What are your special interests? :)

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What are your special interests and why? What brought you into them, and how long have you been playing with them?

Mine:

1. Corsets - I wanted a corset, but at that time they were around £300 online, so I decided to make myself one instead. So I read books and online information, then got some patterns and made a trial just to see how it all fit together. I've only made 4 and a half (must finish that one...), but for me it's about the engineering of the piece, how each seam, bone and cut works with each other and the material to create a truly fascinating piece of engineering . Think I've been exploring this for around 9 years now.

2. Cloth - Ooh, how I looove cloth! Especially floaty stuff like crepe, georgette and chiffon. It's even better when it's embroidered or printed! So I'll see some cloth I like, buy a pattern which I think will suit it... and then drape myself in the cloth for a bit, before putting it in my cloth cupboard where I forget about it . I have more 'potential' dresses in there than I could ever fit in my wardrobe! .

3. Making clothes - Once I actually do get down to making something (it happens!), then it completely consumes me. I have to physically stop myself from sewing late into the night, and go to bed, but all I really want to do is continue what I'm doing . My only issue is that I seem to have no creative sense for finishing off, so many of my creations could use a bit of artistic decoration. I finally learnt to sew properly 21 years ago, and I find it incredibly relaxing and satisfying. Oh yes, and I learnt because again, I had no money and didn't have a costume for an LRP event, so I asked someone to help me make one.

4. Arrowwords - I virtually inhale them. Seriously. It started as a time-filler for one bored day and suddenly I'm doing books of the things. Drives my BF nuts .

5. The geography of serial killers - I was interested whether it was provable that there was a cultural or geographical influence on the methods of serial killers in Germany (there's an awful lot of similar types of crime there), which eventually went worldwide to see if any other countries had similarities, eg Russia & cannibalism, Germany & blood-related murders, France & poison, stuff like that. It's actually really interesting, although I'm not sure that devolving something like this into statistics is a good thing. But it's still interesting. I've pretty much proven that there is no correlation, but because all my local NT's kept getting twitchy about the subject (like it was going to make me murder them or something, ), I've put it on the backburner. Silly people - if people didn't investigate stuff like this, then we wouldn't have the FBI's database or anything like as much information!

I'm sure I can think of more . You?

I don't know why certian things become special intrest and why other things do not. That's just the way I roll I guess. My special intrests include meerkats, Lion King, veternary medicine and Sonic the hedgehog.

Videogames- oh god yes videogames

Psychology- like to study up the human brain and I'm fascinated by serial killers too!

Movies-well yeah, I just REALLY like movies and I really like dissecting them

Music- I adore music (can't play it for s***) I love listening to the lyrics and sounds and deciphering the meanings behind them.

Anime-Alot like movies really.

Dogs- Gotta love you some of man's best friend.

Writing-No matter how inane it is, I love to write.

This is just the gist, I'm, sure there's more

I wouldn't have said I had one right now. If I do, it is The Beatles. I just find it so easy to listen to their music, and it also (often) has pleasures beyond the surface ones. For example, every time I listen to Strawberry Fields Forever I find something new to like about it. Or the song "Revolution"- not only did they release two versions of the song within months of each other, both with their own individual merits, but it was the catalyst for a third song, "Revolution 9", which is avant-garde scariness, and the opening line appears in John Lennon's "Power to the People" (with the second line reversed in meaning).

At the immediate moment:

1. Dogs

2. Zen Buddhism

3. "Xena: Warrior Princess"

Rats, drug harm reduction.

To some extent cameras/photography, Bioshock and magic (the 'trick' kind).

Japanese role-playing video games (specifically the Shin Megami Tensei franchise, at the moment). They've been a special interest since I first played Digimon World at a friend's house when I was 8. That friend gave me her old Gameboy and I went out and bought a copy of Pokemon Crystal and I've been pretty much obsessed since then. I think it's the leveling up and the gameplay that keeps me so hooked on them -- I love improving my characters, and when I find a good battle system, I'll just keep fighting enemies for hours because it's so calming/fun.

2NE1. I really love them. C: They're a Korean all-female pop group made up of four members (Minzy, Bom, Dara, and CL), and they're really fun and interesting. I think this one is going to be a short-term (month or two) interest, though.

Certain TV shows, anime, and movies (Burn Notice, Mulan, Hercules, and Revolutionary Girl Utena). These have lasted for four years, about ten years, about ten years, and two years, respectively.

Certain books (The Abhorsen Chronicles by Garth Nix, anything by Tamora Pierce, anything by Diana Wynne Jones). These have all lasted since I first read the books, so I've been into them since about... six years ago.

Oh man... I was a Pokemon fanatic, but back in the day when there were only 150 Pokemon. I totally caught them all and then didn't know what to do, so I started leveling them all up one by one to 100.

Then one day, my brother got mad at me and erased my game. I never quite forgave him.

I can’t explain why I’m interested in something. It’s like trying to explain why you’re in love with someone, or why so many people find Michael Bay films to be acceptable entertainment.

I’m interested in lots of different things, but these are my obsessions. I could talk about any one of these all day.

