What intellectually stimulating hobby are you doing in quarantine?

I am taking a free online Ancient Greek course offered by Harvard and Brandeis people. Enjoying it so far since it's so different from my line of work, doing it purely for fun and out of intellectual curiosity.

Relearning the music theory I've forgotten over the years. Weirdly, I've forgotten a lot of the basics, but have retained a lot of the more advanced stuff, even though the more advanced stuff relies on the basics for comprehension. I play jazz/blues guitar and it's been enjoyable getting deep into it again. I'm going figure out Gershwin's "Summertime" today by ear and try to make a decent little arrangement of it to solo over with a loop pedal.

Trying to improve my French. It's tough being self disciplined though.

Washing my hands singing happy birthday. Physical culture and music are priceless.

I'm learning video editing so I could produce homemade pron movies for sales on Pronhub and OnlyFans.

I'm learning Swedish.

I’m trying to teach my dog to speak French.

Tiem to move upscale bitches, and become true intellectuals. Welcome to the world of Gale Research.

I'm reading "Report on the Investigation Into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election", better known as "The Mueller Report".

Now, I have no excuses not to read it and I want to keep the promise I made to myself to do so.

Dense, dry, factual and yet I'm caught in its Tractor Beam. I'm still only a 1/4 through. It takes effort and all the concentration I can muster.

Napping!!!

I'm learning Old English, which is not the "old-timey" language of Shaekspeare, but much earlier. If you think that modern English is zany, you haven't seen Old English. Holy moly!

R7 - is he a poodle? Otherwise I think you're wasting your time

Learning Scots Gaelic using Duolinguo. It’s an interesting challenge because it’s quite different from English and the Latin languages I’m familiar with. At least it’ll keep my mind sharp!

Apple is now offering a free 90 day trial of its Final Cut Pro video editing software, so I’m thinking of giving it a try.

Reading the Wolf Hall trilogy.

Oh, r15, that's on my to-read list too.

I didn't know about Hilary Mantel's books when PBS aired the British film starring Mark Rylance. I just LOVED it. I have a HUGE crush an Rylance.

My new hobby is reading posts on The Data Lounge.

r14 Now is the perfect time to make a Directors Cut of your massive personal collection of hidden cam public urinal videos.

I wouldn’t be able to do anything digital right now because I think it would add to the negative effects of isolation. My guess is that things like reading books and taking in the sights and sounds of nature will make for a more healthy use of this time.

We found karaoke very intellectually stimulating, until the police spoiled the party.

The upside of the quarantine is that I am now available to all my girls 24/7. For fun we've been reenacting all of my favorite movie classics, with period-accurate wardrobe and hairstyles.

Tomorrow it's THE WOMEN!

Bless you, r5, for you do the Lord’s work.

I am watching Gulliver's Travels (1939 film) on the 'Free' channel.

I am eeking out the booze.

practicing pipe organ, pampering my iris and lilies, WFH full-time

Researching travel destinations.

Our Costa Rica trip in May is all but over (country is on lock down just until Easter, but 14-day requirement for all incoming arrivals may obliterate our 11 day itinerary. Not to mention Alaska Airlines may likely cancel our flight (which I'm hoping for rather so we can get a refund rather than a credit). Friends just received their Hawaiian Airlines cancellation for a trip at the same time.

Spain for two weeks likely appears out of the question as well.

And partner and I both received an extra week of vacation this year.

Planning a flower garden.

Reading one volume editions of Gormenghast Trilogy and Lord of the Rings. Both books are 6 inches thick, tiny font. Should get me through April.

Also, get in line sister at [R15]. Rylance is mesmerizing....

Good god r28, I plodded through Gormenghast and got about 1.5 books through. It's so dense with descriptives.

Gormenghast sounds ... ghastly. What about reading the bible?

Finished David McCullough's biography of John Adams, and have now started John Meacham's biography of Thomas Jefferson. I don't think I like JEfferson much.He wasa real operator.ingratiating, and underhanded. But he had a superior intellect and was a good writer.

I am listening to Marie condos book on my phone as I say goodbye to my clothes and work my way to a clutter free life. It’s actually quite cathartic. I figure I better get stuff out before municipal services are no longer working

I loved the first two Gormenghast books. Only fantasy-type literature I've ever enjoyed, actually. The third book was nowhere near as good.

I signed up for Fender Play, and I'm learning guitar. Shit's hard, man! Maybe it's because I'm in my forties, and it's difficult to learn new tricks.

I'm learning Mandarin in order to serve my Chinese Overlords, 2030-style.

Hail, XI!

The Chinese don't like barbarians speaking their language.

Get on you knees R36 and yes, they call us barbarians. I have no idea what they're like at the homosex; they did declassify it as a mental problem a few years back to I guess we'll be ok when they arrive; and arrive they will, after all they own the debt.

R34 bite your tongue, TITUS ALONE is an excellent novel albeit a different beast altogether than his predecessors. The prose is as brief & unsettling as that in GORMENGHAST is florid and attractive, but I appreciate the change. It’s like a favorite recording artist putting out a really weird sparse experimental-sounding album still on a similar theme previously explored on earlier albums. There’s much to recommend in TITUS ALONE from skilful characterisation to witty dialogue to pacy storytelling, but it’s not as gently easy to access as it is in TITUS GROAN; Peake isn’t telling a bedtime story in this volume.

As it happens I’ve been re-reading it this last month and enjoying it as much as I did the first dozen times. I’m a Peake fan all-around so it’s difficult to imagine finding nothing of value in TITUS ALONE, but I suppose many readers have said the same. What is it you dislike about it, specifically?