Pajiba

I used to run cross-country, too, from my freshman year to my senior year. I loved it, even though I wasn't always the fastest. I also played basketball and threw shotput and discus.

I paintball and I'm a writer. God, even trying to make that sound exciting fails. I need sleep.

The Pajiboys totally will think your nephew is a god for skate dancing. That's freakin' awesome!

Craft beer sampling is a fine, fine hobby, sir. If you're ever in Atlantic Canada, I can point you to several good ones. As for me, I guess I'd have to say (*gulp* dork alert) birdwatching is about the closest thing I have to a hobby. Not sure if it counts, though, because I do it for work as well. Anyway, it's a tad inconvenient, as I'm really not a morning person. But, it's a nice excuse to spend time outdoors.

First off I hope you enjoyed my fine little city of cincinnati! It's a shithole but we call it home.

Now to answer the question, I build stuff. Like it started with bird houses and stuff and then it was furniture and patios and gazebos, and I'm working on a boat now...The boat is iffy but here's hoping.

I used to do competitive synchronized skating. You've probably never heard of it. It's awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No4uy3ckgFM

Here's the catch-22: A lot of girls drop out because they don't see the point of working so hard at a sport that won't get them anywhere professionally, because it's not an olympic sport. It's not an olympic sport because it has a hard time holding on to athletes. It has a hard time holding on to athletes because it's not an olympic sport. It's not an olympic sport because it has a hard time holding on to athletes. Etc.

So yeah, no more of that for me. Now I just do a lot of college theatre. I'm directing a huge show next year. I'm quite excited about that.

I brew my own beer. TAKE THAT BEER LABEL SAVING NERD!

Seriously though, if you enjoy craft beer it's the next logical step. 160 bucks got me all the equipment I needed and the ingredients for my first batch. I made it without trouble in my tiny apartment kitchen.

Not to toot my own horn, but my brews are a damned site better than most of the stuff you can buy on the shelf at your local supermarket. This has a lot more to do with how fresh it is though, as opposed to me being any good at it.

and the best part is, now that the equipment is paid for, its costing me around 75 cents a beer.

Pajibans of a certain age will remember the show "Real People" from the early-'80s. They did a segment on a guy who converted a golf course into a Frisbee golf course -- and for my soon-to-be-stoner friends and I, a lifetime obsession was born. We call it...

Enduragolf

Rules of Play -- Enduragolf is played on Saturdays at an office park or college or high school campus. Scout your surroundings throughout the week for a suitable course -- parking lots with lots of signage and grass islands, multiple buildings with breezeways and loading docks, and unused sporting venues can all be incorporated into a good course.

Order of play is determined by a frisbee flip. Each player (2 or 3 works best, as our scoring gets too elaborate to keep in your head otherwise) takes turns calling holes, which usually include 3 or 4 targets. A typical call might be "hit stop sign, land on third grass island, land on blue handicapped parking square", or "slide over both speed breakers, throw between trees, land on bench", or "from top of stands, throw through goalposts, hit scoreboard, then land on Lane 4 of track".

For advanced players only -- skipping. Any target on asphalt that can be hit or landed upon can be skipped-and-hit or -landed-upon. Our games now usually consist of 40-50% skips.

Scoring -- each player completes the hole, and score is determined by how many strokes behind the leader each other player is. The leader gets 0 points, and each trailing player gets one point per extra stroke. The score is retabulated at the end of each hole, always orienting to zero for the leader, and a "game" is won when someone's score reaches 4 or higher at the end of any hole. Play is for a predetermined amount of time (usu. 2.5 to 3 hours), and whoever has the most "games" won at the end of that time wins the "match", and is owed a frozen treat from the other players at the nearest Dairy Queen.

Penalties -- this is what truly sets Enduragolf apart from more garden-variety versions. There are permanent penalties and those which are at the discretion of the caller of any particular hole.

Permanent penalties:

Hitting a car, a window, or any flowers -- one stroke penalty.

Going out of turn -- one stroke.

Interfering with another player's frisbee -- 10 yard walkoff in opposite direction of next target.

Interfering with another player's bodily personage -- 15 yards.

Random Joe: you are bound to run across the occasional non-playing human, and it is imperative you remember that THEY ARE A PART OF THE COURSE. Often, a Random Joe will confuse your intentions in throwing your frisbee, and will want to pick it up and throw it back to you. You must do everything in your powers to prevent this from happening, as the penalty for Random Joe interference is to throw from wherever the throw lands (and, no, you may not catch a Random-Joe-thrown frisbee to mitigate the damage), plus fifteen yards. This can be a crushing penalty.

