What's your passion?

My brother Ben's (butwhynot) latest lj post, he talks about his passion for hiking. After reading it, I realized, I don't have anything I'd say I'm passionate about.
I need some ideas!
What is your passion?

It used to be travelling for concerts in general and while I still do some, I can't call it a passion anymore because it's taken a bit of a back seat.

I don't know if I *have* any passions besides my kitties and my paul. There's nothing else I get all that worked up about. Hrm. I wonder if ranting about proofreading (or lack thereof) constitutes a passion?

Being a passionate person, I don't just have one.
Music
Geology (Rocks, lakes, nature, trees)
Physical contact
Global warming
Sleeping

swing dance.
food. (esp. sushi)
music.

oral hygiene

MUSIC!!!� And live shows.

Travel.

Walking.

At this time of year... watching hockey.

My faith, to be honest.
Making sure other people appreciate GOOD music.

Oh, yeah.

My special lady-friend.

East African Culture.

Politics/Philosophy
Travelling and seeing the world
Different Cultures
Computers
My wife...

That's the big ones.

Maps & Music

Music
Television
Judaism
Kitty cats
Naps

Nice sandals!

(folk) music and traveling. But everyone should know that by now anyway ;)

Baseball, the greatest game every invented
Bridge
Fantasy and Science Fiction
Doctor Who
Tolkien
James Branch Cabell
Math and Science

OH yeah, I guess I should mention volunteering at WFUV considering the fact that I just was in the middle of a 13 hour shift when I wrote that.

I forgot one more huge passion, my friends. My interactions with them are the most prominent part of my emotional landscape.

Music (that's a given)
Musicals
Contra Dancing
Television
Travelling (when I can afford it)
Good Food especially Sushi
New York City and most of what it has to offer
Ambling through green spaces.
Public Transit Systems (subways and the like)

Public Transit Systems.

Werd. my brothah.

I thought Munich was amazing (it is) until I saw Paris(even better) and then i went to Berlin. omg. we don't know from public transit in North America i tell you what.

count me in :)

Yeah. Public transportation in North America is really deplorable :( But there are exceptions:

NYC, greater Boston (really nice: I even got back from Framingham back to Boston after a Jess Klein show after midnight:) and Toronto has the cleanest subway I have ever seen ;-D

Ugh.� For real.� I adore the Tube, and I know there's better transit than that in other parts of the world.

Growing up in Detroit there was never any hope of feasible mass transit, because the whole city was ruled by the automakers.� Still is.

I take it that that must be a joke from the winky face. Toronto's subway is ok on clenliness, but the cleanest subway I've ever seen BY FAR was in Munich. Everybody knows nobody beats you Germans for cleanliness. :)

AHEM!

North American public transportation = NYC Mass Transit.

Best. In. The. World.

The NYC subway totally confused me when I was there, but I was really impressed with how many lines there are...you can go anywhere!� Toronto's system isn't bad but if you don't like busses or are unfortunate enough to live in a TTC "black hole" then it sucks.� I'm glad I can walk three blocks and hop right on the subway.� :D

The subway system really isn't all that confusing... at least on weekdays. Weekends are a little weird lately because of construction on the Manhattan Bridge. Usually though, so long as you've got a map, finding your way anywhere is a piece of cake.

The exception to that rule is when airplanes fly into buildings located right above a subway station and destroy it, trains need to be rerouted for a while and things get a little weird again. To the MTA's credit, they had a new subway map with changes available to the general public within... what, like, two days?

Out of curiosity, what was it that confused you?

I think it was the express and local trains in the same station, using the same platforms, and there were three platforms or something, and the train didn't go to the end of the platform so I'd wait for it and then had to run to catch it because it didn't come all the way over to me, lol.� I was near Times Square...I think there was the S train which went back and forth and then other trains that went further.� There aren't any express trains in Toronto to worry about getting on by accident�and each station only has one platform with northbound and southbound (for example) on either side or two platforms on each side of the tunnel, one for each direction.

yah. but that's ONE.

and in toronto, it's okay, and in vancouver, it's okay (or was)

portland is alright. bay area regional transit, yah good, okay.

there are a few select good or managable systems. over the ENTIRE continent.

but on the whole. we don't hold a candle. imo.

the good part about toronto's is that it's simple.� so simple that I could navigate it myself on my third full day in the city, and I suck at that kind of thing.

What, New York City isn't the entirety of North America? ;)

No it is just the most important part.

NYC is good. IMHO London is better. It is certainly easier to use. Those express trains in NYC are what make it confusing. Not hoplessly so certainly, but it isn't quite as easy as simpler systems.

ah, but "easier" isn't always better. The New York subway system may be confusing to visitors (frankly I don't really see how, but I'll take your word for it), but it is ideally suited to New Yorkers. It's clean enough, but cleanliness is prioritized way below things like efficiency and 24-hour availability. Its more important to be able to get home at 3am than to be able to eat off the floor. The express trains are absolutely necessary in a fast-paced city such as ours and, I've got to tell you, we're sharp enough to not be confused by it. ;) We don't need it to be tourist-friendly, we need it to work. It's straightforward, it's fast, and it covers the whole damn city. What could be better?

*decisive nod*

My friend Jena stayed with me for a week, her first visit to New York. By the end of the week she was giving people directions on the Subway. It isn't that hard to learn.

Having never even been there, I'd back you up on the 24hr thing. Columbus doesn't have a great bus system, but if it would just run later, it would be so much better...

