Hello my readers!

Many of you have noticed that I haven’t posted anything for a long time. I have started to write about 6 articles but haven’t finished any of them. I would like to get back to the journal-like style of writing as it’s easier for me to finish it this way. These journal-like egocentric articles probably won’t be interesting for you but I will appreciate them when I will find this long-forgotten website in a few years.

It’s almost February but I would still like to write a short summary about 2020 which was in fact one of the best years for me in my whole life. In this article, I will focus merely on my hobbies that I picked up during the covid-year.

You can consider this post as bragging about my abilities; however, it was your free choice to read it in case you get any bad feelings from the comparison.

And if you feel the introduction is too long and unnecessary, you are completely right. And this paragraph only prolongs it for no reason. Without further ado, there is a list, with no particular order.

Bridge

My friend Kryštof (check out his blog about trams - in Czech) brought me to the card game called bridge. I used to play it a bit during breaks back in high school, however, I didn’t know anything about tactics and how complex this game was. I started to study it a bit (but I am lazy when it comes to making a mental effort). I get apprehensive during tournaments, but (maybe also because of this and my passive gameplay) we were able to finish 3rd in one of the amateur tournaments. I assume this is objectively the biggest achievement of 2020. (it could maybe compete with finishing my bachelors thesis)

Pub Quizzes

One of the things I missed in Berlin were gatherings in pubs with my friends. Yes, I did have some friends but not many. And the culture regarding pub visiting was very different there. (read my article for more hate). One of the reasons I didn’t enjoy my time in Berlin was the fact that I envied my friends in Prague who were attending pub quizzes. Therefore, when I moved to Prague, it was one of the first things I wanted to do because I LOVE quizzes (challenge me on Jetpunk!). It’s one of the few occasions when I can utilize the unnecessary knowledge I gather on Wikipedia. As my group of friends had the full amount of members, I was challenged to form my own group of friends. And it felt great, being able to create my own group - Nepřátelé zdravého riskování (= Enemies of healthy risk taking). And we weren’t bad, despite the low amount of people in our crew. The quizzes were definitely the highlight of each week. And possibly the highlight of the year.

Street Workout

Since I have moved to Czechia, I have been exercising in public workout places. My brother Marek has motivated me and even though it wasn’t that much fun at the beginning, I was getting better each time, which motivated me further. And since that, I have never stopped. And was exercising even alone - and reached my personal record of 14 pull-ups! Surprisingly the winter hasn’t stopped me from going. I didn’t have to rely on gyms (that were closed because of Covid anyway) and I saved a large sum of money. And it became also a place for my regular gossip exchange. And I set my personal record in weight - 82 kilograms. And not only fat! Are you interested more in my weight? Click here.

Winter Swimming

In December, Kryštof (again) motivated me to go swimming in the Vltava river. I wasn’t even very hesitant as it seemed like a cool activity to do (and one can get some attention from telling it to everyone). Well, since December we have been going irregularly and it is indeed manageable. The first attempt was horrible and I stayed in the water just for a few seconds, but when I was in the water during Christmas, I was already able to stay there for several minutes without significant effort. Here is a picture of me near water - a proof of me running this hobby - and also the previous one (proof of me working out - actually the main reason for the picture lol).

No-Bake Cakes

During quarantine, I decided to make some cakes. I don’t have an oven in my apartment, therefore I decided to make no-bake cheesecakes. The making process is not that much fun and it’s easier than one would think, but it feels great to give the cake away to friends and get thanks and compliments. I made several cakes and got a little bit better each time. I never thought I would ever share pictures of food. But here there are, pictures of cakes nobody asked for:

Plants

I received a few baby plants from my friend Janča and since that, I have a decent collection. It’s fun to take care of them as I have never owned any plants before. I am especially proud of my chloropythum, which grew like crazy. See some pictures of plants you didn’t ask for (ofc without chloropythum).

Chess

This hobby started in December 2020 but it developed mostly this January. It became an addiction for me. I get very easily addicted to these kinds of stimulants. It used to be Picross and Tetris, now it’s chess. It started after I watched Queen’s gambit (of course) - and in one month I played over 900 games on chess.com. I am not a good player as I haven’t studied the theory - but I am improving. I seriously doubt anyone would still read this article but if you are a chess enthusiast, feel free to challenge me!

Reading

Wow, what an original hobby. I just want to share that I finally started to read more and during 2020 I read more books than in the last years. This blog is not about books - you can check my book ratings here. I am very proud that I finally finished Brother Karamazov in German, which took me way too much time. Compared with Ready Player One, which I finished in 2 days and it’s my biggest recommendation.

Russian and Esperanto

Thanks to Duolingo, I continued pleasing the owl. I started already in 2019 but I persevered and finished the whole Russian course. And I was able to have a conversation in Russian on Tandem. After that, I started learning Esperanto. However, I stopped after losing my streak of 300 days (gamification ftw). I hope to start again.

Age of Empires DE

Like everyone else, I used to play Age of Empires as a child. Using Voobly, I played a bit with my friends during the last years as well. However, thanks to Covid and to the launch of AoE Definitive Edition, we have been playing a lot during the lockdown and we still carry on with it. Playing AoE with friends has a super high entertainment value for me. And I improved a lot, reaching the ELO of 1100.

Anyone from my acquaintances playing? Let me know!

Summary

You might want to ask why am I writing this. (And I might want to ask why you are reading this.) I am not sure - it makes me feel better. I am appreciative of all the hobbies I took up. And practicing gratitoad helps my mental health. I am also bragging a bit.

I am delighted that in the end this year turned out well and that I was able to pursue many more hobbies than I pursued in the previous years. Being enthusiastic about activities in life corresponds with the process of healing from depression which makes me happy. And except karaoke (oh dear, I miss karaoke), I was able to resume hobbies I already had - like urban sketching, jogging or photography.

I feel like this has been a successful year hobby-wise. Considering the fact that I am not a good learner (let the following meme explain the reason) I was able to learn quite a bit.

Let’s hope this trend will continue in 2021 as well. (and I mean also writing articles)