Try everything you find remotely interesting - you never know what will click.
Draw stick figure comics. Stories, jokes, whatever you like.
Create music (if you have an iPad or MacBook, Garage Band is free and excellent). There are lots of YouTube videos you can learn from.
Learn how to solder and repair electronics and appliances. It's a great skill to have and you can save money if you know how things work and can do even minor repairs.
Sewing! You can find vintage Singer sewing machines on Facebook Marketplace cheap or free (seriously, just because they're old doesn't mean they're worth $100). Read up on what to look for and how to maintain these machines (if they move, they can be repaired). Use this skill to make stuff or just to alter or repair the stuff you have.
Volunteer at an animal shelter! (Assuming you are okay with animals.)
Take up cooking or baking and try new recipes. Your parents might get into that.
As for gamedev, that's something I don't do, but again, there are all sorts of resources online you can use to hone your skills, get new ideas, and realise your vision. Working on your own projects might be more fulfilling than working for a game company, just with how devs are treated in the industry.
Fireworks are a tough one. Ear plugs or some aggressive noise cancelling headphones are about it, because people loooove their boom pops. I had to go to an NFL game recently and my AirPod Pros were a lifesaver.
For entertaining, I've just started asserting myself (excrutiating, but the brief social embarrassment is worth the longer stress of dealing with the circus). It's honestly easier these days because a) I'm older and starting to realise most people I hang out with will take it in stride and b) I am lucky to have extremely low pressure family and friends. So this might not work for you but I hope it might.
If you can't be 100% honest, tell people you get stressed easily - they usually understand that. Or if they're selfish, that you have a migraine (which I would get from the anxiety of an upcoming event, so not necessarily a lie for me). Migraines have a similar look & feel and if you prime them to accept that you have one, they are more likely to roll with it if you need to disappear and decompress for a while.
I also like the other poster's suggestion of helping prepare food or clean up. It gives you something to focus on and takes you out of the main event. People will appreciate not having to do the work themselves so they can enjoy the party. It's a win-win.
Finally, if you need a shield, offer to take photos. It's not glamorous, but personally I am far more comfortable staying to the sidelines and hiding behind the camera. Just remember to follow through and upload the best photos to a cloud drive to share with everyone.
Yup. The one thing I tell Linux-curious friends is that you will install the distro of your choice, spend a week and a half on random forums digging up random commands to get everything working properly, and then you should be good.
Yup. I have way too many headphones because I wanted to hear the different sound signatures. 90% of the time I'm either listening to my AirPods Pro or Grado SR325s. The other 10% is Koss PortaPro. Why do I have so many headphones?
Wingspan is on the list, and while it's pricy, it's a lovely engine-building game that can get very involving. A couple of my friends were obsessed with this one for a few years.
I'd also add Sagrada, another pretty game where you work within set parameters to match dice colours & pips to "build" stained glass windows. It can be challenging and requires strategy and a little luck, but again, very involving and satisfying.
I try to create - drawing, making music, sewing, repairing appliances, learning how to do new things. Single-player games (video or board) are a nice way to unwind and distract your mind while still keeping it challenged. I am lucky enough to have a couple chill days who like to snuggle, and that snuggling helps way more than I ever thought.
Absolutely! I've had luck with the iFixIt step by step tutorials, but for this specific TV there was a YouTube video where the person walks you through troubleshooting and teardown. I kinda lucked out finding that!
I highly recommend learning how to solder as well as the basic techniques of using a voltmeter to test power and continuity. There are YouTube videos for these and other skills that help demystify troubleshooting and repair.
It also helps to have the mindset of "It's already broken, so what's the harm in trying to fix it?"
A couple years ago I grabbed a 55" LG tv from a curb dump. Owner said the screen would flash briefly, then turn off. Found out that's typical when one of the backlight LEDs dies (resistance is screwed up).
Got all new LED backlight strips for the price of a decent dinner and spent an afternoon switching them out. It's been our primary TV since and I'm stupid proud about keeping it from the landfill. 100% recommend repairing stuff like this.
Our cats are tree-obsessed. This year we are doing an experiment. I spent about $15 at Goodwill on a fake 4' lit tree, a pressboard "live laugh love" framed thing and a little tin bucket.
Spread the branches to either side, flattening the tree on one half, paint over the vapid sayings on the board, and wire the tree to the front, hiding the light plugs & extension cord in the little bucket.
Try everything you find remotely interesting - you never know what will click.
Draw stick figure comics. Stories, jokes, whatever you like.
Create music (if you have an iPad or MacBook, Garage Band is free and excellent). There are lots of YouTube videos you can learn from.
Learn how to solder and repair electronics and appliances. It's a great skill to have and you can save money if you know how things work and can do even minor repairs.
Sewing! You can find vintage Singer sewing machines on Facebook Marketplace cheap or free (seriously, just because they're old doesn't mean they're worth $100). Read up on what to look for and how to maintain these machines (if they move, they can be repaired). Use this skill to make stuff or just to alter or repair the stuff you have.
Volunteer at an animal shelter! (Assuming you are okay with animals.)
Take up cooking or baking and try new recipes. Your parents might get into that.
As for gamedev, that's something I don't do, but again, there are all sorts of resources online you can use to hone your skills, get new ideas, and realise your vision. Working on your own projects might be more fulfilling than working for a game company, just with how devs are treated in the industry.