What are your non-sexual hobbies?
 

I have and have had quite a few over the past decades but the one that always stuck with me was walking. We have a car, it sits happily in our driveway and these days I am relatively reluctant to use it at all. I just get kind of frustrated with all the aggression on the road, these days even in Britain, where I still remember, some 30 years ago, it was all give on the road. Well, however that may be... I am rambling again.

My wife and I moved back to the UK since we very much like the people, it's multi-cultural setting and the fact that there are still places where there is no motorway (highway for you US people) in sight. Norfolk being one of the counties where there is not one single motorway, heaven for walkers.

Some of our favourite places to spend holidays are, well nearly everywhere, I guess. Scotland is one of our best explored places, as is Wales with its rugged mountains, the dramatic sea cliffs and still abundant wildlife. I suppose there is no need to mention the Lake and Peak District or the sometimes overcrowded New Forest.

One of our most wonderful experiences ever was a three week hike through Scotland, back in 1998. A friend had given us a lift to Glasgow where we stayed with his family (actually, it felt almost like ours) and later dropped us off on the road to Loch Lomond. Even if you don't live in the UK, do check it out, it is staggeringly beautiful and the people we've met over the years are kind, gentle and very hospitable.

It hardly took more then a couple of hours until a car passed by, stopped and the driver asked if we would like to "hop in", which we did. They, a family, were on the way back from a vacation in Sweden and since we didn't have any particular place that we wanted to go to gratefully accepted the offer. They took us up to a place called Plockton. Well, what can I say, the place just blew us away. Even most Britons don’t realise what a jewel there is on the West Coast of Scotland, just East of the Isle of Skye.

It looks just like something out of a History of Britain programme. Palm trees on the beach, a climate that appears more suited for the South of France, the two Lochs (Carron and Kishorn), Golden Eagles not far off to the South. Our own little paradise, though it has become a bit of haunt for the rich and famous seeking peace and quiet. Outstanding, truly outstanding. If you are ever in Scotland, don’t miss it or maybe do miss it (for our sake).

We ended up staying with the family, bear in mind they had only just met us, for three or four days, addresses and phone numbers were exchanged and for several years there ensued mutual visits. Hey, how often does that happen in real life?

We from there made out way up along the coast, totally aimless, staying in Pubs where possible, sleeping rough or occasionally in a B&B.

At some point we decided it would be nice if we could make it up to the far North of Scotland, John-o-Groats or Mey. We did manage, not all on foot but getting a lift on occasions or taking the bus, whatever was available. Just before we finally got to Mey we had to pass a place called Greenland, no joke. The place is in the far North East of Scotland, has a smallish lake named… Loch Heilen, Loch Keilen, I forget, something like that anyway.

My wife didn’t feel much like doing any extra walking, so I set off for a couple of hours of browsing the hillocks, when I heard the sound of pipes being played, somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Low and behold, on a little hill overlooking the Loch stood a figure playing the pipes. Walked up the hill, looked at the chap, smiled at him, he gestured me to stay if I wanted, at least that’s how I interpreted his look and sat down to listen to him playing. Later we talked, which proved to be a little difficult since some of those Highland dialects are pretty hard to swallow, so I guess I did manage to miss most of the finer points about Scottish History he was trying to enlighten me about. Still, the whole situation was kind of unreal. Sitting on a hill with a total stranger playing the pipes, overlooking the Loch.

To again cut a long story short, what had been intended as a couple of hours hike turned into almost a full day away and by the time I got back to our campsite my wife was pretty worried that something might have happened to me. This was in the days before everybody had a mobile phone. These day we too carry a couple of cheap and cheerful pay as you go mobiles around with us for emergencies.

The last couple of days we spent getting from Mey, which is very picturesque with its Castle and the magnificent garden, can’t remember if it is still owned by the Royal Family, to John-o-Groats, supposedly the most northerly point in Scotland. I guess the best thing about John-o-Groats was the boat trip we took around the cliffs where hundreds of thousands of birds nest. Nice, but I got seasick, not nice. I think my wife enjoyed that trip more than I did.

