| SAT SEP 4 2010 |
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My Hobbies Below are a few of my hobbies. I have other hobbies and interests, but these are probably the ones I enjoy the most currently. Juggling | SCUBA Diving | Skiing/Snowboarding |
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JUGGLING Juggling is a hobby that I've had for over ten years. I first learned to juggle three balls by watching my dad juggle oranges. After I learned the basics I read all of the juggling books from the library including the ever popular, Juggling for the Complete Klutz (see picture). When I talk with people, I find that many people learned to juggle from this book. Another good book with a lot of pictures was Juggling with Finesse by Kit Summers. I read these books cover to cover several times and learned some three ball tricks and four ball patterns. One other classic book that discusses the broad spectrum of juggling is The Complete Juggler by Dave Finnigan. Later on, in college I met someone who juggled clubs and he lent me a set of clubs to practice with. They were a set of Jugglebugs (see picture), which were not the best clubs to learn with because they can be hard on your hands and wrists. In any case, he was nice enough to lend them to me and I happily practiced with them every day for a couple of weeks when I eventually began to feel comfortable juggling them. After I had the hang of it, I returned the clubs, and mail-ordered my first set of clubs (some Renegade spotlights). Renegade didn't have a web site back then. You had to actually order out of a catalog. :) Being the enthusiastic young juggler that I was, I got impatient waiting for them to arrive and made some temporary clubs out of PVC pipes. My college friend and I practiced together frequently and we later became juggling partners and also started a juggling club at our university. My younger brother also got into juggling and the three of us performed together whenever we got a gig. We performed at the Orange Blossom Festival for the first four years as well as other festivals and gatherings. My brother and I were also members of the International Jugglers' Association for several years and attended juggling festivals in Las Vegas. We also attended juggling clubs in the Inland Empire and Orange County. Now we all have full-time jobs and it is just a fun hobby again. I still love to juggle and I usually do it for at least a few minutes every day. It's great to do while watching TV. PROPS Below are the props I currently have in my "arsenal"
THE JOY OF JUGGLING / FINAL THOUGHTS Watching a good juggling performance can be amazing, mesmerizing and inspiring. The enjoyment and appreciation is amplified even more so for the juggler in the audience. The juggler realizes that a single trick in a routine may have taken the performer hundreds of hours to perfect. A juggler can transform a few simple objects into visual poetry. Jugglers can be smooth like Michael Moschen or Michael Menes or they can be radical like Sean McKinney, Jason Garfield, or Jay Gilligan. One thing all of these jugglers have in common is their skill, creativity and originality. Michael Moschen has transformed his skills into an artform. When you meet a fellow juggler there is almost an instant bond that is formed as both people appreciate each other's skills and love of the art. If you have never tried juggling, you should try it. With some proper instruction and technique, it is not as difficult as it seems and you too may experience the joy of juggling. SKIING/SNOWBOARDING I've been skiing since 1990 and snowboarding since 2000. Now I pretty much snowboard exclusively. Sometimes people ask me how I like boarding or whether I think skiing or boarding is better. I usually say that I like boarding better and I think the reason why is that the learning curve is not as steep. Of course that's debatable, but that's just IMHO. I can probably board more difficult terrain than I can ski. So for me, the learning curve for snowboarding was definitely faster than skiing. One may say that snowboarding was easier because I already knew how to ski and that may be so. I don't know though, they're not really all that similar. I've seen skiers fall the whole day while learning to snowboard. Which brings up another point. In the short term skiing is definitely easier than boarding. The first day learning to ski you may only fall five times the whole day if you take it easy. The "wedge" maneuver that you learn on skis takes a little bit more time to pick up on a snowboard. You are almost guaranteed to fall the whole day your first day on a snowboard. At least that's what I've seen from learning myself and watching other people. If this sounds like you, don't give up or get frustrated. It gets *much* easier after a few days on the mountain. Another FAQ is where have I skied/boarded. I have pretty much done all of the local resorts such as Mt High, Snow Summit, Bear Mtn, Mt Baldy and Snow Valley. I have definitely skied and boarded "High" the most just because it is the closest. I have also enjoyed the slopes of Mammoth more than a few times and recently did Tahoe. SOME PLACES I WOULD LIKE TO SKI/BOARD IN THE FUTURE - Tahoe (DONE, Mar 2005): Heavenly, Kirkwood, Squaw Valley - Colorado: Aspen, Crested Butte, Steamboat, Vail - Montana - Utah - Swiss Alps - Chilean Andes - New Zealand - Canada, Whistler, etc. If you have any input about any of the above places, or have a suggestion of where I should go, let me know. THE JOY OF BOARDING / FINAL THOUGHTS Skiing or boarding down a mountain as fast as you can can be exhilarating and sometimes even a little frightening (God please don't let me catch an edge!) It's a great adrenaline rush. Other