Welcome, Guest. Please Login
SLINGING.ORG
 
Home Help Search Login


Pages: 1 2 
Send Topic Print
Hobbies/Talents/Motivations (Read 2731 times)
Morphy
Slinging.org Moderator
*****
Offline


Checkmate

Posts: 8102
Hobbies/Talents/Motivations
Jan 21st, 2017 at 3:38pm
 
We have some new members here and I figure maybe it's time to have another one of these threads.

What interests/hobbies/talents do you have? What motivates you as a person? If you found yourself without any need or desire to work your day job tomorrow, to what would you devote your time and energy?

So just to start it out. I enjoy drawing and chess though I don't practice them as much as I could if I wanted to be really good at them. I love nature. I make bows and arrows because I so enjoy exploring the properties of different woods, wood working and different designs but rarely do much actual shooting. I am hopelessly addicted to target slinging, but don't put much effort in to making my slings. I appreciate the skill it takes to make truly elaborate slings but am always drawn to extreme utility and a low key atheistic sense in sling design.  I also really enjoy mushroom hunting while slinging and hiking and have gotten a few friends into it as well. It's a blast eating random mushrooms and seeing if it affects you, or if you survive. I also have a very dry sense of humor which few get but eh.  Wink Lastly, I love survival and primitive technology.

Well, that's me in a nutshell. How about you guys and gals?
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
SlingerDave
Junior Member
**
Offline


Stop!!! Let me hide behind
this tree first.

Posts: 93
San Antonio, Tx
Gender: male
Re: Hobbies/Talents/Motivations
Reply #1 - Jan 21st, 2017 at 9:16pm
 
Wait, you're describing you... it sounds alot like me.  Grin

Everything you said minus being a bowyer and mushroom hunting. But my brother is a bowyer and great fletcher too. I have been involved in primitive skills since I was eight when I met this guy, Nathan Martinez.



Over the years I helped him teach survival/ primitive skills class at local museums, schools, boy scout events, and once out in west Texas at a archaeology school S.H.U.M.L.A. ,a great big acronym. That was an awesome trip!

Also, I like studying and practicing the skills of the 18th century. I associate with this group and gave them a reference to this site for slinging info pertinent to the 18th century.

http://eighteenthcenturylivinghistory.freeforums.org/unusual-weapons-in-the-colo...

Right  now I'm also three months into learning the art of fiddling; it's really fun!

Okay, to much about me at one time, but still just scratching the surface. Smiley
Back to top
 

You know your a slinger when your youth pastor's nickname for you is Five Smooth.
 
IP Logged
 
Kick
past-moderator
****
Offline



Posts: 4451
Finland
Re: Hobbies/Talents/Motivations
Reply #2 - Jan 22nd, 2017 at 4:25am
 
Well I'm rapidly running out of time to enjoy my hobbies. I'm starting work on my bachelor thesis (I'm studying nursing) so that's going to be sucking up most of my time. My hobbies themselves are mostly sling related right now Cheesy In the winter there isn't much else to do than make slings and (if it's warm enough and I have enough time) go out and sling. During the Summer I get to go to my girlfriend's family's summer cottage out in the woods next to a lake which gives me the opportunity to do more slinging (it's not an obsession I can stop anytime I want!) and also do some wood carving and wood burning using a magnifying glass. I barely got to go to the cottage last summer because of one thing or another so I'm determined to go as much as I can this year.
Back to top
 

You are a great guy Kick but also slightly scary at times. - Morphy
"Nothing matters, but it’s perhaps more comfortable to keep calm and not interfere with other people." - H.P. Lovecraft, in a letter to Frank Belknap Long, 7 October, 1923
 
IP Logged
 
Tomas
Interfector Viris Spurii
*****
Offline



Posts: 2172
Re: Hobbies/Talents/Motivations
Reply #3 - Jan 23rd, 2017 at 10:07am
 
My job is very hobby like. Making and repairing leather items is fun.

Other things include fantasy novels, knife making, knife skills like sushi chefs for example, cooking and canning, fitness including the gym, yoga, general body maintenance.
I'm sure there's others but I am drawing a blank right now
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Curious Aardvark
Forum Moderation
*****
Offline


Taller than the average
Dwarf

Posts: 13965
Midlands England
Gender: male
Re: Hobbies/Talents/Motivations
Reply #4 - Jan 23rd, 2017 at 11:08am
 
If I could afford to jack in the day job - which for anyone who doesn't know, is broad spectrum it support for just about anyone - I would in a heartbeat. I've been building and fixing computers for close to 30 years now. It's enough lol
Giving up the day job would, however assume that I had come into a reliable other source of revenue.

