What hobbies interest you but bore everyone else to tears? What could you talk about endlessly if someone would listen? Do you have friends who share your interest? What about your partner?

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2000

Answers

Beth, this one was waaaaay too easy a shot--on-line journals, of course!

Otherwise, my bird, myself, children's books, Jane Austen, and English etymology.

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2000

DOGS! Specifically Rottweilers. I can tell you more about my dog's ancestors (up to five generations back if not more) then I can about my own. Thank goodness for other dog people who are just as obsessed and love to talk pedigrees for hours on end. I've had the winter doldrums, as I don't get out to dog shows much when the weather is bad, but now that spring is here I am out and about training and trialling and showing and talking dogs once again! My partner likes dogs, but no, he is not obsessed with them. He listens for a bit whenever I am dying to discuss a new breeding or bloodline, but I'm not if he retains any of it... Doesn't matter though, I'll talk to myself about it if need be!

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2000

Poor Beth. I should introduce you to my mom. She is in the same predicament you are... a gardener with no green ear to turn to.

My obsessions are so damn homemaker it makes me sick. One is, of course, babies and pregnancy. But I think it would be a bad sign if I weren't obsessed over these things.

My other obsession that nobody seems to understand is my paper art hobby. My family got mad at me because I wanted to leave the family party early so I could get over to the paper art store before it closed. Nobody would blink an eye if my mom wanted to get to Home Depot before it closed, damnit!

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2000

You know, I haven't had a real obsession since I kicked that MajorMUD habit... but when I was obsessed... oh. my. buddha. Look out! It's all I thought about! It's all I did! I would race home from work to make sure that my character was still online and alive... and if I was close to leveling? Screw work, I'd call in. Whenever I'd have a party, it would inevitably end up being me and a bunch of guys in the kitchen talking about the game, and all the rest of the people that didn't play the game (like three) sitting in the living room bored out of their mind. I tried to include them, really I did! But that game was just so damn consuming... it was a drug, I tell you!

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2000

Hi, I'm Sarah, and I'm a web addict. Actually that's not entirely true - I do have friends and a job and a life offline, but none of those people can understand my fascination for reading journals, chatting, online games, or even forums. While I don't think I would really want to discuss any of those topics with the enthusiasm that you have for gardening talk, Beth, I do get a bit tired of the quizzical looks people give me when I mention online friends or interests. I guess I'm just a geek at heart...

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2000

I could talk for hours about classic movies. No one else finds them as endlessly thrilling as I do, though. I can force my friends to watch certain ones, and they profess to enjoy them, but they don't get quite as excited as I do. They don't want to hear the life story of every star I love (both Hepburns, Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman). They don't watch the movies for style tips. They think I'm weird when I tie a scarf around my neck, put on big dark sunglasses and feel as glamorous as an alcoholic movie star from the 1940s. They don't understand that, when I was in Paris, the only thing I wanted to do was find the spot along the Seine where Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn walked in that scene from Charade where she spills ice cream on him. Luckily, my sister sort of shares my obsession. I tell her whenever something exciting happens (like when I see a picture of Gregory Peck that I'd never seen before). She understands.

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2000

*Sigh* I could talk forever about old books, about obscure corners of history, about writers no one else remembers... fortunately, a few other over-educated ne'er-do-wells hang out at my local pub, and we can all discuss the same things...

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2000

I am full-on obsessed with home improvements of any kind. We bought our first house last July, and have sunk every damn cent we have into it, with no end in sight. And I'm not talking maintenance, because it was brand new. I'm talking about how we were given this clean slate and now we spend all our time money and energy into making filling it up with personality. I talk about it way too much.

When I excitedly told my 21 year old secretary that we've decided to take out a loan and have the kitchen and downstairs bathroom floors redone in hardwood, her face said it all. The dull, blank stare. The half-hearted smile, polished off with a flat, "Oh, really?" I knew then I had been talking too much about stuff that mattered to no one except me and my husband.