To finish our trip off we had to take a bus back to Wick, the only place where we could catch a train from to get us to Inverness and on to Edinburgh.

Unfortunately, we didn’t really have any time to explore either Inverness, no, we didn’t get to see Nessy, or Edinburgh in great detail. Sometimes the time table does impose severe limitations on you. Still, there is always another day.

All in all this was one of the most positively memorable journeys we’ve ever undertaken (the worst one having been one to the Lake District where I, from pure stupidity, was stuck half way up a mountain for a week, in the pouring rain, I have rarely ever experienced such a continuous downpour in Europe, suffering the worst case of diarrhoea ever, which resulted from me being a total dickhead, drinking water from a stream. Should have known that there might be sheep grazing further up).

For this year we are in the late planning stages for our first leg of what in the end should become the cirumwalking (I made this up) of Britain. All being well, that is our health permitting, we will start some time in June or July from down the East Coast, on the Thames Estuary making our way up through East Anglia (Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk) hoping to get as far as Gateshead and Newcastle (I really want to see the “Angel of the North” sculpture in real life), also I am looking forward to our passing through parts of Yorkshire, where I hope Yorkshire Salt Marsh Lamb will still be in season, with a proper Yorkshire Pudding, of course.

Norfolk should go down like a dream. The stretch from Cromer to The Wash is one of the finest Bird Sanctuaries in the country, at least I think so. Mind you, the best time to be there is in Autumn with the migration in full swing. Now that’s sight to behold. But you can’t have it all I guess.

But however far we may get this year, I think we both still have a fair bit of life left in us, so, at the end of the day we will get as far as we will get and continue from there next year.

Walking around most of Britains little nooks and crannies the journey shouldn’t be more then about 800 miles, a distance that can easily be cover in a couple of month, plus an extra month for all those unexpected things you discover on the way, places that so much delight you that you just have to stay a few days, like Ipswich and Norwich where friends are already waiting for our arrival. Depending on when we actually do leave, might even catch some of the Peterborough Folk Festival. Again, some of this really does depend on what the weather will be like, I am not leaving on a rainy day, little bit superstitious about that.

Our biggest concern at the moment is having to convince on of our friends to stay at our house for up to three month, after all, they do live somewhere too but someone needs to look after our cats. But I am sure we will get that sorted out shortly.

To be honest, we just can’t wait to get on the road or rather footpath as it were. The old tried and trusted walking boots are sure making one hell of a racket in the cupboard. LOL

I hope I haven’t bored anybody to death, yet. It all started as trying to get a discussion about ones hobbies going and ended up pretty much of a hiking story. Well, never mind, there is always another day for another hobby.

One thing I guess I probably did manage to put across and that is my deep love for the British countryside, which, contrary to all those wonderful TV programmes on the BBC is receding fast and furiously. Thirty years ago when I went for my first trip into the British countryside, things were different. Less traffic, I have some friends who will proudly tell you that they don’t even walk to the corner shop at the top of their road. Sorry, walking 200 yards is something that everybody should be willing and able to do.

Anyway, I also very much enjoy history, especially British these days, plus I spend a fair bit of time volunteering with a well known British environmental organisation, who I think are doing a terrific job at keeping things alive as it were. So, if you see some fat fuck wearing waders, roaming the salt marshes off one of the tiny Islets in the Thames, trying to stay inconspicuous while counting water voles, that’s me.

Thank a lot tiny, that was very interesting, no, as you could tell I am not the truly practicle type but I must admit, I do like the idea of that plot you were talking about. Some nearly 30 years ago I used to live in a house on a former graveyard, no nothing kinky there. That was in Surrey, England, you might want to the check the area out, lush green rolling hills, the nearest neighbour 12 miles away, mind you, the nearest shop as well, the peacefulness of the place... it still makes my eyes water.

