Firework-ing, Pole Dancing, Indoor Surfing, and Anger Room-ing

For June, I set off fireworks! I have never done that before. I’ve only held sparklers. The Saturday before Independence Day, Joe’s family threw a party. Since they live outside of city limits, fireworks are legal. So,  Joe and I bought a small set of fireworks, some poppers, Roman candles, sparklers, and some other stuff. The other people at the party had hardcore fireworks compared to ours.

Joe had said that he likes to hold Roman candles. I read the directions, and they say not to hold them. They should be put halfway into the ground. I was really nervous, but a few other people shot them off, so I tried it. I probably set off five of them, but I think I’d be too nervous to do that again. For the actual fireworks, lighting them was quite an experience. I just wish the fuses were longer. Ours were the small cluster kind.  The others had the huge circle ones. Something went wrong one with person’s firework, and it went off only a few feet above the ground. I think I stuck to the Roman candles after that.

For July, I took a pole dancing lesson, I tried indoor surfing, and I broke stuff in the Anger Room.

I have wondered about pole dancing fitness because a few of my friends have attended classes for bachelorette parties. I decided to go to a 90 minute workshop. We learned a handful of moves with the pole: body roll, hip twist, roundabout into a flamingo, and the Madonna. Spinning around the pole was more difficult than I thought.  We also did a few moves on the floor. I thought they were silly except for one move that I couldn’t do. The speed bump starts with lying face down and slowly raising the body, starting with the butt. I just couldn’t figure out how to make my body do that. Here’s me in a flamingo:

For indoor surfing, Joe and I went to a sports store that had a wave machine. We had to share the time with four little boys and two little girls. The boys were ridiculously good. Two of them were show offs. With the boogie board, they flipped over, acted like they were going to wipe out and then do something to go back to the bottom, stood up on the board, did push-ups, and splashed the worker. The youngest boy tried the wakeboard and was also good at it.

I didn’t do so well. I started from the bottom and had trouble controlling the boogie board. Another way to go onto the wave is to jump from the top. When I first tried that, I didn’t jump far enough, so I wiped out. I stayed starting out at the bottom for a while. I tried from the top a couple more times, but I did much better starting from the bottom. I did try the wakeboard once. The worker had a rope for me to hold onto while I got my balance, but as soon as she pushed me back onto the water, I fell over.

The day after indoor surfing, Joe, my older brother Vincent, and I went to the Anger Room. I’ll let the video do the talking:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2xsFQ1ZlSU&feature=g-all-lik

For this month, I’m doing boot camp fitness!

Golfing, Archery-ing, Fencing, Sailing, and Parasailing

I’ve slacked off on writing posts, but I haven’t slacked off on having fun.

When I was a senior in college, I went to a driving range twice and have played a round of golf. This past December, I played at TopGolf. However, I don’t think I know how to swing a golf club properly. So, in early April, I had a golf lesson. The lesson was more of an evaluation of how I already swing the club, though the instructor did give me a few tips. I’m supposed to have three more lessons, but I haven’t managed to set a schedule yet. I think if I can learn how to swing effectively, golf will be fun.

Later in April, I went to the Scarborough Renaissance Festival with a bunch of friends. There were two archery set-ups: one for long bow and one for short. I opted for long. Half of my shots didn’t reach the target.  I needed to point the bow higher, and I needed to create more tension in the string. When I did hit the target or near the target, my aim was like with my aim using guns. I was not accurate, but I did manage to be precise. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of myself shooting arrows, but here are some of my friends:

Joe with the long bow

Bro with a bow

Val with the short bow

After we were finished with the bow and arrows, we decided that we wanted to fight each other. After a long confusing walk around the fair, we finally found the ring. All eight of us fought. We were suited up with armor. The armor had three balloons, one on each shoulder and one on the head. Then we got fencing swords. My balloons were popped in the first couple of minutes. I could not defend myself. The fight is definitely more entertaining to watch. My older brother Vincent used to fence in high school, so he was the only one using any sort of technique. He was the only one with three balloons for a while before the remaining opponents decided to gang up on him. In video games, I prefer using melee characters, but in real life, I think I’d pick archery.

Epic battle

Ready to strike!

