I'd like to tout an increasingly rare hobby among younger people (non-retirees): Bridge, the card game. It has a rule structure and that hidden-information element that appeals to nerds, but it forces you to think critically and rationally instead of analytically (usually--opportunities for highly analytical plays pop up), and forces you to be able to relate with another person both at and away from the table, since it's played by pairs of 2. There's a reason it's Bill Gates' favorite game.
A lot of fascinating older people play the game, as well. I met a small business owner who was formerly the first computer salesman for a major mainframe company--IIRC it was Honeywell, but don't quote me on that. At least one famous international financier occasionally shows up to the bridge clubs in Chicago (unfortunately I've never ran into him).
The downside is it's hard to find a critical mass of bridge players in your age and "hang-out-ness" category.
Where I'm from (Saskatchewan, Canada) everyone plays Kaiser, a variant of Bridge. It's hugely popular here, but I guess it's only played by Ukrainians in Saskatchewan, and is completely unheard of outside the province. It's a little frightening when you play someone and they say, "ok, you have the Ace and I take the next 5 tricks."
I tried to use 'thinking analytically' to describe the calculation-evaluation cycle that is present in so many strategy games, especially chess-style games. I guess it wasn't a very good descriptor. Anyway, it's too late to edit it.
The typical chess mental game involves chains of calculations to visualize future positions, then evaluating those positions based on the potential of good or bad chains of moves. "Strategic" plays are based on the possibility of generating or preventing future tactical plays.
Bridge is more a game of inferences; out of the 26 or 39 cards you can't see (depending on the phase of play), the most important part of the game is guessing how those cards are distributed and planning for the contingencies that might arise (or the ones you need to arise). There are very few situations that involve long chains of calculations and possible positions; most of it is planning correctly, estimating probabilities (unless you're one of those talented people who can do the exact math in their heads), and good guesswork. Or at least that's how I play it...
It's very refreshing to play a game that works out those areas of the mind, which are so important, but for which there are few direct workouts. The best play is usually clear post-mortem, and hands change every 7 or 8 minutes, so you get a lot of quick, direct feedback.
The second most important part of bridge is communicating with your partner based on the limited language of putting cards down on a table, and the reason it's not the first most important part is because communicating correctly depends on inferring correctly, planning, and understanding partner's plans.
I can back this up as being a true statement. He regularly plays bridge (and ping pong)on the Sunday following the Shareholders meeting. He does it out in public for people to watch. He is also a pretty strong advocate of the game.
I think the best hobbies for hackers are the ones that will force you to go out. Walking, sports, astronomy, going to the beach, and so forth. We already use too many hours to stay at home hacking so it is better to counterbalance in some other way in the free time.
Totally agree. After a major coding session earlier today, I spent a couple of very enjoyable hours gardening. The complete contrast really works for me. Although I do sometimes listen to a tech podcast at the same time :-)
Which podcast? TWiT? I haven't found a more entertaining (and somewhat educational) podcast than that, including other non-tech-related ones. I'm probably very uninformed, though, so I'd like to hear which others might be worthwhile.
Capoeira. It's a mix of Brazilian martial arts, music, culture, dance, and game, and one which requires physical training as well as the ability to think quickly and creatively on one's feet, and it teaches you how to truly control your body, something most people never learn to do.
Many people don't know much about it, but it's a beautiful sport. (Martial art, not dance. Common misconception is that it's non-contact - it's only non-contact if you move fast enough!) I particularly enjoy it because of the associated culture and traditions.
I used to do Capoeira too until I broke my wrist. My knees weren't too happy about it either.
Now I do climbing (no, it's not as hard on the wrists). As much as I enjoyed Capoeira, I have to say, that I enjoy the whole "me vs the wall" aspect - especially bouldering. I suppose it's because I'm an introvert. :)
Cooking is probably my favorite hobby, I love doing something with my hands and really feeling accomplished when I make a great meal.
This may sound childish, but I also really enjoy building and playing with LEGOs. I just have a few sets but I constantly rebuild them and I find it is an interesting thing to do while listening to music.
I love to cook. Something that I find most of us geeks are really bad at. Amazes me how many of my friends can't do simple things with a piece of meat and some veggies, but also how uneducated they are about food in general (The fault of the North American system, probably.)
