests as I don't like having to point out how completely different I am from whoever I'm talking to.


So you don't like talking about the things that make you unique?

Unique is good when it's a blip from the standard path, unique is bad when everything you do is perpendicular to the norm. This is the nature of alienation, to avoid it you have to be reasonably similar.

So to answer the topic question, it's a yes. Unless you're into really fucked up stuff, that sounds like an unnecessarily hard road to travel.
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SunWuKung420
04/18/17 3:06:47 AM
#13:


Kyuubi4269 posted...
SunWuKung420 posted...
Kyuubi4269 posted...
I don't bring up my interests as I don't like having to point out how completely different I am from whoever I'm talking to.


So you don't like talking about the things that make you unique?

Unique is good when it's a blip from the standard path, unique is bad when everything you do is perpendicular to the norm. This is the nature of alienation, to avoid it you have to be reasonably similar.


Among all my friends, I'm the person who reads manga daily. Even my future wife knows this. It still doesn't hinder me from forming meaningful and lasting relationships. And I'm the only person who participates in an online forum other than Facebook or Instagram. I don't hide my participation in this forum. I tell stories about this place, usually about describing human nature.

What kind of stuff are you into that makes you think it's so "out there" people wouldn't still accept you?
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Zeus
04/18/17 4:14:25 AM
#14:


Some stuff at some points of my life, sure. Some stuff now, kinda. I don't really advertise my interests/hobbies, but usually it's not like I'll go out of my way to hide them.

For instance, the only time I might advertise a "dorky" hobby is if I needed Twitch Prime codes for Runescape because I want to get the pet, etc, on multiple accounts.
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TheSlinja
04/18/17 10:40:18 AM
#15:


no i just found friends with similar interests, sure sone years where lonely but id never try to be something im not, what the point in fake personas if they only result in fake friendships
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InfestedAdam
04/18/17 10:46:30 AM
#16:


Of course not. Fortunately or by chance my closest friends in high schools have the same interest as me so I never felt left out. 15+ years later, the same friends and are I more or less into the same stuff still. We might not have the time anymore but the interest is still there.
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Smarkil
04/18/17 11:07:32 AM
#17:


Not at all, but I don't wear it on my sleeve either. Most of my friends were non-nerds so I just naturally never really talked about my hobby.
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PMarth2002
04/18/17 11:29:34 AM
#18:


Nope. I just hung out with people who shared my interests.
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Thunder_54
04/18/17 11:34:02 AM
#19:


I use my interests as a way to identify with people. Since my interests are far and wide, it's pretty easy to pick one I and the other party can build rapport over. As well, what people think is "dorky" varies WILDLY so I don't try to hide anything really.

The downside of this is that most people only know that one side of me. Like friend A and I will be hanging out talking about music/my band and then friend B will come up and be like "brewed any cool beer lately?" and then the fiend A will be like "WAT? YOU BREW BEER? I thought you only did music!" and then friend B will be like "WAT? YOU DO MUSIC?"

Only my closest friends know all the stuff I'm into.
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Blighboy
04/18/17 12:00:34 PM
#20:


I don't talk about it, but I've given up on hiding it. I wear awful t-shirts and listen to awful weeb shit and spend all day browsing awful websites. And then sometimes my room mates come into my bedroom and try to call the cops on me until I hold them down long enough.
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shadowsword87
04/18/17 12:03:52 PM
#21:


I don't hide it, but I don't go around wearing ironic shirts, or really flaunting it.
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Muffinz0rz
04/18/17 12:04:25 PM
#22:


I used to hide the type of video games that I enjoyed until college. Like in high school, it was either Halo/CoD or bust. I didn't want people knowing that I played JRPGs or still played Pokemon or anything like that.

But since college, I said fuck it and owned it. Now I encourage people to come to me with any Pokemon questions.
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TheCyborgNinja
04/18/17 9:04:08 PM
#23:


Smarkil posted...
Not at all, but I don't wear it on my sleeve either. Most of my friends were non-nerds so I just naturally never really talked about my hobby.

Yeah, that makes sense. I never hid anything from my friends, but half of us seemed to not share any common interests other than we liked hanging out.
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