Interests: charcuterie and sausage and preserved meats of all kinds.  Currently working on a sort of pemmican without the suet.

3D printing and design for 3d printing - would like to make more money out of this.

Slinging (obviously) - I will be working on a scheme to start making money out of slinging this year. My accountants idea actually.
Hold a few world firsts where slinging is concerned, which is cool Smiley

I do pick and eat wild mushrooms - but only an idiot would eat a mushroom they couldn't identify 100% Wink

I like making things. David Morningstar's description  of me is about as accurate as it gets.
'He's a tolkien dwarf made human height.'
I am that squat, wide, dwarven shape and currently have a big bushy beard (had my annual haircut today, so the beard looks even bigger at the moment).  But apparently it's also because I am always making things - which is true Smiley 

I've read an awful lot of SF, written a fair bit and had some published too.

General interest and curiosity in pretty much everything with the exception of hip-hop 'music'.

Been doing tai chi for about 17 years. Currently working on the 37 step wang style with a teacher from the kun ming school.
Thoroughly recommended, very good for your slinging.

My choice of battle weapons would be: slings, axe, club  and staff. Not a sword man.
Brute force over subtlety Smiley

Back to top
« Last Edit: Jan 28th, 2017 at 9:15am by Curious Aardvark »  

Do All things with Honour and Generosity: Regret Nothing, Envy None, Apologise Seldom and Bow your head to No One  - works for me Smiley
 
IP Logged
 
Morphy
Slinging.org Moderator
*****
Offline


Checkmate

Posts: 8102
Re: Hobbies/Talents/Motivations
Reply #5 - Jan 23rd, 2017 at 12:26pm
 
Lol, I should clarify, the mushroom comment was a joke by the way. Please, no one should eat them unless they are with an experienced mushroom hunter. Someone you trust your life with.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Bill Skinner
Forum Moderation
*****
Offline


Slinging Rocks!

Posts: 3292
Re: Hobbies/Talents/Motivations
Reply #6 - Jan 23rd, 2017 at 5:10pm
 
Retired military, so I have a source of income.  I now live on a farm.  I enjoy primitive skills such as flint knapping, pottery making, and making my own bow and arrows.  I do demonstrations for schools and scout groups about how to make the various tools and weapons.  I can tan hides but usually don't. 

I hunt and fish, used to trap commercially, have two gardens.  One is for food for me, one has food species that have fallen by the wayside.  Last year I grew a genetically pure corn that dates back to the late 18th century for the seed bank.  I have a lot of ground nut seeds that I established around one of my ponds so that I can be sending out the seeds to various places in a month, so people can attempt to get them reestablished.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Rat Man
Slinging.org Administrator
*****
Offline


Slinging Rocks!

Posts: 13666
New Jersey, USA
Gender: male
Re: Hobbies/Talents/Motivations
Reply #7 - Jan 24th, 2017 at 7:35am
 
I am disabled from a nasty case of Lyme Disease so I have a steady if small income. Other than slinging my hobies are bowling, though I wish I was better at it, music, mostly guitar,  fishing and most anything having to do with the great outdoors, and my Huskies, who leave me little free time for my other hobies.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
perpetualstudent
Interfector Viris Spurii
*****
Offline


Slinging Rocks!

Posts: 1405
Gender: male
Re: Hobbies/Talents/Motivations
Reply #8 - Jan 31st, 2017 at 10:49am
 
I'm still in grad school (dissertation proposal defended, working on the dissertation proper now). I juggle it and taking care of my 2 year old during the day. And now an infant as well.

In my increasingly rare down time I like shooting,and just got started casting. I'm also into knot tying and learning about games internationally and historically. My wife and I also are experimenting with fermenting and gardening. I tried my hand at small game hunting once last season, and next season I'll make a proper run of it. I love learning and doing.
Back to top
 

"Facts stand wholly outside our gates; they are what they are, and no more;they know nothing about themselves and they pass no judgement upon themselves. What is it, then, that pronounces the judgement? Our own guide and ruler, Reason."
 
IP Logged
 
JudoP
Funditor
****
Offline


Rocks away!

Posts: 932
UK
Re: Hobbies/Talents/Motivations
Reply #9 - Jan 31st, 2017 at 7:57pm
 
Morphy- you pretty much hit the nail on the head on why I'm drawn to/enjoy making and using slings. It's remarkable how efficient, simple and functional they are, yet there is something of an elegance about a well made one.

