What Are You In To?

[Tristan]

What are your hobbies/passions/interests? Do you have any projects or interests that you'd like to do or learn about? 

I'm passionate about writing; I've been writing ever since I learned to read (I'm a slightly better at it now than I was at four years old, though). My goal in life is to publish a book, but I'm so self-conscious about my writing that nothing is ever good enough for people to read, so that makes it a little difficult. Lol I did enjoy the writing exercise in the Creator's Corner forum I did a few days ago, but that was just a quick story I whipped up to distract myself for a few minutes, so if anyone happens to see that post, please don't judge my writing ability off of that.  

I'm also a bit of a gamer. I love games with strong stories, like KotOR, Pillars of Eternity, and Assassin's Creed games. I'm currently playing Thief, which I like quite a bit. Of course I'm also a big reader, like I assume most people in this forum are. Sanderson is my author crush, along with Naomi Novik.

I used to have quite a bit of artistic skill when I was growing up, but public education art classes killed that for me. Now, however, I'm trying to rekindle my love for art by practicing watercolor painting. I'd also like to learn archery, because I think it's totally badass (excuse my language, but it really is). 

Anyway, that's what I'm up to these days, now what are YOU in to?   (...or is it 'into?' Well, you get what I'm saying.)

[StrikerEZ he/him]

I'm into (in to? I don't know either) lots of things these days. The main ones are playing/making/listening to music, reading, and writing.

Music is a fairly new passion to me. I joined band in 6th grade and got put on the clarinet. I wasn't very good at first, and I didn't truly take it very seriously until...I can't exactly remember when, but it was going into high school as marching season started. Something just clicked with me. I really truly care about band, and I love playing my instrument (well instruments, because I play bass clarinet as well now). I'm not sure what exactly sparked this passion in me, I think it might've been my band director of one of the drum majors (who happened to be our tenor sax soloist), but ever since then, I've known exactly what I want to do with my life. I want to go on to be become a band director.

As well, on the side I've begun to listen to and create electronic music. I create music using this app called Auxy, which makes it really easy to just plug in notes until a melody forms and then I just go from there. My only problem with that is that I seem to run out of inspiration to finish a song, and the longest song I've made so far is just a little over two minutes. Besides that, my tastes in music to listen to are widely varied. While I don't mind the pop stuff, I don't really like it all that much (except for a few songs), though they can be quite catchy. Like the music I make, I listen to electronic music, ranging from dubstep to house to trance. Alongside that, I also really enjoy listening to classical and modern orchestral music-a whole lot different from electronic music. As well, I love listening to DCI shows just for the music (but it's so much better with the visual too), which is absolutely amazing.

I really like to read. Over the past 6-7 years, I think I've read well over 200 books. I just love reading, and I haven't really found a book I didn't like in some way, except for the really advanced, boring stuff (I once read a book for English in 6th grade where I didn't understand every third word). Of course, I've found book that truly outshine others (such as Brandon Sanderson's), and I've noticed flaws in others, but I've never hated a book before. I just think too much work and effort goes into a book, so there's no way I'd ever be able to bring myself to absolutely hate a book.

Writing has always been something I've really enjoyed, but teachers have always made it so boring and just not fun for me. I can come up with good ideas, or at least I hope they're good, but I have a hard time getting those ideas out on paper. For awhile, I tried to ignore writing and focus just on music (which I love), but I can't seem to ever escape writing. I just love it too much, and I want to get these amazing worlds I've created in my head onto paper. While I want to be a band director, the idea of also writing on the side is really enticing.

[kenod]

Reading fantasy (otherwise I wouldn't be here) and sometimes science fiction, programming (mainly c++) and games (currently Warframe and Elite: Dangerous). I also like world building, but I don't really write anything down.

[Hemalurgic Headshot he/him]

@StrikerEZ, you say you make electronic music? I think that's great-- dubstep is my music of choice, and I'd like to make my own, but I've had trouble finding a program that can meet my expectations and fit my delusions of grandeur. I'll have to try Auxy. Perhaps you could PM me some of your music?

[StrikerEZ he/him]

34 minutes ago, Hemalurgic_Headshot said:

@StrikerEZ, you say you make electronic music? I think that's great-- dubstep is my music of choice, and I'd like to make my own, but I've had trouble finding a program that can meet my expectations and fit my delusions of grandeur. I'll have to try Auxy. Perhaps you could PM me some of your music?

