Weekend-Engagement #278: Share your hobby, the thing you do for enjoyment

My current hobbies are the same ones I've had since I was younger. I've always loved collecting and putting together collections, not of just anything, of course, but of things I found interesting. There are two collections that have really stuck with me: phone cards and coins.

Phone cards (for those who don’t know, they were a kind of non-rechargeable prepaid card used in phone booths), I started collecting them many years ago. I remember I was still in elementary school. It all started in a simple way: walking around, you'd stop by phone booths and find these used-up cards that had been left behind. Often, they came in themed series, like famous cities, the World Cup, animals... The most exciting part was the hunt for the rarest cards, because on the back of each one was the print run, and the rare ones might have had only 20,000 copies, for example. Over time, I collected quite a few, but then the phone booths disappeared, so the solution was to go to flea markets that are held regularly in different towns. I started memorizing where they were and went whenever I could. Nowadays, with a small child, I can’t go as often, but every now and then I still go to see if I can find a good deal.

As for coins, I started collecting them around the time we switched from the lira to the euro. I wanted to keep a memory of what once was, but I also noticed that many coins had different designs, and I wanted them all! So, just like with the phone cards, I’d rummage through my parents' coins looking for the ones I was missing. Like phone cards, this hobby has stayed with me to this day, and these also show up at flea markets, so I hit two birds with one stone. One of the best finds I remember is the 1,000-lira coin with the image of Europe, where Germany was mistakenly still shown divided between East and West... And the price of that coin? 1,000 lire!

My last hobby, kind of an obvious one, is video games, especially strategy games. I've always loved them for their competitive aspect. I love playing ranked online matches, joining tournaments, and trying to win. The drive to be the best always motivates me. I wouldn't call it an obsession, but it's definitely a strong push. In fact, I’m not interested in games that don’t involve competition. This hobby works really well now because I can play in the evening when the baby is asleep, which is definitely not the best time for going to flea markets!

Random photos of my collections
Post in response to @galenkp Weekend-Engagement topics: WEEK278