Man-Thing Hobbies

Thanks to Veggienerd for suggesting a topic.

Alas...as my Pink would tell you, I don't have stereotypical hobbies. But here's what I've got to offer, and how I keep some of them in control.

1. Playing on the computer. Could be trolling message boards *hangs head down in shame* I am a member Gaia so that's whever I've been spending a lot of my non-gaming time. I also have a wiki I'm pouring my everyday useful computer nerdage into, this blog, flickr (helps make me a GREAT son-in-law when I can upload pictures hours after an event), video games (I've got a p 700 laptop, so I'm limited here, I let Pink use the good one), browse prices of computer parts, and general life-long noseyness.
2. Video games, I do like a good FPS on the PC, but my favorite driving games, the Gran Turismo series, is on the playstation. I'm not a gamer in most senses of the word (had the PS2 for 3 years, own maybe 10 games), because games are an investment to me. I see an RPG, a racing game, or a Grand Theft Auto game that'll take me over 40-60 hours to beat, then I can see paying 50 bucks for a game because I pay less than a dollar for each hour of gameplay. Add in free walkthroughs thanks to GameFaqs I can beat any game I own to 100%. I'm currently playing Septerra Core on the laptop (1$, Dollar store), then will play FF-12 on the PS2 (Pink bought it a while back and I think we lost interest in it.
3. Anything with 4 wheels (Pink is STILL rambling/grumbling). I'm a 4th generation Monte Carlo SS maniac and am a board member since 97 over at www.montecarloss.com. Excellent car community over there. I fell in love with the car when I was 9 and it was the first car I ever owned. Thanks to that car I know how to replace alternators, belts, radiators, all types of pumps attached to the front of the car, tires, wheels, brakes, ripping apart the interior and putting it back again, and a few tricks and sleeves on theft-prevention. All that from a message board...can you believe it?! Almost better thank school! But, while I admit I love those things...I hate working on them. I love being able to do a job yourself, but having the proper tools, equipment, time and space is a hassle. So, it's a fun hobby, but not a desirable about one.
4. NASCAR - I'm not as addicted as my old man, but I think I like to use it as my wind down time for the week. Little Blue will usually sit in my lap and watch portions of the race...or we'll try to sneak in a mid race nap with Pink. I'm pretty knowledgeable on most things NASCAR (because, due the the cars in number three, a lot of the technical/mechanical terms are applied), I don't go buy all the swag or toys. My favorite driver is Ken Schrader, local boy from Fenton, Mo (as was Rusty Wallance). Met Kenny several times, got a couple autographs...now I just go, shake his hand, and tell him thanks for the good times. Been a while since I've seen him, but its fun. I plan on taking Little Blue out to some local speedways to see what he thinks of racing. My Dad runs a NASCAR fantasy league, and he's tired of doing it by pen and paper, so I'm going to Excel a spreadsheet for him that'll total driver values, evict violators, tablulate and sort race winnings as well as season points. Car nerdage meet computer nerdage. :)
5. Reading. I made a decision a long time ago that I love fantasy books, and R. A. Salvatore's Drizzt character pulled me out of some tight spots back in the day, so Salvatore is my favorite author. I own all except for the latest Salvatore novel. For the YA reader, I reccomend his Forgotten Realms series, for the adult reader, I reccomend his Demon Wars series (trust me, don't get attached to characters with that once.
   
   Stephen King is my favorite "real world" author, but more specifically, and book tied into the Dark Tower series (and trust me, constant reader, it's 10+ more novels beyond the series itself). I love the lingo, the language, the characters, and the mixture of fantasy, old west, current era, and the philosophy behind it all, so if you catch me calling you "Sai" or telling you that the "world has moved on," please forgive me.
   
   However, since I work at a library, these are the only two authors I purchase books from, everyone else I snitch from work.
6. *rolls neck back and forth, neck popping...then rolls the shoulders around to give them a little stretch*
   
   Cross-stitching.
   
   Yup, read it again. I had a theory one day, showing images on the smartboard at work. If all the images are small squares...and cross-stitch patterns are all squares...then someone surely has written a free converter program, right? Took me 2 weeks of Googling (yup, folks, good ol' google failed for 2 weeks) to find it, and it turns out is was some college computer programming class. I've only done one image so far (the dark tower and gunslinger of course). It's not too peachy keen on pictures of people however, unless you want to buy hundreds of colors for 1 or 2 stitches on a pattern. This hobby resurfaced after a project we had to do in HS and Pink's clingyness for watching TV. I had to do something to keep my hands busy if I was going to be with her and watch the food network hours on end...so this was it.
7. My son...due to having fun with him during most of my free time, all the above hobbies are usually dont between 7-10pm in the evening, after Little Blue goes to bed. 80 hour RPG...playing it 2 hours at a time...and following a walkthrough...you get the picture. :) Little Blue and I love to play baskeball with his toddler basket he got for his B-day.
   

So...those are my boy hobbies, and unfortunatly I've turned a bit-o-smartness into them (seriously, time investment in video games?), and I'm sure there are more...

OH! The most hated hobby! I love rearranging furnature! (not the cleaning up before/after). Bugged Pink to death in college when she'd come down to Pitt State and every two weeks stuff would be moved around.

Love ya Babe. :)

So that's about it, stereotypical, but not. That's me.