Same with the Toronto one.� It shuts down after about 1:30 and you have to take the Yonge St. bus affectionately known as the vomit comet (from all the people leaving the bars when they close).� ;)

Since some people listed TV as a passion I've got to speak my mind here in the opposite direction. I almost have a anti-TV passion with very rare exeptions...

Actually TV is on hiatus for me now for almost 4 months (okay. I got weak twice or so. I admit.) But I *heart* DVDs...

Thank God... I thought I was alone.

TV used to rule my life, to the point where I kept track of the days by what would be showing that night.� When we cut the cable, I thought I'd go crazy.� But, six years later, all I miss are occasional sports events.� And they always look better on the big screen at the bar.

I have been madly busy all semester and haven't been watching TV at all (or movies or dvds). It's really been great, but I might start up in limited quantities when I have more time.

I feel like a slug if I just sit on the couch and watch hour after hour of home redecorating shows.

Well now, let's not hate TV so much. {g} TV is an artform. And before anyone starts squawking about this, I, too, acknowledge that most of what's on TV is crap. But 90% of EVERYTHING is crap.�Books, music, films, all kinds of things.

Incidentally, I'm currently reading Teleliteracy: Taking Television Seriously by David Bianculli. He's the TV critic for the New York Daily News, occasional host of Fresh Air on NPR, and he co-taught the TV History and Appreciation class I took in college. He rules.

Anyway, for everyone who lists music as a passion, I wouldn't say, "But so much music sucks!" (which it does)

Yes, but bad music can still be good (see: 50 Worst songs forum)... bad TV is just bad.� Except for Sledge Hammer... that was horrible, but great.� :-)

Bad TV can totally be fantastic. The allure of the soap opera. The addictive nature of reality TV. Public Access. There's an hour-long show on NYC public access which consists of stuffed animals dancing along to old records. (really - it's called "Wild Record Collection") - and I can't tell you how mesmerizing it is.

Would it help to call it "Pop Culture"? That includes music too, but that particular kind of music relies heavily on television.

melissa. dear melissa. if you were to make me a tape of "wild record collection" episodes, i would totally have all of your babies.

*ROWR*

Writing writing writing and writing!

Oh, and zining!

and music! :)

Music
food
acting(and hopefuly my career)
music
sleep
food

Poetry
to a lesser extent, books of all kinds
gory horror movies
any other movies
knitting

the absurd
brushing my teeth
food
the annihilation of all human life

comics
looking at people
chocolate
god's creations

saying 'passions' is my passion{heh...how very 'spike' *g*} to go for the ob-vi-ous joke, but i've ne'er seen the show, seeeooooo....

in actuality, i guess mine'd hafta be:

�~music/shows/traveling

~going to the gym/working out{shocking, i know....}

~DVD collecting

~reading/books

~Pez dispensers

~cooking{but mainly for other people....see below}

~my friends/making people special{which a lot of the time involves cooking their favorite thing and such :) }

~writing.....in my journal...some lyrics.... mainly letters. like,the old skool kind...you know...the ones on -paper-. and sending packages{which both sorta go with the above, don't they?} and talking to people on the phone. i love communication and think that nothing beats the human voice.

~bath products

~gel pens/stationery

~music/shows/traveling

Someone, please tell me I'm not the only one who saw this and immedately thought "~music: no such file or directory"

The Passion of the Christ!

Not really. That's just what I thought of when I saw the topic. Anyway some of mine would be:

TV
music
gory horror movies
books
eating
videogames (especially the Zelda variety)

so particularly for all you TV people: food for thought ;)

umm, the list of posts? was this supposed to go somewhere?

Ah, I get it . . . this is supposed to be profound, isn't it? . . . never mind, I don't get it.

My passions,
God,(I am in seminary afterall). Music, Friends, trying ot get better at guitar. Social Justice. hmm I think that is it.

humor
laughter

Music
Movies
Microcode (software)
High Speed Pizza Delivery

Sorry, just had to.

Maybe I'll give a real answer later.

music is the biggest one. of course. listening, going to live shows, songwriting, playing guitar, singing, recording...

writing. poetry, blogging, essays, articles, fic, slash ;)

visual art! particularly watercolour painting. i also love working in pencil, charcoal, ink, pastel... there's really just unlimited possibilities. i once did a painting with greenish-yellow "paint" made from smushed up grass and water.

reading. everything, but especially poetry, science fiction, theology, philosophy, and historical stuff.

studying theology and the history of religion, how different cultures and religions view God... right now i'm studying Judaism very intensively...

the environment. yeah, i'm a tree hugger.

masturbation. (save the best for last?) seriously, it's an art, a science, a hobby, an extremely enjoyable pastime... there's so many different subtle nuances and techniques and ways to explore.

Heh. I think you better add honesty to that list! ;)

art. in pretty much all forms.

Classical guitar (performing and listening)
Flamenco Guitar (performing and listening)
Acting
Contra Dancing
Invader Zim!
Planning out brilliant military maneuvers using historical armies

Passions, huh? hmmm...

Obviously, music, for one...
Autio racing (and other motorsports)...
Great movies...
A good poker game (somewhat of a recent one)...

...and most definitely ze schnuggles. :-D

-- Pauley (who's sure he's left something out, despite thinking he couldn't be very passionate about something if he's forgotten it. :-P)

music, movies, my computer :D
(12in iBook G4 for those that might care....)
(unfortunately not the really new ones)

Politics are deffinately up there also pretty high on the passion list is Educating others on the environment and environmental movement. Though I'm guessing what I'm most passionate about is forming good solid relationships with people.