Please keep us updated on your success, maybe even a few pictures. I'll try to find some and post them here.

Thanks Hoverfly for the thread. I find it kinda of refreshing and it should be fun to read what we guys do when we are not here.

As for me, I've had many hobbies in my life. It started with electronics, fixing tube radios at around 12 y/o. Remember those and TVs too that had glowing lights inside? ;) I guess that tells my age. Over the years I went thru electronics, pneumatic, mechanic, electro-mechanic, photography, robotics, computers and probably a couple of others I forget. I just love technology, always have and it looks I always will.

Today, I mostly concentrate in computer technologies including computers themselves, networking, communications, internet and security. I became good enough with those I was appointed as a technology consultant and advisor by my company and do this daily. This is not only due to my knowledge of computer technologies but also to the built along the years knowledge in the other hobbies.

Although I switched hobbies a lot during my life, one has always been there from my teen years. That hobby is firearms and everything related to them. Over the years, I have accumulated a small collection, in all sorts of form and calibers. In my teen's, in the air force cadets, I was what they called a sharp shooter, grouping 10 bullets in a less than 1 inch circle at a 100 yards using iron sights, not a scope. Wish I was still that good, but I'm still a good shot even if age an eyesight have taken their toll. Having to get bifocals glasses was the worst thing by far. My accuracy dropped like 20-25%. If you can't clearly see the sights, it's pretty hard to hit your target.

It took me a couple of years, but eventually I manage to think that thru and with the help of an optician, I got several versions of glasses made specifically for shooting. While we still have some optimization work to do on them, the current prototype has allowed me to bring my accuracy back up to a much better level.

While I never hunted, I wish I had. I'm also an excellent cook, another long time hobby, I love to do different type of cooking outside the average like wild meat or exotic foods. Some people have qualified my cooking as gourmet. Having the pleasure of bringing in my own gathered meat would be great I think.

But I do all sorts of target shooting, including hand guns, long range riffles, skeet and trap. Each of those require different sets of skills that are fun to maintain and exercise.

P.S.: I know firearms are a 'touchy' subject to some people. If you are part of them and would like to have a civilized and informed discussion, I would be more than happy to oblige. But if you are to bash or discriminate, please ignore this and just go on. I don't need your drama and won't get into it.

Also, I'm French speaking so please excuse me if something looks weird when you read this. If it does not make sense to you, just ask.

Nice one, jobleau. Of course, you're from Montreal, I had to have a quick look at your location when I read the part about being French speaking. No, let me congratulate you on your excellent English, definitely nothing to be ashamed of. I myself am not British either, yet, though I am working on it. My native tongue is German.

Computers and high tech, same here, I've always been fascinated and interested, though not always been able to keep that up since work sometimes prevented me from keeping up with developments. The machine I am using to access this is still running Windows 2000 but hey, apart from its rubbish start-up performance, it has not crashed EVER.

You are a hobby cook? Great, let’s get together and exchange recipes. My areas are trad. German cooking, East African, living in the UK now has been a blessing in that respect, you wouldn’t believe the availability of African foodstuffs, Indian, one of my favourites and basically anything that is different. I don’t think I have ever turned down anything, at least not before trying. My wife is a crack shot at the Chinese food.

If you like game and should you ever travel to Kenya, make sure you go to the Carnivore Restaurant on the outskirts of Nairobi. You must try some Eland Antelope, probably one of the finest meats I have ever tasted, apart from reindeer which I got to love when working in Sweden. They dry cure it for month and then serve it sliced thinly… makes my mouth water even now.

The gun thing, this is probably due to having been raised by German/British parents with the German part dominating, I have always had some problems with. Guns can, not necessarily will, cause problems and I guess it does take a stable mind and a settled person to be in charge of them.