When it comes to cooking, I do it daily. Love doing Italian and French Cuisine and just sometimes picking at random from one of my cook books. I find the entire process very relaxing and a nice removal after sitting on my ass for 8 hours doing code.
Apart from cooking I love gardening, growing herbs, etc. It goes very nicely with my cooking hobby so it works.
I find the best thing about gardening is how close you get to the rawness that is mother earth. It's another nice way to step back into reality after staring at the computer screen.
That was kind of a vague swipe at North American food culture and schooling in general.
I didn't mean to much harm, but in summary .. we are not educated about food/cooking in elementary or secondary school (There are classes, but fully optional) .. and well, look at what most people in America eat. Snobby? Sure, but it's true.
Ultimate Frisbee. It's real good exercise (which hackers need), and there's something peaceful about throwing a frisbee. Plus "reading" the disc (figuring out where it's going to land) is interesting because a disc has a few more degrees of freedom than a ball.
Plus it really takes the edge off my competitive urge which hurts more than helps when I'm programming. It gives me a reason to stay healthy and work out, a large social group both in my city and spread across the whole country, and I found my wife playing ultimate :)
Rock Climbing, Surfing and Traveling (to do the first two) have always had a higher priority for me than programming computers, which would rank as my 4th hobby that also happens to pay my rent.
I think the fact that most people classify those activities as "hobbies" says a lot about the lives we construct for ourselves: Spend 50 weeks per year doing something unpleasant so that you free up a couple weeks to do something you actually enjoy. If you enjoy your hobby as much as you say, why not find a way to devote at least half your time to it?
When I lived in LA, I'd often do both on the same day. Drive up to Stoney Point, then down the hill to Malibu. You can do the same if you live near Santa Cruz or Santa Barbara. Portland in theory has both surfing and climbing, but in practice has neither (cold water + crap rock).
These days I live in England, so there's tons of climbing at my doorstep and surfing happens in month-long blocks a couple times a year. That's actually preferable, since you get warm water and smaller crowds in Morocco/Ecuador/Oz.
I play the didgeridoo. I picked up this hobby after my lung collapsed spontaneously, and the surgeon recommended that I learn to play a wind instrument. Since the medical bills came out to over $100,000 dollars (paid with cash money FTW), I didn't much feel like spending money on a really expensive instrument that I might not even like.
I also set aside an hour or two a day to read classic literature, or hard-to-read literature. My favorites are epic poems. Currently on page 53 of Finnegans Wake and I've been hearing rhythmic gibberish in my sleep. I'm reading Finnegans Wake so I can feel good about reading everything by Joyce, and I'm actually finding it really pleasurable.
There's more, but those two things are what I enjoy most.
There's an idea! In the past I played the saxophone quite fanatically but had to stop because of lung trouble (weak spot in a lung, too much pressure).
Didgeridoo...
What a bummer to have to pay for your medical bills out of pocked, weren't you insured ?
If you'd like to look into it, I'd recommend the Didjeribone. Plastic, lightweight, sounds really awesome even compared to my authentic didj, and you can change its pitch.
As for the medical bills, well I was pretty young and felt invincible. That delusion was thoroughly shot down.
Hey, thanks for the tip, I've bookmarked this comment and will order one. I've been looking for anything to get back in to music. Tried the harmonica but I get coughing fits whenever I try the 'inhale' sounds. Flutes are tempting...
(hardly any backpressure, just exhaling). Didjeridoo sounds like fun, I just never thought of it.
About the young and invincible thing, I think that the sooner you realize that is not the case the better it actually is, because it will rub in really hard that you have to take care of your body.
Investment early in life really pays off big time in that respect.
Gardening. I give my self one computer-free-day each week in which I garden. Working with one's hands instead of one's head provides a much needed relief after a week of programming, designing, and hacking at software. During the winter, cooking and baking fill a similar, but not quite as satisfactory, experience.
The contrast from coding intrinsic to vegetable gardening is especially satisfying - one can sit back and watch the fruits of one's labor manifest themselves. When one codes, one knows that his inactivity results in nothing. Not so with gardening, aside from some maintenance, the initial work constitutes a self-fulfilling promise.
