Leibrug

A season and a sunset of a hobby

06.09.2025

What does a hobby have in common with love?

Parkour

Until the teens, only two things I did with passion were: eating too much and reading books. I’d call them my proto-hobbies. For the literature, I can’t tell it was intentional, rather just a form of intellectual consumption to complement the bodily one.

The things changed when I watched “Jump London” documentary on the TV. A youngster who saw PE lessons as miserable duty, suddenly obsessed over training. Of course we formed a team. Going out to “Jump Poniatowa” was a default activity for a good few years, and even snowy winter couldn’t stop us. I think le parkour catched so strong because: I could practice at my own pace, it involved a concept of tricks to learn (“unlock” - feel the gamification?) and it carried a component of philosophy (in short: discipline and freedom of movement).

After some time, it shifted to somewhat more… stationary thing. My skills stalled, usual locations got boring, so I started spending time on parkour forums. I recall one day, staying online for 11 hours straight, churning out posts, including one where I bragged about my dedication. Meanwhile, there was summer holiday and beautiful weather outside.

It wasn’t the end however. Achievement-wise, it marked the beginning of a very influential era. I stepped in as editor-in-chief at e-Parkour magazine. I’ve been writing and publishing online issues. I was in charge. Just further and further away from the real sport.

Filmmaking

I’ll get back to parkour later on. No talking about endings yet. Let me happily narrate about the discovery of a fun, novel pastime like I’m 17 again and have no clue about the future.

Shooting our own (proudly called “independent”) movies was made possible by technical advancements, namely:

Screenplay on-the-go. Reaching the limits of equipment. Tireless editing - first in Windows Movie Maker, then powered-up to Sony Vegas. Thrill of negotiating with girls to appear in front of the camera. The story about our teenager film group(s) could fill an entire website, and guess what? I’m hosting one - meet theGabryśz. Two really cool outcomes I got from filmmaking:

Man, maybe I’m creative?!
–Me @18

As long as my interest was fresh and developing, I seriously hoped it can land me a job in visual arts industry. Today with this portfolio I would surely pass as some social media content specialist - a role that didn’t exist at that time. To be honest, going pro was the only imaginable path for me, and I held that belief until I entered…

The hobbyless decade

The most ancient videos I recorded depict us vaulting over some rails, which makes me think that - in a significant way - parkour led to filmmaking. Whereas, both hobbies led to coding, because I used to put everything I knew and loved about current preoccupation into HTML templates. I knew my way around webmastering before, but I’ve been lacking a topic.

Luckily, coding led to working.

Unfortunately, working made everything else fall apart.

I’m only half-joking. Lack of time is a lame excuse - we all know that. But the fact is I gradually drifted away from those activities.

My hypothesis is hobbies and romantic relationships share similar timeline, at least when you’re young. First, the fanaticism. Can’t get enough of it. Exploration. Fast forward, some cracks start appearing. Predictability, perhaps weaker emotions. Finding out sometimes it’s simply dissapointing, no matter you do your best.

There are plenty of articles and stories telling about love crises at certain point, with 3rd and 7th year being the most “popular” periods for the difficulties. Well, in both cases, right after 3 years, the initial fascination faded, to say the least.

I tried to fight it, of course. For parkour, my relocation to the nearest major city was supposed to be a game-changer. Two years earlier I could only dream of it. My traceur colleagues didn’t understand me occasionally going by bus to experience Lublin, even for a few hours. Countless spots for free running, with kilometers of barriers and concrete - it seemed like a limitless playground compared to my low-rise hometown. But somehow, suddenly I couldn’t find motivation to go alone and miss out new school- and roommates.

In case of filmmaking, it was even more dramatic. I finally put my hands on a proper camcorder - Canon HF G25 - only to realize I have no one for long-term collaboration (everybody scattered all over the country for college) and my screenplays are too ambitious for one-man show on a budget.

Both situations are reminiscent of a concept, where the highest new skyscrapers are built when the economy is peaking, and such over-investment predicts an incoming downturn. In terms of the love metaphor, it’s like a couple that doesn’t go well together for some time, decided on a child to solidify their relationship. The result is easy to figure.

Having said goodbye to my partners, I had a few affairs - fun, but nothing as intense as the abandoned hobbies:

Above, I charted a summary of this article. The bigger, black circles denote my interests, connected to demonstrate their sequence. Thinner, blue arrows lead to byproducts of the activities, be it a creative ensemble, online persona or a website/-app. Only the points filled with pink deserve to be called true hobbies.

Golf

I picked up golf over a year ago, partially by chance and by drive for something new. Do you sign-up for some random classes sometimes, in hope of expanding your horizons? That’s how I went to my first lesson.

Golf is hard. I’m at 54.0 handicap (the highest that one can have) and try to squeeze in more practice. It won’t surprise me with moments of despair - it’s actually the default feeling. Also, we’re past the stage of over-investment already, as I spoiled myself with equipment right at the beginning. Yes, I craved for spending money because I want to - not need to.

To give you an idea how niche and overlooked this discipline is in Poland: when you walk into the big sport chain store, you can dress from head to toe for horseback riding, including the saddle and snacks for your stallion - all off the shelf. But in the golf department all you can find is literally a belt - cheap, braided, and even worse - too short. Neither a sleeve of balls nor a glove. I had my introductory training delayed because too few people wanted to join - for a whole summer! I’ve been to tournaments of only 7-10 players (and still lost).

Time will tell, but I decided to share this as my public pledge. Besides, I don’t want to be defined by my occupaton alone (“…web developer from Poland”). And I was inspired by other persons:

For me, it’s the sunrise again. Good morning!