Hey I'm addicted to gambling what else can I do??

[Magicman420]

I like sports, I play sports 2 times a week  and stuff but any ideas of stuff to do other than betting 24/7  would be cool I'm trying to break this habit......
I even have a lady friend, maybe some ideas for us both lol.. Obvioulsy we go to dinner and stuff but I need more to do other than gambling.. Lets talk lol fishing, kinda bores me, movies bore me, bike rides are ok lol, any more ideas?

[Kluge]

Sure. Try to live in the most energy/cost efficient way possible. If you smoke, buy an injection roller and buy online in bulk to take up a little time. If you have smokers in the family who wouldn't find it awkward, it makes for a relatively cheap (but what would be expensive to them) gift. My dad quit smoking before I made him a carton for Father's Day -- didn't know it until after I gave it to him with a bottle of wine. On that note - if you drink, fermenting is dead-simple, while distilling is a bit trickier but compared to most creation hobbies, still fairly easy to get into, and you can take it about as far as you want. Beer brewing can be difficult depending on how much you do yourself vs. just buying a couple cans at a brew shop and tossing it in a vat.

"Gamble on yourself." You can take money you'd otherwise gamble and "invest" it. Instead of having some asshole trained, licensed, and bonded professional install a solar farm for you, learn to set it up yourself, or even go so far as to make the panels yourself. If you're not in a good area for solar, wind might be available, though I'd be leery about suggesting someone set up a wind turbine with no experience (but you could still buy a kit with instructions). Welding and soldering are great skills useful in two of the three "hobbies" I've mentioned, and I'm fairly disappointed I can only barely solder, but it's something to learn later.

These three hobbies will all save you money (assuming you smoke and drink -- but I'm sure you use electricity) and give you something to do, while you're able to "gamble" by calculating the upfront costs and trying to recoup that money as fast as possible by doing the labor yourself and tweaking designs to maximize efficiency. It's not terribly complicated and you definitely don't need to be a chemist or engineer (or even go to a vocational school), but it'll give a fair sense of pride upon completion. In addition, there're plenty of people here who could help you out on them if you have questions - just toss 'em up in the Off Topic section. There are all sorts of similar things to do, if maybe you're not interested in those... working on small engines can sometimes bring in a little money (as well as save you from taking it to someone) and isn't too difficult to jump into... if you like a lot of "game" with your gambling, you could farm on an MMO, though that's about as fun as having your fingernails pulled off... Lots to do with lumber, or paving - you could create a ridiculous crushed-rock-pathed maze on your property which runs through fruiting trees, bushes, and herbs, with little sections almost like a zoo (or uhhh... what do they call them... outdoor botany zoo-things... uhh... botatorium? The name escapes me).

[Magicman420]

Sure. Try to live in the most energy/cost efficient way possible. If you smoke, buy an injection roller and buy online in bulk to take up a little time. If you have smokers in the family who wouldn't find it awkward, it makes for a relatively cheap (but what would be expensive to them) gift. My dad quit smoking before I made him a carton for Father's Day -- didn't know it until after I gave it to him with a bottle of wine. On that note - if you drink, fermenting is dead-simple, while distilling is a bit trickier but compared to most creation hobbies, still fairly easy to get into, and you can take it about as far as you want. Beer brewing can be difficult depending on how much you do yourself vs. just buying a couple cans at a brew shop and tossing it in a vat.

"Gamble on yourself." You can take money you'd otherwise gamble and "invest" it. Instead of having some asshole trained, licensed, and bonded professional install a solar farm for you, learn to set it up yourself, or even go so far as to make the panels yourself. If you're not in a good area for solar, wind might be available, though I'd be leery about suggesting someone set up a wind turbine with no experience (but you could still buy a kit with instructions). Welding and soldering are great skills useful in two of the three "hobbies" I've mentioned, and I'm fairly disappointed I can only barely solder, but it's something to learn later.