I have had some brushes with guns, shotguns, the only hunting permitted where I grew up in Africa was hunting of wildfowl, never any big game. Since there was little need for gun I never became much of a shot anyway but was good enough to bag the odd evening meal or two.

Hunting for food I think is definitely something that puts guns in my part of the good book, apart from that, at least for me it has never been an attraction but as I said, that obviously has historical reasons. Plus at my age I am still something of a hippy, not that anybody would believe it when they saw me (suit and tie wearing, straight). Good thing that looks can deceive. LOL

I still have my joint or two in the evening, something I started some, now here’s a dead giveaway, +40 years ago and I don’t have any reason to doubt that the last thing I’ll smoke before I die at some point, will be a spliff.

Have you ever tried Samosas? Little triangular pockets of dough filled with either spicy vegetables or, our favourite, minced lamb? I could write it down for you. They are a little time consuming to make but believe me, well worth the effort.

Add-on:

If you are interested in swapping any recipes, guess we best do that via PM's, so feel free to contact me.

well one of my hobbie is crossdressing and cosplaying, i really like trying on girls clothes and dolling myself up

Interesting, tiny. That raises another question, where did your family come from originally, if that is not a too personal question.

Also, you can just go and put up a building, just like that? I am amazed. Here you'd have to apply for planning permission, once you got that you'd have to submit all the architects papers proving that the building is structurally sound, etc. Lots of red tape, I tell you.

Our house has just been integrated in a conservation area, which basically means you can't even paint the front any colour you like (not that I'd be inclined to paint it purple or something like that anyway) but will have to adhere to all sorts of regulations. In fact, I will have to enquire about whether or not I will be able to put up a new garden shed. On the upside, the place is early Victorian and does have a certain aire about it. But still, you just want to put in double glazing and you can't just get any old windows, no, got to be the really expensive sash type.

Anyway, best of luck with you business.

Thanks for your answer Hoverfly.

My written English is fair. It's just that I don't think in English when I write and sometimes that shows in the structure of the text and can also change the meaning without me realizing it. It's happened before. And for sure you don't want to hear my spoken English with my huge fat French accent! :eek: It sounds horrible.:)

What I cook is mostly inspired from revisited traditional French Canadian cooking sprinkled with traditional French and Italian ideas. I'm pretty good with meat and I made sauces that have made people wet their underwear. :D

I'd love to expand on that and include more Asian ideas and components like Japanese, Chinese and Thai for example. But sadly, the supplies for these are scarce in my area and I don't get to go to the Greater Montreal very often.

Carnivore Restaurant! I love the name! We have plenty of wild meat here and I regularly enjoy them. So much more interesting than just beef and chicken.

Dry curing, as well as smoking, are 2 often used techniques here and indeed they produce excellent results on game meat. I'm particularly fond of smoked duck breast, preferably magret, for one.

Guns, like cars, are inanimate piece of mechanics. They can only do what they can do when being used by people. And like you say: it does take a stable mind and a settled person to be in charge of them. I don't want to start an argument here, but in my book, cars are a lot more widespread than guns and far more people don't use them properly or securely. So, in the end, I think the possible problem is not the object but the individual and how the object is used.

I don't believe in accidents. They are all due to human errors and should be so called. We all do some. But there are some errors that just should not happen.

Then you have the subject of willingness and intent. Someone who intends to harm somebody can do it with many objects or just hands. But then again, there is an individual behind it.

Hippy in a suit! That sure looks like me. I was born at the end of the hippy and baby boomers era. The hippy philosophy was still pretty strong back then. And I sure inherited part of it. The facts that I'm a nudist, love nature, prefer peace and quiet over conflicts of any sort all kinda go with that. But I did had to integrate into the so called normal society at some point in order to make a decent living.

Marijuana and hashish were popular too and I had my fair share back then. I still have some sometimes, but nowhere near regularly.

