Category Archives: Articles

Any of my Hobbies could be Someone’s Career

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As indicated by my Blog, I have a ton of hobbies, and I pick up new ones all the time (Fountain pens, Every Day Carry, and Lock picking for example). And as I move from hobby to hobby (not entirely from, I maintain several that the same time) I can’t help but think about some of the people I’m getting information from about these hobbies, and how for many of them it is a much more central part of their life.

I do do things for years, and I still enjoy many of my older hobbies as much as the new ones. But it is just something I can’t imagine doing to continue with only one hobby, developing skill set, or collection for as many years as I have been with all of my various collections, skill sets, and hobbies. But I am in debt to the people who do and provide me with such a wealth of information. I would never have learned as much about fountain pens, action figures (Jurassic Park, Star Wars, GI Joe, etc), knives, lock picking, and Chinese chess without these people.

I’m certainly the picture of the jack of all trades, and they are much closer to the master of one (I’m sure they have other hobbies and maybe jobs as well assuming they don’t do that for a living) and I certainly can’t say one is better than the other with how much they have helped me. I’ve considered stopping and concentrating on one thing for years but it just isn’t really in my personality. But many people have, and I could, make a career out of one of my many hobbies, and maybe I will yet.

So I’d like to thank everyone who both dedicates themselves to any one task in order to master it and share their knowledge online, and those others like me who absorb information from all over and can precipitate it throughout their social “networks”.

Simple Packing

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I’m sitting here right now about to get ready to leave on a trip, with a post I’m supposed to write, and two ideas written on a piece of paper in front of me that have been knocking around for a while.

I’m going to have to get up earlier than usual in the morning to get ready and leave for the trip, and at the time it is currently I don’t think I have the time to properly research and give my other topics their due space. So I’m going to write about packing because it’s on my mind.

I’ve never really needed to pack much. It would take me a little bit of the night before a two week trip to pack for said trip when I was younger and needed less things. It would still probably take me very little time, mainly a set or two of clothes and my EDC (everyday carry) bag to go on almost any trip today.

Unfortunately, I have recently taken to both packing in the morning and needing to take more things to “keep up” with work. I inevitably rarely use said things, but I take them and am paranoid about leaving many of them (these are mainly notebooks and computer accessories). These two things lead me to being needlessly worried on my trips.

So I started two procedures that I hope to finally fully flesh out this trip. Having a Travel Checklist (which my parents do) and having most of my things in pre-prepared bags. For instance I use my EDC bag every day and taking it along is no real problem. I also use a travel toiletries bag in my bathroom to keep things organized and it is very simple to just zip it up and take it with me.

Having pre-defined bags like that (or say, my computer case that has slots that I use for only certain accessories) has helped me quite a bit in getting ready in the past, but the human brain is a forgetful thing. And my brain in particular worries quite a bit about the things that I forget. This is where the checklist comes in. I have so many other checklists in my life I don’t know why it never occurred to me to make a packing one (maybe because in the morning when I was getting ready it was too much {and I did make one when I was moving, but that’s a bit different}).

Adding a packing checklist to my simple taking bags that I have specifically integrated into my life so I can both use them everyday and take them on trips is the perfect way to round out the system. And it allows for me to add things to the list that aren’t already in my bags and might not need to be taken (like say, camping equipment) and it makes the whole system much more flexible.

So that’s what I’ll be doing for this trip; if it works, this post might be the end of it, if it doesn’t, I will be making an update. I’ll see how it goes.

Inspiring Lives

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This is an article I’ve been thinking about writing for a long time. It’s just been sitting in my queue for a long time, as I continued to feel that I needed to do more research in order to convey my message properly. But I think I have changed my mind. I think the idea that I am trying to convey can be better understood if one applies it themselves and doesn’t just have me listing of the flaws of famous people. Perhaps I have to explain things a little better before that sentence makes sense.

People talk all the time about people that are inspiring to them and most of this is due to specific things a person did, either in the face of adversity, or driving innovation. Many times, though, it can be found that these people who are great in the eyes of history for having done something great were much less than great in their personal lives, or even other parts of their public lives we rarely hear about. I could easily spout off a set of names of famous people who weren’t that great on many occasions, but that might just be boring and feel like padding*.

But does this lack of being great people in aspects of their lives we don’t remember them for make them less inspiring? One could say that it’s more subjective than that (the answer is already subjective) or that the punishment (of your future lack of being inspired by a person) should fit the crime better. A person who was a petty thief at times would be more inspiring than someone who did a thing equally inspiring but was a mass murderer. But that argument doesn’t entirely convince me.

