June 07, 2004

• GramMa Blue
• frogs likes to build computers out of discarded parts, install somewhat legal copies of some operating system or other on them, then give them away to needy friends and relatives. sometimes people pay me, but they really don't realize i'd do it for free. 'cause it's sort of fun to resuscitate dead hardware. and i usually don't tell them i'd do it for free, 'cause getting paid allows me to buy parts for my own computer. and i really, really need a dvd burner right now. and i also like to take apart things, sometimes to fix them but mostly just to see how things work and what the insides of things look like. sometimes when i put them back together, they work better than before. other times i have to throw away things and hide the mess before someone sees what i did. other than that my hobbies are mundane - biking, reading, cooking, the occasional camping trip, and armadillos.
• *backs up several steps, looks nervous Ummmm, Frogs. Just WHAT do you do with armadillos?
• well, nothing really. but you get an armadillo-based web page from a guy in grad school, and suddenly people think you actually study them or something. it's just a hobby. but apparently the page is quite popular.
• Loud jazz.
• drinking ;)
• Read. Drink Chinese tea (in a variety of ways). Read. Play computer games. Lurk around blogs. Read. Write stories. Did I mention I read?
• seriously tho, my hub & I do a prodigious amount of entertaining & going out on the town. having to work gets in the way.... ;) dinner parties, wine tastings, big crazy parties, small intimate soirees, hottubbery (after all we ARE in california) & most recently film festivals (well, one so far. kirosawa film festival, so you know, we watched Alien) presently nursing massive hangover after crazy "dungeon" birthday party last night. ugh...too much bourbon :P going to see Harry Potter movie now. goody!
• Languagehat likes language (even bad puns?) and collects er ... hats Sure, bad puns are great. But much as I love my hats, what I actually collect are books. And jazz CDs. And I don't have room for them. *sobs*
• Lately I've been mixing underground hip hop tracks for a few of my friends, engaging in the seasonal (and great) sport of outdoor drinking, playing Age of Kings online and going out to the occaisional movie. Pretty boring, but work has been sapping my energy in recent months.
• Bluehorse - you don't know how much I miss owning an Arabian, not to mention a horse of any kind. Years ago my family owned a stud named Ferd, who was a direct descenent of the original Arabs imported to England and then here. His mother was Ferda, but I've lost the paperwork on his genealogy and don't remember his father's name (he was born in 1939, as I was.) The only reason he was affordable was that he had a birth defect - one foreleg was turned backward - so he wore a boot while he was growing up and that corrected the defect. He was one of the sweetest horses I've known. He was the sire of my most favorite horse, whose dam was a thoroughbred. Rusty was 16 hands high, and trained for roping. He did that well for years, but what he really wanted was to be a member of the family. He was the only horse we had who would complain if he didn't get to go out riding with the rest of us. And when I would go sit and read in the fig tree in the back pasture, he would poke his head in under the branches to see what I was doing, and would follow me back to the house looking really happy that we were together. Ah, memories.
• I read, play tennis, work on independent films, surf the intraweb, and I'm really into a crossword phase lately.
• built forts out of sofa cushions. Play with lego, code, read, game (computer and table top), cycle - though not as often as I would like - and zone out a lot.
• I think, Medusa, you may have gone to my good friend's birthday party last night? It was a group birthday party, so you might not know her in particular. But how many "dungeon birthday parties" were there in CA last night? Hmmm. Oh, and no such thing as too much bourbon - if it's good bourbon. =) Anyway. Do for fun? Um. Reading, vegetarian cooking, dancing, snarking on movies, Rocky Horror callouts, cannibal humor, practicing my Spanish, visiting local wineries, road tripping and meeting new people.... I really dig playing games (Tetris, Psychobabble, Apples to Apples, certain Cheapass games). I had to consult my Livejournal interests list in order to post this comment, so you can see how much "fun" I'm having lately. =P Oh, actually, I really, really enjoy going over to my friends' houses and cleaning. And organizing their shelves and closets. I know it sounds weird, but there's something about making order out of chaos that I totally get into.
• And I don't have room for them. *sobs* Languagehat, for lovers of books and music, there is never enough shelf space. Or tabletop. Or floor.
• I can always get some entertainment out of playing my six-string. And just about any sort of word games can keep me occupied for hours.
• Reading. Coffee. Messing around with videocamera. Messing around with people's minds in at least three other message boards/blogs. Scouring the net for music videos, 3D animation and the rare kick-ass ads. Listening to my discman (iPod? I don't have no stinkin' 'Pod!) When there's time and the climate's nice, travelling, snorkeling, always with camera along. Reading the wacky pharses off cute girls' shirts. Trying to get laid. That's about it.
