Your Hobbies

[ezepietro]

Post your Hobbies here, and the reason why you chose that hobby (optional)

I'll go first:
My hobbies are: painting and photography
Why: becouse when I had 8yo I was good at drawing pictures, at 12yo I did my first oil painting, at 17 I was introduced
to photography and got my first camera, in other words I love creating images, either photos, drawings or paintings (or photoshop).
I have two relatives who were actually painters, I come from an Italian family and that explains everything. :bingo:


So... what's your hobby?

あなたの趣味は何ですか？

 

[isityours]

僕の趣味は。。。

i dont have any real hobbies but i enjoy playing basketball socially.

i also have an interest in film but nothing more than just mucking around.

i guess i also view my monthly study group and the seminars/training sessions that i attend as a hobby...

oh, and the occasional "pro bono" translation/subbing.

 

[Ceewan]

I play chess, mostly online. I do not consider myself an adept player but I have passion for the game and study it somewhat. I have a decent ranking that fluctuates below 1900 and enjoy both my wins and my losses.

 

[aquamarine]

I travel.
I scuba dive.
I swim.
I socialize with real people.
I zumba. (yea, you heard me)
I hike.
I take pictures for fun.
I cook.

 

[Ceewan]

I socialize with real people.

First time I have ever seen that referred to as a "hobbie", (I thought that was just part of life). Now socializing with dead people...now [highlight]that[/highlight] might be considered a hobby.

 

[EzikialRage]

Wood working. I enjoy making things with my hands. I made coffee tables, rabbit cages, train set,shelves, a couple of souvenir spoon racks,bird houses, spice racks whirly whigs and a few other things, screen doors. I am not as skilled at it as I should be because its not something I do all the time.

 

[The Prisoner]

My hobby for the last few years has been building scale model cars, something I enjoyed as a youngster.
The why is a simple one, because it accomplishes the same things today that motivated my Mom to let me start doing it in the first place. It keeps me off of the streets and out of trouble.
Plus I get to sniff glue without having it look like I was trying to :snicker:

 

[isityours]

First time I have ever seen that referred to as a "hobbie", (I thought that was just part of life). Now socializing with dead people...now [highlight]that[/highlight] might be considered a hobby.

hahahahaha!

its not often that i laugh out loud while reading something on the net but i had a little chuckle at that comment.

i also took that part of that post the same way you probably did so if i could just take the liberty to rewrite it here the way i think it was intended:

I socialize with real people. (unlike all you sad chumps who have nothing better to do, nowhere better to go because you couldnt have a life outside of AO)

just my interpretation. thanks for the giggle.

 

[chippy]

Wow, gravyslime, those models are awesome! Just had to get that out there before posting my own...

Geez, I have and have had many hobbies through the years, but now that I think more about it, I'm finding it difficult to define exactly what makes a hobby a hobby. Sure, there's the simple definition of something unnecessary for basic survival that one chooses to do for free on one's own time, right? But is there also a "duration" metric, as in, something that one does and has done for a long time? My fingers would get weary unless I considered that second possible clause, so here goes:

I'm a botanist by training, and my particular passion is peppers. (And, of course, alliteration...) Hot peppers, strange peppers, odd peppers, rare peppers. Before I ventured abroad, I had a garden with 16 varieties growing--and boy let me tell you the culinary treats I whipped up in the kitchen would drop Emeril's jaw: mole coloradito oaxaqueno was especially tasty!
Why? My interest in botany started as a curiosity into how plants affect animals--in all their varied and sundry ways. To that end, I dabbled in ethnobotany: entheogenic plants/fungi, ethnomedicine, and even delved into the history of such things (Jonathan Ott's Pharmacotheon is an excellent reference for those interested.) After fumbling through all sorts of natural and synthetic means of altering my state of mind, I settled upon the endorphin-inducing searing heat of hot peppers as my preferred (and at long last, LEGAL) means of occasional escape from ludibund reality, and there you have it: I grow and eat hot peppers.

I'm working on securing some Jolokia seeds, whereby I intend to revive my chef's garden and eventually test my "hottest" culinary creation (melted chocolate poured into a cored-out habanero) at the next level. Oh, by the way, wasabi paste on a Hershey's Kiss is pretty awesome as well!

I'm also an avid bread baker, pizza-maker, carpenter and human-powered-energy-equipment designer and builder. And most people only know me as an English teacher...

 

[Ceewan]

: I grow and eat hot peppers.

I boil my long grain rice with crushed red peppers, really adds a good flavor, (and plain white rice needs flavor). Try it!

 

[chippy]

I boil my long grain rice with crushed red peppers, really adds a good flavor, (and plain white rice needs flavor). Try it!

You may rest assured I've tried most conceivable combinations of capsicums with [insert food or activity here] in my long years. Personal favourites are: double-hot chocolate (add mucho cayenne powder and be sure to simmer it "long time, baby"), Screaming Bloody Marys (go apeshit with the Tabasco), freshly minced habanero sauce on vanilla ice cream (chocolate ice cream is friggin' awesome, too), and wouldn't believe how long one can hold one's breath underwater after a panting session involving extreme mastication of Thai chili seeds! (I also collect seeds: removing them while cooking with chilis is mandatory for me, because any monkey can make a dish hot, but you've got to know the personality of your peppers to make a dish tasty!)

Basically, my drug of choice is endorphins, and the quest of finding new and interesting ways to combine them with other experiences is my only reason for not choosing to answer philosopher Alan Watts' "Ultimate Question." There are still so many possibilities to explore...