What do you do when you're not dancing?

[pygmalion]

Hey guys, what cool, weird, educational or exciting hobbies do you participate in .... on the rare occasion you're not dancing? :D

[dancersdreamland]

Not dancing.... :? :?: :? ...what's that?

[dancersdreamland]

Duh...I'm on this site. :wink:

[pygmalion]

Yeah. Forums-watching has become a major pastime for me. When I'm not doing that, I play violin, do lots of physical fitness stuff, cook, read, collect various things, and do volunteer work. Strangely enough, despite other appearances, I have a life.

Anybody else?

[Swing Kitten]

I wouldn't go so far as to say I have a life...

Am I the only one here who only dances maybe once a week? School keeps me very busy, however, my pre-grad school hobbies include.

Puppetry (not a hobby... even according to the IRS, more like a passion that I worked for throughout undergrad and miss terribly now)

Stilt-walking, ceramics/pottery, Tai Chi, I'm a bit of a Buster Keaton Buff, drum making (I haven't developed this one as much as I would like), basic wood working, Sculpting, Drawing, Painting and Dancing.

I feel like I'm leaving something out... but I can't recall what-- eh, oh well.

[youngsta]

Tennis and Bowling are my non-dancing loves!

[SDsalsaguy]

Hmmm, I'm in grad school full time working on my Ph.D., so I guess researching and writing my dissertation should be on my list. I spend time at the gym (so that I'm in good shape to dance of course). I do ballroom photography. I work as a Teaching Assistant at UCSD (20 hours/week). I watch too much TV (mostly between 1-3am, while I'm representing for the I-R-U club)....

[pygmalion]

Yes, writing should be on your list. The question is, is it? Hmm. Inquiring minds want to know. :lol:

[pygmalion]

I wouldn't go so far as to say I have a life...

Stilt-walking, ceramics/pottery, Tai Chi, I'm a bit of a Buster Keaton Buff, drum making (I haven't developed this one as much as I would like), basic wood working, Sculpting, Drawing, Painting and Dancing.

I feel like I'm leaving something out... but I can't recall what-- eh, oh well.

How can you say you don't have a life. Holy cow! Stilt-walking? Definitely counts as having a life. :D

[dancersdreamland]

I agree...stilt walking definately counts a living!

Hmm...outside of dance, I guess I mostly work and hang out with my fiance and new kitten. I think perhaps I'm the one without the life. Everything revolves around dance:

Reading (alway dance publications and books)
Writing (haven't in a while, but lately it all relates to dance things)
Researching (dance stuff for the website)
Website (entirely dance related)
Class (three nights a week...all dance)
Want to go back to school (for my bachelor's in business administration with a minor in dance in the hopes of opening my own studio some day)
Work...this is perhaps the only non-dance thing I do. My life is very sad. :cry:


Ooh....a non-dance activity...planning my wedding! :D

Perhaps I should look for some new hobbies. :?

[SDsalsaguy]

Yes, writing should be on your list. The question is, is it? Hmm. Inquiring minds want to know. :lol:
Yes and no.

I'm actually wrapping up my primary fieldwork and research phase this fall so, while I have done some writing so far (mostly an outline plus an extended version, ~60 pages with some prose and a lot of citations filled in) my write up phase doesn't officially commence until winter.

[pygmalion]

I know some people who've been in the writing phase for YEARS. I also know some people who've had it wrapped up in months. I guess it's a personality thing. You seem like a go-getter type, so I'm sure you'll do just fine. :D

[MissAlyssa]

sleeping, swimming, shopping, watching the tube, did I already mention sleeping..?

[dancersdreamland]

Ooh...shopping! I completely forgot to mention shopping! That is definatley a hobby of mine as well! :D

[MissAlyssa]

I also like eating. 8)

[pygmalion]

Ah yes! Eating -- one of my favorite pastimes! :lol:

[Phil Owl]

This Owl swoops down on unsuspecting mice and rabbits and hoots all night keeping people awake. :D

No, seriously, my other pet passions include:

Walking

occasional photography

Bicycling

Music production/recording and performance (once I've relocated to Atlanta, I'll be resuming work on my next CD. I put one out last year called "Tales From The Inflatable Forest", an all instrumental progressive rock outing. I play guitar, bass and a tiny bit of keyboards (though I won't give Chick Corea or Rick Wakeman sleepless nights anytime soon)

[dancer at heart]

Things that I used to do before the era of dancing and the forum:

reading
movies, especially foreign films
yoga
meditation
hiking or walking by the beach
running/gym
hanging out with good friends and company
"trying" to be a gourmet cook
drawing
tennis

Hmmm....i guess i used to have another life.... :shock: :? :lol:

[SalsaGeek]

Snowboarding!!!
Any boarders out there??? :roll:

[dancersdreamland]

Eating...yes, a definite must...especially ice cream...my excuse: it helps prevent osteoporosis (I know that's spelt wrong :? ) :wink:

Snowboarding...never tried, but I do enjoy cross country skiing.

