Interests
I have a bunch of interests. They can sometimes keep me really busy. My new house being the most labor intensive right at the moment. I read a lot, and am involved with Fantasy Role Playing Games. I like to cook, but not to clean. I like working with wood, but not little things, big things, like decks or shelving units, or house remodels. I also try to stay active with both the Bi and Poly communities and have been known to attend an SCA event or two.
After my break up with my former spouse of many years I found that I had to sell my old house. I had put a bunch of work into it and pulled just enough out of it to get a really run down place that I am busy remodeling. The new place is a real adventure as it was built before the turn of the century. Check it out.
Reading is one of my pleasures. I have a fairly large library at home and use the public library extensively. Most of the reading I do is in Science Fiction and Fantasy but sometimes I read other things. Some of my favorite authors are Heinlein, Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey and Jack Chalker. But this is a very limited list.
I manage to read 2-3 SciFi books a week or about 100 pages of other stuff, plus the newspaper. How you ask? Well mainly by reading when ever I am just sitting around. I am one of those people who has to have breakfast, so I read most of the paper there. Then I add another 30-50 minutes during lunch and a few minutes in the evening while I make dinner or wait for my e-mail to load. It adds up really quickly.
Fantasy Roll Playing (FRPs) is another one of my hobbies. I have been involved with them for almost 20 years. I am a very good GM (game master), but I love to play. I have designed a couple of gaming systems and have even written some programs that allow people to play with out having to worry about the paperwork.
I am currently GM'ing a campaign of Super Heroes based in an alternate reality of Seatle of the 1960's. We are having a lot of fun. (Check out the Seatle Pages for more information). This game is being run with the aid of a computer data base, which really helps out considering we are using the math intensive Champions rule system. I am also playing in a kitchen sink game as a demon hunter in the far future.
I like to cook, however I have been accused of having two settings. One setting for 1-2 people. The other for a small platoon. My current passion is for Chinese dishes. I managed to feed nine big eaters the other day with 5 good solid Chinese recipe interpretations. However I do not limit myself to just Chinese. I want to learn good curries, and dombori bowls and sushi does not look that hard. How many cups of rice for 2 people, three, four? That does not sound like enough....let's see how big is this rice cooker?
I'm an engineer, but the kinds of things that I do at work take month or years to see progress on. Not overly satisfying. So one of the ways I make up for it is by building things. Wood work helps with this.
Until recently I was fairly involved in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism). Then up jumped life. Between the new house and having to do some traveling I found that I just did not have that much time for it any more. So after 10 years of pretty regular attendence I am now just getting to an ocasional event.
Most SCA events involve getting dressed up in clothing that imitates the clothing of some period of the Middle ages. People then get together, fight with rattan swords, dance, cook, learn old skills, learn new skills, etc. It is a lot of fun. The weather in California, while to hot for most costumes, allows us to put together 1000-2000 people at a camp site for the weekend. All dressed up and having a good time. The SCA is a very friendly Poly place.
I also try to be involved with the local poly and bi communities. I got started in the local poly community with the dinners in Santa Cruz a number of years ago and still get to an occasional event, especially the pool parties. I read and occasionally post on the local mailing list. I have also managed to get to a couple of the local bi events.
