Photography
I picked up photography a while back and it kind of stuck. There's something I like about slowing down and actually looking at a scene before capturing it — it trains you to notice things you'd otherwise walk past. I shoot mostly landscapes and candid stuff, nothing too serious.
Most of what I shoot ends up on my Instagram if you want to have a look.
Writing
I write to think. Putting something into words forces me to actually understand it, which is why a lot of my writings start as me trying to explain something to myself. Sometimes that turns into something worth sharing, sometimes it doesn't.
I also journal occasionally — not consistently, but enough that it helps. It's a good way to process things that don't fit neatly into code or diagrams.
3D Art (Using Blender)
I started using Blender out of curiosity and ended up enjoying it more than I expected. Modeling, texturing, lighting — each part has its own learning curve, and there's a particular satisfaction in getting a render to look the way you imagined it.
It also scratches a different kind of problem-solving itch than programming. The constraints are different, and so is the feedback loop.
Teaching
I genuinely enjoy teaching. Explaining something well requires you to understand it at a level deeper than just being able to do it yourself, and that process has made me better at a lot of things. I've TAed a couple of courses at IBA and done informal tutoring, and both have been worth doing.
There's also something nice about watching someone get unstuck on a concept they've been struggling with. That part never gets old.
