When I was young, my grandfather gave me an Electronic Project Kit from Radio Shack for Christmas. The kit contained 200 plus projects and a step-by-step book that allowed you to build crystal radios, water level alarms, eavesdropping transmitting microphones, etc.
That winter I built just about every circuit in that manual. But, because I was only 9 or 10, I never really understood how it all worked, I could just follow instructions well.
Over the years, I was always interested in electronics, but whenever I approached the subject, I found it became too involved - either due to when to apply what rules, or my short attention span decided there were more pressing matters.
Recently, I got the bug again, and this time, I'm actually making headway in understanding why a smoothing capacitor is useful, or why drawing 2 amps from a TTL circuit will bring your fun to an end quickly.
Since college, I've obviously been involved in software development. I like it generally, however, there is something more sastifying - more concrete - about taking physical electrical components and making objects that actually interact with the physical environment. You could say that I am being bit by the hardware bug more and more.
My wife supports this oddly enough, but of course the things I build are only amusing. As an example, I built a passive IR motion detector that simply counts down from 9 to 0 on a single-digit led display and then buzzes for a few seconds when it detects motion. My wife said not to bring it to work (I did anyway). At the very least, my 4-year-old son had fun trying to sneak up on it anyway.
All that said, I have a very long way to go in becoming proficient, but since it has been such a curiosity for such a long time, it is immensly satisfying when I learn a new concept.
In any event, I will most likely be posting some amateur videos of the circuits I have made - if for nothing other than remembering how I put it together.