I Accidentally Invented a Hobby

Confession: I have a peculiar hobby. It’s quite absurd that I think I might be the only person in human history who does this.

I like to collect SMS confirmation codes that look oddly satisfying for a random number. For real!

Today it was 996995.

I know, I know, “Why the heck?” you might be asking. They are random, there’s nothing to physically collect, and I could just as well write down some numbers I like in a file.

When I see a confirmation code like 717616, from a few days ago, or 005500, from a few weeks ago, I smile. It brings me joy. And when I keep them and go back to them later, I get to relive that feeling.

Isn’t that why people ultimately collect anything at all? Mine just happens to be easy and cheap.

Not even ChatGPT or Claude have heard of this. After a combined 176 web searches, they couldn’t find one person who has this hobby.

123012 on 05/23
118888 on 03/12
141141 on 01/24

If you were to put these in a file, they’d mean nothing to you. You haven’t lived the experience. It’s mine, and mine alone, even though we’re looking at the exact same six digits.

I accidentally invented a hobby. So I hereby claim the right to name it: Elnahla’s Codekeeping.