INTERESTS
MOTOR RACING
Formula 1:
Since I was 9, in the second half of 2016, I started to really enjoy F1. It isn’t the most surprising cuz F1 is popular in Europe, and especially the United Kingdom. My dad also works for the Mercedes AMG Petronas team (the black car in the images are their car from 2023). But it is a really interesting take on motorsport, because while it can be boring at times, the car innovation are what make it, the speed the cars can take in the corners is absolutely insane, as well as the forces involved. The jeopardy also makes it exciting since the cars are very difficult to drive so anyone could go out and completely change the complexity of a race. It has a very rich and interesting history dating back to 1950. There are so many dynamics between teams, my dad’s team, Mercedes, have shared a bitter rivalry with the Red Bull team since 2014 is an example of a more recent dynamic which adds spice to on-track battles between Mercedes and Red Bull drivers. Especially the 2021 season when Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen fought tooth-and-nail for the title. It was a mix of epic battling for position, dominance by both drivers, huge crashes and mentality. It’s moments like these that make F1 so special to me, and I can’t see myself getting bored of it because it is always chopping and changing!
IndyCar:
Ironically, Indy is more American aligned, but it is still a great motorsport series that I am getting into, my first full season watching will hopefully be 2026. Unlike F1, Indy is a lot more racing-oriented. It is mostly a spec series, that means that the cars are mostly all the same, except teams can choose between different engines. One thing Indy has over F1 is track selection. Though they are all in either the United States or Canada, like F1 it features Road Courses and Street Tracks, but what it also features that F1 doesn’t have is Speedways/Ovals. While it can be easy to diss of ovals as “just turn left”, the racing dynamics are so different and the jeopardy is terrifying because they are flat out for most of the time, one small mistake has huge consequences. The other tracks are like F1, except the racing is usually a lot closer and more exciting to watch. I am not saying that Indy is “better” than F1. They are both brilliant in their own ways, but I do think that Indy has better racing.
MUSIC
English 🍺
Most of the English music I listen is in the form of hard rock and heavy metal. In general, I like loud and fast music, which is why even some normal rock doesn’t do it for me and especially not music like classical. I am also not a fan of extremely catchy music, so modern pop and rap are also a no-go. I like music where it feels like there has been an effort, which is another reason why those genres stand out to me cuz they are usually always performed by a band and each member has contributed in their own way to either vocals or instrumental. I do like some pop music, especially early and mid-10’s as well as some 00’s. My personal favourite rock and metal bands include Iron Maiden, Megadeth and Shinedown.
Japanese 🍡
I say I don’t really like pop, but Jpop and other Japanese music I like for whatever reason. Maybe it’s cuz it’s not as popular, therefore I hear it randomly less and I don’t get as annoyed of it plus it stands out, or it’s cuz I don’t understand it and therefore I am less likely to be turned away from cringey lyrics. I like a mixture of both sung by people as well as Vocaloid, though no Artificial Intelligence generated music. Vocaloid has an advantage when it comes to speed since it has the ability to sing extremely fast matching the tempo. My personal favourite Japanese artists include the likes of ONE OK ROCK, Sakura Miko and Omoi.
Instrumental 🎸
Sometimes you don’t want vocals, just pure music! I like instrumentals, especially in the background when I am doing something since there are no voices. It also allows for much more flexibility since you don’t have to worry about vocals, and you can push to really high tempo speed! It also works really well with games. My favourite instrumental artists include Team Grimoire, Aoi and ARForest.
GAMES
Racing 🏎️
As someone that enjoys watching racing, it would make sense that I also like racing games. I especially enjoy the F1 games by Codemasters (sadly bought out by EA) since they are licensed by F1 themselves, so it has all the tracks, teams, drivers and rules. It’s a mix between a game and a sim, it works well for me because the mechanics are close to realistic, it has a career mode, which I like to use to create a storyline which I love a lot. It is also fun to be able to drive on the tracks that the real F1 drivers do and it gives a new perspective on certain tracks, like it might be pretty bad for actual racing, but girl is it fun to drive on. (ahem.. Qatar)
But in general, racing games are high-concentration active games which I always enjoy when I’m bored or want to keep my hands busy.
Rhythm 🎼
Another active high-concentration game genre to keep my hands busy is rhythm. This is interesting because there are various types of rhythm game, the most common and what I prefer are Mobile VSRGs, they range from being relatively simple, like BanG Dream!, Takumi³ and Project SEKAI, to more complex like Arcaea, Phigros, Rotaeno and Lanota; but due to the nature of rhythm games, their complexity doesn’t determine its skill ceiling, Project SEKAI can be just as hard as Arcaea, the difference is their mechanics. I find that more complex games like Arcaea have a much higher skill floor, so while the more simple VSRGs can be just as hard, its easier stages can be significantly harder than those on some simple ones.