These three hobbies will all save you money (assuming you smoke and drink -- but I'm sure you use electricity) and give you something to do, while you're able to "gamble" by calculating the upfront costs and trying to recoup that money as fast as possible by doing the labor yourself and tweaking designs to maximize efficiency. It's not terribly complicated and you definitely don't need to be a chemist or engineer (or even go to a vocational school), but it'll give a fair sense of pride upon completion. In addition, there're plenty of people here who could help you out on them if you have questions - just toss 'em up in the Off Topic section. There are all sorts of similar things to do, if maybe you're not interested in those... working on small engines can sometimes bring in a little money (as well as save you from taking it to someone) and isn't too difficult to jump into... if you like a lot of "game" with your gambling, you could farm on an MMO, though that's about as fun as having your fingernails pulled off... Lots to do with lumber, or paving - you could create a ridiculous crushed-rock-pathed maze on your property which runs through fruiting trees, bushes, and herbs, with little sections almost like a zoo (or uhhh... what do they call them... outdoor botany zoo-things... uhh... botatorium? The name escapes me).

that was great advice.. I guess I need to get movitated, and get out and do something, I do smoke I do drink on occasion, the problem is I'm in a small 1 bedroom apratment :/. But I know someone who could really use those solar panels.... I think I may try some welding also,, the guy in the apartment by me has a bad ass welder wonder if I can use it lol,, he is always using it Ive seen him.. Shit  even got him to fix a broke stool

[gweedo]

Get a sponsor that you can call and have him talk you down in those times.

[Kluge]

Some other ideas:
Cheese-making is fairly simple (though you'll probably want to design your own cheese press unless you're cool just making really soft, quick cheeses), though there aren't many home cheese-makers and good info's scarce. It's also not particularly cost-effective if you're after the simple stuff, and a good few places have government-controlled (expensive) milk prices. It might be viable if you assume you'll work up to fancier cheeses... it's one of those cool things where there isn't a whole lot of industry experimentation except on the high-end side, so you can come up with all sorts of new stuff to try.

Ice cream is another possibility... if you have a stand mixer, there's probably an attachment available for that, though a stand mixer isn't going to let you make ANY kind of frozen ice-cream-like desert since they have to blend so fast to keep everything from freezing, while real ice cream makers can be quite expensive (though again, you can always design one yourself!). I'm not terribly fond of this one, though -- there's only so much you can do with ice cream (and similar) partially due to how much flavor's hidden when you freeze things, though it's still just as delicious. It has the same cost issue as cheese, too -- tough to make cheaper than store-bought unless you can find some eccentric dairy operators really close willing to sell you a medium-sized batch of milk and cream at a great price, though OTOH, you can make it taste/feel however you want, so you may find superior value there.

Some people enjoy beekeeping, though that's a bit more than a hobby, I'd say, especially with all the government meddling in the US right now. You need relatively unregulated land, too. My mom's a beekeeper and does all sorts of stuff with the wax, honey, and other parts, but a good bit of their business also involves contracts/grants with schools and the government. You can branch beekeeping out to just about anywhere, though, from cosmetics, to medical, to culinary, to "ranching" (breeding, I guess'd be a more appropriate word? Bee breeder? ).

ETA: @above response -- distilling can be done tabletop (police videos always show these enormous 30-gallon gas-powered stills operating in some idiot's apartment which is completely ridiculous), while wine-making literally just takes a sterilized (boiled or let to sit ~10m with a weak bleach solution [and then rinsed!]) food-grade plastic or glass container, a packet of yeast, water, and fruit concentrate. Clawhammer Supply actually sells relatively tiny, pre-assembled tabletop pot stills on Amazon which work on induction cookers (electric's definitely the way to go here, and you need ventilation). Uhhh, but you should only use that for ethanol fuel production, given you have the proper licensing, officially. You can also distill with a device as simple as a large metal pot on an electric stove or induction cooker -- you'd dump the wine in the large pot with a smaller pot floating (or otherwise above the wine) inside that (this collects the ethanol, methanol, and whatever else comes with it). On the top, you'd want to use either the large pot's lid upside down or some other round-bottom bowl flipped upside down (you can also use aluminum foil, which I've found more effective for whatever reason). You place ice and a little water in the upside down bowl or foil, and this causes the ethanol to condense, then drip down to the center of the upside down bowl or foil, where it eventually falls into the little collection bowl inside the large pot. Ethanol, methanol, and other fuels boil at a significantly lower temperature than water, so if you get the heat to around 175-190*F, you get the ethanol instead of the water. Methanol boils at around 150*F, which is why you'll want to dump the first small bit of liquid you collect (alternately, just leave the lid of foil off the top of the large pot and let everything evaporate out until you get to ~170*F). It's not particularly efficient, but you probably have the supplies already in your house except maybe a good way to measure the temperature of your mash/wine - so it's a decent way to start understanding the process (keeping in mind you absolutely shouldn't have flames around it and the area must be well-ventilated). Interestingly, though it's illegal almost everywhere, there's a surprising amount of good information out there.

