Hobbies...
I like to build models, the
majority are starships or space vessels, some I paint, some I don't. It
started harmlessly enough, a Tie Interceptor, but with time the
collection has grown. Ships
of all kinds, starships, shuttles, fighters, alien craft of all sort.
To
look at my room would be as if a battle fleet was massing, Star Wars
against
Star Trek, Dark against Light, Federation against everybody else. A bit
crowded, and a little over whelming at times, "That's okay," I say,
"there's always room for one more."
I collect action figures, currently I have quite a few. From Star Trek: TNG, nearly every seaQuest figure, all the main characters from DS9 plus a couple more, all four Star Trek Ninja Turtles (was just too cool to pass it up), only half the crew of Voyager, all the Babylon 5 figures and a few Star Wars figures, Luke, Han, Yoda, several FarScape figures. Now all I need is that Darth Vader Dream House. Only 4 more box tops to go!
Another collection of mine is Mad and Cracked Magazines. I try to keep them in mint to excellent condition. A few are left over from when I was younger, so they are not in the best of shape. Torn, dirty, pages missing; that sort of thing. Currently my collection is up to, I would guess, 250-300 magazines. I haven't bothered to count them in awhile. Seems every time I get started, I end up reading them again. I can't make an accurate count if I keep getting distracted like that.
I was really into collecting Disney stuffed animals for awhile, but other things have since taken their place. I will however NOT part with my collection. I've got a long shelf stuffed (opps, sorry) with the animals. Also every once in awhile, when I go to Disneyland I'll get another one to add to the pile. That's part of the rules I set for myself; each must come from Disneyland, anywhere else, like The Disney Store, is cheating. Recently I've added a Jiminy Cricket to my collection.
A yearly hobby of mine is going to the San Diego Comic Convention International, sometime in July or August. It's a lot of fun, and I don't go for the comics, as the name of the convention suggests, but for the oh so many other things to see. The panels, discussing things from Sci-Fi, Comics, Upcoming Movies, TV Shows, Books, Authors, ect. The screening of movies, cartoons, and TV Shows, sometimes months before they to be released to the general public, or something special just for the convention. The many different people you can meet, from your favorite cartoon character voice to Francis Ford Coppola and everyone else in between. Heck, I've run into many stars walking the exhibit and merchandise floor, just enjoying the con, like me. But the highlight to this entire 4 day event, in my oppion, is the Masquerade. Not a dance or a party as the name usually implies, but an on-stage costume competition. We sit for about 2 hours watching different people or groups compete for prizes and awards, with costumes and props. It gets loud! You can participate and comment a lot with the rest of the audience. It's great fun.
Another hobby of mine is an insidious game called The Sims 2. This life SIMulation
game takes up a lot of my time and can be quite addicting. From the
first moment of playing the original The Sims I was hooked. So of
course when The Sims 2 came out, vastly improved, I had to have it.
Unlike the original The Sims game, The Sims 2 is generational, my Sims
grow up, get married, have kids and even eventally die. Children are
based genetically off the parents, like real life, a child could have
her mothers blue eyes, but her fathers red hair, her fathers nose but
her mothers mouth. Also unused genes are resesive, say a Sims mother
has red hair, but her father blonde. She grows up, gets married, her
husband is blonde, but one of her children has red hair, that gene is
left over from her mother.
I spend a lot of my time in The Sims 2 building or tweeking houses,
furnishing them, etc. I'm constantly changing the way they look. For
example, I have an original one bedroom, one bath, one story house that
over time playing has evolved into a 3 story, 6 bedroom, 7 bathroom
house.
Also in this game you can make your own clothes and accesories for your
Sims, even create your own genectics. Perhaps you want your Sims to
have blue hair or skin, or maybe cat like or purple eyes, I did and
these are the genetic traits some of my Sims and their children now
have. There have been two expansions since The Sims 2 came out, the
first was University, where now your teens transform in to Young Adults
(instead of just Adults)
and can go to College. Second was Nitelife, a new downtown area where
your Sims go for fun and dating. Recently I got a Holiday Party Pack
for my game, this contains objects such as christmas lights,
decorations, New Year stuff for decorating my Sims houses for the
holidays. This game is made to be added to and lots of people have made
lots of stuff for it. I have furniture, walls, objects and genetics (hairs, eyes, skin) by the
thousands I've downloaded and now use in my game.
You meet a lot of people in this game, some you've made and play, some
what they call Townies. With the expansions there are vampires and
zombies running around, some of which may be your own Sims, you might
even get abducted by aliens from time to time.
I'm currently working on a Sims 2 page, to introduce some of my Sims
and their families, show some of the pictures I've take in game (I've taken thousands) and give
you a look inside the world of my Sims.
Of course, this is also a hobby of mine, writing, adjusting, updating, and tweaking these web pages and sometimes it can take hours and hours. Looking for, making, and adjusting graphics. Re-writing and updating those things I've already written. Making new pages from scratch. Finding new midi music. Then uploading all the new stuff, and testing, testing, testing. I always test a lot. I like to make sure it works the way I want it to, with nothing broken.