Beth, you have shown me how lucky I am that my husband is as excited about these things as I am. He is right there with me when I tell him my plans for decorating the guest room, and has no problem with the fact that he will have to do the painting since he has the steady hand and I have the eye for color. He agrees that the overhead light in the kitchen that came with the house is an atrocity, and should be replaced - stat! He understands when I tell him that the walkway to the front door is all wrong aesthetically and must be jackhammered away and then relayed in a lovely way that I just happen to have diagrammed out for him. He will talk about this stuff with me as long as I want him to, because it's truly as important and thrilling to him as it is to me. I wish Jeremy loved gardening as you do. If I couldn't talk to Charlie about these things, I would surely go Daffy Duck into the sunset. Hang in there!

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2000

Oh, and Beth? However did you manage to get Doc's tongue such a beautiful shade of red? It's a lovely contrast against the black.

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2000

I feed him on the blood of people who use the word "co-ed" in a non-joking manner. It does wonders.

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2000

I'm with Lisa. Online journals. Not the theories behind them, but the journals themselves. I've managed to drag Kevin in somewhat (he reads you, Beth, even before me. And Lisa and Pamie and Stee) and a few of my local friends, but they're just not as obssessive as I am. I'm reduced to disguising my habit with vague references, "I read an 'article' online where..." It's pathetic.

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2000

I have had an obsession with various things at various times.

Currently, it is my new business venture and thinking of ways to market it and make it expand (news to follow). Also, my partner and I are planning a trip cross country in the motor home. We are leaving in a couple of weeks so the obsession is not to miss anything along the way and finding out ALL the information I possibly could about a given place. I am also taking my journal along and will update on the road. Should be interesting.

In the past, I have had an obsession with Franciscan Starburst dishes and collecting them. I also collect antique radios from the 30s, 40s and 50s and have about 50 or so of them. On these two subjects, I am well versed although I've begged off on the obsessive collecting as of late.

Of course, online journals -- mine and others.

My partner has had a collecting obsession with all things mermaid and has a large collection. Although, he claims that it is mostly the people around him that have the obsession with getting him things with a mermaid spin to it.

Obsessive? Compulsive? Fanatic? Me? Naahhhh.

Michael of The Road Trip (going on a road trip)

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2000

I love paperclips, man, nobody gets that one! Paperclips, journals, and David Morse, that's all I need to make me happy.

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2000

Boys, the Internet, my writing projects, my art projects (the ones assigned for school right now are just frightening. I'm spending my weekend doing something with toothpicks. Oy!), semi-silly teenage movies, egg rolls (favorite food). Almost everything I like those around me find to not be very interesting. (Then again, I hang out with science/engineering/computer-obsessed people, mostly males, so I guess that's a given)

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2000

Totally fixated on make -up! I own over 300 lipsticks and a whole spectrum of eye shadows, blushers and pencils . I can't pass a drug store without getting a real urge to go in - beauty counters in department stores are my downfall - my mouth literally starts to water !

The odd thing is though is that the make up I wear is really quite minimal most days and normally the same combination - ie brown lipstick, browny shades of eyeshadow etc. For a party though I love spending a good hour applying glittter, false eyelashes and vamp red lipstick. Make up has always interested me in the way it is a kind of alchemy - all those potions, tubes and mysterious ingredients! I secretly long to become a make up / theatrical make up artist!

-- Anonymous, April 08, 2000

Jenn, I do the same thing. To avoid being sickeningly repetative, I say, "I read in an article somewhere..." instead of an on-line journal. Its depressing that reading journals--something I find to be so worth my time--holds absolutely no appeal to most of the people I know.

Right now I'm addicted to interior design journals and books. We're buying a house and I plan to go happily into more debt by spiffing it up. I also love to read books about psychic phenomina, like Rosemary Altea's books. And new-age-y books by Gary Zukov and Neal Donald Walsch. Again, most people don't want to hear about that kind of thing which is frustrating. My spouse's current addiction is on-line cribbage which is better than his previous one: Magic cards. Hoo-boy I was not a good gamer's wife, as much as I tried to be...