Samosas... Never heard of that. But anything with lamb, I'm willing to try! Problem is my weak cook spot is precisely dough. I don't know why but most of the times I try to make some it just does not work as expected. But I sure would like to see that recipe. If I can use commercially made dough I'd give it a try.

Air guns. These bring back so many great memories.

A friend of mine used to have shack on the shore of a northern lake encased within mountains. Very isolated, no roads. You needed a boat to get there. In the back of the shack, we had built a shooting spot using the mountain slope as a backstop. We had put all sorts of small objects like fishing spoon or other gears, clothes pins, rubber pieces and even a cow bell. Some were attached with strings or fishing wire and were subject to wind, making them more difficult to hit.

Boys did we spent many fun hours plinking with air pistols and riffles, making up all sorts of contests. We even shooted at night under the moonlight.

The most memorable event was the son of my friend first try at shooting. Late autumn, within the beautiful scenery that nature offers us at that time of the year, a bit cold, but plenty of sunshine. It was the last time we would go that year and my friend had promised his son, 6 y/o then, he could try one of the air gun that weekend.

The rifles were too big for him so he had him use a pistol. Even that was a bit too big for his small hands and I didn't think he'd be able to hit something. But I did not want the boy to be deceived with his experience and came up with an idea. While my friend was explaining his son how to use the pistol safely, I comfortably installed myself in my preferred spot and started shooting. After a while, my friend called upon me saying it was the boy's turn to shoot.

So I stopped but I still had a pellet in the rifle. My friend told his son to hit the cow bell, the biggest object on the range and the little boy started aiming. I did too. And when I heard the pellet go through the bushes, I fired and hit the bell. My friend had heard the shot from my riffle and turned towards me with an inquisitive look and I nodded to him it was indeed me who had it the bell.

But you should have seen the look on the boy's face! His eyes were so wide and bright it was unbelievable. He was so concentrated on his shot that he didn't hear mine and he was convinced he had hit the bell. I had made the boy's day for sure.

We all cheered with him but I said it was beginner's luck and he needed to shoot some more. For the next half hour, for every 2 or 3 shots he did, if he didn't hit, I would discreetly make one for him. Surprisingly though, he did manage to make a couple of hits by himself.

To this day, I don't think he knows what I did behind the scene because we talked about that day several times and he still seem very convinced he did all the hits.

Thanks tinydick4u for bringing me back that great memory.

i train in mma or mixed martial arts it keeps my body in great shape and if anyone ever makes fun of me for having a small one i can kick their ass

Hi tinyoneman, please feel free to elaborate a little on your martial arts. My youngest daughter started playing Judo when she was only 5 years old. She liked the idea of the discipline behind the martial arts part. I don't think she goes to the dojo much these days, she works and is at University at the same time, so that makes for long days and then there is her husband. Still, would be nice to hear some more from you.

i currently train in judo, jiu jitsu, muay thai, wrestling, and boxing. I have noticed ever since i started training i have less time to focus on that one aspect of my body. I train the rest of my body so much and build myself up to be a warrior. I notice girls are interested in me when i tell them i am a fighter. For so long i just felt sorry for myself and just did nothing so i felt like shit and was always depressed. When you exercise your brain releases natural endorphins and you feel good, almost like getting high. I think everyone on this board could benifit from proper diet and regular exercise. I do not mean to sound like a preacher, its just something that worked for me personally and is def worth a try.

Nice post tinyoneman. I think you're quite right about exercising and training. And it's a good thing it helped you focus on more important things. Just wish I could manage to get more of it. I know what others will say, just do it. But it ain't that easy in some situations.

Being a fighter is nice. But being a survivor is even better. If you can be both, even better! Despite my physical shortcomings I'm one of them. Since a long time, I've always been prepared and constantly improved that preparedness over time to be ready to any eventuality to care for, protect and defend myself, family and friends.

