Yes, I do things other than work and sleep. I eat.
Oh, and this stuff, too.
Music | Books | Travel & Service | Hockey | Whatnot & Othersuch
I have a long-running interest in music, and have played the piano, alto sax, bass clarinet, and bass drum at different times. I've been in symphonic bands, jazz bands, and even the Trinity College Pipes & Drums. The last time I got it in my head to try a new instrument, I was an aspiring carillonneur. "Gazuntiedt?" you may ask. "What on earth is a carillonneur?" Why, that's somebody who plays a carillon, of course. "What's a carillon?" Well, let me tell you, it's not the kind of instrument you carry in your back pocket. Carillons are music on a grand scale. Officially speaking, "A carillon is any set of 23 or more carefully tuned bronze bells, more often than not occupying the top of a bell tower, be it in a church, university building, or town hall. These bells are rung by striking keys on a keyboard with a half closed fist, allowing dynamic variation based upon the strength of the strike." After toying with the idea for three years, I finally joined Trinity College's Guild of Carillonneurs my senior fall and had the opportunity to play Trinity's instrument my whole senior year. Much of that time was spent wishing that I had joined my freshman year, so I would have had more time to learn and play. Since graduation I have been looking for opportunities to continue the lessons that I started at Trinity and get back to playing.
| To learn more about carillons or Trinity's Guild of Carillonneurs, visit the following sites: | |
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After two years of only being able to practice my carillon music on my sister's synthesizer, however, I've sort of put that one on hold, since I can't seem to find a good way to get involved with another Guild. So, now I'm looking for a new instrument.
My interest in folk music is making me lean towards taking up the guitar, although these damned computers have totally screwed up my wrists, so that may be impractical. That and, well, I haven't got a guitar. But hey, why should that stop me? We'll see where this goes. And speaking of folk music, you'll find links to a couple of my favorite groups and singers on my links page. I'm constantly trying to discover new groups and singers that I haven't heard before, so if you have suggestions, tell me!
When I was little, I started reading later than most kids. The first book I managed to read on my own was "Jack and the Magic Beans," which sounded like an exciting sequel to Jack and the Beanstalk. I was very excited when I was able to read it all on my own, but rather disappointed to find that it was just Jack and the Beanstalk by a different name. That didn't set me back too much though, as I've been an avid reader ever since.
My reading goes through phases. I get into one genre, and read lots and lots of it. Then either I get tired of it, or something else otherwise catches my attention and I get into that. Lately it's been history and nonfiction. But I've gone through other phases, including a trashy TSR fantasy phase, a slightly more highbrow sci-fi phase, a "I should read this because it's 'Literature'" phase, and a looong Czech lit. kick. Generally, my tastes are varied but tend away from "best seller" type books. John Grisham and Steven King aren't so much my thing. I love a book that changes the way you perceive things - the way you view the world around you, or the way you view yourself. I've had a couple of favorites of this sort, but naturally not every book I read has that effect and I do enjoy them regardless.
I tend to be a very determined reader and it's pretty rare when I start a book that I don't finish. I do the most reading by far during the summer, when it's so nice to sit outside and soak up the sun with a good book. I also do some reading on the 'T' (Boston's subway) on my way to work, but have discovered that this is detrimental to my being at work on time (I tend to get very absorbed in the book and have more than once missed my stop or gotten on the wrong train).
My one big weakness with books is picking them out. I have a lot of trouble picking out a book in a book store (I seldom use the library - I love to own the books I read, for some reason) without knowing already that I love the author's other works, or having a strong recommendation from a friend. So, if you know a book that you think is a "must read," then by all means tell me!
I have some travel and service experiences that I could go on for pages about, but you'll have to wait for more on that. Suffice it to say, I love raveling, and have road-tripped extensively in the US, and backpacked across Europe. There are some places in Europe I really want to get back to (Prague, Scotland, Cataluña), and others I'd like to check out for the first time (Ireland, Wales and Poland, among others). I'm also vaguely planning some sort of big Canadian road trip. Maybe up through the Atlantic provinces, or something.
Also, although I wouldn't really call myself a Methodist (closest to Presbyterian, how I was raised, but mostly disorganizedly spiritual, occasionally leaning towards agnostic) I participated in the Appalachia Service Project, a home construction and service organization associated with the Methodist Church, for five years. It was a moving and life-altering experience, and I would love to get involved again, although I haven't been able to connect with a group in Boston since moving up here.