-- Anonymous, April 08, 2000

Horses and horse sports, especially dressage and eventing (like horsey triathalon). I'm fortunate enough to live on a horse farm, but most of my friends are musicians, artists and computer jockeys who find my little hobby "quaint" and are bemused by my one-track mind. Frankly, I don't blame them--who wants to listen to a recitation of Ol' Dobbin's bloodlines back to the 18th century?

I met my hubby thru horses--he took just enough riding lessons from me to get into my pants, and quit while he was ahead (riding, that is). He's since picked up mountain biking as a hobby, as I'm gone nearly every weekend from April through October at various events. Poor guy. Don't think he quite knew what he was getting into ...

-- Anonymous, April 08, 2000

Oh Lise, you & I would get along just dandy! I switched from being horse-obsessed to dog-obsessed because no one around here has horses, but quite a few do have dogs. I miss my horsey friends and so do my horses...

-- Anonymous, April 08, 2000

Um. That would be dolls. Mostly older hard plastic ones from the 1950's or so, with hats. And then there's doll furniture...If you want to see what I'm talking about, visit my website: http://home.austin.rr.com/vidadoll I didn't used to be a doll person; I thought they were as ridiculous as you do--It just sort of snuck up on me. Lately I've slacked off on the doll obsession and started looking for vintage clothes for myself--actually cheaper than doll clothes--heh. Cool old hats, 40's suits and platform shoes...Oh, if I could just dress like that every day. I do read a lot of online journals, but I wouldn't say I'm obsessed with them. It's just that Beth, Dana, Stee, Kymm, Ken, Pamie et al are so funny... I've always thought that the answer to obsession is to branch out, and while this doesn't work with drugs and alcohol, (one just ends up addicted to everything) it works well for books, flowers, dolls, 50's furniture, clothes and makeup. Oh, maybe it's just the same. Dolls are cheaper than drugs, and everything else is cheaper than dolls.

-- Anonymous, April 08, 2000

Tea. No matter where I am, I must have access to boiling water, black tea, sugar, and milk at regular intervals. Until this is taken care of, I am a raving bitch. Once it's fixed, all is cool.

At home and at the office, I have: Lipton Yellow Label, Twinings Earl Grey, Twinings English Breakfast, Earl Grey with citrus (aka Russian Earl Grey or Lady Grey), orange and cinnamon tea, lemon tea, mint tea, chai, and Ricola herb tea (which isn't tea at all, just sugar and herbs). Also green and strawberry teas left behind by other people, which I consider undrinkable but am proud to offer to company as part of my amazing tea selection.

On a more cerebral plane, in the right company I will enjoy endless discussions about book publishing and the heroic role of copy editors therein, the mythology of Watergate and other "flashbulb" historical events, musical instrument design and playing technique, the industrial history of the computer business, left/green politics, and championship ice skating. Oh, and Buffy.

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2000

Bowling. Luckily, my friends and I have *all* gotten obsessed with bowling. It was one of those things that started when we were bored on a Saturday night and it was almost kitschy... a bunch of art students going bowling. But now we go every week. We don't talk about some wierd made-up "bowling lifestyle" and we aren't all about how hip bowling shirts look, we actually really care about our scores and say things (in all seriousness) like, "Damn, that's a pretty hard split to pick up."

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

Cats. And their bad little habits.

Normally I try to keep from talking about my cats too much because otherwise I'd be a full-on "crazy cat lady".

However, right now one of my cats is sick and I have to feed him through a tube. At first I thought he was going to die. So all of the people I come in contact with regularly know far too much about that particular situation.