In the beginning of May, I went to an Introduction to Sailing Class. I have been on motorboats, but I can’t remember if I have ever been on a sailboat. I know for sure that I haven’t been on one this small. An instructor, three other people, and I were on a J-24. We each took turns steering the boat. The boat moves in the opposite direction of the tiller. I occasionally forgot this. At one point, I had the boat leaning to one side so much that I had to brace myself from falling over. The two others before me hadn’t done that, but the guy after me did, too, so I didn’t feel too bad. I need to learn how to swim before I consider doing anything more with a sailboat.

J-24

Sail!

For Memorial Day weekend, I went to California to visit Joe who’s there on a work trip. While I was there, we went parasailing. He had done it before, but I hadn’t. The motorboat went super fast, and I hated the bumps. Our turn in the air was fun. I was scared of the height, but the view was beautiful. We were near Santa Monica Pier just as the sun was starting to set. Being in the calm air was much nicer than on the boat. Unfortunately, as we were descending, I started to feel sick. Also, right before we landed on the boat, I was actually going to hit the bar on the boat. One of the handlers had to jump in front of me.  After I was out of the harness and sitting on the boat, seasickness kicked in. It didn’t bother me as much when the boat was going fast, but when we slowed down to bring back the other couples from their flight, ugh. Needless to say, I have mixed feelings about parasailing. Sweet pictures though.

Before take-off

Off we go!

Near Santa Monica Pier

I haven’t figured out what to do for June yet.

I Believe I Can Fly!

I flew an airplane! 😀

Excitement!

I was worried that I would have to reschedule again because of possible thunderstorms on St. Patrick’s Day, but nope!  The day was really windy but wasn’t a concern for the instructor. Unfortunately, the fast winds of the day after were not good to learn sailing in, so I’m going to try to learn in May. I have golf lessons lined up for April.

Back to flying, the flight instructor was a guy named Mike. He spent  several minutes telling Joe and me about the plane and even drew on a board to explain what we’ll see inside the plane. Then we went out to the plane. It was a Grumman Cheetah.

Grumman Cheetah!

I got to practice taxiing the plane, which is done by the rudder pedals. It was very weird to direct the plane with just my feet since I’m so used to the steering wheel of a car.

Pedals for taxiing

Mike took control for the take-off and the ascent.

When we were maybe a 1000 feet in the air, he let me take control. The highest we reached was over 4000 feet. I was really surprised by how the majority of the flight was my flying the plane. Since I drive an automatic car, I again found it weird to steer, this time with only my left hand. I had to use my right for the tiller.  I had a little trouble keeping the plane level, but I learned to look at one of the panels to help correct it. Keeping the plane from ascending/descending also took some work to get right.

"I have the controls."

Flying a plane was the most exhilarating activity I have ever done. Unlike the small windows in commercial airplanes, this airplane’s canopy allowed me to have a wide view. I felt I were in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory when Charlie, Grandpa Joe, and Willy Wonka are in the flying elevator above their town. If I could have a superhero power, I would choose flying. I was ecstatic to do the closest thing to that.

If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it.

There were moments when I was freaking out in my head. The wind would occasionally make the ride bumpy.  When we were higher in the air, the ride was smoother, and I was fine.  When we were descending, Mike wanted me to make a steeper bank, but seeing the ground become larger quickly, I was hesitant to do so. Landing was the most nerve-wracking. Mike said he would demonstrate a landing, and he radioed to ask to do a “touch-and-go.” We landed and immediately took off again. That was fun. However, he then wanted me to land the plane. I debated telling him no. I went along with it, and I tried to do what he said. He seemed to be in control though right before we touched the ground.

Co-piloting with flight instructor Mike

Nevertheless, if I had the money, I would 100% get a pilot’s license. I haven’t not liked an activity yet and would be open to doing them all again, but flying is the top one I would absolutely love to do.

Murder, She Wrote

So the weather was rainy and crappy for the day I was supposed to fly. I’ve rescheduled for next month.Cross your fingers for sunny skies!

Joe and I went to a 50’s-themed murder mystery dinner last Saturday. I wore a Pink Ladies jacket, and he wore an old school bowling shirt. He speculated that going to murder mystery dinners isn’t really a hobby. However, we were seated with three older couples and an older woman. For one couple, that night was the fifth murder mystery dinner that they had been to. They recruited the other couples. It was the second time for one and the first time for the other.

Joe and I, 50's style!

I’m calling it a hobby. There are game sets available to buy to host personal MMD’s. I also imagine that trying to come up with one’s own storyline would be really fun to do. Even if I can’t consider it a hobby, it still is a new activity. Part of my reasons for doing new stuff is to find a new regular hobby, but another part is just to have experiences. Someone can wonder whether he should go to a MMD, and I can highly recommend it.