Discretionary penalties might include a stroke for landing upside down, or a yardage penalty for on grass on a hole which calls for throwing along a sidewalk or breezeway.

Inventiveness in the calling of holes and penalties, while not rewarded in the scoring, is highly encouraged. You should also call holes which correspond to your particular strengths -- I'm better at long throws, so I steer us towards the open spaces. My friends are skipping savants (they can skip over a 12-foot fence from 25 feet away), so they find any excuse to call a skip.

We've been at it for almost 30 years. I've tried playing actual golf, but gave it up years ago. Enduragolf is way more fun and costs nothing (beyond the expense of replacing a frisbee lost in a gutter or atop a building).

So go on out and play, and you'll be first in line for the upcoming marketing blitz for the official Enduragolf scorekeeping wristwatch (prototype completed in 1988, patent pending its eventual submission to the patent office. Which should be any day now, I'm sure of it....)

I've been playing guitar for about 12 years now, and I sketch in my spare time. Lately I've been sketching prospective tattoos for people I work with who've asked, and so far it's been really exciting for me. I tried out a section of Shen Nanpin's "Flowers And Birds" that was really well-received. I was ecstatic about that.

I never joined any track teams in school, but I like to run long-distance for fun. It's becoming one of my favourite things to do and I might go later tonight, actually.

God. I can't believe I'm admitting this here, of all places, but I read palms. And NO, I'm not a Wiccan, I don't travel with a carnival and I definitely don't do the whole Goth thing. It's just something I do. No one in my immediate family knows about it, especially not my Christianer-than-thou sister. I usually reserve my little talent for strangers at weddings or on vacation. And I never charge money, though my bar tab has been paid for more than once by awed strangers. Kind of a parlor trick, I guess. Enduragolf sounds waaay cooler.

Somehow I think the Pajibettes are all wondering "Hmm, if I ask really nice, would I get his nephew's number?"

I like to read and learn and other geeky stuff like that. The stacks at my place get ridiculous. I also like learning foreign languages. I know bits of about 6 different languages already -- enough to cuss you out in Japanese, for example.

I also write when the mood strikes me.

Calvinball. Lots and lots of Calvinball.

I ride my bicycle. Not competitively... unless you count against myself. But I'm officially obsessive about it now. When I'm not riding my bike, I'm thinking about riding my bike. Every year I set new goals. This year, the goal was 100 miles in a day. Did it last week. Now I need a new goal.

Oh, and I write for some goofy-assed movie website.

In about a month I test for my second degree black belt. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to fight a bear. Or maybe I'm just hoping because that would be a cool story. In reality, it will involve a lot of running, pushups and getting hit. No fence painting, car waxing, or floor sanding. I play some poker as well-my big score was winning a cruise. My wife and I are going to get certified to scuba, but I think that's just an elaborate plot to cash in my insurance policy.

I'm a rower. Four years division 1 -- got lots of pretty pretty medals, tendonitis in both wrists, and chronic knee and shoulder problems. Hooray for college athletics!

I rowed starboard for the 8-person boats, but my favorite thing to do (non-competitively) was scull in a single. I've moved back to an area with water recently after a five year hiatus, and I'm looking forward to getting back in -- I won't be nearly as fast as I used to be, and I probably need knee surgery before I do anything extensively active again.

But yeah. Crew Rules!

It's not offbeat, but I dirt bike. I'm not hyper competitive eXXxXxXxtreme!1!!1one! and all that crap, but I have a decent bike (a Specialized stumpjumper) and it's decent exercise that takes me interesting places.

I guess I count as fairly committed because I also have a street bike (a Fuji) and ride that whenever I can. Work REALLY interferes with that, but I'm trying to get to the point where I can bike to work - it would probably be a two hour ride for me up and down fair sized hills - so I can claim that as an accomplishment.

frobme, good to see I'm not the only one.

logar, you made me snarf.

I'm a musician by hobby but not profession. I sing (I consider myself an alto but a voice teacher once told me I'm a soprano, but I can sing baritone as well) and I play the oboe and the alto sax.

I love to play tennis, but I don't play as much as I did in high school and college.

