This is a great thread! I've got a passion for writing and have also just completed my (third) draft - it's currently doing the competition round so to see if anything comes of it.
Wait...you mean there are interested that are actually outside of martial arts Mandolin, Ukelele, Didgeridoo...use to be guitar, but for some reason I just stopped playing it
I used to kayak when I was a teenager! It was a lot of fun, especially doing trips to various rivers with varying degrees of rapids. I haven't been in decades though...
Used to be VERY into Games Workshop, Warhammer, 40k and all that. Dipped out for a few years and now I barely recognise it. Wanted to get back into modelling, painting and gaming again so looked around at what else there was out there. Last couple of years I've been getting into WW2 gaming and miniatures for "Bolt Action" and the "weird" alternate version of WW2, "Konflikt '47" (love that game). This has brought out a renewed interest in WW2 itself (history, campaigns, theatres, weapons, etc) as I realised, through Bolt action, I knew very little about it beyond watching Kelly's Heroes and Saving Private Ryan. Now I can often be seen reading up on the finer points of tank war in North Africa or trying to work out my piat from my pak 40. I also (on and off) do pastel pet portraits when I find the time (which is why it's on and off as I don't find the time). It's slowed down now but I have a pretty big collection of martial arts books. In some ways collecting MA books became a separate hobby from actually doing it. Got a few 19th century books on Judo, Jiu-jitsu, Wrestling, Physical Culture, Boxing, etc. One reason it's slowed down is that the more books you get the less you find books to buy. I've recently got into wood whittling and I'm due to do a session on spoon carving in the next month or so. My main hobbies are really scrolling down facebook looking at other people live their lives and watching fail videos until I fall asleep.
Hmmm... should knowing what both a piat and pak 40 are worry me? Antony Beevor's Stalingrad is probably one of the most affecting books I've read (no piats though ). It was one of those books I felt I had to lend to someone else... I asked them how they were getting on with it next time I saw them and they basically thought I was crazy for wanting them to read it because it was so disturbing.
I don't know much about gaming and so, but I am interested in your per portraits! Would you mind to share some?
No. But do you know the difference between a "Panzerkampfwagen V Panther Ausf. A" and a "Ausf. G" just by looking at them?!? That would be worrying.
Speculative fiction based on identity and duality -at face value it's a mystery about an anonymous narrator trapped in a city and trying to get out, with a slight Groundhog Day style slant on everything. It's full of unreliable narration and it kind of goads the reader to figure things out before they need to be spelled out. Think The Prestige or even Bioshock for those that have played it.
Nice thread. Outside of work and martial arts, I have a few hobbies. I love ride my motorcycle a lot (2010 H-D Super Glide Custom). Through that, I've become President of the American Legion Riders in our area (a social organization for veterans and the like based around riding... we do funeral lines, motorcycle escorts, charity rides and so on). I also like to read books and I play some Dungeons and Dragons (and Magic: The Gathering) here and there. Oh yeah, and travel with the wife.
I tried 5th edition... seems pretty good. I am actually playing 1st edition (Advanced D&D hard cover books) with liberal use of house rules, Dragon magazines, and whatnot. I never got in to editions 2-4... some of it seems overly complicated. 5th edition feels more like the older stuff to me. If I didn't have this huge stockpile of old D&D stuff and was starting brand new, I'd jump into the 5th edition gladly.
That pretty much sums up wear I am at. Whats your favorite dungeon? - on balance I would go for S1, i really like Tegel manor but I find Judges Guild dungeons work best with a liberal sprinkling of house rules - so they play differently depending on DM and party. Worst dungeon ever a toss up between - s3 and queen of the demonweb pits. There is also a seris called the nine doctrines of darkness - only two or three were published before TSR sued the publishers and shut them down. The first one I never played but the second one is fun. (although I usually skip the totally lethal stuff on the lower levels)
Sweet!!! Archery is on my bucket list, and when it finally happens, I'm going to do it all "Robin Hood" style like that! None of this gears and pulleys nonsense.
I've played every version of D&D (except pathfinder, which wasn't deliberately excluded, just never ended up playing it). Dungeons & Dragons (where 'elf' was a class!) Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, AD&D 2nd edition, (decade+ long break, though I played many other pen & paper RPGs in the meantime) 3rd edition 4th edition 5th edition