Anyway, the MMD was interactive. There were 5 actors who ran the show, and then 7-9 (I don’t remember exactly) people from the audience who were given hats/glasses and name-tags to be the suspects. Each table was a team and had money to give to the characters in exchange for clues. The guy in the veteran couple at our table was constantly questioning the players. His first question was, “So, who are you sleeping with?” If I do another MMD, that’s going to be the first question I ask everyone. I asked a few characters, but I didn’t bring a notebook, so I kept forgetting all the questions I needed to ask.

I had two suspects and leaned towards one. That one was then murdered basically right after I had decided the murderer was her. Probably about 5 minutes before we had to turn in our table’s answer sheet, I figured out who the murderer was. Unfortunately, I only wrote down the motives and not the opportunity, so another table won the detective award. However, I  was still happy that I solved the case. If I were to go to another one, I hope it’s 20’s-themed!

Next month, I will hopefully learn how to fly a plane and sail a boat.

Baking Bailey’s and Brewing Beer

So, I’ve mentioned Joe in my last couple of posts. Not only is he mentioned again in this, but he wrote his take on the brewing class. Side note: New friend has turned into new boyfriend. 🙂

Joe has quite a passion for beer. I’ve recently discovered a passion for Bailey’s. Hopefully though, I won’t be like Old Gregg and his Bailey’s obsession.

That one's Bailey's.

I’ve liked Bailey’s before, specifically with butterscotch schnapps; those two together make a buttery nipple shot. I hadn’t had those shots in a couple of years or so. However, during MLK, Jr. weekend, Kristin had asked for those two ingredients. After a fun night of shots, shots, shots, shots-shots-shots, Kristin made coffee in the morning. She is determined to get me to like coffee. I love the smell of it, but I don’t like the taste. She made me a cup that was half coffee and half milk. I liked it. One of us, I don’t remember who, suggested that we put Bailey’s in the coffee. That was delicious! To finish off that Bailey’s-filled weekend, I had Bailey’s cheesecake at a pub. That solidified my new love for it.

The weekend after that one, Joe had to make me dinner because OSU’s men’s basketball team beat OU’s. (Another fun side note: OSU is 9-0 against OU in 5 different sports. Go Pokes!) Unfortunately, I didn’t have the foresight to include dessert in that bet. Fortunately, I realized that I could make a Bailey’s dessert! I decided to go with brownies. I made it easy for myself by choosing to go with brownie mix instead of from scratch….And it was even easier with Joe helping. Various sources had the same recipe, so I don’t know whom to credit. Recipe is extremely easy.

Ingredients for Bailey's brownies, Bailey's icing, and chocolate drizzle

Basically, for the brownies, just follow the directions on the brownies box, with the addition of 1/2 cup of Bailey’s.

Before the oven

For the icing, mix 1/2 cup of butter, 2 cups of powdered sugar, and 1/4 cup of Bailey’s. You can actually add more Bailey’s if it’s not creamy enough.

• 
  

  Icing!

  For the chocolate drizzle, melt chocolate chips. I wanted to add Bailey’s to it to have Bailey’s everything, but that didn’t work out. It solidifies. 😦 So, we just heated up chocolate chips by themselves.

Bailey's and melted chocolate chips don't mix. 😦

Finished products!

So rich and yummy!

I was incredibly happy with the result. The brownies had a slight Bailey’s taste, but the icing was the tastiest part. I highly recommend trying this out, especially the icing.

The majority of the time, I do not cook/bake, but this was satisfying to do. I feel ambitious enough to try making brownies from scratch. Depending on how that goes, I’m considering trying to make cheesecake or mousse. Maybe one day, I’ll be a sweet genius!

———-

Another part of that same weekend was going to an Intro to Brewing class.

I am not a fan of beer. I’ve tried a bunch of the popular brands like Bud, Miller, Coors (or BMCs, as the brewing store owner referred to non-craft beer). I can handle the taste of light beer better over dark, but overall, most beers taste the same to me. I do not like that taste. I’ve been skeptical of flavored beer, but Joe has had me try a couple of lambics. I do approve of those fruity beers.

So while I’m not that into beer, yet anyway, I do think Joe’s interest in beer is cool. Since he’s into beer, I gave him LivingSocial “Intro to Brewing Class” coupons for his birthday. I went with him to the class and enjoyed it.