Since distillation passes will progressively take out the flavors in the wine or whatever horror you may've accidentally created, you can use all sorts of gnarly stuff -- anything cheap which'll ferment. I'm fond of rice since it's the only cereal grain I can easily find in bulk around here (with cereal, you generally want to coarsely chop it, then boil it until it's just slightly cooked, though I'm grossly over-simplifying this as this process won't maximize your starch conversion). Repeating distillation passes decreases impurities (including anything giving off flavor), so no matter how awful the wine is, you can still get a decent liquor from it and then flavor that. For example, you could purchase oak chips (for "aging") off Amazon, char them, then throw them in a mason jar with your liquor to get an extremely fast-"aging" hillbilly-style whiskey. Time aging isn't actually the whole equation -- it's surface area * time, so by having your charred oak inside the alcohol, you can age a multitude faster than corporate breweries with their massive 50-gallon barrels. -Just don't forget to filter it when you're done (coffee filters work great!).

[jeremypwr]

Yeah go to your local shelter with said lady friend and adopt.  Unless you're a sociopath or have a criminal record or something along those lines..

If that's the case, get a gym membership.

[Bit-Gods]

You can run your own website. Its very satisfying.
Try to think about something new or something with innovation, that in the future you can be one of the best in this subject.
You can make it associated with Bitcoin.
Good luck.

[jjc326]

You're calling it a "habit" but I'm afraid it's an addiction.  If you can't stop and you want to, then it's an addiction.  It's ok, I have it too and I have a great life. 

Trying going to a GA meeting, or talking to a therapist.  If you stop gambling for a while you'll find that things like fishing, or whatever hobby you want to do, becomes more interesting when you're off the "high" from gambling.  You just need some time away from the bet.  Good luck

[Stunna]

I like sports, I play sports 2 times a week  and stuff but any ideas of stuff to do other than betting 24/7  would be cool I'm trying to break this habit......
I even have a lady friend, maybe some ideas for us both lol.. Obvioulsy we go to dinner and stuff but I need more to do other than gambling.. Lets talk lol fishing, kinda bores me, movies bore me, bike rides are ok lol, any more ideas?

You should block yourself from every single gambling website you currently use, I believe you can do this by messing around with your hosts file.

And as mentioned above you should start hitting the gym, going for runs and hiking. You and your girlfriend will both love the benefits of it. It takes about a month to make something a habit, get a gym membership and force yourself to spend your new vacant time doing physical activity/playing a sport every day for the next 30 days.

If you can go without sports betting for 30 days then you'll most likely lose interest in it and in exchange gain interest in something beneficial as noted above. Log off of your computer and get started now.

Good luck

[SixFigures]

Easy answer is you need to WANT to quit first. It's like anything -- smoking, drinking, etc. People spend all sorts of money on things like "the patch", the gum, hypnosis, etc. but unless you really want to stop. You won't.

If you really want to quit you'll go to the local bookstore and read up on addiction, go to the local gamblers anonymous, find a sponsor, cut off all your friends that are enablers, tell your friends and family what you are doing and reach out to them for support.

You most likely have an addictive personality which means you'll get addicted to anything. So if you replace it with anything like the people mentioned above, you'll find something that you latch onto and can't get enough of.

My suggestion is pick up a pair of running shoes, join a running forum, download an app like mapmyrun, and just go out and run. You'll get hooked.

The reason you don't find the other stuff exciting is because your mind is always focused on gambling and it doesn't supply the rush. Get away from it for awhile and you'll be surprised how much fun it is going out to dinner and joking around with friends.

Also, get a girl friend, if you can get one. Then find a couple girls that just like to hang out. It's much more exciting going out to dinner and/or the bar with a girl (or a few) then a couple of desperate horny dudes.

--

Just think of what you can have if you don't gamble. I mean, 2 BTC is enough for an all inclusive vacation most places. Also, this might be bad advice, but next time you get money, instead of putting it on a game. Find a girl (that's worth it) and spend the money on her .. you can get a limo, dinner, drinks, show and more for the amount most people are putting on one game. You'll find it much more satisfying.

I wouldn't recommend this all the time, but, hell .. why not at least once ya know.

[jjc326]

Easy answer is you need to WANT to quit first. It's like anything -- smoking, drinking, etc. People spend all sorts of money on things like "the patch", the gum, hypnosis, etc. but unless you really want to stop. You won't.