I'm really into metal casting. Got into a few years ago by bastardizing a kiln I found on craigslist. Have since moved on to building my own propane furnaces and rigging old microwaves to melt copper. I don't know that I'm actually any "good" at it, but I do enjoy it a lot. I like working with a material that you have to respect highly or it will burn a hole straight through you. And I have been able to cast some rudimentary parts(housings, pulllies) that have been used on other hackeresque projects.
I went to the local blacksmithing group just this week. I think I'm going to join. The work looks like fun and I liked the social atmosphere (slightly grumpy old guys who reminded me of my dad).
> rigging old microwaves to melt copper
Whoa. I guess you're still here to type about it . . .
You should definitely join the blacksmithing group. I'm definitely on the casting part of the work as opposed to the smithing. but I know a bunch of great blacksmiths. I think you will be able to find a great group of interesting personalities that somehow get drawn to metalworking (sort of like HN)
One great resource for metalcasting is Backyard Metal Casting. www.backyardmetalcasting.com He will probably answer any question you could possibly have about casting.
lifting weights. it's not only a hobby, but a balance and medicine.
"When the Iron doesn’t want to come off the mat, it’s the kindest thing
it can do for you. If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it
wouldn’t teach you anything. That’s the way the Iron talks to you. It
tells you that the material you work with is that which you will come to
resemble. That which you work against w...ill always work against you." - Henry Rollins
Agreed. And Henry Rollins has some great quotes about lifting. Here's another:
"The Iron never lies to you ... The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hndred pounds is always two hundred pounds."
Flying (halfway through pilot training), scuba diving, travel, reading, and I hope to take up sailing later this year. I tend to enjoy things that combine multiple skills and disciplines into one activity. For example, becoming a pilot requires proficiency in a variety of technical areas such as navigation, weather, and aircraft operating procedures, but it also requires learning airmanship and the art of flying the plane by feel. We spent several hours this week doing takeoffs and landings with the entire instrument panel covered with a towel, to get used to flying the plane with only your sensory input to guide you. Enough rambling though :)
I really enjoyed flying when I used to fly. After ~35 hours, I ended up soloing twice and then had to stop. (Initially due to a long stretch of poor weather, then a re-evaluation of my financial situation :))
i loved flying and hope to go back to doing some at some point. i have about 150 hours, flew some fun high performance and complex aircraft. just too expensive to keep up...
I initially started in 2007 and took a 2.5 year break for financial reasons. We'll see how it turns out this time...maybe I'll end up flying ultralights or something :)
1. Watching cartoons. Seriously. I'll watch an hour or so of old cartoons before going to sleep to unwind my brain from programming.
2. Playing music. This is my creative outlet. I play several instruments, and using music theory to create music is a different sort of way to be analytical and creative at the same time. I've always thought of music as the most universal way for people to appreciate math in its purest form, even if they don't realize it.
3. Bowling and Golf. Both are "sports" in that they are competitive and involve physical activity, but they can both be done alone and on my own time. They are also both very physics-based games which satisfies my need for mental engagement; consequently this makes me "that guy" in group bowling outings that takes it a bit too seriously :)
I produce electronic music. These days production is all computer based, and tech knowledge gets you a long way. Also if you can learn tech skills you can probably also come to understand things like dynamics processing and frequency ranges well enough to get to the top of the game, in terms of production quality. Its one of the few things that I find to be a good mix of my creativity and tech aptitude (along with web design and games art).
Logic on Mac, Cubase if you're stuck with Windows, Native Instruments Massive is a pretty awesome synth (for beginners and pros) and Izotope Ozone for mastering. Logic has pretty much everything else you need included but if you go with Cubase or Ableton then you'll need to stock up on 3rd party plugins including a good EQ and freq analyser, good dynamics compressor and a decent sampler.
MMA. In my experience the technical sophistication and methodical nature of submission setups appeals to people who are abstract thinkers. Many people need to get over the bar brawler reputation though :) Don't worry, most practitioners are a lot smarter than the typical Tapout fan :)
I agree. I only do BJJ anymore, since really I'm too old to get punched in the face now :) I look at BJJ as a kinda of physical chess match. Every move has a counter and so on, with the question being can you execute it given how physically and mentally tired you might be at that moment.