I think part of the reason I liked the class is due to the science behind it. I know the fermentation process as far as the different cycles that I had to learn in science courses, but I never thought about it in terms of beer. The barley goes through a malting process to be broken down into simple sugars. Then the yeast takes those sugars and turns them into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Science!

Maybe I should have known this, but I didn’t realize how long the entire process is. The boiling of water and adding the ingredients take about a couple of hours. Then there is a waiting period of a week for fermentation in the bucket. Then another week of fermentation in the glass carboy. Finally, there is at least a three-week wait time for fermentation in the bottles.

Home-brewing would require a significant amount of patience and space. The kit can make 5 gallons of beer at a time. If I were to use 12 fl oz bottles, I’d end up with about 53 bottles of beer. I also imagine that I’d set up another batch or two during all the waiting. I could have over 150 bottles fermenting in a fridge or a closet. That’s a ton of space! An upside to the waiting is that home-brewing doesn’t seem to be too labor-intensive. It would need attention once a week to once every few weeks to make the beer, move the beer, and try the beer.

Of course, the real challenge is making tasty beer. There are many varieties of hops, barley, and yeast to choose from. Figuring out the right combination would take some time. I forgot to ask the owner how flavored beer is made, but I think I could look that up. I think making fruity beer would be the reason for me to start home-brewing, but for now, I’ll just watch/help Joe make his concoctions if he decides to set up a kit.

And now, here are Joe’s thoughts on beer and the class:

“Hello! This is the aforementioned Joe who was treated to this brewing class for his birthday by the lovely Nicole. My interest in beer started young. My dad always had a beer fridge, his own fridge in the garage designated only for beer, and he usually kept it stocked. But back then he only drank Budweiser, so that’s what I grew up on. But I think the limited alcohol laws of Oklahoma actually had the opposite effect they are supposed to; it made me curious about what else is out there and to find out what I liked. So I started to frequent a restaurant in Tulsa called McNellie’s that has a huge beer selection. I quickly learned I like ales the most, focusing on pale ales and IPA (India Pale Ales), but I’ve got a taste for pretty much anything brewed, except for Belgiums. Fruit has no place in my beer.

There is one (and only one) brewery in Tulsa called Marshall, and they make a 12% IPA called Atlas that is delicious. I got in to tour that brewery, and that’s when I got the bug. I took a brewery tour on my first visit to San Diego, went through Stone, Lost Abbey, Coronado, Ballast Point, and Alpine. Learning about the process and sampling all of the different recipes was one of the funnest things I’ve ever done. So I’ve been curious about home brewing since then but was kinda scared out of it by the sheer weight of the process and the space needed because I live in an apartment. But this class has shown me that it probably is possible, especially doing a “mini-mash” method that was demonstrated for us, which basically is when you just buy all of your ingredients pre-made, and you make the alcohol with the yeast, add the hops and other ingredients, then bottle. I can do that! But my goal would be to go the all-grain route, so I can control more of the flavor and aromas.

I think this will be a great hobby for me due to my current employment, where I travel frequently for up to a month at a time. As long as I get a couple weeks notice before the trip, I could start a batch and then let it sit bottled while I’m gone, and that would be an awesome homecoming gift for myself, to crack open one of my own beers after walking through my own door, and crashing on my own couch for the first time in a few weeks. And if it’s good, then it would even be rewarding. And if I could get my friends interested in beer, or at least make something they would drink at parties, I think that would be pretty rewarding, too.

Could this turn into a job for me? Not as long as Oklahoma’s laws on alcohol are the way they are. I would want a brewpub, a restaurant-slash-bar run by me and a couple choice friends, where my beer would be on tap, but currently that’s impossible. I don’t think I would do just a brewery; it would feel like settling. Would I move to do it in a different state? Only if that’s where my life took me; I would actually prefer to be involved in the change that Oklahoma needs so badly.

So, for now, I’m looking forward to getting a brewing starter kit, all the ingredients for a simple beer to try out first, I’m thinking a pale ale since those are pretty easy, and going through the process and getting familiar with it. I expect the first batch to be…not so good, but at least I can enjoy watching Nicole’s face when she tries it :). I think I will probably run through all of the ingredient kits, trying each kind, before I settle on one that I want to start tweaking and get the flavor I want.

Nicole, thanks for letting me get my 2 bits in on your blog :-). Good writing!”

