My guitar and mandolin set unused most of the time, but my banjo gets a workout, and my ukulele goes camping with me every time.
What Hobbies Have You Fallen Out Of?
- Thread starter mikethompson
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If I had more free time, I suspect I'd pick my guitar back up more often. I played pretty seriously for a long time and used to play in bands and perform live, but I pretty much quit playing about ten years ago towards the end of law school as my work / professional schedule intensified. I still like playing, but have other things I'd prefer to do in my limited free time.
After I moved back to the country, I picked up fishing pretty seriously after always having dabbled in it, but I haven't fished in a couple years because I got tired of accidentally harming fish (deep hooking, hooking in gills, etc). I would be up for taking up the sport again under the right circumstances, maybe going barbless on my hooks, getting rid of treble hook lures, etc. I'm also always up for a fish fry and don't feel too bad killing them if I'm gonna eat them.
After I moved back to the country, I picked up fishing pretty seriously after always having dabbled in it, but I haven't fished in a couple years because I got tired of accidentally harming fish (deep hooking, hooking in gills, etc). I would be up for taking up the sport again under the right circumstances, maybe going barbless on my hooks, getting rid of treble hook lures, etc. I'm also always up for a fish fry and don't feel too bad killing them if I'm gonna eat them.
I had one of these made by Schwinn in the late '60's. I had a long sissy bar. Nice to see your handiwork.
I only fished for browns in the park where single hooks are required, but honesly, I mostly enjoyed walking up the creek beds.
You have to back up what you say....... "You still do" doesn't cut it.
Anyone without skills or knowledge or a big ego can click around on a computer and make perfume out of dog poop photos. Most people shoot crap photos because they don't care enough about the photos. But if you want or care, you can take their crappy photos and make them look great without having to re-shoot anything by clicking here and there. Where is the skill in doing that?
Activities I did a lot...but have retired (for now).
Coaching
Triathlon
Coffin Nails
Cope
Music
Collected Mid Century art and furniture
Collected Guitars
The new passion is playing Ultimate Frisbee. At 61, I can still go fast enough.
Coaching
Triathlon
Coffin Nails
Cope
Music
Collected Mid Century art and furniture
Collected Guitars
The new passion is playing Ultimate Frisbee. At 61, I can still go fast enough.
Those pics of skateboards I painted, back in 2018 may have been the last I have done.
In my youth I had intermittent interests in darts played on the back of my bedroom door against a backdrop of insulation paneling; badminton played in the back yard and extended to a college p.e. course; fencing done only as a p.e. course where I was spotted as a potential epee fencer; and most notoriously boxing, in which I excelled at the light bag but was dismayed to watch all the flyweights (my class) drop out of the course, leaving me to the mercy of chance. I had to sort of talk my way through the course, not a good look in boxing.
Hey , a fellow ex-boxer. I worked my way up to welterweight from middle school to high school. But, I've had my nose broken so many times that I have an artificial bridge. And, broken so many metacarpals in my hands that my fingers don't set right. But, I still enjoy watching Showtime boxing.
Aspired to a ham radio license but never mastered the tech and Morse code, but never mind, the Navy trained me as a radioman and I found myself manning a solo 24:00 to 08:00 radio watch on a minesweeper in the South China Sea off the coast of Vietnam. I operated a set of radio gear that would look paleolithic to the computer jockeys on today's warships. The rating "radioman" is defunct. Cosmic, my boxing class ended my career, fortunately, though I saw a few stars in the process. I haven't any brain cells to spare.
I trained at a fighting gym under the tutelage of professional fighters for a while in my early 20's, and I was just seeking a bit of adventure and excitement. My natural athletic abilities are middling at best, so I never had any illusions that I would ever fight competitively. Sparring was quite an adventure, and there is some benefit in knowing that you can take a few punches to the face, stand your ground, and deliver a few in return, the benefit mainly being the improved fortitude and mental strength that comes after putting yourself through a physically arduous ordeal.
I would hardly consider myself a "former boxer" or anything. It was just something I tried for a while, and a good bit of adventure. Ultimately, I boxed for fun and it was a good experience. I was also in the best shape of my life, which is another benefit that comes with that sort of training.
I guess if you've never done it... but it is fun.
A fun fact, my boxing coach was Posey. His son was one of the operatives exposed by Col. North in Iran Contra, running heavy weaponry down to Central America.
Also, Ronald Reagan came to one of my last fights at a Spirit of America Golden Gloves Festival. I got my picture with him in the papers and stuff.
I used to play a lot of tennis in my youth, now I completely lost interest, even watching it on TV is a drag. That said, I practiced the Sweet Science in my youth for fun not to fight in the ring mind you, sparring was enough for me. It required a dedication that I didn't have at the time. I still punch the heavy bag a few times a week but not for as long, getting old sucks for your joints and the impact is harder to take.
To a point, really. "Garbage in, garbage out" still applies, Photoshop notwithstanding.
A number of so-so images might be rescued with heavy post-processing, but you still can't dress a turd.
Now, in terms of skill, the PS junkies will argue that they have ninja retouching skills, and they'd not be really wrong**. Me, I don't have a lot of retouching skill, so I prefer to get it right in camera instead of failing miserably at making things disappear through pixel pushing.
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**I said "not really" because once I was careless and didn't move my car from where I had parked it in front of a client's locale; when the client expressed that she didn't want the car in the photo that showed the business looking into the street, I decided the pixel operation was beyond me and sent it to a "professional" retouching service. The results were.... well, shall we say supbar? I, an amateur in retouching, was forced to en up having to fix their "pro" retoucher's blunders!!
My first hobby coin collecting ended when I needed my first car, a vintage Brit. MG then was into guns that I tired of, sold them off to finance chasing the ladies, pipes and the benefits of same has lasted.
I was much better with my feet than my hands. I have been watching the PBS special on Hemmingway who was quite the boxer. Maybe in my younger days. I do appreciate and watch boxing all the time. It's a pure sport like running.