Niche interests!

[cute]

I can endlessly dive into these topics - parrots, divination, astrology, websites. Especially websites, the web, the history of personal computing. I see myself as a tech witch which is why I teach web development, for the empowerment.

[Cele]

For over a year I've been obsessed with Baltic Finnic oral poetry and can barely think of anything else. Apparently it's a little bit annoying I sound like I don't have opinions on anything else. But there's like over 100k of them available online, every time I even peek at them I find new exciting things! And then I'm like that meme of the crazy-looking conspiracy guy trying to explain to someone why I think this wizard hero is totally the same as the wasp in this other poem I swear.

[Indigo]

Oh gosh my niche interest just happened very recently all of the sudden and I don't know why. I like collecting retro toys.

I think what sparked it was my intense obsession with wanting and, eventually ,getting the 5 inch strawberry shortcake doll.

Then, as I was digging in my closet I realized I had some small trinkets that fit into my small shelf I have as well as with a small collection of vintage looking toys I had lying around.

The main highlights I have are Strawberry Shortcake, mentioned earlier, along with a mini Care Bear(I Care Bear), a Tony Hawk finger board(My brain just registers that as a teck deck.), Worm on a String, Some new-ish Garbage Pail Kids Cards(The company still makes designs, btw there's a parody of one I have of Miku called Manga Mandy.), a McDonald's Furby, and the Happy Plant Grimace Figure to name most of them.

The next ones I hope to get soon are Rainbow Brite 5 inch doll, a McNugget Buddy Cowboy, and a Vintage style My Little Pony.(But not all at once though. That's insane.)

I think I like collecting them because they both have me connect back to a simpler time with childhood and also have me intrigued with how they design the toys as well.

[sunnyp4rk]

I absolutely love theme park content. Maybe I am biased because one of my biggest special interests is a theme park attraction but yknow. whatever. Can't really think of another niche interest I've got.

[yojoshio]

oh wow everyone, so many niche fields of interest!!

And some that I also have!!

Some of my own include:
- Anything to do with municipal systems and infrastructure -- especially municipal codes and codebooks. I have no idea why. I've asked, and no one has yet to give me a solid answer.
- The post office and postal systems
- Notary stamps
- I do love roller coasters (hi Kie! -- although I am from the US and that is my where my experience is but I would love to see more EU stuff out there!)
- British comedy - ESPECIALLY panel shows (hi shapezncolourz) - I have a page on my fascination with it https://j0sh.dev/humour
- Simulator games - I will play literally all of them
- I have an obsession with DeLoreans
- Church architecture, though I am not personally religious
- Libraries, archiving, and records
- Typography - much like the Ryan Gosling skit from SNL, I have had to address these issues in therapy

There are probably some I am forgetting!

[Plasmon]

Hmmm, I think I tend to overrate how niche my interests are, so forgive me if anything here isn't actually that niche.

• Cellular automata. I think they're really interesting, both from a purely mathematical perspective and because you can make them do cool stuff. I want to make music with them, but I haven't made much time to work on music for the past two years (and I want to change that really bad).
• Stochastic processes. I love studying random processes, such as Ornstein–Uhlenbeck processes.
• Computer music. When I say computer music, I'm not just talking about music made on a computer, but music using computational techniques—think like late-period Autechre, Milton Babbitt, that kind of stuff. I just find it really captivating in its own way, even if it's not trying to capture the same kinds of feelings that other types of music do.

[sashasparrow]

For over a year I've been obsessed with Baltic Finnic oral poetry and can barely think of anything else.

not quite as intense but i have a very specific fascination with german expressionist-era poetry!

i'm also SUPER into mapmaking lately, specifically in terms of my dnd games but i think i would branch out if i had time.

i also lovelovelove unfiction/args/reality-warping fiction, and especially meta-analysis of those things, and i have Very Strong Feelings on it and i am correct about everything and everyone else is wrong (/jk). i just really like to look at fiction in frame of the larger societal impact and influence and i think this genre that's so dependent on internet culture is like, endlessly fascinating.

[AY38910]

• Cellular automata.

CA mentioned. I know someone who is also very into them...*squints at juanp32*


Anyways, mine include assembling processors in Minecraft, ASCII/ANSI, chiptune and medieval history. Weird mix, I know. I then invite someone to my superflat world and get the thing destroyed though so I stopped building CPUs.