times I enjoy just taking it easy, cruising, enjoying the sun, trees and clean air. The lift ride is also a nice time to just enjoy the beauty of nature. Powder- Of course, you can't talk about skiing or boarding without talking about powder. Boarding on powder is the best. The snow is soft and your board cuts through it like a hot knife cuts through butter. Carving becomes so effortless and smooth and it is an awesome feeling. Unfortunately we don't see too much of it in Southern California. When we do though, it's a joy to experience. SCUBA DIVING Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air... -- Ralph Waldo Emerson Either you decide to stay in the shallow end of the pool or you go out in the ocean. -- Christopher Reeve OCEAN, n. A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man – who has no gills. -- Ambrose Bierce O LORD, what a variety of things you have made! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures. Here is the ocean, vast and wide, teeming with life of every kind, both great and small. -- Psalm 104:24-25 (NLT) SCUBA Haikus by Robert, 06.07.2004
PICTURES Here are some SCUBA pictures; most were taken with my point and shoot digital camera (Sony DSC-P5) and U/W housing. It's a very simple and compact setup. In July '03 I got an arm, light and color filter for it, which has helped to add some color to my pictures. I would like to get a strobe or two, but think I will wait a while and hopefully get a better setup. - Cayman Dive Trip, August 2004 - Oahu Dives, July 2004 - Catalina Boat Dives, May 2004 - Lake Mohave Dives, Jan 2004 - Reef Point Dives, Nov 2003 - Cleo Street Dives, Nov 2003 - Laguna Beach Dives, Nov 2003 - Casino Point Dives, Nov 2003 - Catalina Boat Dives, Nov 2003 - Yukon & Ruby E Wreck Dives, Sep 2003 - Cozumel Dives, Sep 2003 - Catalina Boat Dives, Aug 2003 - Casino Point Dives, Aug 2003 - Yukon Wreck Dives, Jun 2003 - Scuba Rescue Class, Feb 2003 - Lake Perris Dive, Feb 2003 - Yukon & Ruby E Wreck Dives, Oct 2002 - Casino Point Dives, Oct 2002 - Oahu Dives, June 2001 BACKGROUND Diving is one of my newer hobbies. As a kid living in Jeddah in the 80s, my parents used to take me to the beach and we would go snorkeling in the Red Sea. I remember the brilliant colors and abundance of life there. I guess it was only natural that one day I would get into diving. In the summer of 2000 I took a SCUBA resort course at the Sandals Ochos Rios and did my first dives off the North coast of Jamaica. We did two boat dives that day and it was great. I loved the experience and knew that I wanted to do it again. The following year I went to Oahu, Hawaii and dove with two different dive shops: AAA Diving and Aaron's Dive Shop. I also went snorkeling a couple of days in Hanauma Bay. As many of you probably know (but for those who don't), it's a great place to snorkel but you have to get there early because it gets really crowded later in the day. There is tons of marine life to see including some huge parrot fish. Also if you get lucky you may see a sea turtle or two. They are on the outer bay. A side note is that the bay is closed one day a week. Fish need a weekend too. :) After returning from Hawaii, I decided to get certified. I had heard that PADI was the largest diving agency, so I went to the PADI web site, found a dive shop in Orange County and completed my open water certification. There are other diving agencies such as NAUI, SSI and PDIC to name a few. Being PADI-certified, I'm not going to say that PADI is the best or the worst certifying agency. It is the largest however, and that was important to me so that my certification would be recognized around the world. Arguing over which agency is the best or the worst seems kind of silly and ridiculous to me. If you've been in diving for any amount of time, you've probably heard enough debates over the topic to last a lifetime. If you haven't and are seriously interested, you can go to a search engine like Google and type in "PADI vs. NAUI" and see what you come up with. From my standpoint, I'm sure they all offer pretty much the same fundamental material and the rest is up to the instructor and the student. If you have a good instructor he/she will make sure the students learn what they need to learn to be safe. It is then up to the student to continue their education through practice, supplemental training, books, magazines, videos, etc. For example, I subscribe to and read four diving magazines (Scuba Diving, Skin Diver, Dive Training, California Diving News) and watch almost everything my TiVo finds on SCUBA. There are actually a lot of shows and specials on diving on the Learning channel, Discovery channel, Travel channel, History channel and National Geographic channel. Sorry, I got a little side-tracked in that last paragraph. Anyway continuing my story, about a year later, not having done much diving (but wanting to dive more), I started searching for a reliable dive buddy. (In diving it is strongly recommended that you dive in pairs). I tried to convince my SO at the time, but she wasn't interested. So, I convinced my bro' to get certified. BTW, if you want to convince someone to get certified it helps to sign them up for a birthday present. ;) He got OW certified, I got "refreshed" (refresher course) and since that time we have both completed the following certifications: Advanced Open Water, Wreck Specialty, Medic First Aid and Rescue Diver. Not too long ago I also completed the Divemaster certification. SOME PLACES I WOULD LIKE TO DIVE IN THE FUTURE - Australia - Cairns/Great Barrier Reef - Bahamas - Cayman Islands (DONE, Aug 2004) - Channel Islands - Cozumel (DONE, Sep 2003) - Florida - Key Largo, Crystal River - Galapagos Islands - Monterey - Red Sea |