-Joe

Thanks, Joe, for writing that!

Once again, I suggest that everyone try something new! January was busy for me, but I think I can pace myself to one thing a month until July. Next time, I fly a plane!

Ghost-hunting and Canvas-painting

I had an activity-filled weekend!

Friday the 13th, I went to northeast Oklahoma to celebrate the birthday of one of my best friends, Kristin. Kristin is a teacher who thinks that her school is haunted. Her school is a fairly new private school, but its location is the back building of an older church. She used to grade papers and write lesson plans at the school at night. One day, she kept hearing noises when she knew that she was the only one there. Now that doesn’t sound too scary. One’s mind can play tricks on itself. Plus, I can’t tell the story like she can. 😛

Her second story has her students as witnesses. The children were in line at the left side of the classroom door. The school day was over, and they were being rowdy. Kristin was waiting for them to quiet down before letting them go. All of a sudden, the clock, which is next to the top right corner of the door, crashed towards the children and shattered. There most likely is a simple explanation for why it fell to the left instead of straight down, but the children blame a ghost. Sadly, Kristin didn’t realize that she could’ve used the ghost to get her students to keep quiet for the rest of the year. “The ghost will throw another clock at you!”

Regardless of whether I believe in ghosts or not, going around trying to find one sounds like a fun/scary thing. On previous trips to her town, another friend Zak and I have tried to convince her to let us ghost-hunt in the school. This time she said yes, though Zak was unfortunately absent. So Kristin, her husband David, her coworkers Kenzi and Kasey, Joe, and I went to the school.

On the way there, Kristin kept telling Joe and me random things about the building and the church. There used to be a connection between the two but is now sealed off. I said that I bet someone died in that connector. David humored me and said something about Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado.” Kristin shot me down. Then she talked about how the church had many members, but the size had diminished over the years. I speculated that maybe the members are actually in a cult and kept sacrificing everybody. Kristin said no. I have to come up with some explanation for a ghost!

When we got to the school, there were a few lights on, but we turned them all off and used only one flashlight to guide us.

A chair is just a chair...Or is it???

Everything is creepy in the dark. The creepiest part was when Kristin flashed the light through a doorway and onto a solitary chair in the middle of the room. Joe and Kenzi took pictures. I promise it was much more eerie-looking in person. Runner-up creepy part was when Kristin opened a closet door, and the first things she shined the light on were pictures of children’s hands. The pictures were just photocopies, but the initial moment was surprising. The auditorium would have been a good place to have a séance and maybe use an Ouija board. However, most of us were in agreement that we don’t really want to mess with an Ouija board. I hope that Zak will be around if we get to go again.

After investigating the school, we went to “Crybaby Bridge.” David said it’s a common urban legend. Late at night, a baby’s cries can be heard, and then a woman appears asking if anyone has seen her baby. We were too cold to wait around to see if anything would happen. Seeing the moon and the stars was the highlight for that part of the hunt.

If I go ghost-hunting again, I would want to check out an abandoned hospital or any abandoned building. I think I would be legitimately scared of that though.

——–

My next activity was a couple of days later and was more of a traditional hobby: painting. I don’t think I’ve ever painted on canvas before. A few weeks ago, Kristin painted a three-section tree, so she was helpful. We spent an hour or two trying to figure out what we wanted to paint. She initially wanted to do big circles but ended up with a double helix design with small circles. I decided to paint characters from Up and Wall-e, my favorite Pixar movies and two of my favorite movies in general.

I tried a few times to sketch Wall-e on note cards. That was difficult, so I almost considered picking something else. Kristin suggested to just paint on the canvas. I still sketched most of it on the canvas first and was skeptical to how the finished product would turn out. I opted to have a colorful background instead of black. Kristin taught me how to blend the red/orange/yellow to get that fading effect. I messed it up later trying to test out the blue aura around the shock. Picture still looks good though.

Wall-e and Eve

My version!

My first choice for an Up picture involved the house and the balloons. I had a smaller canvas size for my second one though, so I just went with Kevin. I also picked Kevin because the feathers were different colors. I actually had a different non-Pixar related idea, but that is saved for another time. I didn’t want to keep using silver. *hint*

Kevin's a girl?!

I should end up with four activities for the month of January. This upcoming weekend should include making chocolate and brewing beer. I need to pace myself, but this is getting addicting. Having friends who join in on the fun definitely helps, too. I suggest everyone try something new this month!