[Swing Kitten]

...my excuse: it helps prevent osteoporosis. . .

That's one of those things concerns me... sure you can figure out how much calcium you eat... but how much do you absorb??? One can never really tell. This occured to me after reading that taking dietary supplements may not be as effective as people may think... that your body is used to processing and absorbing the nutrients from food and not pills and that calcium is particularly sensative to this. So taking the supplements with a meals helps this... supposedly... I had a moment of severe calcium paranoia :shock: but then I just decided to do my best and not freak out about it. alas.

Cuz let's face it, if you fall you don't want to break a bone, and if you break a bone you want it to heal!

[pygmalion]

Yeah. I heard the same thing about calcium, so changed the way I take my supplements, plus added some calcium -enriched foods throughout the day.

You know what helps prevent bone loss? Weight-lifting, or other "weight-bearing exercise." Just some food for thought. :)

[Swing Kitten]

I'll have to try to incorporate more of that... ahhh... time for class gotta run...

[dancersdreamland]

Hmmm...good to know.

I'm pretty light weight (actually, very small and scrawny) and I am CONSTANTLY eating ice cream. I usually get a hard time about all the frozen treat I eat...

"You're always eating ice cream and never gain a pound." "How can you eat all that?" "What! Ice cream for lunch?"

Seriously, I'm always being nagged by HOW MUCH ice cream I eat. One day I saw a commercial about milk and it helping prevent osteoporosis. I figured since there's milk in ice cream, it would be a good excuse to ice cream and a nice change of answers to the hords of quetions I usually receive.

:D :wink:

[pygmalion]

Hey! Any excuse'll do. Just kidding! :D Eat all the ice cream you want!

Not only that, they're just jealous! They wish they could be eating ice cream too. :lol: It's probably because of all that dancing -- your metabolism is on hyper drive. You could eat a whole cow, if you were so inclined, and still not gain a pound. Excellent! :D

[dancersdreamland]

You could eat a whole cow...:D

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[SDsalsaguy]

You could eat a whole cow
Speaking of which...am I the only vegetarian here? Just curious.

[pygmalion]

I considered vegetarianism briefly, until the holistic nutritionist I was talking to mentioned algae. Eating algae? ! :shock: Then I went out and got a BIG steak. :lol:

Sorry. :cry: :oops: :lol:

[dancersdreamland]

I'm not a true vegetarian...it goes it spurts and this is going to sound very weird, so please no one take offense.

In general, I can't eat chicken if it has skin or is on the bone...it has to be boneless, skinless, white meat. I usually have issues eating beef (except steak) and rather LOVE ribs. Like I said, it really doesn't make sense.

I guess it really depends on my mood and if I've seen the animal within the last few hours. If I see an animal or think about the animal when I'm eating I just can't do it.

It's completely a mental issue. :? :oops:

[Swing Kitten]

That's funny dd... an inconsistant moral issue?

Another question, what about vegatarians (other than for health reasons) who eat fish??? What's up with that? Aren't fish made out of meat as well? :shrug:

I strive for moderation. I haven't had steak in years, I have a burger occasionally (I'm a social burger user-- I tend to never get one if I'm by myself) and if there is a chicken alternative I'll take it and if there is satiable vegitarian alternative I'd take that (I'm not really into 'a salad for lunch').

I rarely seek out meat but I don't go through great pains to avoid it-- it feels nice and healthy this way and it works for me.

[SDsalsaguy]

Another question, what about vegatarians (other than for health reasons) who eat fish??? What's up with that? Aren't fish made out of meat as well? :shrug:
Depends on their reasons for being a vegetarian. Many of the moral and environmental concerns that apply to land animals and poultry are not applicable to seafood.

[pygmalion]

And nutritional concerns, too, right SD? Meaning fish has all kinds of good fatty acids that meat doesn't. It's also lower in saturated fats and calories, and overall quite good for you. Meat, especially red meat, has the protein, but comes with lots of dietary down sides. Right??? :?

Don't take this to mean that I'm going to change my ways, though. I'm a carnivore to the core. :twisted: :lol:

[SDsalsaguy]

All quite true Jenn...but Swing Kitten's question had said "other than for health reasons." :wink:

[Swing Kitten]

Alright I see the overall evironmental side... and that people are causing there to be a disproportionately large number of cows in the world which is not to hot for the overall ecosystem.

[dancer at heart]

Many of the moral and environmental concerns that apply to land animals and poultry are not applicable to seafood.

Again, that would be an inconsistency on the moral issue if that is the reason besides health.

I'm a vegan myself, for both health and moral reasons, (though growing up I was such a hard core carnivore :P ) Soy and veggies does a body good! :D

[pygmalion]

Dancer at heart. I'm dying to know what you mean by moral reasons. Please PM me, if you don't feel comfortable talking in a open forum. This thread has me thinking, and I really would love to see another's point of view.

