Hey everyone. I'm not sure if this question has been asked before or not, but I was wanting to know some of your favorite hobbies. I'm probably younger than most of the other members on this site (20 years old), so what I like to do might be a little odd or unfamiliar.

Hobby #1: Games

Growing up, I was pretty big into video games. More specifically, I loved handheld systems (Gameboy!). I started with the smaller, black and white screen gameboys (not the first ones that came out, which had green-tinted screens).

Though I'm embarrassed to admit it, one of my favorite gameboy games was by far Pokemon. I was really big into the TV show as well. Me and my cousins would all train our retarded little poke-monsters and battle. It was so much fun. I ended up collecting the other Pokemon games that came out later too, up until Ruby and Saphire. Then I stopped. There were some other games I loved playing on my game boy too, like Diddy Kong and so forth.

My next handheld was a Game Boy Advance. The Game Boy Advance was a huge improvement over the previous game boys. Graphics and everything were awesome. I remember one of my first games for it was Golden Sun. This is a fantasy RPG. Pokemon is a RPG (Role playing game) too, but there is a big difference between it and Golden Sun. Golden Sun was more of a mid-evil type of game, with mages, knights, dragons, and all sorts of monsters to kill.

I've grown out of playing these types of games on my Gameboy systems. I currently have a Nintendo DS, which came out after the Game Boy Advance, with a lot of games with it. I don't play them anymore though. I guess I've outgrew them.

Hobby #2: Trading Card Games

I'm sure most of you have played cards one time or another. I remember playing Go Fish, Twenty-One, a little Poker, 52 Card Pick up... and so forth. (Kidding about the 52 Card Pick up! There was one time I was tricked by that joke. Was very annoying.) Those Card games were fun.

However... I grew up playing a very different type of Card Game: Trading Cards (And I'm not talking about Sports trading cards either!) What are some examples of Trading Cards? Pokemon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Dragonball Z, Naruto, Magic The Gathering, and Duel Masters, just to name a few.

My first Trading Card Game I played was Pokemon. After playing the game, I started collecting the cards. I ABSOLUTELY loved playing the cards. I was hooked on card games after starting Pokemon. Of course, you guys will be glad to know that I don't play Pokemon Cards anymore!

But let me tell you... it wasn't some boring retarded game. After learning the rules, and playing a few times, one realizes that there is real strategy involved. What makes it so much different from the traditional card games that use a 52 card deck filled with Kings, Queens, Jacks, spades, Aces, etc? Well, first of all, there are literally hundreds of cards to collect. Each has various roles and effects in the game. You have to then construct a deck (usually 60 card limit in most games) from all the various cards. Then you test your strategy against an opponent. The game could last anywhere from a few minutes (if the other player was completely out matched) to literally an hour or two (this occurred when advanced players faced off).

Anyways, after Pokemon, the next card game I really got into was Yu-Gi-OH. I'm sure most of you have heard of it and thought it was entirely stupid that so many kids (and lots of adults!) played some silly card game with monsters. They were geeks, right? Well, we may of been geeks or nerds, but there was some real fun to be had with this card game. By far, Yu-Gi-OH was and still is my favorite card game out there. I rarely play anymore, but that is because I've sold most of my cards and a lot of people who used to play grew out of it. But if anyone every handed me a deck of cards and asked me to play, I'd jump at the chance.

One of the major differences between Pokemon and this new card game, Yu-Gi-OH, is that Yu-Gi-Oh was based on an Egyptian theme, and had some really awesome looking cards: No wussy looking creatures like Pokemon's Pikachu. Sure, there are a few "cute" cards in the series, but most are really cool.

I've played a few other trading card games, but that's all I'll say about them right now.

Hobby #3: Anime

Chalk another one up for weird hobbies. I happen to love watching TV shows under the category of "Anime." What is Anime? Some tend to think it's weird cartoons. Actually, it's Cartoons that come from Japan! (yeah, still weird, I know).

What are some of my favorite Anime? Well, don't be too shocked, but my first real anime I guess would be Pokemon! (*shock*). Yes, shortly after the game came out for Gameboy, they made a show. The main character of the story is a 12 year old boy named Ash Ketchem, who's main goal in life is to be "A pokemon master!" Or so, that is what he always says. Basically, that just means he wants to try to win what is known as the "Joto League" challenge, where Pokemon trainers and their cute little pokemon battle it out for supremecy each year. So far, in the super long running TV series (It's STILL running, with NEW episodes today, and it started in like, 1995, or close to that year), Ash has NEVER won in the Joto League. Never! He always manages to lose! Every time he loses, the story sorta starts over in a new land, where Ash finds new Pokemon to capture, and new friends, and goes on new wacky adventures. It's boring, and tiresome. The kid never grows up! I think he's still 12! How crazy is that?

Anyways, my next favorite anime was Yu-Gi-Oh. I won't go into much detail with this one, except to say that it's about a young boy named YuGi, who uses Yu-Gi-Oh Cards to battle a bunch of evil people to save the world. This series is actually 10 times better than pokemon. I loved watching it. You actually see some awesome, strategic card battles happening between these people on the show. And another cool feature of the show is that when they duel each other with cards, they have holo-graphic generators that make the cards come to life. So it makes for a very interesting show. I love it. Great story-line too.

Ok, so, did I grow up watching this wimpy little kid Anime shows all my life? Well, not all Anime is wimpy or stupid. For instance, I used to love watching an awesome Anime called Dragon Ball Z. There was a lot of crazy fight scenes in that one. Rioni Kenshin was awesome. Plus Gundam Wing.

To name some more Anime that is for older audiences, there is:

Cowboy Bebop, all Gundam series, Ghost in a Shell, Blood Plus, Trinity Blood, Deathnote, Paranoia Agent, Outlaw Star, Big O, Code Geos, and many more.

There is no way I can go into any detail on any of these. But what I will say is that they are chocked full of fighting scenes with blood in it, some cursing, and so forth. In other words: not little kid material. Instead, teen to adult stuff. A current Anime I love right now is called: Bleach. Weird name, I know. Perhaps I'll talk more about this show in the future.

But anyways... as far as physical activities go... I enjoy camping every once in a while, a little bit of swimming, I used to ride a bike all the time (growing up), and various other outdoor things. If I had to choose a sport I probably enjoying playing, it's Basketball. I enjoy Bowling too!

To be honest, I don't seem to be an outdoors type of person as I used to be. I grew up spending hours outside as a kid during summer. Now I mostly hang out inside the house... I'll probably change that! *laughs*

So, anyone feel up to sharing their favorite hobbies, shows, and other things that somewhat fit the category? Come now: don't be shy.