That's a cool site, thanks. As an aside I didn't know Overeem was fighting this weekend - he /toyed/ with Rogers, I'm thinking he's going to give Fedor a run for his money. Still rooting for Fedor :)
One of my favorite things to do is to go out and travel. Leave the computer at home for the weekend or a week and go visit somewhere new. Spend some time with friends and loved ones. As a side hobby, I've really been into taking pictures because I want a photo journal of all of those experiences and I want them to be as good as possible.
Some great resources for traveling are Spirit Airlines and Travelzoo.com. With Spirit you can pay something like 40 dollars a year and they will send you deals every few days in the mail with flights as low as $9 (plus tax). Travel Zoo sends amazing deals weekly.
In addition to that I love cycling, wakeboarding, cooking, and lots more but they mostly all involve getting out of the house and away from a computer.
I'm surprised home brewing (beer) isn't more common. I thoroughly enjoy making my own recipes as it is a sort of cross between the art of cooking and science of chemistry.
My brews get better each time.
My friend and I started http://brewadvice.com (based on the Stack Exchange) platform. The community has been very helpful.
I play airsoft. It's not a cheap hobby, but it's good exercise in good company. I'm involved with the running of the society (I'll be president next academic year), which has taught me organisational skills; and hanging out with the other players was half the socialising I did last year, so it's probably helped to keep me sane.
Climber here too. It's one of the few things I've done where it can grab 100% of my focus and attention. I can't think of anything else I've done that I can do without distraction or my mind wondering.
I go climbing with a coworker before work 2-3x a week. The problems in climbing seem similar to the problems in programming, so it's a good physical and mental wake-up for the day.
A ton of other programmers I know climb as well (we had an engineering offsite at Planet Granite in SF a few months ago), and I also see a ton of Googlers and other software people at Mission Cliffs on a regular basis.
Is rock climbing something you can do alone? (Indoors rock climbing or something similar, at least? I guess outdoors climbing by yourself would be pretty dangerous =P.) It's something I've wanted to get into, but I prefer solo activities.
Outdoor bouldering is just climbing small rocks. Find a small rock somewhere and scramble up it. It is as dangerous as you want it to be. If you are concerned about the danger, bring a pad and let people know where you are.
I first got into climbing by scrambling around boulders on the Sonoma coast, mainly by myself. I had so much fun. When I found out that it was an actual sport that other people did, I was hooked.
Indoor bouldering is the loner's form of climbing. Outdoor is feasible too, but even with the small falls I worry about someone being totally alone. Bouldering does tend to be a little more intimidating and requires more upper-body strength, but just take your time and you'll get the hang of it.
I practice yoga. I find doing a physical activity helps my body to relax and take my mind off things.
Initially I had the impression it was a 'light' activity which mainly women practice, but after taking a couple of Ashtanga sessions I was floored :-) I recommend you give it a try.
Recording and writing music. I just recently upgraded from Garageband to Logic Pro and recently bought Reason. You can listen to my modest efforts at http://www.myspace.com/zendevice.
Photography also :) glad to see some photogs on HN. I do mostly street photography - I find that it gets me engaged with people and forces me to be much more social than I'd otherwise be (I do stare at a screen all day for my day job...)
[edit] Also, working in an industrial kitchen. Nothing like getting your hands dirty that takes your mind off brainy matters like programming.
In the end IMHO the best hacker hobbies are the ones that are mentally nothing like hacking at all.
I'm also into street photography: running a photoblog where I post a photo every workday (http://journal.boblycat.org/cosmozoo). Still going strong since 2005 or so, and I concur it's a great compliment to screen-gazing.
In the summer during the day, I play beach volleyball a few times a week at Milwaukee's Bradford Beach. Great workout, great fun, and something completely different to hone and perfect.
At night, and in the winter, I play videogames: Quake Live is a great game to play for 10-30 minute sessions. League of Legends, and now Bloodline Champions is fun to play with a few friends.
Keeping bees. Playing viol (that baroque instrument) and guitar. But I like to "follow my nose", so the answer might be different next year (did someone mention metal casting in this thread? hmmm...)
Cycling. Indeed, I'm having some regrets about beeing at a Startup Weekend and having missed the live coverage of what has proved to be one of the more epic stages at the Giro d'Italia in recent years... sigh.
I like to ride, too, but have been sick an awful lot this year, due to our daughter being in nursery school and picking up a nasty array of diseases.