Jenn :D

[SDsalsaguy]

Many of the moral and environmental concerns that apply to land animals and poultry are not applicable to seafood.

Again, that would be an inconsistency on the moral issue if that is the reason besides health.
I disagree dd. Some vegetarians are concerned about the grain to meat ratio (10:1) and the impact this has on food supplies to/in the "poorer" nations. Needless to say grain isn't raised for fish – instead of for people – in the same way as it is for cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, etc.

Similarly, the slash and burn agriculture used to create ever expanding grazing land (especially throughout South America) has environmental ramifications that fishing does not.

For others the issue of undue pain/suffering is of importance and they recognize the less developed neural systems/pain reception of fish as a mitigating factor.

I'm not trying to preach so I do apologize, in advance, if this in any way comes across in that matter...just trying to present some of the under girding considerations that a given individual might take into consideration.

[pygmalion]

Now I see what everybody's talking about with moral issues and vegetarian lifestyles. It may sound dumb and perhaps inadequate, but that's why I don't eat veal. The unbelievably inhumane (Yes, I KNOW they're animals, but still) way they are treated turns my stomach. It's not just about the pain they feel, but also about the lives they live. Anybody who's ever been to a large-scale breeding farm can attest to that.

Thanks for sharing, SD. :?

[dancer at heart]

Moral issues would include the suffering that animals go thru when slaughtered, the impact on the envornment in terms of grazing and what it takes to produce for example a steak (but I must argue that we cannot simply say because fishy has a less extensive neural path that they do not feel pain therefore it is morally ok for consumption...don't get me wrong, fishy are great if one is vegetarian for health reasons) and since I am a buddhist, I believe in karma on cycles of life.

I typically don't talk about being a vegetarian since it tend to press people's button (not to mention all the lecture I would get on why I should not be a vegetarian :? )

[pygmalion]

No lectures here. We all have the right to make our life choices and to be respected when we do so. :D

I was just wondering what would prompt such a lifestyle change. Now I understand better. And I'll likely have a days and nights of pondering this while I try to wrap my conscience around how I'm living. Then I'll decide. No matter how it goes, I'd rather be informed than uninformed.

Thanks. 8)

Jenn

[SwinginBoo]

I'm not a vegan, nor vegetarian - though I do enjoy teryaki tofu & soy delicious ice cream. :P

In my spare time I like to:

Sing
Run
Sit in coffee shops for hours with friends
practice ASL
Drive back and forth btwn RI and CT
cook
draw
color in coloring books
nap on the couch

lots of other things I'm sure...but I don't have much spare time that I don't use for dancing :lol:

[SDsalsaguy]

dd...I'm not saying that fish don't feel pain, just that some argue that its not of the same magnitude as animals with more elaborated neural systems. Personally I don't know enough about this to decide one way or the other...just providing it as an example.

Since some people here seem curious about information, the last numbers I saw had 1 acre of rain forest, per year, per person, being destroyed for new grazing land. Personally that raises a score of associated considerations in my mind including, but not limited to, (1) oxygen production and air filtering requiring large, uninterrupted tracts of forest, (2) extinction of various plant and animal species (keep in mind that over half of the earth's surface biodiversity – there is more in the oceans – is in the rain forests), and (3) possible non-synthesizeble medicinal compounds being wiped out.

[dancersdreamland]

SD - Quick question for you, who is dd?

Another point...my apologies for drawing up such a heated discussion thread...all because of ice cream.

And my final point...I think I'll have to hold off on reading this particular board for a while and my stomach is beginning to churn on the whole meat issue and I'm likely to give it up for good... :( :shock: :mrgreen:

Thanks for all the info though, and I truly admire all of you for believing in something, sticking with it, being knowledgeable about it, and for standing up for what you believe in. :D

[Swing Kitten]

oh is this heated??
:lol:
it didn't strike me as such!

I guess I've spent too much time in the swing forum!!

oh! did I just say that out loud?? :shock:

[SDsalsaguy]

SD - Quick question for you, who is dd?
You are silly :tongue: ...dancersdreamland :!: (I actually think Vince was the first one to abbreviate you thus.)

Another point...my apologies for drawing up such a heated discussion thread...all because of ice cream.
I'm with Swing Kitten on this one...I didn't find this heated in the least. And I am very, very sorry if anyone took anything I said in such a light. I have made decisions about how I want to live my life but make no claims that they are any better then anyone else's!

[SDsalsaguy]

oh is this heated??
:lol:
it didn't strike me as such!

I guess I've spent too much time in the swing forum!!

oh! did I just say that out loud?? :shock:

LOLOLOL :lol: :lol: :lol:

[dancersdreamland]

I'm dd...cool!!!

I just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything I had said to offend anyone's lifestyle. I hate to step on toes and wanted to make sure I hadn't done so here...releaved to here averyone's toes are good. THANKS! :D

[SDsalsaguy]

...releaved to here averyone's toes are good.
Yep, especially important in a group of dancers too.. :wink: