I do a lot of posting on a website forum called The Magic Café. I have over 20,000 post on that website forum. Hard to believe isn't it?

I at least have a wife. My buddy DynoMike told me that his career prohibits him from having a full time woman. Mike is all about his job.

What a great thread! I have too many hobbies but love them all!

I am an artist (like many others here), but mostly do watercolor and pastel paintings. I am a very dedicated fly fisherman, and even make my own exotic wood fly boxes. I love all things sports. I also collect vintage (yes vintage from the 1980's) video games and consoles. Pretty much a random smattering of untrelated interests.

I squeeze each of these hobbies in my schedule as much as I can (usually in small doses) when I'm not playing with my kids, or working. Too many fascinating things to learn, and fun to be had in this world to just sit around and do nothing.

Craft type woodworking is one of my hobbies. By that I mean mostly small stuff like ornaments I cut on my scrollsaw. I also do some leatherwork. I used to be an avid flyfisherman but my grandson is not quite ready for fly fishing so I have the cricket cage back out. My 3 year old Granddaughter finds some interesting activities for Papa too. I'm out on my motorcycle when I have time so I guess it's more of a hobby than just transportation.

Mike

Interesting Mike, I took up wood carving about six years ago and am fortunate to have a master wood carver for a teacher. I'm still an apprentice after six years, but I have produced some interesting wood carvings, from scenic reliefs to assorted characatures. I've also learned the importance of a razor sharp knife, and I do mean that I can shave with it, and how to keep them sharp.

I too, used to be an avid flyfisherman and have a large collection of flies that I've tied myself and also purchased. Some fly patterns are true works of art, as you know.

I've also been an avid coin collector since I was a kid, owing to my father's and grandfather's interest. My favorites are the silver dollars and of those, the Morgan series. Those dollar coins are loaded with history and in my opinion are the most attractive coins the US has ever minted. In fact, my love for the coins has spawned a new interest in expensive Lassen coin gaffs. Man, there are some nice coin gaffs out there.

I'm not a pro magician, more of a hobbyist, so there ya go! But I do perform from time to time and do it for fun. I'm doing a charity Christmas show for kids on December 1st. I love doing kids shows.

I used to take pictures too.... then they made me put them back.

I am sorry about that Jay. Over here in Detroit they don't mind if we take them or shoot them.

I spend a lot of time online talking to a bunch of los…

I have a small garden and enjoy my cat.

Tom and I really spend quite a lot of time re watching our Sci Fi Movies and talking Magic. So,… mostly it IS about the Magic.

-Mary Mowder

I work as a poker dealer/manager full time for the last 20 years. I play poker, bowl, golf and video games. I won a few decent tourmanets, biggest was 32k, avg 230 in bowling with multi 300 games, but suck @ golf ( hit it amazing)

Agreed, but if you can't control the rust, one needs to step back and work on getting the rust cleaned up.

I was a Fire Fighter in my earlier days.

Dennis
I have a few health issues that have slowed me down, and my heart goes out to you my friend.

Most of my hobbies have been put to the side since magic but I do some acrylic painting. I'm painting a picture now for my daughter. I also built 2 radio controlled wooden ships, the USS Missouri, and a cargo ship, and I also build a large wooden model of the USS Constitution.

I'm now building a Zig Zag illusion, and into building other magic related tricks. I probably have the only small version of a Temple of Benares illusion to produce a rabbit. I made that. It looks exactly like my larger Temple that I bought. I'll be building a sword stand for the mini Temple to match the sword stand I build for my large Temple, as soon as I finish my Zig Zag.

I'm a part-time professional photographer, specializing in promotional photos of magicians and live performance photos (magic and dance):
mmessing.zenfolio.com

My wife says I do nothing.

But actually, to be a retired person, I do stay pretty busy. I open my daycare center business (I own it) every morning at 6:00 am,
stay there for a couple of hours and then I go home and work there. I have an ebay business that I run, I work the yards, keep
up a pool, and I'm back to the daycare about 4 until closing at 6 pm. I also have about three hobbies besides magic that I spend time on.
I'm on the run five days a week and usually use the weekend to catch up on stuff I missed during the week.

I'm enjoying the retired life.

Tom

Besides magic I am also a singer/songwriter/guitarist. My musical career is as important as my magic career. I play in a band and write a lot of songs. I co-write songs with my daughter now and we perform together professionally. I am always torn between the magic and music. I guess I just like to perform because I also do clowning, Cat In The Cat, and haunted house characters. I fell blessed to get paid to do all these things that I love so much. Ah, but if I only had more time to devote to each of them.

And by all accounts, a pretty good one!

This is great to hear about all you guys talking about more than just magic. It's interesting to hear how many artist-magicians there are. I guess us creative types don't like to limit ourselves, or maybe some of us ar ADD like me. Do you feEl like your other interests water down your time for magic and affect your skills because of it. I do. I get into magic a for a while, working on new stuff, then I get boored or burnt out and switch to painting for a while. I have a hard time balancing both, but I make my money from magic not painting at this point.
Of course I spend lots of time with my 2 kids (6 and 10)and the crazy red head wife. And I spend too much time watching TV. My ADD is a problem cause I pull myself in too many places and have a hard time sticking with new projects to completion and keep up with ongoing stuff, but I try to tame the beast. People with ADD can also hyper-focus sometimes, and then I can really get stuff done at those times.

I forgot to mention that I work at a haunted house during Halloween scaring the dickens out of people, and then the same place turns into a kid friendly place during Christmas, and I work there as well.

To say life is fantastic after I retired from the US Postal service 8 years ago, is an understatement.

Oh, I also work at an auto auction 1 and a half days a week.

This is on top of the 70+ magic shows I do a year.

I am a retired German teacher, school media specialist, artist (several magic books to my credit), a writer (fiction and poetry), origami enthusiast, tennis player, arm-chair philosopher of the Eleatic school...

----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

Posted: Nov 19, 2013 9:24pm
Dan asked: "Do you feel like your other interests water down your time for magic and affect your skills because of it."

Actually, I feel that magic watered down my other interests. My dream through much of my public school career was to become a Nebula or Hugo award-winning writer for science-fiction/fantasy stories.

A poem I wrote (a kind of reply to Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken") expresses my dilemma about choosing between magic, writing, and art:
-----THE ROAD TAKEN-----
----by Amado Narvaez----

The road I took has brought me here
Beyond the dreams of yesteryear.
But now and then I wonder what
That other path had promised. But
I took the one that offered me
A semblance of security.
I know I cannot turn around,
Abandon all the things I found
While winding down the road I chose.
But--maybe there's a path that goes
Between the two so I can find
A cherished dream I left behind.

----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

I really dig that poem Amado. Here is one of my paintings.
Here is a link to some of my paintings online: http://www.saatchionline.com/profiles/portfolio/id/174970