I don't have any collections except a shot glass collection that has languished since I finished college. The fun kinda went out of it once I stopped having a reason to use them on a regular basis.

Zack, me too! Unless your being super sarcastic, in which case, well, I play Calvinball for real. It gets intense (got the scars to prove it). We should totally organize a match at the next Pajibacon. I see that enough of us like pointlessly exhausting activities (linny, I'm lookin' at you) that we could really get some teams and make it epic.

I wasn’t into sports but I was an all-state tuba player in high school. Dude, roller skate dancing, for real? He’s right on the precipice and it can go either way, now listen to me very carefully, and how you answer this question could very well determine his destiny. When he’s doing his skate dancing routine (oh god!) are his hands an important part of his routine?

I used to play a lot of softball. I'm a mean switch-hitter (OH!) and half-way decent shortstop. I write, crochet, bake and LOVE to do word search puzzles.

/nerd

I rode horses for eight years, but no more. My horse's name was Frog, and he was adorable and the best thing ever.

I've been doing Loong Fu Pai for a few months now and I spend way to much time playing with my Nunchukus (I keep breaking household items with them).

I also play D&D one night a week, and lately I've been spending more time than I should playing League of Legends.

I channel surf.
That counts.

I'm the executive director of a teen pageant. We're an affiliate of the Miss America's Outstanding Teen program, sort of a "little sister" to Miss America. Talent, interview, evening gown, onstage questions, and yes, lifestyle and fitness, but these are teens, they wear shorts and t-shirts, NOT swimsuits.
I can extol the virtues of a well-run pageant for HOURS, but I think amongst the D&D, comic book, discgolf crowd that is Pajiba, I might be wasting my time. But trust me, my pageant is AWESOME.

jack, I'm a 3-Day walker, too!

Hmmm, I too am a fellow home-brewer! I also make wine. I'm not one of those hardcore-into-the-chemistry type home brewers, I just get a kick out of being able to make the things I like at home. And considering how much I love booze this seemed like a natural progression.

In that same vein, I've also been known to make my own sausage, soft cheeses, bread, pickles, butter, etc, etc.

I kind of dig on the whole homesteading thing in general, only without all the restrictive gender roles and avoidance of modern technology/proper hygiene that some of the "back to the land" types seem to go in for.

Other hobbies and oddities:

-I collect Black Flag concert bootlegs
-I play the harmonica
-I can read tarot cards
-I raise ducks
-JUDO

I am a horse trainer/riding instructor. I have a Dressage based program for all disciplines, which focuses on centered riding.
That is ALMOST as interesting as it sounds. But not quite.
I also have been known to crochet, and do a spot of gardening.
{snore}

Was always athletic and coordinated. Did all the sports in high school - soccer, cricket, track, cross-country, swimming, rugby. Had my massive growth spurt the summer I turned sixteen, instantly became the center-of-desire for the school's basketball team but didn't start playing until my senior year.

Played lots of pick-up basketball through my twenties and played a few seasons in the local basketball league - but was never any star-player since I'd never developed those essential skills like dribbling effortlessly. Can't even palm the ball (at 6'5", it's very embarrassing)...

As I approach 40, I've discovered a love for all things Salsa. The dance and music, not the food! Began lessons a year ago, am heavily involved in all the events my school puts on, and have started studying the music so I can help DJ at events.

Also waiting on my gun license so I can join a local rifle club and represent Bermuda at competitions.

I cap deep sea oil wells, but only when asked. BP hasn't called.

I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer brew Dos Equis.
Stay thirsty my friends.

Lindsey with an 'e'. I feel like I have been on a quest for a good Dressage trainer for ever. Where have all the good schooling yards and trainers gone?

Gather 'round, children, and let me tell you a little story about AvB and sports of any kind.

Once upon a time, AvB was a teenage emo princess. AvB's high school decided to make AvB play lacrosse. AvB disagreed with their methodology, and on principal, refused to ever change for gym again. AvB failed gym in her junior year of high school, and so had to re-take it senior year, along with her regularly scheduled senior year gym class; come the end of the year, she failed both, and had to take them in summer school in order to receive her high school diploma.

The moral of the story is twofold: 1) AvB and sports go together like a cheetah and a gazelle on one of those Discovery channel shows where everything dies, and 2) AvB is a stubborn-ass bitch.