I've been having a couple of classes learning how to fight with medieval longswords and they have similar allure- simple, functional and elegant, with surprising versatility (you are encouraged to attack with ALL parts of the sword). They aren't fancy weapons at all, but somehow still end up wonderfully graceful despite that.

I'm currently in my first year as a physics teacher, which means I have absolutely no time to do anything other than work. I don't have any particular reason to be drawn to slinging but I do have an academic interest in history and particularly the history of combat.

As for hobbies- although I haven't trained for a month or two now, I'm a keen judo practitioner and black belt. I also enjoy weightlifting and for a period was trained by (now) Europe's strongest man!
Back to top
 

longsword.jpg (31 KB | 50 )
longsword.jpg
 
IP Logged
 
Curious Aardvark
Forum Moderation
*****
Offline


Taller than the average
Dwarf

Posts: 13965
Midlands England
Gender: male
Re: Hobbies/Talents/Motivations
Reply #10 - Feb 2nd, 2017 at 10:56am
 
You trained with laurence shalai ?
That must have been an eye opener Smiley
Did judo as a kid. Good grounding for a slinger. Any of the martial arts that concentrate on balance and body awareness are excellent platforms for slingers.
Back to top
 

Do All things with Honour and Generosity: Regret Nothing, Envy None, Apologise Seldom and Bow your head to No One  - works for me Smiley
 
IP Logged
 
Masiakasaurus
Forum Moderation
*****
Offline


mah-SEE-a-kah-SOR-us

Posts: 6069
Alabama, USA
Gender: male
Re: Hobbies/Talents/Motivations
Reply #11 - Feb 3rd, 2017 at 12:38am
 
Lately I've been a kettlebell and health food junkie. I dropped 55 lb in the last year! Cheesy

My hobbies are mostly related to either history or projectiles, or both. Slings, traditional bows, and firearms. (I just started competing in 3 Gun, running and gunning with pistols, tactical rifles, and shotguns.) Lately, though, I've been forgoing practice in order to spend as much time hunting as possible. And next week I start teaching a beginner/intermediate pistol class with a friend. All of which I would do during the week instead of just on the weekends if I didn't have to work.
Back to top
 

Pikåru wrote on Nov 19th, 2013 at 6:59pm:
Massi - WTF? It's called a sling. You use it to throw rocks farther and faster than you could otherwise. That's all. 
~Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily avialable, they will create their own problems.~
WWW elsabio04  
IP Logged
 
JudoP
Funditor
****
Offline


Rocks away!

Posts: 932
UK
Re: Hobbies/Talents/Motivations
Reply #12 - Feb 3rd, 2017 at 3:31pm
 
Yep, Big Loz. I had personal training sessions from him for about a year. Great guy. Leg days were monstrous but I loved them, my squat doubled and then some within a year.

Meanwhile my max now is his warmup...!
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Bill Skinner
Forum Moderation
*****
Offline


Slinging Rocks!

Posts: 3292
Re: Hobbies/Talents/Motivations
Reply #13 - Feb 3rd, 2017 at 9:49pm
 
Mas, when did you have time to gain weight?
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Masiakasaurus
Forum Moderation
*****
Offline


mah-SEE-a-kah-SOR-us

Posts: 6069
Alabama, USA
Gender: male
Re: Hobbies/Talents/Motivations
Reply #14 - Feb 4th, 2017 at 10:02pm
 
I've been a little overweight for most of my life, and I was hospitalized in October of 2015 for complications with my Crohn's Disease. It took about 8 months to get back on my feet and all that sitting around let me gain another 25 lb and pushed me into the obese BMI. I'm now about 160 lb, though, and solidly in the healthy BMI range. All it took was a gluten free, low grain, low legume, low nightshade, low caffeine, low to no FODMAP, paleo diet to get my disease (more) under control and give me the energy to work out.

*I don't recommend the paleo diet unless you already know something is wrong with your stomach.
Back to top
 

Pikåru wrote on Nov 19th, 2013 at 6:59pm:
Massi - WTF? It's called a sling. You use it to throw rocks farther and faster than you could otherwise. That's all. 
~Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily avialable, they will create their own problems.~
WWW elsabio04  
IP Logged
 
Pages: 1 2 
Send Topic Print
(Moderators: Chris, David Morningstar, Mauro Fiorentini, Bill Skinner, Curious Aardvark, Rat Man, Masiakasaurus)