Hobbies!
Ok, I guess it is time to expose the weird and quirky parts of my personality at this time. When I try to think of what things I'd consider hobbies, I'm quite incapable of counting them all, but I'll list the main ones.... *s*
MUSIC!
For those of you who've already studied my music pages, you'll gather that music is a pretty big hobby of mine. It's even on it's way to sort of becoming a lifestyle to me. I remained a passive listener to music for several years, but saw the light in '92, when I just for the hell of it decided to study music at the teacher's college.... From then on, I was a lost case...*s* Through the following years I've been trying my luck on various instruments as harmonica, washboard (yes!), bass guitar, contrabass, piano, keyboard, my own vocal cords, PCs, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and on and on and on.... I even sang (barytone/tenor) in the college's student choir for three years.... It may not sound like a lot of fun, but it truly was. In the end, though, the guitar and singing is what I've been stuck with, and what I'm hoping I'll be able to make some impression on others with.
But I do not only enjoy making music, I love listening to it, too. Most of what I listen to, is music that's often very far away from what you'll find in the charts today (with some decent exeptions). My fave bands/artists through all time numbers Jethro Tull, Tom Waits, Tory Amos, U2, Marillion, Motorpsycho, a-ha (the more recent albums), Aerosmith, Kate Bush, Mike Oldfield and The The.
READING
I've been reading since I was 5, and at the tender age of 7, the local librarian at the time often had to usher me home after I'd been sitting in her library for hours on end after school was out for the day. In those days I was pretty weird, I even played chess with myself at the library... At the time, I was engrossed by science and nature. Everything that I could read about things that buzzed, ticked, swirled, walked, swam, ran, hunted, flew and raced was eagerly devoured - I often carried tons of books home after a visit at the library. In fact, I learned so much from this, I'm stilling reaping the benefits from that basic knowledge I gathered back then. It wasn't because I wanted to be good at school that I was such an avid reader, but rather the thrill of discovering new things on every page I turned.... At school I was an exemplaric under-achiever. Overly bright, but never one to find homework very endearing, a problem I've had all through my studying years. A few years, I was even nicknamed "The Prof" by my classmates....not because of my industrious nature, but because of my almost lexical knowledge of just about anything....
I discovered literature very late. It wasn't until I turned 20, that I found books with no pictures and big letters much fun. Then I was introduced to Fantasy Fiction. Zing! *s* For the next 5 years, I read nothing but English paperbacks in the Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Techno-thriller genres. The thicker the book, the better. The last couple of years, I've slowly been turning my attention to the more classic literature, and have found much of it very interestin indeed.... Fave authors (any genre): David Eddings (F/F), Raymond E Feist (F/F), Guy Gavriel Kay (F/F), J.R.R. Tolkien (F/F), Greg Bear (S/F), Terry Pratchett (F/F), Tom Clancy (T/T), Jens Bjørneboe and a few others...*s*
PHILATELIST ACTIVITIES!
When I was nine, I started collecting stamps. When I was 16, I found that I had a lot of used envelopes lying around, but with stamps of inferior value... and still quite a lot of holes to fill in my stamp collection. Then I started studying the envelopes and got curious at where they where sent from.... I immediately sold my stamp collection and started collecting cancellation stamp marks from every post office all over the country.... I'm still at it, and it is still a very tall order, indeed. But I've gained a keen sense of Norwegian geography through this. I'm able to pinpoint any Norwegian post office on the map almost instantly. I'm able to roughly calculate distances all over the country in my head without consulting a map, and I have a pretty good idea of what people are doing for a living just about anywhere in Norway....and I know all the postal zip-codes by heart.... Weird? You be the judge.... I've had great fun with it...Some of that fun is exhibited here!
EVERYTHING ELSE!
I consider myself a dilletante in the true meaning of the word: someone who knows something about everything. I'm interested in just about everything, and would like to do research in just about anything.... Playing Trivial Pursuit with me is never any fun. I just have too much of that kind of knowledge, and tend to sound like a parrot when playing it...*s* When it all comes down to it, I'm too curious about everything about the world and life upon it, to settle down on one single topic and stick to it. I just want to know it all.... :) So, do yourself a favour - go read a book!