This gets brought up a lot nowadays, especially when talking about Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla (for the record, both of them were crazy and didn’t treat other people very well). People having been brought up thinking Edison was a genius and being inspired by his story seem all to eager to jump on the Tesla bandwagon and talk about how much Edison sucked. But I’m not really convinced that makes Edison’s tale a less inspiring one. True, one shouldn’t strive to imitate the man exactly, but the story of a man with very little formal education becoming one of the world’s best-known inventors through almost sheer will is indeed inspiring.

I think that what “inspires” the newer generations shouldn’t be complete pictures of a person. While those should be disseminated and understood, it is almost necessary to look only at the good or great things that a person has done to motivate yourself. Telling myself the flaws of a “great” person is a de-motivator, and encourages my personal laziness. To say “Wow! If this person could accomplish that as 25 just think of what I could do?” is much more motivating than “Well, I’m 25 and I haven’t done that, but I haven’t gambled away my family fortune like him either, so I’m net even”. Almost every time.

 

 

*Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, Charles Dickens, John Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Nikola Tesla, Helen Keller, anyone who is famous for being a general (e.g. Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Charlemagne, George Patton, Bernard Montgomery, etc). And now I’m just tired of making a list, but basically any artist, writer, inventor, or politician seems to fit the bill.

What I Need

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I’ve bought quite a few things in my lifetime: from action figures to board games, to tools, to art supplies, to the things I carry every day. But did I really need any of that stuff? Probably not. I could probably argue that my EDC (every-day carry) stuff is pretty necessary in my day-to-day life based on how much I use it, but I don’t think it would qualify in anybody’s bare-bone definition of “need”.

What everyone needs is obviously food, water, (in theory) shelter, and the ability to obtain those items. All of the things I “needed” to complete those collections, fill out my EDC, or upgrade my toolset probably weren’t that necessary. But I think I did “need” some of them. Not in the “food and water equals life” sense, but in the “helps me obtain life necessities” sense (the tools), and in the “I have enough resources to get something extra that doesn’t interfere with basic survival” sense.

They might not be things I need, but I can afford them without taking away from mine (or anyone else’s) means of living. In many cases I’m either supporting the company that makes them directly, or the endeavors of the local charity shops. And since I take good care of my stuff I end up with a lot of it, and with a lot of it comes the constant need to justify what I “need”. Do I “need” all of this stuff? If not, why do I have it? Well, I like it, it lets me have fun, and in several cases it gives me an activity to do with friends. It helps me learn new skills to both simply be a more educated person and help friends and family who might be in need.

Now most of it is me just asking myself, but sometimes it’s other people asking “do you really need all of this?” or “What are you gonna do with that thing?” And really, I admit to not being the best person ever, but: I’ve given to people who needed it, donated to charities, recycled and reused many of my disposable items, not stolen from anyone, gotten my basic needs taken care of, and not created a giant pile of stuff that will fall over and kill me or breed disease like a cesspool. I think I can decide I’m at a point where what I “need” isn’t all that needs to be considered when I intend to purchase something.

Now that’s not to say I buy things at random, or that I should “over buy”. Or that I’m too high and mighty to consider what I really need. But I think that I (or you) after basic needs are taken care of (food, water, shelter, safety, backups, etc) have been taken care of, shouldn’t have to justify absolutely every purchase in my mind or to others with “needing” it. It overcomplicates things and puts too much emotional influence on the object. It’s just a thing, and I like things, but I don’t need them.

A Few Interesting Things Part 2 – 7 Day Pill Case, Car Piggy Bank, and Cups for 4

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I think is has been long enough since the last slight peek into my collection to do another in my “few interesting things” series. This one will be container themed (I guess you could say the last one was “wood” themed).

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The first thing I have is something that I picked up rather recently and would have been innovative closer to when it was made. It’s a “7-days Pill Box Set”. Or in other words, a China-made leatherette zipper case with 7 plastic vials and labels inside. The person I bought it from said they were going to keep bug specimens in it, fortunately for one trying its intended purpose he never got around to it. The company that “made” (read: Imported) it seems to still be around as a “Hospice/Healthcare” provider.

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Next item up I actually have two of. I was given one when I was very little from my local bank. It’s a Studebaker Model/Piggy Bank. I damaged my original one by cutting open the plastic cover (instead of removing it) because the screws were security type and I wanted my change out of it for some reason. Fortunately I found one at a thrift store for a small price and was able to get a working one for myself again. It’s a nice bank, it’s metal and real heavy. It even rolls.

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And finally, I have a thing I have almost no information on. Cups for 4 is a set of four plastic inlaid cups in a leather zipper case. They seem to be of different sizes but are at least more portable. It even has a cap to hold it all together. Unfortunately it hasn’t aged well and cracks in the bottom of each cup prevent them from being used on an outing, but it’s still a good idea and I don’t know why I haven’t seen more.