Inspiration and hobbies

[Rel]

Dude, I didn't know you were a diver...

My dad got me into it and I was certified at 16 (just shortly after the dinosaurs went extinct). Unfortunately when I got diagnosed as diabetic at 21 I could no longer get more advanced certifications so I remain a PADI Open Water diver. Most places won't let me dive if I disclose that I'm diabetic. So I conveniently forget to mention that part on the release form I have to fill out.

That reminds me of another hobby: I'm a marvelous liar.

 

[Old One]

My dad got me into it and I was certified at 16 (just shortly after the dinosaurs went extinct). Unfortunately when I got diagnosed as diabetic at 21 I could no longer get more advanced certifications so I remain a PADI Open Water diver. Most places won't let me dive if I disclose that I'm diabetic. So I conveniently forget to mention that part on the release form I have to fill out.

That reminds me of another hobby: I'm a marvelous liar.

Hah!

That reminds me of a very long break I had in diving...from ~ 1991 to 2001. Life conspired to prevent me from throwing on tanks and getting in the water. Now...technically...you are supposed to take a refresher course if it has been longer than 2 years, but since I have never been one to stand on formality, I neglected to mention that on a cruise we took in 2001.

I just hung out by the pool while they were doing their "quickie" certification course while pretending to read a book and picked up everything I needed to know . Had 2 great wreck dives on that trip !

~ OO

 

[CarlZog]

My main other hobby these days is "Irene Agnes", a 1936 gaff-rigged yawl that is in seemingly endless need of attention:

Carl

 

[Rel]

My main other hobby these days is "Irene Agnes", a 1936 gaff-rigged yawl that is in seemingly endless need of attention:

Well this is officially the least surprising thing I've ever read on ENWorld.

Carl, you are the sailingest looking dude I've ever met. When I first met you I was absolutely certain that we must have been standing on the deck of a sailboat at that very moment.

I'll bet that is a labor of love.

 

[CarlZog]

I'll bet that is a labor of love.

It's certainly not one of profit!

I've worked professionally on larger boats for years, but this is the first boat I've ever had to pay the bills for.

I picked her up a couple years ago for a song, although we've definitely put some cash into her since. There was some structural work on the keel the first year, but now it's mostly a matter of restoring neglected cosmetics.

It's definitely sidetracked me from my other outdoor hobbies: surfing and snowboarding. Diving I've pretty much given up on doc's orders, due to nerve damage in one ear.

Carl

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

Carl, you are the sailingest looking dude I've ever met. When I first met you I was absolutely certain that we must have been standing on the deck of a sailboat at that very moment.

I swear this is totally complimentary!

*laughs* The first time The Universe and I saw Carl at GenCon, I leaned in and said, "Honey... that man looks like he should be on a boat." The Universe look at me questioningly and said, "Liz - what the hell do you mean?" I was astonished! "Kennon!" I gasped, "Look at him! He just oozes sailor... or pirate... but there aren't many pirates now-a-days... so he must be some sort of sailing or ship person! ... Oh! Hi - it's nice to meet you, CarlZog! I'm QueenD...." hehehe...


As for my non-D&D Hobbies/passions/things I really enjoy and find inspiration in...

(1) History. I love it, study it, and enjoy learning about it.

(2) Computer Games. Half Life, Warcraft, World of Warcraft... Mmmm...

(3) My pets. I have a Boston Terrier named Vader and a cat named Shark. I love 'em.

(4) Walt Whitman and Herman Melville. I can't say that I'm a fan of "poetry" exactly... but I do have a passion for Whitman that knows no bounds. I find a lot of inspiration in that crazy man's words. As for Melville... we're having a literary love affair. Ahhh, The Confidence Man... a book I don't get, but love anyway. A lot of my gaming inspiration comes from these sources.

(5) Music. I enjoy concert-going just as much as I do listening to one of my favorite albums over and over for weeks at a time, just getting to know every note. I'm also sort of a music trivia buff...

(6) Food. I think most of my life's happiness and inspiration revolves around food. I like to eat really good really rich fatty foods. Mmmm.

(7) Snowmobiling. This is probably my most rejuvenating and inspirational hobby. I've been doing it since I was just a wee girl - got my first machine when I was only 10. My grandparents have a mountain home about an hour outside of Steamboat Springs, CO and, until I graduated high school, I spent weeks and weeks in the winter tearing trails through the Rockies. Alas, life is busy now and I don't get out there as often as I'd like... hopefully next winter I'll have the time and money to make the trip.

 

[Rel]

It's certainly not one of profit!

I've worked professionally on larger boats for years, but this is the first boat I've ever had to pay the bills for.

A good friend of my father's who used to own a sailboat or two always said, "Everybody who's into boats always seems to be looking to buy one or looking to sell one."

Do you have plans to take her someplace in particular after she's done? A seagoing gaming tour of the east coast perhaps? I could meet you in Wilmington NC for some more Sky Galleons!

 

[CarlZog]

Do you have plans to take her someplace in particular after she's done? A seagoing gaming tour of the east coast perhaps? I could meet you in Wilmington NC for some more Sky Galleons!

She's a bit small for that long a trip -- although the first of her design did cross the Atlantic in 1910! She'll probably stay between New York and Maine. This summer, her first in the water with us, was strictly in Rhode Island/Massachusetts.

If both my wife and I end up completely out of the business at some point, I imagine we'll get a bigger, liveaboard boat and sail south for fun.

Carl

 

[Henry]

My hobbies used to be more numerous, and I've let a few lapse. I keep telling myself I should pick them up again, but these days everything from laziness to busy days get in the way.

1) Gaming, of course. The only one I don't let lapse. I only play once a week, and never get tired of it except for once every three months. Skipping a week cures that quickly.
2) My pets. I only get tired of them on a really long work day, and even then, just an hour of relaxing by myself fixes that.
3) Reading history and non-fiction. I used to read a lot more than I do, but I have zero time to hit a library these days, and buying everything I want to read would bankrupt me.
4) Reading fiction - I haven't had the stomach for good fiction in a long time, because in the last ten novels I've picked up I can't stay interested. It may be the one thing I'm supremely burned out on, and don't know how to "get the bug back."
5) House repairs. Believe it or not, I'm an inveterate tinkerer with minor house repairs but have never had the time free to take courses, or engage in large jobs. But replacing a screen door, fixing phone and Cable Jacks, replacing stove elements and knobs, repairing cracks in wallboard or cement - all of that, when I get time, is rewarding to me.

When it comes down to it, I have more hobbies I CAN'T engage in, than ones I don't want to engage in.

 

[GlassJaw]

Carl, you are the sailingest looking dude I've ever met.

He did get a haircut recently though.