I enjoy VSRGs because they are another way to keep my hands occupied, they are music-focused and they are really fun and satisfying. They also make you push to and beyond your limits. They also help me practice things like problem solving, like if you’re struggling to complete a song, to study the charting. It’s also just really satisfying to play in general and is my main outlet for keeping my hands busy.
City-Building 🏙️
Another interest of mine is urbanism and city planning. City builders like Cities: Skylines II allow be to create a city that I would like. It also gives limitless possibilities for storytelling, which I love to do. I like to create parts of a city with a story behind it. Like a happy city, but might have shadows of its dark past. Perhaps a Nordic-style city but with remnants of past Soviet control, and thus the mixture of Scandinavian architecture with the imposing brutalist Soviet architecture, you imagine a story behind a city and you can create it. Stuff like this is special to me and it gives me a creative outlet!
URBANISM AND CITIES
As a cyclist, the way a city is designed matters a lot to me. Luckily, I am in Europe, so I don’t have to live in a car infested wasteland otherwise known as the US and Canada. That said, the UK isn’t perfect and Aberdonians won’t stop parking in the fucking bike lane. As a hobby or general interest, I like seeing how different cities are designed, what their layout is and what amenities they have. I also generally like being in a small to medium sized city (picture Reykjavík, Iceland or Rovaniemi, Finland) with enough separated cycle infrastructure that I can comfortably cycle around. I also like seeing cities that incorporate nature into the urban fabric, like tree-lined streets or pedestrian streets with potted plants, or even buildings with grassy roofs. I also like the idea of city transport, trams are the GOAT!
A key advantage of the urban environment in Europe and Asia is mixed-use zoning. Yes! I love the convenience of everything I need within a 10 minute walk or even in the same building. It feels so much better and is more healthy than being in a car, probably stuck at a traffic light on a 300 lane road, sorry Americans and Canadians.
THE ARCTIC
I would’ve said the poles, but I don’t think I’d do well in the Antarctic with the seasons being flipped, so the arctic it is..
I like my seasons distinct. And where else would you find the seasons more distinct than the arctic? The European arctic nations (the Nordic nations) specifically pique my interest, I would have included Russia if it wasn’t a hellhole. I like places that feel unique, and I see cold weather personally to be more unique than hot. Also the culture of the Nordic countries from what I’ve read and seen kind of matches the way I conduct myself with direct communication and laidback attitude, while being punctual and not sugarcoating everything. I also love one or two things from certain countries like the Danish concept of hygge or the Finnish sauna culture. Plus when you go further north into Lapland, the little wooden cabins (what they call “mökki” in Finland) seem so cosy and fits my personal way of living, have one that isn’t too far from a small city (like Rovaniemi) and that is heaven for me.
The landscapes also stand out to me, with the evergreen forests and lakes in Finland and Sweden, the valleys and fjords in Norway, the geysers, falls and volcanoes in Iceland, and the group as a whole has a very dramatic and unique landscape.
Their political systems of socialised healthcare and welfare are extremely beneficial to me as well as their progressive stance on women as well as sexual minorities (idk much about gender minorities but I assume it’s a similar story, which if true is also good cuz those ppl need protecting)
ANIME
Sadly, this one I keep very quiet. The environment that I am in at home, (with family and during my school years) anime gets a very bad rep. It is seen as weird and childish. Though I do leave little clues like the occasional Japanese song and a few figures.
Maybe it’s more the stories but I feel like it gives me an escape. It’s something I can trust and often find relatable. But what makes me think that it isn’t just the stories is the art style. OMG it’s just so cute and it’s the icing on the cake of a good story! While I am still relatively new to the world of anime (since 2022) I have had many interactions with the community, pretty much all of which are good! And the biggest small community I’ve been a part of is centered around an anime in general, which has led to many cause and effect moments for me to truly find who I am, and it’s such a shame that I find it so hard to share with the people closest to me the specific interest that has had probably the biggest impact of my life, up there with Motor Racing. Also VTubers are an interesting breed of which I have very recently fell into the rabbit hole (late 2025) and am getting ideas…
I’m not really into the popular genres, like action, I tend to lurk in the middle, not super niche but not like the most popular, I tend to have more interest in slow paced slice-of-life, musicals, some fantasy and generally more novel-based. Also the cour feels like the perfect sweet spot for either 1 episode per week and that lasts a term or binge the whole thing which takes about 5 hours so that’s a good weekend afternoon.
I want to be able to express this interest more but it is so difficult with the stigma it has attached to it especially within my family.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
WEATHER AND METEOROLOGY
History
*just so we’re clear, I vehemently oppose the ideologies created and spread by Adolf Hitler as well as any similar far-right political ideologies. His inclusion in this collage is solely due to him being a well-known historical figure.
