A friend recently asked where violin and the piano landed on my prioritised list of things I like. So, from top to bottom,
- wandering
- iaido and jodo
- open source
- friends
- veganism
- AI
- languages
- violin
- Nintendo
- kendo
- piano
- drawing
- story writing
The things at the bottom I still really like, but I only have so much time in my life, and they do not get a large portion of it. I thought I'd elaborate on a few.
Wandering
This refers to walks. I love them, since Flesherton, since the Lord of the Rings, since Vancouver and New Zealand and everywhere. It also refers to travel, again Vancouver and New Zealand, as well as Germany and Spain. I hope to travel a lot in my life, and a spend a lot of it in nature. That's a huge part of this, being able to climb mountains and run through woods and walk in rivers. I like talking when walking, so fellow adventurers are welcome.
Iaido and Jodo
Particularly within my club, Sei Do Kai. I love the control and interaction with the physical world around me and my body. I love the people I do it with. I love the life lessons it teaches me. I love the attitude and the philosophy of our club. I think this fills in a gap in my physical interacts with the world that wandering couldn't quite fill, and kendo could have but failed. It helps motivate me to remain fit, which requires additional exercise outside of budo.
Open Source Programming
I really enjoy programming. This fulfills a lot of my intellectual and creative urges that used to go towards drawing and writing. It also makes me feel good as a person, because I can contribute to a larger community and help others. I like the GNOME project in particular and its philosophy and product.
Friends
This used to rank higher on the list, but I've tried to become more singular in the past year, much more independent. I am more cynical about others and for what they can be relied upon, which has been quite healthy. Of course, I still love my friends and value the time I get to spend with them. I go a bit less out of my way to attend to them, though, and claim more time for myself.
Veganism
Veganism is the best contributor to my ethical framework and moral compass. It motivates me to be more involved in my health and more compassionate in the world around me. This complements budo, which helps encourage fitness through exercise, by encouraging me to pay more attention to my diet, which requires it. It also acts as a social platform, where I get to socialise with vegans (which is often very relaxing) and get to bring other friends together around food (someone's willingness to try my vegan cooking is a good litmus test for friendship). I'm not strongly into animal rights activism, due to disputes over methods.
Artificial Intelligence
I really like the ideas behind artificial intelligence and the future potential for it. Consequently, I'm doing my thesis in Natural Language Processing. I'm not a huge fan of academia, but am glad to have an opportunity to work with AI.
This is the point in the list where I have run out of enough time, and the interests below are neglected.
Languages
I like language because I like meaning. Communication of meaning is one part of that interest, so I enjoy learning languages. So far I only have conversational German. I would like to know French, some Japanese, and Chinese eventually.
Violin
It's my favourite instrument. I like the fun of fiddling and the sophistication of the string sound. I love the construction, and its portability. I own one, but due to other priorities, have been waiting to find an economical teacher to pursue this. (My iaido sensei's daughter is an experienced violinist, and may take up teaching me this summer!)
Nintendo!
I loved video games growing up, and they would have typically topped a list then. I took a long hiatus during my undergraduate, and have slowly been re-entering the world. Sadly, I don't have a core friendsuite to enjoy Nintendo with any more. Most of my old friends have taken a greater interest in PlayStation or Xbox. I still haven't finished Skyward Sword despite loving the series. I hope to be able to find someone local to share games with in the future.
Kendo
I really loved kendo when I was in high school, but I think that the Owen Sound Kendo Club was a significant part of that. I haven't enjoyed another kendo club quite the same, excepting perhaps the UBC Kendo Club, back in Fall 2008. My history runs like this
- 2000-2003: Owen Sound Kendo Club :D
- 2003-2004: Guelph Kendo Club :|
- 2008: UBC Kendo Club :D
- 2009: Invercargill Kendo Club :|
- 2011-2012: Guelph Kendo Club :)
And yet I still don't own my own bogu, which is very discouraging. (Two friends and my brother once conspired to fund bogu for me, but the purchase of a kendogi, hakama, shinai and sword bag all but exhausted that budget.) I hope to practise kendo once more this fall.
Piano
I like the idea of playing the piano because I've enjoyed the company of pianists many times throughout my life. I enjoyed playing simple songs on it when I had a tutor, but due to distance (she was in Korea) I haven't kept up. I mostly was interested in the piano to learn some fundamentals of music before coming to the violin, though.
Drawing
I used to really enjoy drawing and still like the idea of bringing fantastic worlds to life in art. However, I do not fantasise as much as I used to, so the compunction to draw is much less than it has been before. I'd like to find time to improve my drawing of people, though, and do more little sketches. I enjoy doodling and adding sketches to embellish other work, like signs and cover pages, etc. And adorning my abode with little visuals. I need to finish a story I started about viking teddy bears, but I haven't had the heart to continue on it in two years.
Writing
I have two stories in particular, G21 and the story of Afawnoly, that I would like to tell at some point. I haven't felt equal to the task, and would need to do more reading and practise writing to acquire a suitable voice and taste for description.
So there you have it, a rough list of things that matter to me, with the most at the top. There are many, many other things that I am interested in, but they are generally even less of a priority. If you think something is conspicuously missing, though, let me know; maybe something important slipped my mind.