Before I moved here, I had other friends with cats, and we had all lived together and with all of the cats, so when we got together, there was often at least some talk of whose cat was peeing on the floor and whose cat had gained how many pounds and whose cat was waking them up at 5:00 a.m., etc. We had to work very hard to control ourselves in front of others.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

I'm also obsessed with cats. Specifically MY cats. Even more specifically, my kitten. I would talk all day long about every little detail of everything she does if I weren't afraid someone would kill me for it.

I often write an entire cat entry in my journal and then have to delete it and start over so I don't bore the hell out of my readers. You'd understand if you ever saw my kitten in person, though. She's a total character.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

"I read an 'article' online that said [whatever]" is a useful artifice, but only when I want to repeat something factual. However, I, being a gossip, want to talk about the people. So I say "a friend of mine in Sacramento, Long Beach, Seattle, said this or that," and never name them.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

I had a very similiar situation to you Jolene. I too, fell deep into the MUD pit, while I was in college. I, along with a few friends became sooooo addicted and obsessed with the game that we'd skip classes, meals, sleep, and going out. I'd tell myself, ok I'm only going to be on for 20 minutes, only to look back at my watch to find 2 or 3 hours had passed!

On the occasion that we were able to pry ourselves from the lab for a meal, we'd all sit at the same table with a glazed look over our eyes from staring at scrolling text for a few hours. Instead of talking about current events, or class...we'd discuss the latest news of our MUD. What new equipment we got, who was pkilled by who, what level we made it to etc...etc... We lost a lot of our social usual social buddies, because we'd rather be on the computer, than be social. It was a sad, sad thing.

I ended up quiting the game cold turkey, so I haven't played in about 2 years. However, I've found a new addiction....it's called Everquest. It's similiar to MUD, except everything is 3d. If you were addicted to MUD you might want to stay away from this one, it's 100 times worse. ...now if only I can over come my everCRACK addiction.....

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

Fish. I just set up an aquarium in January, now I'm all about fish. I am sure I bore my friends and family to death with my PH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels. (Are you still reading?). I'm always trying to find a new place to put another tank in my apartment. I always want to go to the fish store. I talk about it constantly--what kind of fish I want next, what kind of food to buy, how big of a tank to get next. I now have two Bettas on my desk at work. I gave 2 to my boyfriend to get him hooked too. Heh. If they can't beat you, get them to join you! I always have the message boards from Aquarium Fish Magazine to keep me company.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

Babies, pregnancy and my blood sugars for starts.

Lately...

Sewing (made the wedding dress I wore on Saturday), gardening (I took off about half a tree to give my tomato patch enough sunshine), and finding new and exciting ways to say, "I'm going to bed."

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

Cathy, maybe you can answer a question a friend of mine asked me. He wants to breed his Rott, but he doesn't know anything about the breeding cycle. Any information about the entire process would be greatly appreciated. Hope to hear from you!

-- Anonymous, April 12, 2000

I've developed a borderline obsession regarding cross-stitch. This started shortly after our honeymoon, and had Tristan terrified, as he felt cross-stitch was something grandmothers did. I just love it - it's so relaxing. On a recent flight to South Africa I cross- stitched at least 9 hours of the 12 hour flight. It's what I do when I should be studying. I don't actually like doing pictures any more - I prefer to make up repetitive patterns involving colour spectrums, and work through those - maximum stitching, minimum thinking.

Other obsessions include buying books (I should have bought shares in Amazon), reorganising my wardrobe, and buying beauty products I have no use for. And rugby, that's my really big one. But I won't bore you now, suffice to say that it's impossible to grow up in New Zealand and not be obsessed with rugby.

-- Anonymous, April 12, 2000

Lisa and Julie! I'm so glad I'm not the only one sneakily interjecting journal-isms into conversations. It's still pathetic, but I feel less dirty now. I actually referred to Shelley the other day as "a friend of a friend" since I followed a link from Lisa to find her. "A friend of a friend did the cover for the Red Elvises album." How sad is that?

-- Anonymous, April 13, 2000