So, most of my friends are women. It's been that way for years and years. Maybe it's my innate studliness. Maybe I just relate to women better. Who knows? But I need an outlet for my testosterone somewhere, and hockey's it. I was always sort of interested in hockey (more than I can say for other sports), and living in Prague for a semester really cemented it for me. Hockey is to the Czechs what football is to the English. I keep up with the NHL, watch games when I've got nothing more social to do, and try to go to one game a season (if only tickets weren't so bloody expensive). My team is the New York Rangers, but I'm growing fond of the Boston Bruins as well (what with living in Boston and all that). As far as the Extraliga goes, I'm a Sparta Praha partisan, but don't follow the league closely, what with the ocean in between and all.
And of course, what goes better with hockey than beer? While far from an expert, I love sampling imports and microbrews from all over. I love Czech pilsners (especially black ones!), Irish beers of all sorts (Mmmm... Guinness), Scottish ales, brown ales, and many others. I wouldn't call myself a heavy drinker, but love a good beer with dinner, in front of the game, or down at the pub with good friends.
Hobbies that come and go (mostly go, of late)...
Computer Tinkering
Recently, I built myself a new computer from scratch. Seemed like a great idea. Save money, get exactly what I want, etc. I got very in to reading about computer hardware and suchnot. The obsession lasted about a year. I just about have the thing paid off now. Not going to be doing it again. I did not really save money, and man, it was kind of a pain. The thing still overheats on a hot day. Next time, I'm buying a Mac. Laptop. But in the mean time, I've got this beast of a computer, and I'll probably upgrade it and keep it going as long as is practical, since an incremental upgrade is almost always more economical than starting all over again. So, that was defiantly a hobby that came and went. I think I'd much prefer to spend my time hanging with friends than fighting with hardware.
Multi-User Shared Hallucinations
MUSHes were once a favorite pass-time of mine. I was always logged into somewhere, often logged into four or five at one time, chatting away with all sorts of people. Then real life got busy (i.e. I realized that graduating might be kind of important, and people are even more fun in person) and I stopped spending so much time online (well, I remained logged in, but I was perpetually idle and nowhere near my computer). In addition, the advent of Instant Messaging (I'm on AOL IM just shy of 24/7, but I'm not going to post my name(s) here - e-mail me if you really want to know) has sort of supplanted MUSHes as a way for me to keep in touch with friends whom I no longer live near. Once in a blue moon, however, you can still find me logged onto TinyTIM as Lep (yay.tim.org 5440), SillyMUSH as Otakar (silly.leadpipe.org 1919), and even less often to TripppyMUSH (trippy.org 7567) and OtherMUSH as Ed (other.org 4201). While I'm online, I'm usually reasonably active. Most of my time I spent keeping up with old friends rather than meeting new ones, but feel free to page me regardless.
Paper Role Playing Games
Paper or "tabletop" role playing games are a set of adventure games of the Dungeons and Dragons sort (yes, I truly am a dork). I've been a casual player of AD&D for about ten years now, playing whenever I find a group with the right chemistry (people who don't take the game too seriously, and spend as much time laughing as they do role playing). At Trinity, I was a member of The Guild for all four years, and participated in a D&D campaign each semester. Since graduation, I have not done any steady gaming, but am interested in finding a good group to join at some point. I find gaming to be an excellent stress relief and an outlet for what creative energy I have. AD&D is now published by Wizards of the Coast (eeevil creators of Magic: The Gathering, which sucked away gobs of my money way back in high school), and more information can be found on their Advanced Dungeons and Dragons web site.
I do not participate in any LARPs (Live-Action Role Playing), as many LARPers I've met have had some, uhh, blurring of the lines between reality and game, and that's just not my crowd. I can't take gaming nearly that seriously :-). I did recently attend a friend's medieval-themed wedding, however, and may check out a few renaissance faires. I already own the clothes now (courtesy of the wedding), and may as well get my money's worth, you know?
Oh, and for all you people who think that we gamer-types sacrifice babies to dark pagan gods, you're wrong. We eat the babies. They're good with a little butter and rosemary, slow roasted on an open fire.... but I digress.