I enjoy gardening, i just got a my first square foot garden, i enjoy geeking out over automating it's watering, and optimizing conditions. I cannot stop comparing the task to that of building a website...nurture it slowly and it will grow ^_^
Not only is it a relaxing/rewarding hobby it encourages me to eat better and helps save me money on my groceries!
I love to cook and I'm puzzled why more Hackers don't. To me, cooking is the anti-thesis of coding. Both are about the deeply satisfying act of creation but one is abstract, permanent and virtual. The other is visceral, messy and temporary. This yin-yang balance appeals to me immensely and both are major parts of my life.
I love to cook as well. I find is a very relaxing thing to do with a sense of completion at the end. When you are hacking on a long project you may not get that sense of completion.
Boating in general. In particular, I love wakeboarding, and I have a stand-up jet ski. The stand-up is my favorite. An 800cc, 80hp engine producing 700lbs of thrust in a <400lb fueled vehicle is pretty intense. There is nothing like going 50mph standing an inch off the water.
Latin. It's satisfying mental exercise, and there's no pressure to learn quickly, because it has no practical applications (except for general brain sharpening). And the structure of the language is almost custom made for a hacker.
Photography and weightlifting. Back in the old days when I had a full set of lenses, I could combine the two. Now that I've bought a digital point-and-shoot, I have to go to the gym.
Volunteer Firefighting. It's a great way to get involved with a close knit group of people, a solid motivation to stay fit, and an extremely fun and rewarding experience.
I'm surprised there aren't more parkour practitioners here. I find it is one of the most physically demanding things a person can do, it is almost entirely free, and it requires both extreme focus and tons of creativity. Of course, the downsides are that you have to be in amazing shape (or work your way up to it) and that it does tend to result in small injuries, but I would say no more than a martial art.
Definitely a great way to get out, move around, and stay focused.
I love Go something fierce. There's something mathematically pure about it; a good game feels like two people trying to solve a single intricate mathematical puzzle, with the result reflecting who came closer to perfect understanding.
What's not to love, really? Binary math, simple axiomatic formal system, seriously deep complexity. It's no coincidence that Conway's early fundamental work on cellular automata was done on a Go board with Go stones.
Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (no-gi), surfing and classical/figurative painting. I used to be a street performer and avid skateboarder when I was a teenager.
You may know about this, but http://gokgs.com is an active online community. I don't think I've ever had to wait more than a few minutes for a match against someone similarly-ranked (my own rank's been anywhere between 15 and 25 kyu).
I don't know how easy it is to learn there, though. Playing offline, there's usually a stronger player around who can notice specific mistakes that I make and explain them to me after the game. ("You're being too submissive", "this is bad shape - play here instead".) Without them, I imagine I'd still find out what works, but I would improve much more slowly.
My main two:
1) working out. Normally something outside: running around Red Rocks, jogging and looking at the mountains, playing ultimate frisbee, etc
2) board games. Puerto Rico, Race for the Galaxy, Dominion, Hansa Teutonica... not Settlers of Catan, which seems to be just recently getting popular and is too luck-based for my liking.
Music (unfortunately, listening to it, not playing - at this time). Photography (common hacker hobby, very relaxing yet has a technical component to it). Cars/driving/potentially amateur racing (you don't need a fancy car for this, in fact it's likely not a good idea to use an expensive/luxury car).
Reading (in the sense of fiction literature). History, philosophy, political science (really another form of reading). Travel. Exercise.
Often times it helps to hack on things that _seemingly_ aren't related to your work (even if you like your work).
I've spent good chunk of today writing my own graph library: for learning and scratching a personal itch; if I wanted a real one I'd use Boost (best imo), JGraphT or JUNG. Chances are, however, that it may come in handy e.g., I'll need to find the shortest path in an ad-hoc graph, but the scope I'll have at hand wouldn't justify adding additional dependencies.
Paragliding. It's pretty tactical, and there's a lot of information to assimilate about weather, clouds, thermals, etc. Snowboarding, cycling, hiking, guitar, piano/keyboards. Music composition is the closest thing to programming that I've found, in terms of intellectual absorption.
Not always AFK, but I like Technical writing, including gathering easy-to-understand data (taking photographs, screen shots, etc).