Bang, Bang!

I didn’t have time for swimming; that’s pushed back to whenever. However, I did have time to go to a shooting range! Yay for Groupon!

I have never shot a gun before. My main motivation to know how to shoot a gun is to be prepared to shoot the undead in the face should the zombie apocalypse arise (#doubletap). I don’t know if I’d like to have a gun in my future home for protection or if I’d have the desire to hunt. While the chances of my needing to seriously use a gun are slim, I do think that knowing how to operate one is a valuable skill.

That being said, my trip to the shooting range was only semi-educational. My new friend Joe and I went on New Year’s Eve. Joe had shot guns before but only a couple of times. The lady at the register recommended that we start with the .22 pistol (what I have in the picture). There wasn’t a class at that time, but there was an instructor who would be around. The instructor quickly showed us how to load bullets into the magazine, put the magazine into the gun, release the magazine, turn the safety on and off, and load a bullet into the chamber. That was it. Straight-forward enough, but I would think there would be more safety instruction or something before letting just about anyone practice shooting a gun.

Everything was mostly fine though. I had no idea aiming would be so difficult. After a few shots, the holes I was creating kind of ended in the middle of the target. Joe was more precise with his aim; he had clusters in several areas. The gun would jam up at least once for each round though, so instead of doing 200 bullets, we only used 100. After that, we switched to a Glock. The guy at the counter told us more information about what to expect from guns of different sizes as far as the recoil and manageability of them. The Glock had more of a kick to it, and it didn’t have a safety. The magazine was also more difficult to load, so Joe did most of that. I did like the power of the Glock more than the other gun. Unfortunately, my aim was much worse with it. I was able to get a few bullets near the x and in the head region, but I could not anticipate at all where my shots would land.

Overall, I enjoyed the shooting range. I am actually considering taking a class at some point. I definitely want to learn how to be accurate. There are even Nazi zombie targets on which I could practice!

Rock-climbing

So, there are nine days left in December. I haven’t done anything new yet, but I’m hoping my older brother will teach me how to swim next week.

In the meantime, here’s a little bit about rock-climbing from a month and a half ago.

My friend Valerie and I went to a rock-climbing gym. She had been before, while the only experience I had was barely going up a wall at an entertainment center.

Rock-climbing was a fun mix of fear, excitement, and frustration.  For the first climb up, I was really nervous, but that feeling went away after touching the top and realizing that the ropes did work. I’m actually surprised that Valerie stuck with me. I had trouble belaying her down at a constant pace. She would shriek when I would accidentally release too quickly, but I think I got the hang of it by the end of the night.

We tried several sections with the ropes, including “the chimney.” We went all the way to the top for most of the sections we tried, but the chimney was the worst part. We watched a 15-year-old girl go to the top. We thought that if she could do it, surely we could as well. Plus, it was reminiscent of going up between doorways when we were little.

Nope. Valerie managed several feet, but I could only go a few. The guy who works there even lifted me up to try to get a good start. Complete fail on my part. We watched another 15-year-old reach the top before we unsuccessfully tried again. When we go back, I am determined to conquer the chimney.

Last thing we tried was the bouldering section. The guy and a couple of other experienced climbers gave us pointers, but we were too tired by then to be able to follow through with their suggestions.

Overall, I had a good time. I would love to go indoor rock-climbing again and maybe even do it for real!

What do you do for fun?

“A hobby a day keeps the doldrums away.” – Phyllis McGinley, writer

Well, I won’t being doing a hobby a day, but I will try a new activity each month for at least a year.

My name’s Nicole. I’m a 23-year old  who moved from Oklahoma to Texas earlier this spring. A month ago, I realized that I should try getting a new hobby. My current hobbies are watching movies and playing video games. I try to get through the 501 Must-See Movies book (I have watched about half of those movies), and I love to play games in real life and online with my brothers and my friends. However, while I greatly enjoy doing these two things, I have this urge to get out of my apartment.

Instead of thinking of the most appealing and doable hobby, I decided that I should experience several different ones. Thus, my new hobby is trying out potential hobbies.  Here is my list so far, in no particular order:

Rock-climbing (I actually tried indoor rock-climbing this month and will make a post about it soon.)

Swimming

Sailing

Scuba-diving

Horseback riding

Cooking

Flying

Shooting (guns and/or bow & arrows)

Dancing

Fencing

If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to share!