Your Other Passions

Revenant

Revenant

Chymist
Is passion too strong a word? Ok, put it this way: aside from literature, what is your preferred way to spend your free time? I won't use the word "hobby," but what would you call it?
 
Think this is a great question. I've been lucky enough to have a passion that is professional and one that is personal (besides literature). Don't know if that's reading too much into the question but I hope it's okay if I answer it this way.

Professional: I have the great fortune to run a clinic for abused and neglected children. Been in this field in some way, shape, or form since I was 18. Don't think I could do anything else at this point. I love doing this work.

Personal (besides literature): I've trained in martial arts since I was 12. A lot of different styles but mainly TKD, Muay Thai, Western boxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The self-defense aspect was what attracted me initially. The neighborhood I grew up in was pretty rough. In some neighborhoods kids grow up traveling to Europe every summer. In my neighborhood you had to know how to fight. Kind of like how you need to know how to change a flat tire. I kept at it because I loved the Eastern philosophy imbued in most Asian martial arts.

Again, think this is a great question. Thanks for posting it.
 
Don't think I've 'come out' on here yet, but I'm an agoraphobe who doesn't leave the house at all, so my passions are somewhat limited. When I'm not reading or writing horror fiction then I'm listening to audio dramas or watching cult/world cinema.

Over the past year I have become besotted with 1960s gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, and have watched every single episode (with a reconstruction for the single missing one). I'm now catching up on the audio continuation, which is terrific. In-between those I'm currently going through the first three Silent Hill videogames, which are essential weird fiction despite being part of a generally infantile medium.
 
I am kind of an agoraphobe too; for the last two and a half years it was hard to leave the house. But a few days ago I dreamed I moved to a big city where one of my sisters live, found a job and studied theatre, so I decided to do just that.
 
Having sex with teenage girls who work in clothing stores of brands I like (i.e. MA*RS, d.i.a., Rienda etc.), buying new clothes, doing cocaine LSD and mollies, freestyle rapping in public, scoring fast cash through various scams, clubbing every weekend, occasionally attending Latin Mass to hear the liturgy performed properly.
 
Video games, brewing, home repair projects, writing, and correcting all those people on the internet who have the audacity to be wrong about something.

Oh . . . and drinking that which has been brewed.
 
Walking in the countryside and seeing the changes through the seasons. Finding new paths to walk is exciting.

Comfortable long socks.

Cranberry/Raspberry drinks.
 
Walking through the woods. Taking unfamiliar backroads to see where they go. Walking at night in the snow. Swimming in streams with pools and waterfalls. Flyfishing when I get the chance. Reading like a horned devil.
 
Frequenting nearby cemeteries after nightfall, and stretching out atop a grave—while staring up at the stars—imitating the dead.
 
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I wouldn't say I'm passionate about much of anything. Maybe that's my problem in life.. anywho, I like watching old Hammer horror films, playing guitar (badly), listening to music (mostly metal/classic rock/progressive rock) reading like a fiend, attempting to write short stories, staying up late and browsing dark corners of the internet with my cat.
 
I'm more a creature of obsession and anxiety than passion. I don't particularly care much for drawing, but the fact I am no longer drawing depresses me. I'm starting down the route for surgery and medical leave (from the job that's destroying my wrists, oddly enough) so that, hopefully, I can masochistically take up the "hobby" again...

...and then there's my dream journal, which I actually enjoy in the writing, but hate more when I'm unable to write in it due to other obligations or insomnia...

Likewise the same dilemma for studying mathematics. My enjoyment seems constantly overwhelmed by my inability to set aside time for it.
 
Netflix. can an online movie service be a passion? considering how many hours I can easily lose in its multifoliate movie depths, yes. anime binge watching, following a movie franchise from its brilliant beginnings to sad shrivelled endings, documentaries about things I have no interest in just to feel less ignorant. best 20 bucks a month i could possibly spend.

knives. I like the higher end stuff. Full customs are a bit beyond my budget at this time, but it is not unusual for me to treat myself to 4 or more midtech/high-end production knives within a year. i will usually wind up selling anything i don't completely adore so i can get the money together for new things, but I enjoy what I have while i have it and the things I love most never leave.

Coffee. not a passion so much as a psychological need. I won't even go to work unless i have a 60oz thermos of cold-brewed coffee with me. it keeps me comfy and happy til the end of my shift. on my days off, iced coffee is my drink of choice.
 
Well, aside from reading and writing, I enjoy fooling around with music, mainly electronic computer-based music. I find when my writing efforts become blocked (this happens often), that working on music is a good pastime: writing I find very stressful because I'm a perfectionist, but because I'm much more casual when it comes to music, I find working on it to be utterly free of stress/worry. A number of years ago I started up a netlabel named Mauve Zone Recordings, partly as a way of releasing a lot of my own music (usually under the name Sypha Nadon), but also music done by my friends, or re-releasing music recorded by my younger brothers back in the 90's, when they were in a group called The Cat Band.

I also enjoy playing video/computer games, spending time with cats, visiting antiquarian bookstores, going for walks, watching TV and occasionally movies with my younger brothers (we especially enjoy Friends, Batman: The Animated Series, Game of Thrones, The Three Stooges, Frasier, Family Matters, and various old video game cartoon shows from the early 90's, such as Captain N and the original Mario/Zelda ones).

Recently I've also gotten into weightlifting (of a sort). I've always been a very thin guy, so excess body fat (usually brought about by stress/anxiety) tends to go to my stomach. I'm no stranger to vanity, and I know that one day I'll just be a disintegrating pile of meat anyway, but in the meantime, I've been trying to build up the muscles in my upper arms in the attempt to circulate some of that excess weight there, which seems to be working (also, I think it is kind of cool to see actual biceps when I flex my arms now). Every other day I do 10-15 bicep curl reps, using ten pound fixed weight dumbbells. As inspiration to this endeavor I keep a Tom Daley poster hanging up in my bedroom, partly because I think he has a great physique and he seems to spend a lot of time keeping his body in shape, and partly because I have a major crush on him, ha ha.
 
I've always had a problem compiling the long lists of interests that are common in internet 'about me' profiles, partly, I think, because the things that interest me are so simple as to sound generic. Recently, I also find, like my namesake, that I enjoy doing nothing. As in, not even pottering, but nothing beyond letting my body keep me alive and my thoughts do what they will as I sit or lie with eyes closed or even open.

But, apart from 'nothing', I also enjoy:

Trying to learn languages other than my native tongue.
Going for walks.
Taking photographs.
Talking to people.
Learning things about the world.
Imagining things.

I wish I had more time to write lyrics for Kodagain:

https://soundcloud.com/kodagain-again/incubation
 
P.S. I visited Strawberry Hill on Saturday with friends, and found it to be a friendly and fascinating place.

This is an example of where a number of my interests converge:

Spending time with friends.
Old buildings.
The Gothic.
The culture of the country where I happen to have been born.
Excursions by train.
The landscape.
Postmodernism (Walpole seems a pretty postmodern character to me).
Language (Walpole coined words, such as 'gloomth').
Drollery.
Etc.
 
For me, it is numismatics and metal detecting. I find it fascinating to hold coins from long ago and think about who held them over the years. I also think of all the civilizations that have since collapsed, but at the time, believed they were enternal.The metal detecting is something that actually relaxes me a great deal. I can slide on my headphones and tune out the rest of the world for awhile. It is quite therapeudic. I am also starting to get interested in photography again. I am visually driven, so it seems like a natural choice for me.
 
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