For example, in 1998, we had a great ice storm where I live. It took out electrical supply for most people, up to 5 weeks for some. Roads were blocked, communications hampered, etc. In my case it was 2 weeks. But in a couple of days most supplies like food or anything you can get in stores were getting scarce because of the blocked roads and most houses were getting very cold because the most common source for heat here is electricity.

While most people ended up in emergency shelters, I was able to stay home because I had planned for survival. I had food, water, heat (wood stove with lots of wood), light in various forms (candle, oil lamps, flashlights, etc), various means of cooking food or heating water (wood stove, camp stove, fondue stove, etc). I was even able to help some friends over that were not prepared for such an event.

As well, in case there would be some need to defend myself I also was ready for that. I'm just happy it did not happen.

Basically, what I mean to say here is be prepared for any eventuality. Don't count on others or the state. Worst comes, you're gonna be on yourself. Appraise that and work towards being prepared to anything that might happen. It's pretty much like your own personal "disaster recovery plan" to survive anything that could happen.

i just love this thread... its really awesome... :) KUDOS

tinyoneman.. like u i too like to train for MMA. but not sure if i cud cope up with it or not

This started off all so promissing and then got burried at the bottom of the stack I guess, so here's to it being revived (I hope).

Come on guys'n'gals, let's hear of your life on the outside, you remember, 'The Real World'!

I play hockey. Well i used to.
Only play just a few times a year now. Dont have much time anymore between work, girlfriend and paying bills that seem to never stop. These days wheneven i have the time to actually go play, i opt to just stay at home and get high. Maybe, hopefully summer will be different.

Oh, a fellow toker, is it? Pleased to hear it.

I don't really do sports myself, it is mainly walking for me. We sold our car a few years ago and ever since it has been bike or walk.

Well, that being said, time to skin up I think. LOL

I'm not into any hobbys, I might start swimming in the summer.

One of my favorite hobby is firearms. I have about 18 of them in all sorts of caliber, in both hand and shoulder held type. Anyone interested in discussing that?

Oh, and if you are against firearms and are not ready for a civil, cold headed, constructive discussion, please spare everyone from your lecturing.

Two tokers here? Awesome. Not many people admit to that. At least I now know there are others. Its my favorite hobby, but it doesn't count because I like to toke and then have sex.

InsatiableLust, you know something? I am just too old to care anymore. Just like when I go shopping for my wife. She bought one of those shopper trolleys that you tow behind you. Some of our younger neighbours think it funny when I as a bloke trundle off with that thing (which here is usually more associated with the elderly) but do I care? Not one iota.

I've been smoking since I was 15, that makes it 38 years and I have little inclination of stopping just yet. My wife has been smoking for some 30 years but she does it primarily for medical reasons, though she does like getting high as well. It is just such a shame that one of the best drugs that nature has in store for mankind has such an evil reputation in most countries in Europe.

Not good really. All those silly anti-drug laws that just further the profits of Mafia and such cronies. Besides, laws were once designed to protect the majority from unexeptable behaviour that would damage society as a whole. Sounds just like they are describing cannabis, doesn't it. I too go out every night mugging old ladies and stabbing taxi drivers so I can buy my next batch.

What I really don't like these days is all that almost industrially produced skunk rubbish. Most of it just tastes like crap, gets you stoned before you get high and leaves you wondering whether you are going to be able to crawl to the fridge when the munchies hit you. No, sometimes it just isn't fun anymore, quite apart from the rip-off pricing.

A final note... We do have a large circle of friends and out of those, I believe around 95% smoke and have been smoking for decades. All bums of course, how else could it be. Like heads of the local Museum bum, head of finances at the local tax office bum, the Earl of XXX, a Government advisor bum, plus a few small business managers bums, etc. As I said, all bums, all useless, all on benefits and all out at night raping grannies.

Bums, that's us.

Happy toking and do you have any 420 celebrations where you live?

Oh, btw, there are more smokers here then you think.

