Since it is summertime.. I have way too much time on my hands. You'd think working full-time would be sufficient, but it turns out waiting tables really doesn't fulfill my mind's yearning for challenge.. so I've decided to pick up a few new hobbies.

What are your suggestions? What is the coolest hobby ever?

You should try my hobby...having long hair. (wink wink nudge nudge to Digsy, Damon, Ray, etc.)

(Edited by Sexy Sadie at 11:05 pm on Jun. 1, 2003)

Heh heh...we probably won't hear from Ray Davies since he will suffocate with laughter

I will suggest my hobbies of making excel sheets, organizing things, sleeping, looking for a job, and living in a fantasy world.

very true.

We also won't hear from him because he's too busy performing his favorite hobby, watching VH1 Classic and making about 18 mix tapes a day.

My hobbies include antique and thrift store shopping. That's when I'm at my happiest, probably. And, of course movie watching and music listening. Nothing too exciting or unexpected.

Is that two in one week? What are we coming to?

I've been burning cds like crazy lately. Lots of reading. Decorating my room with stuff. Sleeping. Biography Channel. I guess none of those are really hobbies, but yeah.

If anyone is bored go see Finding Nemo. I'm so serious. I loved it. I laughed, I cried. Its very funny. I'm never eating seafood again (okay well I never ate it before either).

Yeah, I want to see it. It looks cute. But, I'm afraid it will be sad like The Land Before Time, and I just cannot take the Disney movie sadness.

The beginning is the saddest thing ever but it ends very nicely. Ellen Degeneres as the voice of Dori provides much comic relief.

i must admit that i saw "finding nemo" too. i loved it, very cute. the ellen degeneres fish was my favorite. i wish i could speak whale like that.

i don't have any unusual hobbies. i've made a hobby out of filling out applications and faxing resumes lately. i like taking pictures and making weird collages with them, but that requires money, and i don't have any right now.

Yeah, I have three rolls of film right now that I need to get developed, but I have no money.

I also love to take pictures.

Drinking beer and playing shufflepuck with members/management of the Features is always fun.

Two words: Bottle Rocket...

My YMCA is now offering free belly-dancing classes. Maybe that will be a new hobby.

I saw this movie last night. It's adorable and hilarious. However, it did not make me cry...and I'll probably eat seafood again because I love it so much!

Collect something! I collect Pez, and it's a decent hobby.

The whole mix tape/CD thing is a passtime for me now as I've been free from school. I have been polishing up bootlegs that have been sitting on the shelf for years. I also have to mass produce a wedding CD.

my current roommate and i sit around and talk about being unemployed, while eating dry cereal and watching espn.

ohh boy. Stopforme, you are going to have a blast with this post. although I too agree some of these are a big waste of time/money.
I've had so many hobbies that actually finding a hobby is often a hobby of mine.

At one time I was a "magician" I had doves, fire boxes, rings, swords, the whole nine yards. This crap was way too expensive, although, at the time it was very fun and some of the stuff was/is still super cool.

I grew bonsai trees for a few years... not very expensive, but it was a slow process and all my trees died when a "housekeeper forgot to water them.

pogs-well wasn't everyone into these at one point and time?

I've always collected stuff- comic books, star wars (mainly darth vader) stuff, -now titans memorabilia

Remote controlled planes- very fun and very hard-also very expensive (especially if you suck at it-there IS a reason i'm scared of flying on planes)

Lately i've been working on my car's sound system, and other car-related mods. Of course there's the Titans games/tailgate parties. Burning a ton of mix CDs. Making Features ringtones and it seems calling sprint with problems is quickly becoming a hobby of mine.

Phish used to be a big hobby of mine. Going to their shows? Sure. But what I was really obsessed with was collecting shows. I had about 75 shows on tape or CD when it was all said and done. I spent a lot of time and money. Their hiatus pretty much extinguished my enthusiasm, though. These days, I would consider myself more of just a casual fan.

I've never tried this, but I think it would be a great hobby - ceramics. I was walking around Hillsboro Village the other day, and I walked into this little store where you can make your own ceramics (bowls, teapots, martini glasses, vases), and some people had made the coolest stuff. I am now determined to go there during the next few weeks.

i've done the thing where you paint previously made ceramics, but actually making the ceramics sounds way cooler.

i've always wanted to take a pottery class, even though i'm sure that i'd suck at it. i've never known anyone who actually has taken a pottery class. it just seems like one of those mythical things that only exists in movies...like high schools that let students eat lunch outside.

We had pottery classes at my school. I made some pottery, but it turned out really lopsided and ugly. We also got to eat lunch outside.

