Hobbies & Interests

[Tequesian]

Why does the idea of Gutter having a daughter totally make me giggle? Hey, can I teach her to make rockets out of book matches?

Well, any sort of match really. All you need is some tin foil and a couple needles. Cheap thrills.

Hobbies... meh, right now I sort of suck. Been doing some reading. Last Summer I did manage to do a couple hikes along the Hoh river, but only day trips. Do not know if the motorcycle counts. Sometimes I ride just because I feel the need to be moving, sometimes I need to get somewhere.

Of course, the best rides are always when there is no particular place to go, and no particular time to be there. Elegance in motion, geometric poetry in a turn, and still a prayer in the Church of our Lady of Blessed Acceleration.

Not sure how emotionally invested I should get in a hobby, ya know?

Oh, and lately, a thing for puzzles. Guess I have always liked a puzzle. Sort of what lead me to the repair biz. Got to figure out what`s wrong, and fix it. Anyway, most puzzles are sort of spendy, so for a long time, I did not really bother. With a little more disposable income though, now they sort of interest me. Plus, puzzles are the gift that keeps on giving. Once I have solved it, I put it back together and pass it on.

[Jet]

Oh, and lately, a thing for puzzles. Guess I have always liked a puzzle. Sort of what lead me to the repair biz. Got to figure out what`s wrong, and fix it. Anyway, most puzzles are sort of spendy, so for a long time, I did not really bother. With a little more disposable income though, now they sort of interest me. Plus, puzzles are the gift that keeps on giving. Once I have solved it, I put it back together and pass it on.

Do you do sudoku type puzzles or old school puzzles?

I'm going to take up knitting. I'm joining a craft group. I'm sick of regular life and regular people, I want to be around country people. If I can't do that, I want to be around hippy crafty people.

[Bloody Cara]

I shop. I love shopping. And I'm good at it, too. My mum for example, who's a terrible shopper, sometimes sends me out to find her stuff. It's fun.

Other than that, I write in my diary, go clubbing, see friends, go out for coffee, watch movies, etc. And take care of my cat

Sometimes I read, sometimes I write. I prefer modern fantasy, Neil Gaiman type of stuff. I write poetry. Sometimes I draw/sketch/paint.

I also like puzzles. They're pretty cool. I've had one framed and it's on my wall, a 1000 piece puzzle.

[Payaso]

I'll read a book when i find one that peeks my interest. But those are few and far between. Even then, ill get half way through and my mind will wander onto something else. Otherwise i watch films, doc's, southpark and listen to music. I recently purchased a PS3 which i fuck around on a bit. Most of my time is spent smoking cigarettes, drinking a moderate amount of alcohol, masturbating (this is the high light of my day), wandering the internet, reading articles and moding a site. Ive been thinking about starting to collect third reich stamps.

[Esternogligen]

How is someone 'good' or 'bad' at shopping?

[Greaser]

getting the best shit for cheap?

[Bloody Cara]

Exactly. I never buy stuff I don't like. But my mum often ends up buying something she doesn't like but doesn't realise it until she gets home. And I take advantage of sales. For example, say I see something I like. I often wait until they sell it for cheaper. It can take months sometimes. I recently bought these boots from sale, they were only 30 €. But they would've been 60 € if I'd bought them sooner.

My mom and my sisters often wonder how is it that I find such pretty clothes and they can't find anything. The truth is, I just keep an open mind.

[Tequesian]

Do you do sudoku type puzzles or old school puzzles?

I'm going to take up knitting. I'm joining a craft group. I'm sick of regular life and regular people, I want to be around country people. If I can't do that, I want to be around hippy crafty people.

Hey, sorry for not getting back right away.

Not so much about sudoku. I guess the puzzles I really like are very old school. A thing you either have to take apart or put back together. The one I fiddle with right now is called Da Vinci`s secret. It is mearly 7 wooden blocks that rotate on a spindle. If you get it open, there is a scroll inside that is the clue to the next puzzle. This one is part of a series.

Have not been able to sit and really be Zen with it yet, but at this point, I am thinking it will be something like picking a lock. One time I was manipulating the center blocks like tumblers and the end block pulled away nearly an inch. Some friends called up and I had to go though.

It is sort of a meditative exercise. If I find myself thinking too much about how to open the puzzle, too many thoughts come about why these ideas are not opening the puzzle and I get frustrated. Frustration evetually leads to the point of either breaking the puzzle, or walking away for a break.

The way I have found to solve these is to just accept that the puzzle is, and the way it moves. Then I just move the puzzle until it opens. There is definitely a tactile component to these puzzles too. Usually they are smooth, but I had one made with old horse shoes that still had scuffs in the edges from the way the horse walked.

Of course, some times blind luck figures in. Thinkgeek sells two puzzle boxes, and I got the bigger one for Christmas. Already solved the little one, but the big one was not opening the same way, even though close examination showed similar construction. So none of my presses, pulls or squeezes are having much effect, and I decide to tap on it with my finger to see if it talks. (Sometimes you can hear something that will give an idea what the inner structure is like) After two taps, a piece fell out on my lap. With that pin out, the two drawers come out pretty easily.

I play games too, but lately it has been hard to get together with friends for more than a quick visit. Almost any game really. Some of my faves are miniature wargames, but I am not entirely above monopoly, or risk, or scrabble either. If I were to tell the truth, this hobby has been making me sad lately. Been roaming around online. As a kid it was a lot of role-playing games. Now I am finding a lot of these books that were pretty fun for me are relegated to used book bins for very cheap, or are deep in the realm of the collectible. The really sad ones are not even around anymore.

Games are for playing, not collecting. One that I liked a lot was called Ace of aces. All you really need to play are the two books, which represent WW I fighters. Basically, the pages are pictures of your opponent`s plane, and by telling each other the maneuvers you perform, you wind up looking at new pictures of where the planes would be after the execution of said maneuver.

Anyway, I have two of these games. The one with the Sopwith Camel vs. Fokker Dr1 is evidently worth somewhere between $100 and $250. At that price, no one is playing that game. Too bad, cuz it`s a fun slice of history. Gotta bear in mind that computer flight simulators were these extremely horrid vector graphic affairs. The books never needed a boot disk and show pictures of the real planes.

Well anyway, I play games when I can as well.