As i get older, more and more i find out that every one and their grandmother smokes weed.
I used to think only teens did it. My friend has been selling for a few years and most his clinets are older people in their 40's, 50's even 60's.
Plus, in the industry that i work in, almost every one smokes. I know more then a few owners of large companies who smoke every single day. Some of them even have personal pipes, and stash boxes with company logos on them. Its crazy.
Ony offise that we frequently work with, every single person there smokes, right at work, right at their desk. Cool people but take kinda long to get anything done lol. Funny thing is that if you ever met them on the street, you would never tell that they smoke. Married, business owners, have children, verace suits.........

Oh and in regards to celebrations. Im not sure if its still going on, but we used to have a parade in the city where everyone would gather around the park and light up. Not sure if they still do that, but i remember the parade was not on 420, but at an earlier date. I think because 420 and earth day are 2 days apart.
But its still illegal here. I doubt its going to legal anytime soon. However, our neighboring state is different.

Darn it! I had a great story written, but it went away while I was editing it! Sorry, but I have to get in the mood again. I really enjoyed the stories about the walking trips and other comments.

Smoking at work, Crazy? Now that is crazy. I thought that smoking per se was illigal in any workplace in the USA.

I don't like smoking during the day but that is mainly because the only thing you can buy these days is that outrageously strong and CBD rich skunk they grow and sell in the UK. Nothing like what I'd call the real thing you used to get in the old days. Afghani, Pakistani, Thaisticks, red Lebanese, Moroccan chocolate, etc. Ah, those were the days.

Sorry for sidetracking.

I don't remember if I mentioned it in my original post but cooking and baking are extremely high on my list. We haven't bought a loaf of bread for... I can't even remember. And I am not referring to baking bread in one or those silly breadmakers, they're rubbish. No, the traditional way using proper fresh yeast, though JoBleau may disagree with me there on some level. Just the oven needs work or Jo will finally have to tell me about the adaptations he was planning to make to his oven to keep more steam in.

Still, given half a chance to buy all the ingredients, which isn't easy in Britain, I am quite capable of turning any grain into a wonderfully flavoursome loaf.

And when it comes to the sweet stuff, it's Chelsea Buns for me. Not those rubbish ones they sell in British supermarket bakeries but again the proper ones, the ones with butter dripping out at the bottom, the ones that are so succulent, soft and full of buttery goodness, laced with cinnamon and muscavado sugar and tons and tons of currants. Hm, lipsmackingly wonderful. Like food porn. LOL

Anybody else here like cooking, baking, growing their own food? Maybe more recipe exchanges ahead?

Indeed I didn't have time to tell you my latest tales of bread making. :( But that will come, sooner or later. About the oven, I thought I'd sent you a picture of my idea. Looks like I didn't. Well, I'll try to do that this weekend. The thing works pretty well.

And no, I don't disagree with you on both count, either using the traditional way or fresh yeast. Speaking of yeast I have some developments on that too.

Nice new avatar by the way.

Yeah, I think its crazy how marijuana is treated. One nice thing about where I live is that you can get really good organic sensimilla. Afghan Kush, Strawberry Cough, White Widow, and of course Skunk. You pay a little more, but who wants that garbage commercial schwag once you get a taste of the good stuff, right? About $12 to $15 USD a gram for the good stuff. Marijuana has been decriminalised here where I live. You can check out the laws here: New York State Laws. Crazy, huh? 25 grams or less is a civil citation. We don't have medicinal marijuana here. Its been in the legislature for a few years, but the governors keep shooting it down because of their ignorance.

I truly believe in the medicinal properties of marijuana. I don't want to discuss my health issues here, but it helps me immensely. As a teenager it was recreational, but now I use it medicinally in my own home, at night before I go to bed. I don't see the problem with that. I don't go anywhere, no driving, nothing. And it makes sex a lot better. Plus, my wife likes me a lot better when I'm stoned. I can actually feel human for a short while.