I'd like to learn how to fly airplanes someday. I think that'd be a fun hobby.

(Edited by jamiecarroll at 12:58 pm on Jun. 2, 2003)

man, i guess i've been living in some sort of matrix all this time. thanks for exposing me to the real truth, jc. i shall only wear black leather trenchcoats from now on...

I have a friend who instructs.

I follow Formula One with such an insane fervor, that I am one of the few married men in the world that can claim to their wives when caught on the internet at 3:00 in the morning, there is no porn involved... I'm logged into ferrari.com watching the testing times come in from Maranello. I get up on Sunday mornings at 6:30 so I can see the races live. Hell, I even subscribed to digital cable for the sole purpose of getting Speed Channel so I could watch the races after Fox Sports South dropped F1 coverage.

We go to the US Grand Prix every year in Indy and I wanted to go to Montreal in two weeks for the Canadian GP, but unfortunately work and buying a house supercedes my fun. Last summer, we went to Italy and I got to see the British GP in a cafe in Arrezzo. Michael Schuacher, Ferrari's #1 driver won the race. I can honestly say, that was the highlight of my trip.

Oh, whoops. You don't actually make the ceramics at this place either; you just paint them.

I got to eat lunch outside at my high school, but they cut it out a few years after I graduated when the whole Columbine thing happened.

Next year we can eat anywhere on campus & seniors anywhere off. We had an ice cream man towards the end of the year. That was nice.

After looking at how much my "hobbies" suck, I decided to learn how to play the guitar, among other things. I made myself a list of things I want to learn in the next five years and I am going to start soon.

And, out of curiosity, what all would this list include??

i do the usual watching movies and playing music. my hobbies are more of obsessions than hobbies. like playing guitar and buy vinyl or just buying cd's. video game always fun. listening to msuic while playing video games is great because you are doing two things at once. road trips, firworks, drinking, sleeping, working.

most of my summer will be devoted to the new record label my freind erik and i are starting. it has already taken up plenty of time. which is a good thing.

Things to do:
Learn a pretty Language
Visit an exotic country
Be in a musical
Learn how to make a purse
Learn photography
Graduate with a 3.7 or higher
Write a song
Learn basic piano
Paint a decent picture
Make a movie
Learn how to make pottery (thanks to this thread)
Read all the books on some sort of Classics list
Watch all the movies on some sort of Classics list

Surely all these things can't be accomplished in five years but might as well get as much done as possible. Better get crackin..

(Edited by rachel1808 at 7:10 pm on Jun. 2, 2003)

Awesome.

Great list, Rachel. Perhaps a bit ambitious, but it's better to aim high.

I feel proud that I have accomplished at least 5 items on your list. I'm sure you'll do much better.

That could get in the way of accomplishing the things on your list.

(Edited by richarddawson at 6:53 pm on Jun. 2, 2003)

That's awesome, Rachel. I don't mean to sound cheesy, but that's really cool that you're so motivated at your age. Most people don't get so ambitious until they're 38 and they wake up and realize that half of their life has been pissed away in rush hours and bad sitcoms.

My motto is: you only get each day once, make the most of it.

I completely forgot fireworks!!!!! not that it's really a hobby of mine, but i love those things! Last year I got a ton of them on July 5th for a bargain. Guess I'd better start saving the $$$

strangely enough.. this was a hobby of mine at some point. I got some kit that had instructions at a fabric store a couple of months ago, and after my first one turned out so well, I decided I had to make them all the time to give away as presents.. But after about 5, I got tired of it and moved on to bigger things.

I can never stick with a hobby long enough to get good at it. There is just TOO much that I want to do. I have a similar list, Rachel.. Keep in mind that while it is wonderful to be well-rounded, it is hard to become an expert in one field if you only sample each thing. I find myself torn between two or three tasks at the moment.

What to do... what to do...

Oh yeah, and Rachel... does it ever annoy you that everybody gives you advice all the time just because you're a wee one? I think that would have bothered me at 15.

Hm.. I've never really thought about it before. I guess it doesn't bother me. I don't think it should. I'm learning a lot from yall. I mean, you can't really complain about people trying to help you and give you advice. I think its nice of them to care.

(Edited by rachel1808 at 7:46 pm on Jun. 3, 2003)

Isn't it your bedtime, little girl?? And how's it coming for that summer reading?

im obsessed with ceramics, but just buying antique ones. i dont like research the good/rare kinds, i just buy every $0-5 piece that i find that is cute.

i also am trying to start a jadite collection, but its expensive and id rather just ask for it as gifts. its a really personal gift to get from someone [in my opinion] because they get to pick something out of a selection that they know i will love all of, so they buy the one that they really like the most and not the one that they think i will like.

antique shopping really makes rainy days bearable. and i really like going by myself. very personal, and i dont have to look at anything that someone else picked up to show me. i just look at the stuff i want to look at, deliberate whether i should purchase, and pay for it all by my self.

i also love shoe shopping. alone.

wastes of money, not waste of time though. very theraputic.