If you really want to quit you'll go to the local bookstore and read up on addiction, go to the local gamblers anonymous, find a sponsor, cut off all your friends that are enablers, tell your friends and family what you are doing and reach out to them for support.

You most likely have an addictive personality which means you'll get addicted to anything. So if you replace it with anything like the people mentioned above, you'll find something that you latch onto and can't get enough of.

My suggestion is pick up a pair of running shoes, join a running forum, download an app like mapmyrun, and just go out and run. You'll get hooked.

The reason you don't find the other stuff exciting is because your mind is always focused on gambling and it doesn't supply the rush. Get away from it for awhile and you'll be surprised how much fun it is going out to dinner and joking around with friends.

Also, get a girl friend, if you can get one. Then find a couple girls that just like to hang out. It's much more exciting going out to dinner and/or the bar with a girl (or a few) then a couple of desperate horny dudes.

--

Just think of what you can have if you don't gamble. I mean, 2 BTC is enough for an all inclusive vacation most places. Also, this might be bad advice, but next time you get money, instead of putting it on a game. Find a girl (that's worth it) and spend the money on her .. you can get a limo, dinner, drinks, show and more for the amount most people are putting on one game. You'll find it much more satisfying.

I wouldn't recommend this all the time, but, hell .. why not at least once ya know.

Agreed re: addictive personality.  Since I've stopped gambling for the most part, I've gotten addicted, basically, to exercise.  I have the best body I've ever had, and I've run marathons too (from only being able to do a few miles in the past).  You CAN get a high from exercise (or other hobbies) you just need to get off the gambling high first.  Give away access to money if you have someone you trust (like a good family member I mean).

[Magicman420]

WOW YOU ALL HAVE BEEN AMAZING.

1 I'm taking the night of from gambling .
2. I don't wanna quit completely I just need to scale back alot.
3. I'm going for a run see y'all tonight.. This has been great I'm glad I started this topic.. Shut maybe it,will even help someone else p..

Ps.. As someone mentioned I can't quit unless I what to.. Like when I quit cigarettes last year after 15 years I WANTED TO STOP so I did.. One of the things I picked up when quitting cigs was betting :/

I will take steps forward from tonight to scale back the amount Im betting I can't stay in this pace all my life

[Magicman420]

Some other ideas:
Cheese-making is fairly simple (though you'll probably want to design your own cheese press unless you're cool just making really soft, quick cheeses), though there aren't many home cheese-makers and good info's scarce. It's also not particularly cost-effective if you're after the simple stuff, and a good few places have government-controlled (expensive) milk prices. It might be viable if you assume you'll work up to fancier cheeses... it's one of those cool things where there isn't a whole lot of industry experimentation except on the high-end side, so you can come up with all sorts of new stuff to try.

Ice cream is another possibility... if you have a stand mixer, there's probably an attachment available for that, though a stand mixer isn't going to let you make ANY kind of frozen ice-cream-like desert since they have to blend so fast to keep everything from freezing, while real ice cream makers can be quite expensive (though again, you can always design one yourself!). I'm not terribly fond of this one, though -- there's only so much you can do with ice cream (and similar) partially due to how much flavor's hidden when you freeze things, though it's still just as delicious. It has the same cost issue as cheese, too -- tough to make cheaper than store-bought unless you can find some eccentric dairy operators really close willing to sell you a medium-sized batch of milk and cream at a great price, though OTOH, you can make it taste/feel however you want, so you may find superior value there.

Some people enjoy beekeeping, though that's a bit more than a hobby, I'd say, especially with all the government meddling in the US right now. You need relatively unregulated land, too. My mom's a beekeeper and does all sorts of stuff with the wax, honey, and other parts, but a good bit of their business also involves contracts/grants with schools and the government. You can branch beekeeping out to just about anywhere, though, from cosmetics, to medical, to culinary, to "ranching" (breeding, I guess'd be a more appropriate word? Bee breeder? ).

ETA: @above response -- distilling can be done tabletop (police videos always show these enormous 30-gallon gas-powered stills operating in some idiot's apartment which is completely ridiculous), while wine-making literally just takes a sterilized (boiled or let to sit ~10m with a weak bleach solution [and then rinsed!]) food-grade plastic or glass container, a packet of yeast, water, and fruit concentrate. Clawhammer Supply actually sells relatively tiny, pre-assembled tabletop pot stills on Amazon which work on induction cookers (electric's definitely the way to go here, and you need ventilation). Uhhh, but you should only use that for ethanol fuel production, given you have the proper licensing, officially. You can also distill with a device as simple as a large metal pot on an electric stove or induction cooker -- you'd dump the wine in the large pot with a smaller pot floating (or otherwise above the wine) inside that (this collects the ethanol, methanol, and whatever else comes with it). On the top, you'd want to use either the large pot's lid upside down or some other round-bottom bowl flipped upside down (you can also use aluminum foil, which I've found more effective for whatever reason). You place ice and a little water in the upside down bowl or foil, and this causes the ethanol to condense, then drip down to the center of the upside down bowl or foil, where it eventually falls into the little collection bowl inside the large pot. Ethanol, methanol, and other fuels boil at a significantly lower temperature than water, so if you get the heat to around 175-190*F, you get the ethanol instead of the water. Methanol boils at around 150*F, which is why you'll want to dump the first small bit of liquid you collect (alternately, just leave the lid of foil off the top of the large pot and let everything evaporate out until you get to ~170*F). It's not particularly efficient, but you probably have the supplies already in your house except maybe a good way to measure the temperature of your mash/wine - so it's a decent way to start understanding the process (keeping in mind you absolutely shouldn't have flames around it and the area must be well-ventilated). Interestingly, though it's illegal almost everywhere, there's a surprising amount of good information out there.

Since distillation passes will progressively take out the flavors in the wine or whatever horror you may've accidentally created, you can use all sorts of gnarly stuff -- anything cheap which'll ferment. I'm fond of rice since it's the only cereal grain I can easily find in bulk around here (with cereal, you generally want to coarsely chop it, then boil it until it's just slightly cooked, though I'm grossly over-simplifying this as this process won't maximize your starch conversion). Repeating distillation passes decreases impurities (including anything giving off flavor), so no matter how awful the wine is, you can still get a decent liquor from it and then flavor that. For example, you could purchase oak chips (for "aging") off Amazon, char them, then throw them in a mason jar with your liquor to get an extremely fast-"aging" hillbilly-style whiskey. Time aging isn't actually the whole equation -- it's surface area * time, so by having your charred oak inside the alcohol, you can age a multitude faster than corporate breweries with their massive 50-gallon barrels. -Just don't forget to filter it when you're done (coffee filters work great!).

The bee keeping kinda caught my ear.. Trying to think where I can set it up lol..

Thanks you have been GREAT

[Magicman420]

Yeah go to your local shelter with said lady friend and adopt.  Unless you're a sociopath or have a criminal record or something along those lines..

If that's the case, get a gym membership.

Not a bad idea.. My lady friend already has 5 cats so IDK.. Gonna talk  with her.. We live separate but those are my cats at her house also lol.. I can't take any  from her because she loves them all lol..

Aka crazy  sexy cat lady lol

[Magicman420]

I made it thru the night wanted to buy some bitcoins soooo bad, but I'm gonna wait until tommorow then maybe buy a small amout.. I had a productive night running,, then dinner, now tv and a little smoke and it,feels good

[jjc326]

I made it thru the night wanted to buy some bitcoins soooo bad, but I'm gonna wait until tommorow then maybe buy a small amout.. I had a productive night running,, then dinner, now tv and a little smoke and it,feels good

Hey good for you but you're not out of the woods my friend.  One night is not going to cut it.  Believe me you won't want to buy Bitcoins if you just wait a little longer.  Take it a day at a time.  Don't gamble just for today and see what's up tomorrow.  It will take longer for you to "cool off".

[theskillzdatklls]

If you end up gambling enough, like way too much, you will eventually get sick of it. So the best thing to do is to keep gambling, but just do more of it.

[merockstar]

try marijuana.

[dooglus]

2. I don't wanna quit completely I just need to scale back alot.

That might not be an option for you.

When you quit smoking, did you ever try just cutting down? I've seen lots of people try that, and none succeed at it.

With addiction it seems to be that you stop, or you don't. There's no "scaling back".

[RocketSingh]

I like sports, I play sports 2 times a week  and stuff but any ideas of stuff to do other than betting 24/7  would be cool I'm trying to break this habit......
I even have a lady friend, maybe some ideas for us both lol.. Obvioulsy we go to dinner and stuff but I need more to do other than gambling.. Lets talk lol fishing, kinda bores me, movies bore me, bike rides are ok lol, any more ideas?

Dont u have any need to earn money for urself ?