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What (besides guitar) is your passion?

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sunvalleylaw

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Sun Valley, Idaho
In addition to being a lawyer, my passion and other occupation is skiing. I attached a PDF I just finished of the kids ski program I run. It is my passion, and I feel lucky and proud that I get to do it. What do you love to do other than play guitar? Any big hobbies, sports, etc?
 
What, you mean there's something else besides playing, writing, thinking and dreaming about guitars?:D

I enjoy motorcycle riding quite a bit when I get the time.
 
I tend to jump into things head-first. I studied martial arts for a few years when I was living in Mississauga and took that very seriously (achieved rank of 1st kyu/brown belt) and was on track to test for my black belt, but a new family and work commitments took over.

When I moved to Humboldt I joined the local Junior Chamber (Jaycees) and worked very hard in that organization and sat on local, regional and national boards, getting myself elected as National President of the Canadian Junior Chamber. I was unable to take office, however, as soon after I was laid off from my real job and thought I better look for gainful employment and take care of my family. After that I worked with a local grassroots (i.e. volunteer) economic development organization called Action Humboldt. I'm pretty passionate about my community.

I'm passionate about music in general, not just playing guitar. I'm passionate about spending time with friends and family and living each moment to the fullest.

I'm passionate about literature, but don't make as much time to read the deep and heavy stuff as much as I'd like - even though I'm constantly reading something.

S'about it.
 
Algonquin said:
Duplicate thread killer! :reallymad:




Just kidding :beer:

Bad thread repeater!!! :spank: But seriously, I recall that excellent thread and I am not looking to duplicate it really. I am looking for people's passions other than guitar, not necessarily what everyone does for a living, etc. (There may be some overlap, but not necessarily) But since we have so many new people, that info couldn't hurt either in that thread.
 
It use to be golf, but the expense and time was too much for me to handle. If you don't put in a lot of time, you can never be what is considered good.

Now my passion is enjoying everything that I have - Family, friends, home, actually anything that I wanted, but in the past never took the time to appreciate them once I had them.

While I am focused on playing guitar, I can also sit back and look at one of my guitars sitting on the stand and just enjoy the beauty of the guitar as a piece of art. I see the lines, the color and all the hardware and it becomes a sculpture. I guess that's strange to some, but it's just the way I try to view things these days - enjoy every aspect of living. Even the bad parts of life hold some beauty and positive aspects.
 
In my 20's Golf and Motorcycles
In my 30"s Drinking and Motorcycles, 3 wheelers and 4 wheelers
In my 40's Chasing "it" and Motorcycles
In my 50's Guitars and I sold my Motorcycles
In My 60's? will never happen... I mean the Motorcycles..

Looks like my other passion was Motorcycles

Now just Guitars , Computer Games
and a passion for Movies.

:beer:
 
I really enjoy canoe camping. My trip partner is my 13 year old daughter, and I consider myself lucky that she enjoys it as well.

We've been tripping for the past four years, and each year we get a bit better at it. It's something that I can dream about and plan through the winter months, and I usually start reserving 5 months in advance which is late December and early January.

I'd be lying if I said I enjoy portaging, but I do enjoy when it's finally over! :AOK: The trick I've found is to make sure you have no loose items.

Our longest trip was for 9 days this summer. For me, this takes a great deal of planning with the food preparation and such. (is three roles of TP going to be enough? :confused: ) We had to cut this trip short by one day, as we encountered a black bear while we hiked on the island we were camped on. We scared it off by making lots of noise, but found it a few minutes later in our camp when we returned.

I'm hoping this doesn't turn her off this type of camping... I think the bear in the camp site was an isolated incident.

David
 
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These things and bicycling.

motorcycle10-01-06092.jpg


Aug5-6-2006AlpineCreek076.jpg
 
I forgot cooking - I love cooking and I watch the Food Network waaaay too much. I do all the cooking in our house.

I also a bit of a movie freak. I try and find the gems of the past I've missed. I was recently to Edmonton Film Festival and saw a very interesting movie called "Strictly Background", a documentary about being "Extras", something everyone in our family has experienced.

First and foremost though, my family and kids.

I do so much stuff, but I like it that way.
 
WOW, beautiful picture Spudman. One of my other passions is photography. Not so much the new digital stuff, as the old film cameras which I collect. This shot is from my office. Yup, ebay has got me in a lot of trouble.:messedup:

PA150001.jpg
 
Are those Canons on the bottom? I still like to use my 1981 Nikon FE I received for making Eagle Scout. Still takes better pics (esp. black and white) than any other camera I have owned.
 
Dang Sun, you get the eagle eye award. As my collection grew I started focusing on the cameras I always wished I could afford when I was younger. All of the 35 mm are Canons. The first camera I actually purchased was an AE-1 Program when my son was born (it's the one with the automatic film winder on the bottom shelf).

Most of my older cameras I keep at home, together with my three favorite work horses, a Hasselblad 500 C/M, Canon F1, and Canon Ftb.

PA150002.jpg
 
I recognized the AE-1 (that was in the running when I got my Nikon) and the older Canons. I always admired the larger format work of guys like Ansel Adams (he used Hasselblads, didn't he?). I love black and white photograpy. Color too, but black and white has some special allure.
 
