My regular job here of running my engineering/manufacturing performance business in a sagging economy is stressful enough, where I need a "break" from the daily grind to keep my sanity... Soooooo, anything that gives me that "break" is always welcomed- whatever it is!
As an example~
I dis-assembled my first vertical-shaft 3.5hp Briggs & Stratton lawn mower engine at the age of 7, (my dad was plenty pizzed about that) rebuilt my first mini-bike 4hp horizontal-shaft Tecumseh engine at the age of 9 and started my own lawn mower/small engine repair business in an old renovated chicken-coop my mom let me use on the farm, at the age of 13...
I was "the fix-it guy" amongst all my ATV, motorcycle and snowmobile riding buddies during our teen years, where I caught the "car bug" when I turned 16. In fact, I made my first pass down the drag strip in my souped-up 1976 Chevy Truck at the now closed-down Avilla Dragway before the ink even dried on my freshly minted Ohio driver's license back then! That led to a professional career in automotive repair and performance throughout my 20's, then on to professional Corvette racing in the late 90's-early millennium while in my early 30's and then finally on to automotive engineering performance with my business I have now.
Even after all of that, I still find myself gravitating back to my roots of working on small engines that started it all; so for me, my "hobby" is working on and restoring old, vintage small engines of any kind, as that brings me a great deal of enjoyment, satisfaction and relaxation. It's my "respit" away from the stresses of daily life and I truly enjoy taking something that someone else sees as "junk" and making it look/run better than new!

PJ