Hobbies Journal

A more detailed personal accounting/processing of the hobbies I've been exploring (This will be a living document that I add to over time):

Martial Arts

I discovered that Kickboxing was my favorite for the way the workout felt from a cardio, strength, and mobility standpoint. I felt that gyms that were clean and organized were palpably better environments for learning. Also, workouts that included mitt work and regular, direct observation and input from an instructor were by far the most engaging and skill/confidence building.
Kick Boxing (Muy Thai): Favorite workout, so I sought out all the places in town and attended 4 gyms to find the best match. Watson Martial Arts in the SE corner of St. Louis' Midtown was my favorite.
Grappling (Jujitsu): Although grappling seems like a useful self defense skill I didn't love how it felt as a workout, or driving home drenched in another man's sweat.
Taiji (Tai Chi): Really enjoyed the tone and feeling of the class, however, there wasn't any cardio which I discovered is a priority for me. I could see attending Tai Chi classes especially if I was injured and needed an integrative movement practice.
Traditional Boxing: Great workout, but doesn't hold a candle to the practicality as a fighting art, and the integrative mobility that kicking adds with Muy Thai.
Capoeira: A curiosity of mine since childhood, I'd always been interested in Brazilian Capoeira! The two classes I took had different instructors and were very different. One class that my good friend Greg taught included some of the fascinating backstory of this fighting art that was initially disguised as a dance, along with an orientation to the music, and instruction in the basic movements. The other class was a nearly all non-verbal instruction via visual follow the leader type practice. It was fun to finally try after a couple decades of interest.

Sports

Pickle Ball: I love Pickle Ball! It's a fun, quick game that my wife, Lynn, and I both enjoy, as do a number of our friends. Plus, we were able to play doubles with my law professor and his his wife, and it was a fun and easy way to connect. Maybe Pickle Ball can be my professional social sport since golf is not for me.
Tennis: Definitely more skill and cardio than Pickle Ball. Playing with an evenly matched buddy and getting some good rallies over our 6 sets made it an attractive game to plug into the rotation.
Rock Climbing: I love the idea of rock climbing and think that the social dynamics and bonding could develop into something really fun with a regular group, especially through the trust building of belaying each other. One off sessions felt a little expensive for what you get, so a memberships seems like the best way to go when I'm ready to spend a more dedicated amount of time. Perhaps this would be a fun theme for a group trip with camping/climbing in nature. For the time being, I'll let this be an occasional novel activity option for a friend hang.
Weight Training: Mixed feelings here. Though I'd rather do activities that directly include practical skill building, I had my first personal training session this month with Matt Owen, the AMAZING Trainer and owner of Project Deliverance. The circuit training with Matt was the hardest workout I've had in years, in a great way, and I'd like to build working with him into a weekly/bimonthly baseline to ensure well rounded high intensity and strength workouts consistently happen.

Art/Expression

Guitar: What's cooler than guitar? I've wanted to get back into music since letting flute drop away some years ago. Though I loved my decade playing flute, guitar has called to me as a relaxed, singing possible, expressive and melodic instrument.  Giving guitar a shot was a big priority for me, so I took 5 lessons with 5 different teachers at different music shops nearby, and one at my home. Each lesson was worthwhile and each teacher gave me great nuggets in a range of realms from playing style and posture to different fingerings, to ways to think about and play music. Also, I am amazed by the high accomplishment and skill of guitar teachers I could hire at the going rate of $50/hr lesson. I ended up going with David's Guitar Loft because their 1-1 lessons included weekly jam sessions which are also instructive. The lessons are like drills--necessary practice, and the jam session was like a scrimmage--the fun time to play.
Drawing: I only went to one studio for lessons, because after inquiring to a few, after matching with the Gateway Academy for Classical Art (GACA) taught by B. J. Parker it was clear he was the teacher for me! Loved the relaxed and accepting social tone, the skeleton, sculptures, and all sorts of objects in the studio, loved the 3 hour session length with enough time to really dig in, and especially loved the way B. J. heard my desire to develop sketching skill for product design and gave me targeted exercises to develop fundamental and specialized skills.
*Addition: Trying a 10 session charcoal sketching class with a friend through the Community college nearby--it is fun to go with a buddy, and to get the influence another teacher's style. I do think that B.J. is better at locking in the fundamentals.
Creative writing: Here's a link to my google doc with the creative writing prompts my friend, David, and I chose from following a couple pages on the prompt: You are the inventor of a popular video game. One day the main character from your game knocks on your front door. What do they want?
Personal Style: This one's a tough balance for me. I'm noticing the desire to up my style game because it looks fun and an important part of self esteem for me, however, there are also some functional constraints I'm not interested in letting go of. For example, I only wear one type of sock...I wear them year round and not only are they made of comfortable, anti-microbial wool, they have a lifetime warrantee for replacement if they develop holes, and by only wearing these socks I never have to pair them, and losing one is no stress. For the last 10 years I have exclusively worn and evangelized these 1/4 length socks from Darn Tough. Socks aside, I entrusted my locks to a barber for the first haircut I didn't give myself since the pandemic started and am discovering the voodoo magic of cultivating my natural curls. I also went to through Tan France's Masterclass, and had a fun date with Lynn going shopping for me, trying on dozens of pieces and taking home a few that have become staples for me!
Gardening: Didn't get into this one yet, but hope to in the Fall or next Spring and lean the amazing gardeners we have for neighbors. Also interested in engage the lovely folks at Custom Foodscaping to integrate food production into our yardening gameplan.

Social Activities & Games *to be completed

Dates & Dancing:
Hosting Dinners:
Strategic Boardgames: I love tabletop games. Unsurprisingly, I've come to realize that a large part of the fun of it is getting to spend time with people I enjoy and get to go on imaginary collaborative and/or competitive missions with.

Tip: High Quality Snacks elevate gaming sessions exponentially!
If you've landed yourself in a group with a great snack game already, congratulations, however, if you've just got a bag of chips at your next gathering try being the change you wish to see in the world? A few ideas for you:
1. Bring a couple fancy cheeses and slice them up for your friends to sample, maybe with some crackers. Serve on a plate or breadboard.
2. Slice cucumber/tomatoe/fresh mozzarella and sprinkle with salt
3. Go weird with chocolate covered bugs (I brought some bugs from Thailand Unique to a D&D night and it was a memorable hit)

Movie/TV Show with a friend(s):
Catchup calls with Longterm, out of town friends:
The Can with David: