How obvious are your obsessions to other people?

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I think mine can be pretty obvious when I don't try to hide them. Lately I've been getting better at hiding them. I don't try to hide them online, but I do try to hide them in real life.

I try to hide my interest in Judaism by discretely learning Hebrew and researching Judaism. That keeps my brain satisfied, so I don't feel the need to talk about it all the time. I know that I'm talking about it a lot on WP, but WP is my outlet for my obsessions. It's not a representation of what I talk about in real life.

I'm not planning to completely hide my interest in Judaism. I just want it to look like a slight curiosity or normal interest, not an obsession.

They're not obvious at all. I don't hide them, I just don't talk to people much (and play a passive role when I do), so they never come up. My family knows the major ones, because my mother tells them, but she only knows of the ones she's observed.

I don't share my own, unless someone shows an interest in them. Sharing with unappreciative people seems to tarnish what I treasure.

At home, I'll sometimes randomly blurt out facts of my interest. Somewhere else, I probably won't bring it up, unless specifically asked or the need to correct someone who is talking about it gets too strong.

Close friends and basically anyone that knows me well realizes I have a HUGE obsession with Tom Hiddleston.

Most people who have spoken with me for maybe more than 10 minutes know about my intense love of drawing cartoons and making crafts, but I see that more as a natural talent I've had all my life more than an obsession, even though as a teen it seemed to be all I really cared about.

I think some of the cashiers at the stores I shop at regularly may suspect the dolls I buy are for me and not a gift for some kid. I've admitted maybe a couple of times that I collect Monster High dolls and it's hard for me to conceal my excitement when a new character becomes available. But I'm really kind of embarrassed to talk about it openly except here on WP.

Let's see ...

[X] Polyhedral dice on display.
[X] Character sheets left on copier.
[X] Dungeon Masters Guide on shelf.
[X] Saying "Make your saving throws!" instead of "Good Luck!".
[X] Painting miniatures during lunch breaks.
[X] Borrowing the conference room on Saturday nights for employee gaming sessions.
[X] Mad-scientist laugh whenever I solve a problem.

... how could anyone possibly know that I'm obsessed with dice-and-paper Role-Playing Games?

HMHMHMBUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! !

I use to be more open about my special interests when I was younger but now I know no one really cares about the stuff so I just stay quiet and hide everything.

I wouldn't know... my interests are probably to obscure for people to even consider it at first impression.

But I suppose I have a bit of that weird artist vibe around me that says I either draw, paint or am active with music in some form. Yeah, and I suppose a bit of geekery on the side in terms of comicbooks and perhaps cartoons (who would've thought a shirt with a Cobra or Decepticon logo gave that away).

But aside from that; most people have no idea what biohacking or transhumanism is. Nor do people assume that a big guy, whom they think is intimidating (hey; their words, not mine!) can sit down and paint tiny ships and soldiers for wargaming purposes.

Let's just say, my obsessions aren't obvious because some of these things are way too obscure for mainstream folks.

Yeah, and then there's body mods and body mod culture in general (which perhaps ties in with biohacking as well), which is obvious with that small amount of, what seemingly is still perceived as weird if you're a bit older, facial jewelry going on. But to most people it's probably just a "oh, he just got a piercing" while to me it's more of a lifestyle thing even if I don't get into it that extreme at the moment.

Within 10 minutes in any casual conversation, people will generally know about my obsession with photography. I try not to bore people who don't share my interest, but it's really easy for me to "lecture" on the subject for extended periods of time if they show the slightest bit of interest in the topic.

My immediate family knows the extent of my interests, as do a few of my closest friends. Everyone else either doesn't know about my interests at all, or thinks that they're just regular hobbies.

Mine are pretty obvious, although they probably seem a bit less unusual since I hang out in a lot of fandom circles.

See, my special interests are centered primarily around cartoons and comics--especially Homestuck, but also many others. Since I hang out mostly with people who are also into stuff like that (both online and off), it doesn't usually come across as (for lack of a better term) "weird." I do occasionally get a bit too enthusiastic about things, though, which puts some people off and can make it hard to make friends.

Fortunately, most of my social life revolves around conventions (so pumped for Sac Winter in January!), so I can generally pass it off as just an interest when I'm actively socializing...the problem comes in when I'm at school and can't bring myself to shut up about things I love. XD

Only my family knows about most of my obsessions, I try not to bore them with it so I try not to talk about it that much. But my mom can usually tell when I become obsessed with something.

My special interests are obvious because of the clothes that I wear. I wear a lot of Kinks inspired vintage clothes. I don't feel a need to hide anything from anyone. I talk to my friends about my special interests from time to time. I haven't talked to my parents about my special interests since I was between the ages 10 and 13.

Not at all obvious, because IRL I'm a pretty secretive and reserved person: I don't give much away about myself. I think years of being ridiculed for the smallest things as a child taught me to be that way - I did not grow up in an environment where I could babble freely.

At the moment I don't have many special interests anyway: I spend 90% of my free time on the internet or playing videogames. My interests are pretty restricted, but not 'special'. I'm not even obsessed with a particular videogame right now. Wish I could get into more productive s**t, but right now it ain't happening. I do have an interest with learning to code, and a few other things, but I want to get my housing situation sorted out first - that's going to involve massive upheaval, probably fairly soon.

PS: For a while I was obsessed with learning about Crohn's. But I'm not so interested in that any more. All you really need to know about it is it's a rubbish disease and it's not currently curable.