Photography, bicycling, listening to and playing music, wrenching on anything mechanical (currently putting a clutch in a 1990 Miata). That includes fixing electronics, too. Although I commute by bicycle and ride most places that I need to go to, I dearly enjoy driving for the sake of driving, autocrossing, etc.
I design fantasy vehicles in my head, and all the elaborate user interface bits that go along with them. Sometimes, I doodle parts of things down on paper, but most of my ideas are in my head.
I don't play computer games, but in real life, I like Chess, pool, scrabble, Monopoly and bowling.
Jogging is something I do regularly, as well as inline skating. I also picked up paragliding this year and try to do it as often as possible, but it always depends on the weather.
I'm too busy these days (I only run to keep myself sane) but I used to design & build hi-fi gear. It's a lot of computer modeling and a fair amount of sawing / soldering.
Just after Christmas I started taking Salsa Dancing lessons, and have since expanded into Tango, Cha-Cha, and Merengue. Hell of a lot of fun, and I've met some interesting people as a result.
That and the usual; cooking, reading (fantasy and science fiction,) social gaming with friends, running, cycling, and (when I get round to learning how) swimming.
Diving is both expensive and cheap? I plan on getting certified this summer and I know it can be a bit expensive to start up but I'd love to know if this is something that can potentially be a big drain on the wallet.
Another diver here (and sailor as well). There is a certain minimum cost, but it's not as much as most people imagine it will be. I could fly to the Red Sea and dive for a week (including gear rental, cheap'n'cheerful accommodation and going out in the evenings) for about GBP 600. If you spend more money you could stay in a nicer hotel and eat imported food (if you really want sushi in Egypt it'll cost you!) and buy all your own gear but the diving won't be any better.
I'm not "rich" by any means, but I run out of vacation time well before I run out of money to dive...
As somebody that loves learning and doing a lot of stuff, I have found that wherever there is a hobby, it can get very expensive.
Diving is cheap because you can keep gear to a minimum and take cheap diving trips. It's expensive because you can also buy pricey gear, take trips to exotic places, and pay for a lot of instruction and amenities.
One of the things I like about diving is that not only is it fun, depending on where you live it can also be very cheap
Chess. In many ways, chess is very similar to programming. It is a beautiful mix of art & science. It requires constant learning, studying and practice to get better. It allows you to solve puzzles and identify patterns. It has been around for many centuries and yet people still find new strategies.
I enjoy home improvement. I head over to Home Depot most Saturdays. My daughters (8 & 10) go with me and we talk about the various interesting things we pass in the store. After we get home, they often like to help out with my home improvement projects, which makes it even more enjoyable.
The variety here is awesome, and I agree that outdoor or physical activities are usually better for you...
...but yeah, I just play video games, watch movies, read books, and code side projects. A former roommate gave me a bunch of his old PS2 games, mostly JRPGs, and they need to get played one of these days.
I've done Lindy Hop for about 4 to 5 years now. I love it. It'll be no time when you'll be able to swing out to Shiny Stockings and Jumpin at the Woodside.
And if #1 helps #3 I can assume you're a Django Reinhardt fan.
Croquet. When played properly/competitively it's very different to the casual backyard game. To play well requires a nice mix of physical skill with complex tactics and decision-making. A disproportionate number of serious players are scientists/engineers/mathematicians/etc.
I read a lot of books on foreign policy, war and politics. I also do a lot of boxing. I believe in being challenged intellectually and physically. Also, I love human competition in terms of doing it and the history of it.
I do triathlons and marathons to get me outside and to challenge me to continuously improve my performance & health. You can geek out a good bit with all of the equipment and data that can be captured while training.
Used to do jujitsu, now I mostly play soccer as my physical outlet .. Also regularly play some chess to keep my skills honed, and sometimes play some (mostly soccer) video games when I just want to unwind
Geocaching. Something about finding a hidden container given just the coordinates seems to appeal to a lot of hackers. Plus, it gets you out in nature.
A lot of fascinating older people play the game, as well. I met a small business owner who was formerly the first computer salesman for a major mainframe company--IIRC it was Honeywell, but don't quote me on that. At least one famous international financier occasionally shows up to the bridge clubs in Chicago (unfortunately I've never ran into him).
The downside is it's hard to find a critical mass of bridge players in your age and "hang-out-ness" category.