• Oh, and when budget allows, gorging at fancy japanese restaurant. Oh yeah...
• Flagpole: Come to Singapore. I'll stand you a meal or three. There's fantastic buffet here at Miramar Hotel, entirely of Japanese food, and I bring all my out-of-town friends there at least once. They love it. The only condition - I pay the bill.
• I do stuff.
• I have a three year old and a two year old. I don't do much. I can barely get a shower in let alone read a book.
• My hobbies are invariably boring and womanly (ha, stereotypes are true). In winter when it's raining outside I bake and occasionally do cross-stitch -- and on Wednesday mornings I get off the internet to go to a neighbourhood craft session which is really just a gossip-fest. I read a lot. I make vague attempts at learning PHP. I play the odd computer game (Kingdom of Loathing being my addiction of choice at present). When I'm outside, I'm generally in the garden trying to keep up with the weed infestation. I like to drive --one of the best memories I have from living in California is of a road trip into Mexico and back via the Grand Canyon -- I occasionally go mountainbiking, or on day tramps/hikes. I've tried a bit of everything and found little that I've stuck with: caving, horseback riding, showjumping, photography. The things I've tried and want to do again are dog training, landscaping, wine drinking, and doing dinner parties for friends. Oh, and I should practice my bass-playing more often. Actually, Melinika and I would probably have a lot in common, except that I'm a full-blown meateater.
• The only condition - I pay the bill. /flagpole hunts for passport, picks pack of (medicinal) chewing gum, camera, hails cab to the airport
• Listening to music, reading about music, writing about music, collecting music, playing music. I also like writing stuff, going on the occasional long-distance bike ride, and drinking dangerous amounts of alcohol.
• Before I discovered MoFi I had friends and many hobbies. Nowadays my life revolves around reloading MoFi, awaiting new posts. Thank you MoFi.
• Tracicle: I was just about to say Kingdom of Loathing! Whee! I'm so utterly addicted it's not funny.
• loud, raucous sex! while listening to loud frank sinatra tuneage! oh, and dancing to loud music at this loud place. and volunteering, which isn't so terribly loud. and collecting cookbooks, which is, um, silent i guess. also traveling, reading, crosswords, watching baseball and hanging out with my cat, dog and very interesting pals.
• I brew beer in my little basement brewery - it combines the best elements of cooking and drinking. And I collect liter-sized glass Oktoberfest beer steins (as well as other assorted glassware). Next year in Munich! I'm also something of a military history buff, and a modelist, and I build and detail military models - mostly tanks (my father was a tanker in Vietnam) but also soldiers, airplanes, whatever. I also read 2-3 books a week, enjoy cooking (was a chef's assistant back in the day, got the bug), do quite a little home improvement and landscaping (planted two bloodgrasses and a Japanese maple this weekend, as well as broke a sink falling off a bucket I was standing on while I was fishing a new cable line into the downstairs bedroom), and chase around the two heirs to House Harkonnen - my eldest son, the Beast Rabban, is brutal and callous and rules with a fist of iron, while my youngest, Feyd-Rautha, is darkly beautiful and fey and venemous.
• *reviews thread* What? No LARP??
• Adorable, Fes!!! I love seeing photos of others' children. Mine are particularly adorable, too.=}
• Gaming, DDR, Bad Movies, Loud Concerts in Small Clubs, Blogging. Nothing that doesn't scream total geek, in other words.
• During the winter months, I snowboard and play hockey. During the warmer months, I climb, hike, play ultimate, and throw scavenger hunts in and around the city. All year 'round I swim, play volleyball, assorted computer games, get famously trashed and chase a woman that refuses to be caught.
• lately it's all about chasing the 9-month old jack russell terrier / bassett hound mix around the house shouting "no! Stop chewing that! don't dig that up! Quit biting me! ow! hey get away from that!"
• pete! post a pic of that doggie! what an interesting mix!
• i have a bunch of bad-camera-phone pics but I can't get her to sit still for a "real" picture. The only one I have is 1/2 her and 1/2 my hand holding her still for one second.
• Reading, drinking, bad movies, drinking, coping with the terror that is the upcoming purchase of my first house, drinking, being a husband, drinking, rasslin' with nicotine addiction (thank God for the patch), drinking, AA.
• I spend a few evenings a week driving around and look at houses because I am so tired of my tiny apartment. And as soon as we settle on a date, I'll be caught up in the hoopla of planning a wedding. I'm eyeing tool's post nervously.
• Reading, listening to music, bike riding through the streets of NYC, movies, D&D, Kingdom of Loathing, reading, tennis, softball (during the warm months), BBQ-ing, poker, reading, um, going to the theatre, and making sweet sweet love with my lovely lady (and saving money to buy The Ring for her).
• yes, Melinika, it sounds like we were at the same party. I was bartending in the early part of the evening. wacky redhead in shiny purple dress, if you came to the bar I probably harassed you!
• Ramix reads, spends insane amounts of money on scrapbook and greeting card making supplies, sleeps quite a bit, enjoys a bit of gardening now and again, cooks up a storm, enjoys scrabble like games, picks her nose when no one's looking, used to enjoy long scenic drives till the price of gas killed that hobby, messes around with a 20,000 plus mp3 collection of music from all around the world, chases after 2 cats....phew...!! no wonder i'm always tired!
• Mickey, don't be afraid. It's mostly exciting and fun, especially when you contemplate no longer sharing a wall or ceiling with some noisy creep. But when you think about a six-figure loan and all it entails, your eyes pop out a bit.
• tool, I meant all the addictions that are apparently involved in home ownership and/or being a husband.
• I like to count monkeyfilter threads.
• Medusa: Hah, no, I'm on the other coast, I didn't get to go - I only get to envy. I would've if I could've. It sounds like it was a wild time, though. =) tracicle: Probably. Hey, as long as you don't complain that I'm not serving meat at my dinner parties, we should get along fine. Heh.
• Oh, hell, I had those LONG before I met her. Except for the thing with the goats. She got me into that.
• pete_best: your dog sounds like my son. Except that my son isn't a basset or a foxy.
• Reading Monkeyfilter of course! Gardening, working on the house, cooking and enjoying meals with friends, good conversation. In the winter I sleep too much and drink too much scotch. I collect odd music, audio books and documentaries. The older I get, the less I want to read "serious fiction", so lately it's been escapist stuff (like Harry Potter) or non-fiction. I recently deserted a fiction book club for a non-fiction book club, and am really happy with the switch. We're reading this right now. I love it. I also love movies of all stripes. There's a wonderful old theater near my house: $2 a flick, stadium seating, fabulous 50s furnishings, and real butter on the popcorn. About once a week I meet up with a few girlfriends and we go for a lengthy urban hike, stopping midway for a cocktail or two. Oh, and I also try to keep Mister shinything from causing too much mayhem. He's one of those mad scientist types. Hopefully soon we'll get a kitten!
• Let's see... Reading, Sitting, Sitting while reading, Movies, Dreaming, Sushi, Traveling beyond the national borders, lying around, lying around while reading, Drinking, Drinking while reading, lurking on the MOF.
• Being late to threads
• sit in front of my computer reading all sorts of news, play ultimate frisbee and draw. i would hike and do more outdoor things if i could find people to do them with.
• I also taunt Umeboshi by phone, email and sometimes in person whenever I can get my lazy ass around to it. =)
• Ah, now I'm getting the "plum girl" thing.
• I have an unusually good memory for random facts, which I make use of by playing trivia games for cash. I've now been conscripted into standing on the other side of the microphone, so we'll see how that goes. I make theme-based mixes just for fun, constantly redecorate my apartment, cook meals far too elaborate for one person, plan vacations to distant places, and have long, involved, late night debates on topics like global economic policies, the correlaries between Medieval and Abstract art, or whether the bartender looks more like Sarah Michelle Geller or Kelly Martin.
• Ah, Kelly Martin. So cute, when she's not talking.
• surlyboi's been VERY lazy indeed. too busy trying to catch uncatchable women. heh. ;) (corresponding via monkeyfilter? is this what it's come to?)
• Yay, more kiddy pictures! Here are the two monkeys who take up most of my time!
• Mr. Tool: I noticed a statement about goats. Do I really want to know more? Shinything: Did you get your kitten yet? Oooooohh, Cali, Can I come over to your place? Love to eat--hate to cook. Admire those who do with a religous fevor. Darshon: Those are two to cute lil' chimps. Here's GramMa's lil'apes--Meg (Megan) the earth child, age 6; Moo (Morgan) the cowgirl, age 3; Matti (Madeline) Missy TooCute , age 2.
• Adorable, Blue! My kids would especially get along with Meg!
• Nice one, GrandMo!