(no subject)

[tugrik]

With many things on my mind, but no clear feeling on if (and if so, how) to post them... I'll take refuge in a Friday Five instead.



(1) What are your hobbies?

In no particular order:

Motorcycling -- in specific, touring (Goldwing) and dualsporting (R1150GS-Adventure). Just now learning more hardcore dirt-riding.
Tribesplaying -- because I don't play that many video games other than Tribes lately. Well, a little Jet Set Radio here and there. :) But videogaming in general, sure.
Photography -- Canon D30, currently. Still working on my lighting theory, and getting slowly better at overall composition. Taking a journalistic edge, lately.
Hosting -- Th' roomie and I run an ISP in our garage, currently hosting some 60+ domains for friends and webcomics artists, just for the Fun of it. Free of charge to them.
Infrastructure -- I like building systems. Computer systems, solar power systems, security systems, you name it. Just something technical where all the pieces come together to form a really interesting whole, and give a sense of completion. Lots of little fiddly bits to this one... including things like GMRS and other radio communications.
RC Cars -- though it's been a long time, I love my little offroad electric buggies. 'lectric planes, too.
Audio -- I can lose myself within the music that flows between the twin towers of the electrostatic speakers in my house. Music opens up a whole new world for me.
Mucking -- less a hobby, more a 'keep a communications window open to friends'... but a hobby nonetheless.

Those are the big ones. There's others that I tap off of here and there.

(2) Do you collect anything?

Well, some of my hobbies (such as audio and the ISP thing) start getting enough pieces to them it can almost be considered collecting... but in the traditional sense of the word... not really. I don't have much in the way of collectables. I've tried, now and then -- I have a small set of DVDs, a single box of comics (anybody need some old issues of Groo?) a few minatures folks have given me... but I've never really followed up on any of those with enough zeal to be an honest-to-goodness Collector.

Strangely enough, one of the things that may qualify is that I go out of my way to seek interesting types and scents of incense. Smells remind me strongly of things, and finding specific ones is a wonderful challenge. I have a shelf full of the various powders, resins, sticks and charcoals involved. None of the 'buy them at the supermarket' little cones, though. :)

(3) Is there a hobby you're interested in, but just don't have the time/money to do?

So many I can't count. I figure I'm on this world to learn/play with/figure out as many things as possible, so I'm always reaching towards New Things. Due to monetary and time constraints, I have to limit myself or I'll never get enough of the hobbies I already have.

The ones that come most strongly to mind are:

Resuming teaching myself how to draw
Getting back into 3D animation
Robotics -- oh, how I loved my early times with robotics in college...
Geocaching
Writing at novel-length (which I've only done once, in late HS, the result of which I utterly destroyed out of my self-preservation instinct *grin* )
Motorcycle maintenance (actually learning how to wrench properly instead of paying others to do it)
Building whole-house alternative energy systems (solar/wind) on a grand scale
... and if I keep typing, they'll just keep coming... my list is way too huge.

(4) Have you ever turned a hobby into a moneymaking opportunity?

Actually, I'm just the opposite. I've got this nasty habit of taking businessy things that people would do to make money, and turning it into a hobby that costs me money instead, just for the fun of it. The most obvious example of this is the ISP. revar and I pay for it all out of pocket, and at a rather nasty expense... just so we can give it to people for free and watch them have fun with it. We could probably turn it into a moneymaker, but neither of us really have the will to go charge folks for things, y'know?

On the other hand... my career as a network architect has grown directly out of my hobbies and self-studies on computers and networking... so in a way, all the money that I do make is indeed a result of my hobbies from early on.

(5) Besides web-related stuff (burbs, rings, etc.) what clubs do you belong to?

Motorcycling: HRCA (Honda Riders Club of America), GWRRA (GoldWing Road Riders Assocaition), and soon AMA.
Otherwise, I really don't do the 'club' thing; it's just never really grabbed me enough to get too involved. I've got nothing against it, though, and if I ever run into a club or organization that really looks fun and worth the time, I'd probably give it a whirl.

(and, taking traveller_blues's cue, I'll add on one more:)

(6) What are you doing this weekend?

With luck, I'll be seeing roon for lunch in a few minutes, and hanging out with Stormdragon (a cool friend that just moved up from SoCali) tonight. After dropping off the 'wing for a tire exchange (big ugly story I'll LJ post later, most likely), I'm going to head out midday saturday to see some good friends in Cool, CA that I've not visited in too long. It's about a 3.5 hour ride, so it'll make for a fun afternoon ride. I'm going to dig through some maps tonight and try to find a cool backroadsy way to get there, to enjoy the ride instead of slogging the superslab. (superslab is 'big, multilane highway', in bikerspeak. Handy for getting to places quickly, but terribly boring and overpopulated.) I'll head home Sunday evening to get a few things done before the workweek starts.

Comments

[traveller-blues.livejournal.com]

Uhoh. I thought you just -had- the bike tires redone?