Choices: What's Slipped Away From You?

[Kingsmythe]

I've been working really hard on trying to get somewhere with my writing (see my sig file below). I write a lot, belong to both an on-line and in person local writers' group. I'm either actually writing, editing, researching, plotting, or editing things from my fellow writers a lot of the time. And, like most folks, I have a "real" job, and something of a social life, not to mention those annoying, time consuming chores that make up daily life.

I'm realizing that it's been about two years since I even touched my guitar. I used to play all the time, got compliments on my playing and singing both. It strikes me at odd times that I miss it, but I just flat out don't have the time without cutting something else, and I don't see where I can do that at this point in my life.

What are things that have been important to you that, for whatever reason, aren't really part of your life anymore?

[DungeonMasterJim]

Dungeons & Dragons.

In the 1990's I held a weekly game that was well attended and we usually played 45 weeks or more a year. Add to that going to gaming cons a few times a year as well. And then I would write D&D games that were played in the biggest gaming cons of the year - GenCon, Origins and others.

Now I have a wonky schedule were the only feasible time to play is Sunday night which is not the best option for lots of people. I was always the DM and my players have all moved away or large families so they can't leave their houses/families for 4 hours.

Pretty much the only time I play D&D these days is at Dragon Con. And there's so much to do that I don't want to spend the whole con playing D&D.

[Gaelforce]

I'm fortunate that I still get to play D&D and Champions (D&D 2x/month, Champions 1x/month) and still run my events at GenCon (31st time goin' this year). I both play and GM and I don't think my life would be the same without it - I'm an RP junkie I know what it's like, tho', when folks get families and move away. Our group has changed a lot over the 29 years we've been playing, but some of them have come back, too, so there's always hope!

But I also used to be big into the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronisms) and that fell by the wayside, partly due to illness (I used to fight sword & board as well as spear and bow) and partly because The Husband hated it (he loved the idea, but several of the people involved really put him off)

I was also learning to play the fiddle with a Celtic group, but then my hours at work changed and I had to stop. That's something I really want to get back to.

[Ziggy Stardust]

I used to have time and passion enough to ride my bike daily, play pool, watch WWE, read comics....

Now? The only one I want to do is ride my bike... and I cannot find time for it on most days.

[JBK405]

I studied Isshin-Ryu Karate for eleven years, but when I went off to college it just fell by the wayside when I couldn't attend my regular school and there was no local school at my college. Starting in my junior year there was a Karate Club available, which actually was Isshin-Ryu so it seemed like a perfect match, and I went to something like two meetings, but they were at night and on the other side of campus and I just didn't care enough to go.

Now I keep thinking "I should start again," but my school has since closed down (It's actually a really tragic story. The owner tried to build an actual dojo, not just rent office space, but the construction had so many problems that he wound up deep in debt and, if the stories I've heard are correct, literally had to feel the state from "reputable loan representatives"). I haven't been able to find another Isshin-Ryu school in my area and, though I've considered branching into some other style, my schedule makes it difficult.

I still plan to go back eventually.

[AndrewCrossett]

Yeah, D&D... or rather, Pathfinder, since I gave up on actual D&D when 4th edition came out.

I have shelves and shelves and shelves of D&D material going back to 1978. But, it's been ages since I've played. Once you get past college, it's just too hard to find the time and get people together. I guess that's why MMORPG's have kind of moved in to replace tabletop RPG's. (Not with me, though.)

I still buy and read the books. I just don't play.

[Chris Jones]

Acting. There's no feeling like it in the world but I could never get comfortable enough to really throw my body into the performance to the same degree I can my face and voice, and the last theatrical experience I had was a fiasco of near-indescribable proportions, so I just kind of stopped. I should find a way to work it back into my life, though.

[Lady_Hawkeye]

Two for me:

My writing for sure. I used to write tons of fiction so much so that when I was in college studying litterature I always had a story ready for class even before it was asked. Life just got so busy all of a sudden what with my mom passing away and my whole transsexual thing it just became that thing that I love to do but just do't have the time for. Heck, I've been happy with writing two shorts stories based on Hp Lovecraft's mythos in the past five years. I used to write two stories a month before.

Second like a lot here it seems are roleplaying games. Some of my really good memories from late high school and college are with some friends spending hours and hours just having fun adventuring. But, as it was said, when you grow up, trying to find the time for a group of 4-5 adults to hang out together at the same time on a regular basis well, good luck with that....

The closest I now get is running short Call of Cthulhu scenarios here and there during lunch hours at work with a few co workers (again not an easy task to pull off) and I very recently became part of a small gaming group that plays Pathfinder ( I just love that setting!) so I get to play about once a month. Better than nothing I guess.

Catherine

[Gaelforce]

[if any of you are in the Philly/South Jersey area looking for a Saturday game... ]

[Weeto]

I wish I'd trained in wrestling when I was younger. I couldn't put much weight on until I was 21 and I was 5'8" and only 156lbs then I was up nearer 185lbs within no time.

When I was 155lbs I thought Iwas always going to be too small for wrestling. Needless to say, I'm 222lbs now but I'm 32 and I've no chance of ever getting in the ring, other than for a photo with the wrestlers at intermission, something that is a ritual for me at my local shows.

I still have hopes of promoting shows but I'm not going to be able to do it as quickly as I had hoped. I have access to some funding but I'd like to put a few pounds in the bank to give me a bit more security. I don't want to be overly reliant on loans and outside funding to run shows. I was running a small business but it was a dead end and I don't even have a full time job at the moment, although my parents have been amazingly helpful and they're helping get things together.

While I had lofty ambitions originally, too much of the funding was coming from external sources for my tastes and I was could have been losing other people's money if things didn't work out and that doesn't give me the freedom I want to run things my way. The possibility of running 6 shows or so as a trial run in local halls is still definately on the horizon and I have a list of local wrestlers and contacts that I could use, including some very talented youngsters and a few veterans of the UK indy scene and a couple of US veterans who regularly appear over here.