Books or series of books: Sherlock Holmes, Stoker’s Dracula, the Ripliad

Writers: Albert Camus, Philip K. Dick, Dashiell Hammett, Patricia Highsmith, H. P. Lovecraft, Richard Matheson

Movies or series of movies: Blade Runner, James Bond, Godzilla, Die Hard, Highlander

Miscellaneous: Golf, chess, botany

1. Tim Burton's movies - I've had this one for about a year and a half. I have an encyclopedic knowledge of everything about them, including Tim Burton himself as well as his partner Helena Bonham Carter and his favorite leading man, Johnny Depp. Even though it's not as strong as it was last year, I just can't bring myself to give it up completely, because it has had such a huge emotional impact on me. It's almost as though it has become a part of who I am. The movies I obsess over the most are, in descending order: Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands and Sweeney Todd.

2. Science fiction (sci-fi) - This interest has developed over the past few months. It started when I got hooked on Doctor Who (especially the episodes with David Tennant as the Doctor), and then I began to branch out and watch other popular sci-fi shows/movies. In addition to Doctor Who, I also enjoy Red Dwarf, Star Trek and Star Wars.

3. Reading - Before I got the Internet back in '02, reading was my favorite hobby. Now I am trying to get back into it. I have purchased the first book (The Alchemyst) of The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series by Michael Scott, as well as several romance novels I found at a thrift store. I plan on reading all of the romance novels first (I bought 6 and am only several pages away from finishing one), so that if I truly enjoy The Alchemyst, I can go out and buy the next book in the series without leaving a handful of unread books collecting dust on the shelf.

Electronics - I love the idea of cracking open something and seeing how its circuits work
Electronic Music - I love to listen to anything electronic
Synthesizers - I love to create new sounds. Its so fun to do!
ASD - Thats why I'm here
Internet Memes - I find them hilarious
Cyberpunk Fiction - Neuromancer is an awesome book.
Festivals/Raves - I have been to many, and I love the music so much
Backmasking/Subliminal messages - I find the idea of hiding things in music deeply interesting
MLP:FiM - Pinkie Pie FTW!
FL Studio and making electronic music - I love to make electronic music! One of my songs can be found here
History - Its so interesting!
Gas Masks - Its like holding a piece of history. Its very cool!
Shiny things (no joke, I collect shiny things.)
Anarchism - I love the concept.
Cartoons - A life long passion of mine!

Great, now I'm going to have that stuck in my head for the next few days.

I tried to make something like that a few weeks ago but for some reason my audio drivers aren't working with the software. Screw you software incompatibilities! This is why I prefer hardware. If things don't work, I can always smash it with a hammer.

If you like it I could send you a high quality version (PM me)
I like hardware alot. I use software maybe but nothing beats a good old electribe

Oh god yes, things we talk about rather than internal interests . Let's see:

1. Don't get me started on Star Wars. Seriously. From about the age of 6-18 I was completely obsessed with the trilogy (you heard me! ), and I'm sorry to say I can still talk people's ear off about it. But I try really, really hard not to .

2. The serial killers one again. It's interesting! And any other weird murders, come to think of it. H H Holmes - now there was a man who was firing with a completely different fuel source!

3. Books. Unfortunately, the only person who has some knowledge of the authors I like is my dad, so he gets the brunt of this, poor man. However, he also thinks Diana Wynne Jones is wonderful, even though he's a hard SF fan, so I doubt he minds that much .

4. Films. I'm a nerd, I know it .

Permanent Interests: (ones that have not gone away since I discovered them)

1. Music: I think what first got me going was that there was a piano in my parents basement that I played (never got good because I hated taking piano lessons and would cry every time I had to go to them). After piano I moved on to saxophone for middle school band and played a bit in high school as well. Now I play guitar and banjo.

2. Programming: Discovered programming by accident when I was 8 or 9 or something... haven't really stopped since then. Even when I am not actually working on a programming project I still spend a good chunk of my day either thinking or reading about programming.

Rotating Interests: (a few that I will become intensely interested in for a month or two then another one on the list will replace it for a bit)

1. State of Michigan: I am pretty obsessed with the state I live in. This includes reading history about Michigan, local/state news, visiting towns I haven't been to, finding new places to camp/etc, restaurants... everything Michigan.... I should run for governor!

2. Cooking/Baking: I like to make my own recipes and cook from scratch. I usually only like to cook with midwest/Michigan ingredients when I can.

3. Vintage Bicycles: I love riding and restoring old vintage bicycles, reading through old product catalogs, etc.

4. Outdoors: I love to hike and backpack (mostly around Michigan!). I try to find new unique spots to camp at where there will be very few people. Adventure racing is also fun and I would like to do more of that (only competed in one event so far... a 48 hour race in January). Currently I have been taking up barefoot hiking... I've logged ~18 miles without shoes since last week!

Music (reggae, hip-hop, blues, punk rock, others)
Biochemistry & Anthropology
Archives & History
Ganja & Shrooms
Entheogens
Snowboarding & Longboarding
Nutrition, veganism.
Kundalini Yoga
Libertarianism (Ron Paul)