Yes. I have the ability to go play in person – there are several poker rooms within a 45-minute drive from me – but I’ve never felt like I had the time to invest. It’s the sitting-around-for-hours and learn-from-repeated-experience parts that have kept me away. As the thread topic says, I don’t (yet) feel I can give it the time it deserves.
Actually I was going to say I know of a lot of friendly (or mostly anyway) home games that make it easier to learn is all.
Ah. Even that, actually, is beyond my time investment at this point – new baby + existing weekly trivia night = no time to add another amusement. But if I decide the time exists, I’ll look you up.
Unhijacking the thread: another game I’d like to play a lot more often is Civilization. I’ve never actually finished a game, because I kind of suck at it and always feel guilty spending hours playing a computer game.
Falconry and bellydancing.
At the same time?
Shakespeare. Even with the normal exposure through public schools and a good liberal arts college, it’s been far too scant to fully appreciate his craft. I’d love to sit down with someone who’s really well-versed in his works and then take on the classics.
Actually, I’d put ‘not at the same time’ in the post and then decided to delete it. Perhaps I could figure a way to work them both in … though falcon hunting season is September through March, so it could be a bit chilly …
Shakesspeare. I’ve put it off because my collected works is barely annotated and has very small print. I plan to by a better annotated collection and read it along with Isaac Asimov’s guide to Shakespeare. I think breaking into sections like histories, comedies might make the task seem less daunting.
I also plan to learn how to spell and type someday too. :smack:
I set aside time to go through all of Shakespeare a few years ago, and it’s worth it, really. Even the “lesser” works like Coriolanus and Troilus and Cressida have things to recommend them.
(I didn’t get through Rape of Lucrece.)
Golf.
I’ve played pitch n’ putt a couple of times, and lots of miniature golf and golf video games and I enjoy all of them.
In 5 or 10 years, when my youngest son is off on his own and I’ve got more free personal time (and money), I hope to start playing actual courses and getting into it. It just seems like something I’d really enjoy, and might not even be half bad at.
Of course, when I posted this, I forgot to include the actual point of why I was replying: “…And yes, it took a few months, so I understand the time commitment.” Which was the whole reason for the thread in the first place.
:smack:
You know you could come play on-line with a bunch of Dopers, don’t you? We’re a forgiving bunch, we don’t cost much, and we’d love to have you join us. I can’t promise you’d learn a lot about the game, since the play tends a bit towards the … (what adjective to choose?? flamboyant? reckless? random? eccentric?) … but it’s really a lot of fun! Email me if you want to get in on it! This week… next week… next month… the door’s always open!
[ul]
[li]Learn an amount of Japanese that is actually useful. Right now I can ask for way to the post office, but probably I won’t understand the answer.[/li][li]Read more mythology books. I even have some here that I haven’t read yet.[/li][li]Write some software that is complete enough for real use, not only “prototypes” of questionable quality [/li][/ul]
So… Proust in his first book wrote about?
The best Shakespeare production I’ve ever seen was Troilus and Cressida at the Swan Theatre in Stratford, back in 1990 or so. Ralph Fiennes played Troilus, pre-Schindler’s List. The look of the production borrowed WWII motifs. So I’ve got a soft spot for this play, minor or no. (I’m also a Cymbeline fan.)
But I really bumped this to add another comic strip: Krazy Kat. From what I’ve read, this’ll need some time for me to adjust to, and then I expect to like it. And I want to start at the beginning, and appreciate it in context, and hell, who’s got time for that? Not me, that’s who.
Opera.
Music–I mean how to play an instrument of some kind or other.
modern art (I mean contemporary, not Picasso et al), so maybe I mean post-modern art(?).
The Simarillion by Tolkien. I love the LOTR, but care almost nothing for the “back legend”. I’m sure there is something there, but…
Romance poets–I mean really study them and know their frames of reference etc.
Fly fishing.
Shakespeare
Dr. Who
Go (Japanese checkers, not the movie)
The ancient classics in Greek and Latin
Computer programming and white hat hacking
I’ve dreamed about getting into all the above at one time or another. Sadly, I already have my passions which are too entrenced to give up just for the sake of new experiences. At least I know what to pick up in my next life. 