Hello all! This is my first fully-scheduled post, so I’m looking forward to rambling on about my interests.

What are my current hobbies?

Playing Video Games

Watching Movies and TV Shows

Cooking (mostly for sustenance)

Baking

Running

Travel

What kind of favorites do I have? Too many to count! I could never settle for one favorite of all time. But let’s list what my current obsessions are:

Video Games – I love Tales of Symphonia, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the Hollow Knight games, and Resident Evil 4. These are my go-to experiences.

Movies – I’ll never forget the likes of Back to the Future, Clue, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Jurassic Park, Independence Day, and Shrek and Shrek 2! I’m also loving the Kenneth Branagh interpretations of the Hercule Poirot mysteries as well as Daniel Craig’s investigator in the Knives Out movie series. I hope both keep going for a while.

TV Shows – I grew up watching and loving the show Mystery Science Theater 3000, and I regularly leave the free channel on my TV when I want to chill, or when I’m working on something else in the background. Other shows I enjoy watching or rewatching include: Futurama, The Simpsons, Archer, One Punch Man, Delicious in Dungeon, The Amazing Digital Circus, and Lucifer.

What about music?

I grew up listening to my parents’ bands, so I definitely have a love for groups like The Guess Who, Aerosmith, Huey Lewis and the News, and Billy Joel. But I also love the musical stylings of Lindsey Stirling, Evanescence, Halestorm, Within Temptation, The Pretty Reckless, “Weird Al” Yankovic, and The Lonely Island. I could keep going, but time is a thing I should respect. Probably.

What kinds of meals do I cook or bake?

I’ll be honest: I mostly got into cooking just to make affordable, tasty meals. I’ll eat just about anything and everything. My preferences are Thai and Japanese food, curry in general, stir fry, and pizza. The only foods I really don’t like to eat are shredded coconut and anything with tentacles. I used to bake a lot more pizza when I had a functioning bread maker, but now I have so many items in my kitchen I don’t even have room to look at what I have. Spring cleaning is a state of mind I have embraced everywhere but in my kitchen.

How often do I run?

 Not as much anymore. I originally took it up because it has a minimal equipment requirement (shoes), it’s relatively easy to get started, and you can do it whenever the mood hits you. In my late 20s and early 30s, I used it as my primary form of exercise. Nowadays, though, I’m getting tired a lot more quickly than I used to. I’m gearing up for another event in May, so I’ve dusted off my shoes and begun the annoying trek back to fitness. I’ve never pushed much beyond a 5K (3.1 miles), not because I couldn’t, but just because I get bored easily if I’m doing the same thing for too long. I’ve run a grand total of two 10K practice runs, but never accomplished a formal one. The closest I got was one time in 2022 when, despite myself, I decided to participate in a 4 mile run across Michigan’s Mackinaw Bridge during Labor Day weekend. Unfortunately, I did not think to give myself an extra day’s time off at work to get home, mostly because I was a temp who couldn’t afford both a day without pay and a cheap hotel stay. And thanks to COVID, the event had canceled their bus ride back to my car after I’d already made my hotel arrangements. Since the hotel I’d stayed at was moldy and full of spiders, I decided the better choice was not to wait the extra 3 hours after my run until they re-opened the bridge. Instead, after accomplishing the 4 mile jog at dawn, pausing a couple of times during the race only to take pictures of the sunrise. After my success, I took a 10 minute break, then turned around and ran back across the bridge. I did stop to walk a few times on the way back, but hey: it was a bonus run. I took 5 minutes to stretch so I wouldn’t pull anything, then drove the long way home. What does that mean? Well, since they had us park on the north side of Michigan’s bridge, and the bridge was closed to traffic for another 3-4 hours, I decided to drive through Wisconsin. It took nearly 12 hours with stops to wake myself up (did I mention I only got 2 hours of sleep the night before due to the terrible conditions?). I should have called it a day and gotten a hotel, but by the time I wanted to do that I managed to hit the most rural route through Illinois. Thankfully, I made it home safe. But I swore after that day that I would always plan to spend a full day recovering from any trip I ever take. I’ve never regretted doing it. The taking an extra day, that is: I still regret driving back the same day I ran that race.

I do love to travel. I’ve very rarely left the US, though. My life goal is to set foot on every continent on the planet, and I’ve managed to hit 3 of the 7 so far. I’ve traveled to Europe twice, Japan once, and I live in the US. I still plan to visit Canada at some point to really feel that I’ve “earned” the right to say I’ve been to the northern part of North America. I’m hoping to zipline across Niagara Falls this or next year.

My friends and I loved Japan and plan to go back. It’s expensive to fly somewhat comfortably, so that won’t happen again too soon. Still, I’ve fallen back in love with traveling. I think I’ll take a couple of solo trips in the meantime, since I’ve never done that before. I’m thinking probably that Niagara Falls trip, since that’s basically a “because I wanna” plan.

Eventually, I will hit up Antarctica on one of those nature cruises. It’s too damn cold for me to want to stay on the land more than 5 minutes, though, so I’ll probably only get a few photos of myself before spending the rest of my time somewhere toasty warm. Unless they let you cuddle the penguins. Then I’m probably going to freeze to death or lose a fight with a possessive penguin partner.

This was fun! It’s nice to break down who I am, especially when I regularly feel like I can’t really define or understand myself. Looking back at this information, I know it’s not everything. Yet, it still helps me feel more comfortable with who I am and what I’ve done so far with my life. I have often dragged my feet on taking chances and making new changes, but I’m really adept at adjusting to the unknown. I need to start practicing that flexibility instead of fearing it. Until next week, folks!