I am an educated individual that is held in very high esteem by my colleagues. So, yes, I know a lot of doctors as well as other educated professionals that toke. We are not bums or losers. If only the Nay Sayers knew that these professionals were potheads. There are also a lot of my friends that would like to smoke, but random drug testing here in the US is rampant and usually carries severe consequences, so they are too afraid.

We don't have any celebrations here, except personal private celebrations. We call them "garden parties" or "clam bakes" and we celebrate every 420. And happy toking to you also. If you are ever in my neck of the woods, we will have to get together for a clam bake. Bring crazy8 along too.

Think you could get me a job? Please? :)

Thank, yes, I got a bit fed up with the old one.

I am looking forward to the oven idea and pics and in return I still owe you my latest adventures in kneading techniques. Makes one heck of a difference to those Kaiserbroetchen or Emperors Rolls. You should have seen the last batch. Talk about yummy.

I've also found the first two parts of The Hairy Bikers Bakeation, that I'll have to send you. The first part, mostly about Norwegian breads was great. Part 2 was so so and part three should be good, German bread. Now we're talking. LOL

I think it may be time to start a fresh topic about this. After all, it was me who was complaining about threads beeing hijacked. LOL. Yes, I can talk.

Not sure if this fits in under Sexual Health Issues but I suppose in the widest sense it might. So, here is the link to the new thread disucussing the benefits of certains drugs with relation to sex and general well-being.

The post is still in the making but here is the link anyway.
Of Sex and Drugs and Rock'n'Roll

Yeah, sorry for jacking the thread. I read your new one. Very nice. So back to hobbies. Here's a list in order of preference:

1. Video games - play them whenever I get the chance.
2. Outdoor recreation - hiking, mountain biking, camping, kayaking, and snowshoeing.
3. Astronomy - I have a Celestron 6se.
4. Woodworking - new to this. Still setting up my workshop in the garage.
5. Home projects - because being a home owner, they are never ending.
6. Bread baking - no bullshit. Me too, but I do use a bread maker. I would like to do oven bread.

Of course my family comes first, but they are not a hobby. And like I said before marijuana + sex = awesome. Anybody else enjoy any of these hobbies?

Hey, another baker, sounds good to me. Maybe there is something we could get together over. I've been baking bread for the past 20+ years, ever since I came back from Australia and a baker in the town where we used to live in Germany seriously asked me to pay approx. 8 dollars for a loaf. The only thing I could think of was 'Am I buying shares or bread here?'. From that day onwards we pretty much haven't bought any bread from a shop anymore.

Astronomy? Well, looks like we've got at least two things in common the, well, apart from a fascination with combining weed and women. LOL

I've been having a longish contact over cooking and baking with another member here. We exchange recipes, baking and general cooking hints and some other totally unrelated stuff. Basically, life, the universe and everything.

So, if the answer is still 42, who knows, maybe we can get a threesome going around the baking stone. The person concerned will know that he's being spoken about.

Let's see how things go from there.

Just quickly back to your telescope, does it have a software interface for the laptop? Just curious, I've been using Carte du Ciel with all the celestial map addons for a few years. Was just wondering if this would be a good one to hook it up to? I used to have a Mead LX200, which served me well until I unfortunately sold it since most nights it would just sit there doing nothing while I was sound asleep getting ready for the next day.

Just one more thing that I'd love to spend more time doing but there is only so much you can do in a day, even when you're retired. Plus, I am no longer much of a night person. 10pm and even without a spliff I will happily crash out on the settee.

The pleasures of getting old.

Still, a very interesting list of hobbies.

5: Indeed they are...

6: There is a dough only setting on the machine. Put your stuff in as normal and use that setting. Once the machine beeps, just punch down the dough a bit, shape it or put into a mold and pop it into a hot oven. I used that in the beginning, until Hoverfly's counseling finally allowed me to do it all by hand. Got rid of the machine since. :)

And 42 is right! LOL!

Pleased to hear it. LOL