OT - What are we obsessed with other than cancer...

I and several others commented in another active thread that we don't see ourselves primarily as cancer patients and don't want to make cancer the focus of our lives. Of course, this chat board is where we come to discuss prostate cancer so we present a skewed picture of who we are. So how about sharing something else we are involved in or currently obsessed with.

I'll start. I started out shooting pictures on film with an SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera and three lenses I bought in Vietnam in 1968. Like nearly everyone else on the planet I switched to digital as the quality of digital cameras and software improved in the 1990s. I still shoot mostly digital and have a couple of fairly expensive digital cameras and small pile of lenses - a Nikon for the heavy duty stuff and a compact Olympus PEN F for walking around. That said, I've recently been going back to film and have a growing obsession with old rangefinder cameras that are fully or nearly fully manual. Aside from my old Vietnam SLR I've acquired a 50-year old very compact Olympus 35RC and Zorki 4K. The Zorki is a "poor man's Leica." At the end of WWII the Russians took plans and machinery from Leica's plants in Germany back to Russia and made Russian knock-off's of pre-war Leicas well into the 1970s. You can get a used Zorki with any of several Russian lenses for a hundred bucks or so as opposed to 3 grand or more for a old German Leica with a German lens in decent condition.

So how about it. What occupies your head space other than cancer?

Jim

Classical music, generally.
The bassoon, particularly.
Verdi’s Otello, immediately and obsessively, following a recent concert performance by the Berlin philharmonic that I’ve listened to nearly every night for the past week.

Finding a really good cup of coffee and figuring out the meaning of life. In that order.

81GyGuy said...
Finding a really good cup of coffee and figuring out the meaning of life. In that order.

Perhaps the meaning of life is finding the perfect cup of coffee ...

Saipan Paradise said...
Classical music, generally.
The bassoon, particularly.
Verdi’s Otello, immediately and obsessively, following a recent concert performance by the Berlin philharmonic that I’ve listened to nearly every night for the past week.

Very cool!
I have been a subscriber to Digital Concert Hall, the Berlin Philharmonic streaming service for years now.Just watched it yesterday.

My response to the OP, I like to think of myself as one of the worlds great "appreciators of music."
I always have. I had the largest collection of records of anyone in college. I now have several audio systems in my home to insure the best sound wherever I am.

Listening to music,the appreciation of music, has always dominated my leisure time.
.

I am approximately 1 year past retirement which was largely occupied by my PCa adventure. I forgot what I was I thinking about when I retired now. My “head space” is limited to the next three weeks of drinking, peeing, and pooping on a schedule.

However, I have been thinking about what comes next other than the obvious delayed travel plans...

Poetry and art is out until my engineering blood is purged of those anti-bodies.
Classical music is trumped by jazz and blues in my world when given a choice.
Pickleball is on the list for next winter assuming my knee makes it. Too much to do in summer.
Coffee is wonderful, still looking for the perfect cup, do the ritual every morning weighing the crushed beans, etc. but leaves the rest of the day unless I become a barista in retirement.
Another dog is on the list after my wife retires, long history of wire haired fox terriers in family but may be too much trouble for retirement assuming travel plans, etc. They need to be bred with Golden Retrievers to get the right mix of temperament, always wanted an Airedale as a compromise but still a terrier at heart.

This thread is giving me some good ideas so keep it going, sorry to digress...

Mumbo said...
...
Poetry and art is out until my engineering blood is purged of those anti-bodies.
...

I find most engineers are more creative than they allow themselves to be. Engineering is part analytics and part creativity...

I don't see 81gy's question that in the shop referred to...(poetic license I reckon)...but the answer to the question imnsho( ive posted this before): the meaning of life is to give life meaning

Classical and Blues guitar.

i'm an addict so many obsessions come and go. all I know is I can get addicted to anything, something is always out of balance in my life, and in some cases I can take something perfectly normal and healthy and destroy my life with it -- e.g., i cycled 5-6k miles a year for nearly a decade until I was sidelined with permanent perineal nerve injury.

currently i'm doing photography, travel, watches, weights and workout, knives, ramen, axes, boots, classic rock and I love my dog more than most people

General aviation; I love to fly small airplanes.

I'm surprised at the number of classical music fans. Thought I'd chime in again because my wife sings in a classical choir and our 15 year-old middle grandson who started on trumpet quickly moved to French horn by the fifth grade. He now plays in the Worcester (Massachusetts) youth symphony orchestra. As for me, I can play "all three chords" in the usual keys on a guitar or ukulele, but not much more, though I'm an eclectic listener to almost anything ranging from Benjamin Britten to Doc Watson.
Jim

Old dogs, children and watermelon wine.