hobbies Archives - Diary of Difference

Hello, lovely people!
For all of you who don’t know what Top Ten Tuesday is, or don’t know how to get involved, click here. If you know me, you’ll know I have plenty of different non-bookish hobbies, and I swap often between them, depending on my mood. Most of them are creative, and they are in one way or another connected to books and art in general. Let’s dive in:

1. Solving Jigsaw Puzzles

My love for jigsaw puzzles started when I was a little girl, and I remember solving a 500 piece tiger jigsaw puzzle with my mum and dad. And since then, I just kept doing them whenever I could. My personal best is a tiger puzzle of 2000 pieces.

This is the 500 Pieces Tiger puzzle we did:

2. Sending Postcards

I am a member of Postcrossing for many years now. Although, I haven’t been sending too many postcards this year. I didn’t want to make the postal services even more busy than they already are. Postcrossing is a website where you make a profile, and you send postcards to random people around the world, as well as receive postcards from around the world. What I loved about Postcrossing the most was that you could pick a postcard to send based on a person’s profile and hope they like it. And at the same time, you never know what postcard you will receive next, and which country it will come from. This hobby started when I was in high-school in Macedonia, when I found out about Postcrossing. I was also lucky to live in a rare country where people wanted postcards from – so I could swap very easily. I am also a member of the Reddit Random Acts of Cards group as well!

3. Photography

A hobby that I keep personal and try to not share it too much, as it’s close to my heart. I have always loved capturing things on camera. It is one of the things I loved to do with my bestie who lives in Macedonia and is a professional photographer.

4. Karate / Working Out

I have practiced karate since I was a kid. My dad is a coach, and since I remember, I have been in the gym. During all these years, I have been through it all – everyday practices, national competitions, international competitions, European championships, quarantine and preparation with the national team. Since I moved to the UK, I have been practicing it on my own, for just myself. And this slowly turned into just working out sessions now, that I currently do at home and/or in my garden (depending on the weather).

5. Cooking

I love cooking as much as I love eating. My favorite is my own cuisine – the Macedonian cuisine. I always try to bake a lot of salty things and relive the foods that both my grandmas have made for me, as well as my mum. I also love experimenting with sauces and decorating cupcakes.

6. Crochet & Knitting

I started knitting and crochet this year, as part of an initiative from work. We were making granny squares for blankets to give elderly people and children in hospitals. Then the pandemic started and lockdown happened, and I started watching YouTube videos and working on small projects. This is a little turtle I made.

7. Colouring Books

This hobby is actually connected to reading. I love listening to audiobooks and colouring. It’s a very peaceful hobby of mine, and I really am able to lose myself in it. I wasn’t doing it too often while I was working, but since I was home during the lockdown, I had more time to just sit and relax again.

8. Writing & Blogging

Even though I blog on my computer, I write all my book reviews and all my content in a notebook first. It’s a hobby that stayed with me through the years. I can express myself better if I have a pen and a paper before me. When I type it on my computer, it’s actually a second draft, and I know it’s ready to go out in the world.

9. Playing Video Games

It all started with my cousin. Me and him used to play so many video games together, every time he would come to visit, or I would come to visit him. And most of the time, we played together, but usually, I just enjoyed watching him play and enjoy the gameplay. Now, I am a casual gamer, even though there are days when I grind 5+ hours in ranked. Some of the games I love playing are: Overwatch, Rocket League, Assassin’s Creed (all games, even though Black Flag holds a special place in my heart), Stardew Valley, Terraria and many more.

10. Watching Movies & TV Shows

I love watching movies and TV Shows. I also love tracking my movies and episodes. You’re very likely to see me downloading a new tracking app. And only because the old one had a feature I didn’t like. PS: I currently use TV Time for TV Shows and it’s going well so far. However, I have yet to find a good app for tracking movies. If you know of any, I’d love your suggestions.

And there we have them – the Top Ten Tuesday non-bookish hobbies I have. Even though some of them are connected to books, so I’m only slightly cheating.

Let me know in the comments what your non-bookish hobbies are – I’d love to know. If you have your Top Ten Tuesday post about non-bookish hobbies, let me know!