[Alia]

I work a lot. Two jobs, one outside, one at home. But I love both, so that's not a very big problem. Although they take a lot of time and my weekdays are long. So at weekends I try not to work at all.
I read. Used to read much more, when I was at high school, before I started my first job and then the second. Mostly s-f and fantasy. And medical blogs.
I also grow plants on my window-sill and balcony. Not the one you might start thinking of, mind you. Just flowers, like hippeastrum, Christmas cactus or geraniums. And I've always been a great fan of botany, so I recognize most of plants I see outside, know their Latin names etc.

[Madness]

Been there, Alia. Working is rough.

I envy your botany know-how. It is something I will learn in the future.

You have much power with this knowledge.

[Alia]

Well, I love both my jobs (I used to have a third one, which I did only for the money, but the company laid me off, for which I am grateful), so it's not that rough. Only time-consuming.

[Madness]

Time-consuming. I have greater contributions to make to human society than grilling steaks and chicken breasts .

But I'm glad that you enjoy yours.

[Wilshire]

But them breakfast sandwiches is so delicious! (jarring syntax, it pains me not to correct it)

Really though they are good, though I imagine someone else other than yourself would be better suited for that line of work.
Do you feel intellectually alone at work Madness?

[Madness]

I've worked at many different restaurants, cooked a variety of styles, and under some fantastic cooks/chefs (relative to the places I've lived).

I'm semi-addicted to the rush of being involved/leading a functional service (breakfast, lunch, or dinner). I could care less for being personally creative in a culinary way - though I love helping someone else manifest their vision - but considering before I started in the industry almost ten years ago, I couldn't microwave a can of beans, the requisite knowledge has been satisfying.

But it's strictly a waste of my time.

And unfortunately, bar certain situations with academics, people of Bakker fandom, and, most of all, books, I feel intellectually alone in life, let alone work. Thankfully, I grew up with a group of friends who gave me a cutting wit so I can hold my own with the worst of the worst of kitchen humour.

[Meyna]

My latest venture in World of Warcraft: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOCm_KYo1qs

[Wilshire]

My latest venture in World of Warcraft: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOCm_KYo1qs

Pretty cool stuff Meyna. I don't know enough about WoW to know if this is impressive or not, but I liked the video (music was especially entertaining )

edit:
seriously, not sure why, but I listened to it twice because of the music.

[Kellais]

Ok, let's do this 

Well, obviously, i'm a fantasy reader...besides Bakker, i love Erikson and Michelle West is also very good. There are a lot of entertaining fantasy books out there (and even more crap  ) but nothing comes close to the top 3 i mentioned (ok, i love Tolkien's world and his myth, the Silmarillion. But it's not really a classical novel).
I never found anything in Sci Fi that kept my interest, so i guess i am a pure fantasy type of reader.

Another hobby of mine is pen&paper roleplaying games (short RPG). I love the creativity of it. Telling stories together with friends, acting through fantastical alter-egos etc ... it's just amazing. Closely connected to that, i love to worldbuild. Right now, i am building a setting for rpg and writing with a good friend of mine. This time, we want to do a more mythic, kind of iron-age setting instead of the classical fake-medieval western europe setting. And we are on good path, i'd say.

As hinted at above, writing is another creative outlet for me. Lately i had not the time to write  but i really want to get back to it. I want to write my own TSA 

This was all very much head/brain heavy stuff i do in my freetime...but, as i really live "mens sana in corpore sano", i also have more physical hobbies...i do like sports. For my fitness and general health i do fitness/muscle workouts (jogging, biking and working out with my own bodyweight) and for sports-fun i want to get back into Tennis (which i played a lot as a teenager and in my early 20is).

For just freetime enjoyment/entertainmen without any real "work", i love to watch tv series (we live in a golden age of tv series right now...a lot of good stuff!). Some favourites: Spartacus, Vikings, Game of Thrones, Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis, the new Battlestar Galactica, Sherlock, Fringe, Elementary, Arrow, Big Bang Theory ...

I guess that's it 

[Meyna]

My latest venture in World of Warcraft: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOCm_KYo1qs

Pretty cool stuff Meyna. I don't know enough about WoW to know if this is impressive or not, but I liked the video (music was especially entertaining )

edit:
seriously, not sure why, but I listened to it twice because of the music.

After an expansion or two, encounters that were originally designed for groups of 25-40 become possible to "solo". There is a meta game that has arisen that revolves around pushing soloing as far as it can go (the best soloers are actually having success with current-expansion, 10-player content). The encounter that I did is currently a rite of passage for soloers, where next expansion it will become trivial and certain harder encounters will become the benchmark. It's not too difficult right now, but definitely takes some preparation.

In the end, most of the allure comes from juxtaposing soloing an encounter with the memory of requiring a large group to complete it just a few years ago. For example, here is the world-first victory of the encounter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSeVCw3hVgQ

Thanks for the compliment!

[sciborg2]

I spend my days contemplating how I will amass enough magical energy to arrive at Copenhagen without my enemies becoming aware, ideally giving me enough time to free the Mermaid trapped in Carbonite.

"...The image to be held before one is that every act by every person has an effect on all, changing the delicate balance that keeps the universe in motion. Therefore, it was considered necessary by the alchemists to so conduct their work and their lives, which were really the same thing, as if the salvation of the world depended upon it.”

 -June Singer, Androgyny

[mrganondorf]

Sorry, it's taken me too long to contribute!

Meep:
- philosophy adjunct--had to teach too many courses to pay the bills--now burned out
- working on fulfilling my new dream of becoming a nurse!!!
- love american football!!!
- NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
- crazy about chuck palahniuk (praise the early chuck!)
- crazy about bakker, tolkien, jonathan strange, gormenghast, abercrombie, harry potter, pg wodehouse, vonnegut, flannery, gaiman, GEORGE SAUNDERS, charles yu, shalom auslander, christopher moore…idk
- really love junk food: give me sugar or grease/cheese/meat/fried stuff
- i like pearl jam

[Wilshire]

Did not like Gormenghast.

Thanks for the life story synopsis MG .  I think we'd get along pretty well if ever I run into you on the street.

[mrganondorf]

Maybe some day there'll be a Bakker convention and everyone on TSA can drink until we all see the No-God!

I can understand not liking Gormenghast.  Some glaciers move faster.  Do you like audiobooks?  Simon Preeble reads Gormenghast and is wonderful if you're every inclined to try it again. 

It is very sad that Mervyn Peake died with so much of Gormenghast unwritten.  The world is poorer for it.  If I get to heaven, I want to read the rest. 

[Wilshire]

I can understand not liking Gormenghast.  Some glaciers move faster. 

So very, very true.

Do you like audiobooks?  Simon Preeble reads Gormenghast and is wonderful if you're every inclined to try it again. 

This is how I started. I listened to several hours of it and just couldn't find anything interesting about it. I know its supposed to be a good book, but I just didn't like what I was hearing.
I refuse to bash the merits of a book that I have not finished, so I'll not say if the book itself was good/bad. I simply didn't want to invest the time into trying to figure it out one way or the other.

It is very sad that Mervyn Peake died with so much of Gormenghast unwritten.  The world is poorer for it.  If I get to heaven, I want to read the rest. 

Another reason why I stopped. Didn't want another Dune situation. One can only take so much disappointment.