Inspired by the disc golf thread, I would like to talk about how we fill our time when we are not surfing for porn, working, surfing for porn at work, posting here, or drinking until we fall unconcious. I would hope that everyone has
something outside of a glowing screen that they do for fun, and if not, maybe this thread will give you a few ideas.
As for me, I give you stunt kites!
Stunt kits (or power kites) come in all shapes and sizes, the main difference between them and boring single line kites is that you have control over what they are doing. The kit above is a dual line parafoil, one of my two kites. It's a bit on the small side at a wing span of only six feet, but that is more than enough to knock you on your ass if you have a good windy day. The main advantage of a parafoil over other stunt kites is that there are no spars to break. The whole thing squishes down to the size of a lunch box and is very easy to get going on your own. It never leave my trunk.
This is a more traditional dual line kite. They are usually a little faster than parafoils, but don't have the same pull.
Now this is where it's at. Revolutions, and other quad line kite, offer more control than any other kite. They can stop in mid air, spin, move horizontally, and all sorts of other stuff that I am not good enough to pull off. They are a bit on the expensive side: my Prisim Stylus was around $100, not including line. My Rev 2 (not the one pictured) was around $300 when I bought it many, many years ago. They have not gotten any cheaper since.
I
really want one of these, but convicing the wife to let me spend that much on a kite is going to be tough:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4IVAzM0mlo
There is actually a kite festival in Milwaukee this weekend which draws a pretty big croud every year, so this hobby is not limited to warm weather climates. Some day I will move on to these:
Kite boarding with quad line parafoils big enough to take your airborne!
Or maybe not.
So, that's my wierd hobby. What do you have?
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I play a mean '91 G&L L-2000 fretless bass (I have a few other basses, some quite nice but the G&L is the one). Been playing a lot of harmonica lately too. Been playing a lot country/rock/punk stuff lately and really loving it.
I post on Internet forums about my lifestyle choices and try to convince people that I am right and everyone else is wrong.
Come on, we all do that, I'm talking about non internet tough guy antics.
:P
Since I moved my life has been pretty drab.
Video games are kind of obvious, but I don't play as much these days on account of law school and being married.
I love to play piano, but my enjoyment of it is tempered by the fact that I also kind of suck. Probably the most fun is singing. Many of the best times in my life were when I was on choir tour. To me there's something really amazing about getting a bunch of people together and making something really beautiful.
After that I'd say reading and hanging out with friends just chatting.
I know on a fundamental level that biking is good exercise, but for whatever reason, I can't get my brain around the idea of cycling for exercise. Maybe it's because I'm a runner and I hate cyclists. It just seems like it'd be too easy to coast and not actually accomplish anything.
Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
On purpose?
I'd really like to try out those kites, they look way better than my batman one from wal-mart.
Heres an in progress thing I did recently:
Other than that, I do a lot of the usual media stuff: movies/games/books.
Art doesn't like me though.
You are a hero.
I'm a competitive bike racer. Used to do a lot of medium distance foot racing before. My definition of fitness has completely changed since I started racing bikes. Sure, you can coast and not accomplish anything, which is why you see plenty of fat people on your multi-use paths who are always going to be fat.
Lots of racers use a device that measures that amount of energy produced when training. You can use this to get a pretty accurate idea of how many calories you've burned in a workout.
Running 10 minute miles for an hour is about 900 calories.
In my last 45 minute race, I burned 1260, and that was for a 12th place finish, in the easiest category. Guys in the highest domestic category race 15-30 minutes longer and average 4-5 mph faster over that time.
Not to make a blanket statement, but aside from the really competitive runners, most bike racers work a lot harder than runners.
I don't bike for exercise. I workout for exercise. I use biking mostly for transportation and also to see nice scenery when the weather is nice.
Oh for sure, I know cycling is tough and is good exercise if you do it correctly. It's one of those stupid mentality things that I know is wrong on an intellectual level but my brain just won't accept that cycling is a legitimate form of exercise. Probably because of all those fat people who coast around and don't accomplish anything.
Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
That art is looking pretty good Wassermelone, your style seems a bit familiar too.
I no longer really have the time to put into women's or mixed choruses due to a soul-sucking commute, but it's something I hope to get back into sometime.
3DS Friend Code: 0404-6826-4588 PM if you add.
Been wanting to try it for years, but since I grew up in Texas where there's practically no scene or the environment to practice it in, it was pretty much killed in its prime.
Then I started studying in Toronto in '08, and i'll be making a huge 6-month push to get in shape for Krav Maga instructor training. I'm an ectomorph build with a good sense of balance and rhythm, plus I do life drawing at this walk-in open gym which is filled with nothing but parkour/freeruners/gymnast who do nothing but train.
There's a lot of activities I have on my bucket list, but stuff like this you can only do when you're young and have the proper resources. I'd like to experience that sense of freedom at least once before I get too old for it, and even though i'm 21 I still have quite a bit of time where my body can keep up with something so physically demanding.
It's a colossal commitment to be able to do even the most basic kind of stuff, requiring hundreds of hours of practice in a safe gym environment, but it would be well worth it.
That is quite the hobby. I used to have a Lionel train set, a reproduction of an old steamer, that I had a blast with when I was a kid. I've been thinking about checking out one of the rail sims on Steam to see if I can recapture a bit of the old glory. Do you have any experience with either of them (Railworks and/or the Railz sims)? I think it would be a really fun thing to get into with my three year old son, but I can't spend a grand or two and a room in the house for an actual model railroad.
Unfortunately I have never played them, having a Mac and not really doing any computer-based gaming since the 90s. But you don't have to spend a grand...Maybe pick up a train set for about $200 and just set it up when it's time to "play with the trains?"
I've been keeping a blog of my layout-building progress if you want to read it. http://talleys-trains.blogspot.com/
Like most of my hobbies (which also include VWs, Lego, and photography) it comes and goes in phases through the year. Righ now I'm at a standstill because I need to invest about $70 in switches, and just can't spare the money at the moment.
3DS Friend Code: 0404-6826-4588 PM if you add.
Seriously, I built all kinds of terrain and painted two armies for WH40K, which I've played maybe four or five times on the table top. I don't regret doing that, but it's not something I can really justify these days.
What is that you may ask? A 3.2 mile obstacle course run!
I've never done it, but it looks amazing. 13 different obstacles, all day rock concert, and beeeeeeer! I'm excited for leaping over the pit of fire and traversing the slate rock wall.
I will attempt to not die (since I'm a fucking warrior and all), but you never know.
jiu jitsu
blowjobs
I have a friend that's done that. He sent me a picture. Every inch of him was covered in mud.
He did have a huge grin on his face, though.
3DS Friend Code: 0404-6826-4588 PM if you add.
I'll be running that same race, but in the Mid-Atlantic area in October. I just started training for it, and I hurt everywhere.
My hobbies are fairly nerdy, but I paint and play toy soldier games, like Flames of War, or Warhammer 40k. A friend of mine recently got into Muy Thai, and Brazilian Ju-Jitsu, and after some classes, I may take that up if my body co-operates with me. So far, it hasn't.
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What kind of training are you doing that's screwing your body up so bad?
Done a few tandems and one solo-freefall. Want to get licensed but lots of dollars.
Same goes for a pilot's license. About 9k I don't feel comfortable dropping right now. Maybe soon though.
Video games. Duh.
I attempt to work out with fair to middling results.
I read a lot, usually a 50/50 mix of non-fiction and fiction.
I tutor 1st and 2nd graders.
I hang out with my wife and watch lots of TV and movies, both of which vary rather drastically in quality.
Woo. Feel the excitement, kids.
Since it's not a typical running 5k, I'm incorporating a lot of resistance training right into my cardio, to simulate working the obstacles. So I'll run up and down 4 flights of steps, hit some light weight/high rep stations, more steps, weight, steps, etc., and cap it with some running. I'll swap that out with just straight circuit training, using crossfit-esque exercises on other day of the week.
No, that would be warhammer, which is also the worlds biggest VISA friend.