I wish I could take salsa lessons this summer. Not swing or any of that. Does anyone here know how to? All my housemates know how, and that's why they actually attend every wedding they get invited to b/c it's an opportunity to dance.

(Edited by Buckley at 7:22 pm on Jun. 3, 2003)

I have always wanted to be able to salsa. I think swing would be fun too. The only problem is I would have such a hard time trying to find a partner.

Yeah, I had a partner once when I took swing lessons, but he hated having to dance with other people b/c he complained they all smelled weird or did weird, hippie dances with their eyes closed or some excuse...and there were always more girls than guys. I'm not really into dancing with other girls or by myself either b/c it really makes it hard to learn the girls part. With Salsa it wouldn't be an option to do it by yourself b/c basically the whole point, I am told at least, is to get your hips in sync with your partners, none of that simple step, step, back-step crap in swing.

There's a Mexican restaurant in town that used to do salsa dancing lessons. Apparently they'd give the lessons and then have the dancing.

In your town or Chatt-town?

i havn't gotten to see finding nemo yet but i want to so badly!!

my hobby = eating. and dieting.

During the summer, there are swing dancing festivals at Centennial Park (is that the right place?) on Saturday nights. Lots of high school kids go and have a lot of fun. I know some of them and they are really cool, aside from the fact that they spend their summer Saturday nights swing dancing with old people. It's free, and I'm sure that some boys would be willing to teach you.

Hm, might have to check that out. Thanks.

I hate shopping with other people. I agree with you that shopping is best done alone.

I like going with my mom. She doesnt slow me down and offers opinions. Oh yeah, and she pays for everything.

On the whole dancing, subject, it's been quite a while for me, but...

Club Caliente in Printer's Alley is somewhat of a hotspot for Salsa.

Jody's Bar Car/Cafe used to have Salsa nights too, but it was replaced by a place called La Cantina (?), I think (Cummins Station). I assume they carry on the Salsa tradition.

Seagrams once sponsored Salsa weekends at 7 different clubs over 7 weeks back in '99 or '00. I remember going to Jack Legs and Bar Nashville (Yuck!) to learn Salsa dancing then.

Havana Lounge (2nd Ave.) used to have a really cool Swing gig on Wednesday nights, but I think that's dead.

The Knowles Center (Division St.) and Dance Connection (Nolensville Rd.) are other places I've gone to dance, but you either end up with older folks or teennagers there (Sorry, Rachel).

I think Club Caliente is still the best bet for Salsa dancing and/or [free] lessons. Sorry to be so verbose. One of my good friends used to drag me to all of these places every weekend.

(Edited by Token at 1:14 am on Jun. 4, 2003)

I agree... I actually have a hard time shopping (for clothes) without my Mom. I'm not sure what it is. It sounds kinda stupid, but it's true. I get along with my Mom fine, and she doesn't try to get me to buy stuff she would wear. She knows my taste pretty well, and I must have someone to bounce off opinions. I'm always undecided if I go by myself and end up not getting anything.

well, kids, i just spent the last three hours making my first purse from scratch. im talking hand stiched, baby. as i was sorting out clothes to give to goodwill i decided to make a nice little purse out of some of the shirts. im pretty pleased with the results. i feel so.. crafty! next item: painting.

Very impressive!

Did you use a pattern?

thank you! i just cut the center out of my "i love NY" tshirt and sewed it together, hemmed the top, and added black straps.

Still impressive. I did horribly in the sewing portion of Home Ec. I can barely sew on a button.

I'm really grateful for Home Ec. I learned how to sew in that class that stuff really did stick with me.. I would have thrown away several pieces of clothing if it weren't for that class..

My school doesnt have Home Ec. We have to carry around sugar babies in Wellness but thats as close as we get.

lol damn u guys need adn upgrade on the babies, my little sister has brought that computerized baby like twice.. you have to keep track of how much it cries.. feed it.. even change it's diaper to make it stop crying adn then the teacher hooks i up to the computer or something and gets a print out of how long it cried etc... that thing sucks I'd much rather take the exam than pack it around for a weekend.. especially if u have a job and u have to work that weekend.

wow.. we do need an upgrade. i thought those were only in movies. im perfectly fine with a silent bag of sugar though.