I think Ansel Adams used the large format cameras, which used either a 4x5 or 8x10 negative. The Hasselblad (which is by far my sweetest camera) uses a medium format, which produces a 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" negative if you use 120 film (readily available, as is the developing). Unfortunately I don't have enough room for my own darkroom yet, but it's on the list of things to do before I die. I love shooting black and white, but haven't been able to enjoy it in a number of years. Unless you have your own darkroom it's very expensive.
 
luvmyshiner said:
I think Ansel Adams used the large format cameras, which used either a 4x5 or 8x10 negative. The Hasselblad (which is by far my sweetest camera) uses a medium format, which produces a 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" negative if you use 120 film (readily available, as is the developing). Unfortunately I don't have enough room for my own darkroom yet, but it's on the list of things to do before I die. I love shooting black and white, but haven't been able to enjoy it in a number of years. Unless you have your own darkroom it's very expensive.
I had my own darkroom when I was in seventh grade.

Well, I had a cheapo enlarger and chemicals n' such. I got them for Xmas.
I didn't have a camera, so I borrowed my parents instamatic. I had to clean everything off of the bathoom counter & set up my gear in there & then break it all down in the end.

All of this for very grainy black & white prints of my friends & family (I didn't know from art photography). It lost its allure after a coupl'a years.

But the magic of watching a picture develop...I loved that.

I never did get the photography bug.

I stay away from cameras. I could never get into the way everyone takes pictures of everyone & everyplace, I like to let the ephemeral pass.

Those kewl mountain photos of Spud are a different story & so is photography as an art form.

Its way too expensive (both in time & treasure) to feed an interest in music to get into photography.
 
luvmyshiner said:
I think Ansel Adams used the large format cameras, which used either a 4x5 or 8x10 negative. The Hasselblad (which is by far my sweetest camera) uses a medium format, which produces a 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" negative if you use 120 film (readily available, as is the developing). Unfortunately I don't have enough room for my own darkroom yet, but it's on the list of things to do before I die. I love shooting black and white, but haven't been able to enjoy it in a number of years. Unless you have your own darkroom it's very expensive.

Yeah, on my way home after I posted that I thought that might be true. I got the photography bug and black and white photography bug back in high school photography class where I had access to a decent dark room. I even got pretty good at printing. But, no darkroom now, and your are right, B&W is expensive. I think the best thing about digital photography is you can shoot huge numbers of frames like the pros do to get just the right shot. One day, I would like to use a high quality SLR digital and see how it works for me. Too many expensive hobbies, not enough time and dough! :beer:

P.S. I love the look of that bike StingX! Spudley, some of that terrain looks a bit familiar. :AOK:
 
This is turning out to be one of the coolest threads I have read in a long long time. It amazes me how little we know about people we actually have so much in common with.

As for me I have a few other activities I do, mind you I don't think I could call any of them "passions"

I breed and keep African Cichlids (fish) I have 7 large aquariums I keep in our laundry room, they are very undemanding and always a pleasure to watch. I am no longer breeding them, but my interest is still there.

I manage the condo I live in, we live in a 35 unit free standing home complex and I have been running it for the past 3 years, it is a thankless job with no pay but I do it cause I care about my communtiy evn when other don't

I run a local aquarium club, to help the younger folk get into this amazing hobby

I write songs, short stories..

I play video games, my biggest secrect is now out I am a PC gamer and love playing World of Warcraft actually both I ang my girlfriend play and we have played for almost 2 years, I am actually working on writing a guide on leveling a character with the proper skills and making money in the game..(looking for honest people to test my guide) I plan on selling the guide online whn it is complete so if your honest and don't rip my idea's off I'll send you the complete pieces via email so you can test them out.



So now you know what I do..

as you can see I have to squeeze in any guitar palying, but I try to play a few hours a week and have friends that come over to help..
 
ted s said:
This thread has made me realize I don't have many passions.. what is the meaning of this ?

That's cool Ted. Other than getting to know one another, that was another purpose for my thread. To make us think what we really like. I like many, many activities and hobbies, but in my 40s as a father, I have to prioritize, and not pursue, or de-emphasize some, and focus on the ones I like best now if I am going to be good at all at any of them. My effort to reach the next level in guitar brought the topic to mind.

In my mind as I started the thread, "a passion" in this case is more what activities do we really like spending time doing. Obviously, our families, our faiths, etc. are more important "Passions" in the big picture. But I was gettting at what is the way we members spend time other than guitar that captures us at least a little. So that is cool if you conclude you aren't gripped by any one thing. However, the proper tone and use of a cowbell does come to mind! :Dude:



. . . Of course I could spend less time here and gain 1/2 an hour a day (probably more? :eek: ) at least, but that is another topic.
 
sunvalleylaw said:
Of course I could spend less time here and gain 1/2 an hour a day .
THAT"S IT, guitar and the fret..
Up until last year I was avidly distracted by motorcycles, for about 10 years until I almost got creamed while sitting at a yellow light, I packed it in the season after that. My Mom wasn't so lucky, a car turned in front of her at the end of Aug. and she's still in the hospital.
I also have a 68 Torino GT that I have been working on for the past couple years in my fathers welding shop, but, not what you would call passionate about it most of the time.
 
I had forgotten about your accident and your Mom's. I hope recovery continues. As to the bike and the GT, and the Fret and guitar, there you go! Fun pursuits. And of course, . . . . . . more cowbell! I hope to get more knowledgeable about recording soon and have some good links to some cowbell tracks to add to recordings. LOL!
 
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