[atinytrashbag]

i LOVEEEEE PSAs and PIFs. i was bored one day because i was procrastinating uni work so i decided to browse tvtropes and ended up falling down a psa rabbit hole and got hyperfixated for a solid month. they're still quite dear to my heart, even though the fixation has definitely died to a more 'regular' love

hardest part about being interested in something as dark as psas and pifs is that nobody in my family and friend groups gets as excited as me about them. the film 'the spirit of dark and lonely water' was mentioned on taskmaster season 19 and i soyjak pointed at the television for a solid minute while my parents sat there, confused as to why i was acting like a fan at a concert over a prop from a film about kids drowning in a lake

psas were also the subject of my first blog post i care them even though they're a bit of a weird interest

[small_cypress]

One of my interest came out of necessity - reactive dog behavior/counter-conditioning. I love using treats and toys to help show fearful dogs that the world isn't so scary!

Another is mini-ponds and medaka ricefish - I finally got some a few months ago.

I also like local history and the US Civil War!

[bugfeli]

eeek i have a tone of these i could really go on endlessly,, i dont want to flood toooo much so i'll just list some surface level stuff about some of my very favorite topics 

transmission towers / pylons / substations :: very into the composition, and general layouts of pylons depending on reigonal plannings and power output, i love going out on walks and drawing the transmission towers i see. somewhat into powerlines and telephone poles the same way but not as much.

waste / sludge treatment process :: probably gross sounding but i love how waste treatment facilities function, especially the bacteria introduced during secondary treatment (though i'd have to say primary treatment is my favorite part of the process).

the number 7, multiples of 7, numbers with 7 in them :: sort of a fixation more than an interest, seeing the number seven anywhere (or multiples of seven i've memorized) always sort of give me this relief that i'm doing the right thing.

pool balls :: ehhmm i feel sort of embarrassed talking about this one too because its more of a superstition, but every person i meet directly correlates with a pool ball (stripes, solids, cue ball, and 8-ball included). sort of like an internalized MBTI, i always assoicate the same kind of people with specific balls in pool. occasionally, i'll also include alternative color sets made for tv in my thoughts. unrelated to personalities, i'm mildly obsessed with the numbers and patterns found in pool ball formations and the choices behind the colors. if anyone's interested, Dr Dave Alciatore has a very interesting site discussing numerical patterns behind pool balls!

[RNotteLovesOwls]

does the decentra-web count as a niche interest? 

...well, aside from that, i also have an interest in experimental jazz and electronic ambient. it's hard to recommend to people who listen to only pop, hip hop and dad rock, but trust me. you have to watch live performances of this kind of music. it will forever change your perception of what music can really be. check out bandcamp for examples; that kind of music thrives over there

my non-art-related niche interest is collecting crocheted sea animal plushies. i may love owls, but i also love sea animals; turtles, octopuses, sharks, whales, stingrays, you name it. if i'm at a farmer's market and there's a vendor selling crochet sea animals, i'm probably buying at least one. though, i do have a good collection already, so i'm probably good for now

[virtualpet2001]

i have a lot of passing interest in various niche little things but a personal big favorite of mine is artificial life simulators - people dont really make them anymore outside of a compsci context (carykh on youtube has made a bunch of them) but i think theyre really fascinating little constructed worlds. there is one program called ai.planet from the 2000s ive never been able to run for more than a few seconds and that makes me quite sad...id love to check it out someday u_u

[infernal.serval]

i have a handful of niche-ish(?) interests that unfortunately i dont know many/any people irl to talk to about, so if any of y'all want to talk about them with me please please let me know. i could give you my email or some other form of communication maybe.

interest i currently have:

• i loved the game mirrors edge a lot as a kid. as an adult it led me into a fascination with urbexing, rooftoping, graffiti, and urban photography. i have very little experience with these things as i am very busy and somewhat physically disabled so my opportunities to get out are sparse. i do go out every so often and take pictures around nearby cities which i have begun to put up on my website.
• i also enjoy diying things and learning new crafts to make. a few examples are a mobile made of cds i hung by my window to reflect light, a patch/battle jacket im sewing with patches from local bands, and paper roses im making from old coupon papers. i will start adding these to my site soon (i just finished the code for my image galleries yesterday so now i have to upload everything)
• i currently have a special interest in abrahamic mythology. i am very lucky to have a friend who is a professor of hebrew bible at a local university to talk to. im mostly interested in christianity and judaism as they are more common where i live and i am ex-christian (currently consider myself animist) with a jewish partner.
• i really want to get into foraging but havent progressed beyond drying dandelion roots for tea on occasion.

[infernal.serval]

@RNotteLovesOwls what kind of electronic ambient do you listen to? Do you have any recommendations? It's not the same genre really, but I've been curious about it since getting into Duster/Valium Aggelein