Sure, I could PM you right now. Let me get some of my music ready (although it's most WIPs).

[Tristan]

3 hours ago, StrikerEZ said:

Music is a fairly new passion to me. I joined band in 6th grade and got put on the clarinet. I wasn't very good at first, and I didn't truly take it very seriously until...I can't exactly remember when, but it was going into high school as marching season started. Something just clicked with me. I really truly care about band, and I love playing my instrument (well instruments, because I play bass clarinet as well now). I'm not sure what exactly sparked this passion in me, I think it might've been my band director of one of the drum majors (who happened to be our tenor sax soloist), but ever since then, I've known exactly what I want to do with my life. I want to go on to be become a band director.

As well, on the side I've begun to listen to and create electronic music. I create music using this app called Auxy, which makes it really easy to just plug in notes until a melody forms and then I just go from there. My only problem with that is that I seem to run out of inspiration to finish a song, and the longest song I've made so far is just a little over two minutes. Besides that, my tastes in music to listen to are widely varied. While I don't mind the pop stuff, I don't really like it all that much (except for a few songs), though they can be quite catchy. Like the music I make, I listen to electronic music, ranging from dubstep to house to trance. Alongside that, I also really enjoy listening to classical and modern orchestral music-a whole lot different from electronic music. As well, I love listening to DCI shows just for the music (but it's so much better with the visual too), which is absolutely amazing.

That is awesome, I played clarinet, too! (I was only ever average at best, though.) The world definitely needs more musicians. The world also needs people who follow their callings. Sounds like you're 2 for 2

@StrikerEZ @kenod What's your favorite book(s)?

[Jedal he/him]

Similar to you, I also enjoy writing. I'm not super active about it, since I'm actually a pretty terrible reader(I skim most of the writing, I only read for plot).

 

But I try to make interesting concepts.

[StrikerEZ he/him]

@Tristan As of right now, my favorite books are Mistborn, The Reckoners, the SYLO trilogy, the Insignia trilogy, the Old Kingdom series, the Jackaby series, the Atherton trilogy, Six of Crows (and Crooked Kingdom), Wings of Fire, Lorien Legacies, and The Young Elites.

There are several other books/series I love, but these are my favorites.

[Tristan]

33 minutes ago, StrikerEZ said:

@Tristan As of right now, my favorite books are Mistborn, The Reckoners, the SYLO trilogy, the Insignia trilogy, the Old Kingdom series, the Jackaby series, the Atherton trilogy, Six of Crows (and Crooked Kingdom), Wings of Fire, Lorien Legacies, and The Young Elites.

There are several other books/series I love, but these are my favorites.

I've only heard of a couple of these. I'll have to check the rest of them out

[StrikerEZ he/him]

37 minutes ago, Tristan said:

I've only heard of a couple of these. I'll have to check the rest of them out

If you need helping finding them, I can tell you the authors' names.

[Sunbird she/her]

@StrikerEZ Does SYLO stand for something?

[StrikerEZ he/him]

45 minutes ago, Sunbird said:

@StrikerEZ Does SYLO stand for something?

Yes, but that is a major spoiler. The book series is called SYLO. I think, at least. Let me go check.

EDIT: It's actually The SYLO Chronicles

Edited April 3, 2017 by StrikerEZ

[kenod]

@Tristan All Brandon Sanderson books, Dresden Files, WoT. I've also started reading The Culture. Other than that, whatever weird thing catches my eye at that point.

[A Budgie she/her]

I like reading and writing as well (what a surprise) but also playing the guitar and piano. Also cooking, especially pastries.
Finally, I do in fact enjoy school at times. Some of my classes are really interesting.

[Zeldan he/him]

I like to read, write, sketch, and play video games. Unfortunately, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and I need motivation, so if I make small errors, or if people don't tell me my work is good often enough, I tend to drop whatever it is I'm working on out of frustration, and then play video games for hours, which means I don't get much done lol. I've got a massive story in my head, but every time I decide to sit down and write something, I always think of something better for the overall story, and end up having to scrap several pages of hard work. If I ever do finish writing this book, I'll probably be sixty lol. When it comes to sketching, I've had no formal training, so I make a lot of mistakes here, but I think I could be good if I put more effort into it, and maybe took class. Maybe one day...