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A survey of hobbies
August 6th, 2017
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This year has been a major collection of hobbies and interests. Here's
a quick list:

- Shakuhachi: I started playing the Japanese bamboo flute a couple years
  back as part of my study of Escrima. One of the areas in my martial art
  focus was spiritual, and my teacher's preferred method was via this zen
  instrument. Although I stopped my weekly lessons a year ago (budget),
  I've continued playing.

- Morse Code: We learned morse in the Navy. Every few years I dust off my
  skills to keep sharp. I ran through some mobile apps this time and was
  comfortable encoding and decoding.

- Gregg Shorthand: Writing by hand has always been cumbersome for me. I'm
  not fast and my hand cramps. My goal with Gregg Shorthand is to develop
  a method of taking notes that can approach casual typing speed. I want
  to be able to go to meetings with just a notebook and a pen instead of
  lugging a laptop or tablet with me.

- Stenography: In addition to speeding up my handwriting, I don't see any
  reason not to do the same with my typing as well. Plover is a great
  open-sourced stenography package. If I can get my input with plover over
  200wpm, that will speed up my writing and coding dramatically. It's rare
  that my typing can keep up with my thinking. Any method to close that
  gap should be explored.

- Wireless network penetration testing: On the technical list, I started
  looking into pentesting late last year. The industry is huge, and while
  I had entertained getting some certs and exploring it as an alternative
  branch to my current employment, the attitudes and personalities I've
  run into already make me second-guess that path. Instead I'm going to
  focus on smaller areas for my own knowledge and skill. Penetrating
  wireless networks is a pretty simple task with hardware and software
  I already have. It's fun to explore without causing any harm.

- I Ching: On the spiritual side, I've expanded my research into mysticism
  of the East. I had been looking into Qigong a couple years ago. Now
  I turn my focus onto the book of changes. I'm using the yarrow stalk
  method and learning how the hexograms relate. So far it's fascinating
  and I see echos of the randomness found in many other divination
  techniques, including Tarot.
.