(I have to be honest, I was pretty kick-ass at croquet for a while there, but it's been some time since I played. And I don't know if that really counts as a sport. Maybe if we made it Tackle Croquet...)

Hobbies-wise, I'm a starter. I love to pick up new things to try, start them, and then put them aside in favor of other things. So, I mainly try to stick with the ones I know I love: crocheting and making jewelry. I have recently begun to teach myself to knit again, also, but it's largely the same equipment as crochet. Right now I'm in the middle of two star-shaped baby afghans (two different kinds of yarn; when they're finished, I'm going to offer them to my preggo sister and her husband with the caveat: she chooses one and the other will get donated to the pediatric wing of the local hospital in their name). I find it relaxing and I can do it concurrently with my other hobby, watching movies.

P.S. I may now have a little crush on your nephew.

Ran high school track, the 100 and 220 (yes, it was a long time ago, those are yards). Played power volleyball for about 20 years. Autocrossed and won a few championships with a car I built. Now I ride a motorcycle (not a Harley) slowly, and take a lot of pictures of the nephew playing baseball. I also watch a couple of movies a week via projector.

Ah. Well... I attended Juilliard... I'm a graduate of the Harvard business school. I travel quite extensively. I lived through the Black Plague and had a pretty good time during that. I've seen the EXORCIST ABOUT A HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN TIMES, AND IT KEEPS GETTING FUNNIER EVERY SINGLE TIME I SEE IT... NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT YOU'RE TALKING TO A DEAD GUY... NOW WHAT DO YOU THINK?

I have lots of hobbies and I keep myself busy with the horses. My most rewarding hobbie is looking after journalists in Third World Countries etc. Most of them are first class dickheads with a mere nodding relationship with reality. I made one cry with just a smile the other day. It was deeply satisfying.

I teach Jazzercise. No really, I do. Have for the past 6 years. I also have a full time job as a copywriting supervisor in pharma advertising.

I also have a running club-Team Dirty Thirty. Up until 2 years ago, I couldn't run 10 feet and now I am running 10k races and plan to run a half-marathon in October.

Prior to all that, I was a competitive figure skater. I started when I was 4 and opted to go to college rather than move to Boston to train seriously in ice dancing. Best decision I ever made.

Mattfactor thank god, I was beginning to think I was the only one who sought out little furry woodland creatures. When I was young 18-22 I biked five miles to and from the gym, worked out every day. Then I went to college, small school no weight room etc. Time went to hell, and the workout was the first to go. Now I am 40 cough, cough, I drive to the gym and work out every once in a while. I have discovered that I have become my father.

but I can cook like a motherfucker. And I collect cookbooks, the more messed up ("The Male Chauvinist's Cookbook," anyone? Hysterical. Written in 1974 and the dude who wrote it? Big pornstache and looks exactly like you think he would), the better.

I take pole dancing classes and I even have my own pole at home so I can practice hanging upsidedown off the pole by one leg. It's awesome.

Other than that, I play State League netball (which I'm fairly sure that if you're not from Aus/NZ/UK you're not going to have a clue what that is). I used to play volleyball and basketball too at one point. I'm kinda from an athletic family.

peanut

It is very difficult to find correct Dressage being taught or ridden these days. What wins (and it is all about WINNING) is not classically correct, and is pretty much just 'show riding.' Our current world record holder does backward traveling tempi changes, diconnected lateral work, and is not even close to tracked up in the trot work. But WOW, look at how high he picks up his FEET! {gag}
If you can find a classicist in your area, good on you.

I'm a professional ballroom dancer. Yup! And I was trained by one of the pros on Dancing With The Stars, Nick Kosovich.

I'm also a stilt walker, power skipper, aerial artist (hoop and silks), and celebrity impersonator (Tina Turner, Diana Ross, etc.)

Starting just last year, I'm a Disney princess.

Ultimate Frisbee - Im one of the founders of the Univ of Pitt Program En Sabah Nur and am presently trying to get back in shape for one Rocky-like run - playing in the World Championships in July in Prague.

I'm a little late to the party, but I too play the ultimate and a little disc golf. I've played on competitive teams, but after a particularly hot (104 degrees) tournament in Louisville and a minor heat stroke about 5 years ago, I now have the heat resistance of an 80 year old woman. My husband, however, will spend about 2 or 3 weekends a month playing in some tournament or practicing from now until October. I was excited to see that others on here play ultimate. I might join a kickball league this summer.