NationStates Jolt Archive

What things did you pride yourself on knowing absolutely EVERYTHING about, and spent ridiculous amount of time obsessing over, that now don't tickle your fancy anymore?

I was reading through the ingredient list on the side of a package of coffee whitener this morning, when I realised that what I now enjoy for coffee is radically different than the coffee I drank during University. For one, I never would have polluted my top quality, home roasted, fresh ground Kilimanjaro dark roast with such a synthetic product. My thoughts flew back to the days when I was a barista in a non-chain café, offering my best work in the form of beautiful lattés and cappuccinos. Coffee at that time meant row upon row of bins chock full of roasted beans from every corner of the coffee growing world. I new every variety by taste alone, and I could tell you whether they were light, medium or dark roast at a glance. Coffee filled my days with its pungent essence, and I prided myself on my knowledge and preparation of it.

Now, I like Fair Trade, Irish Cream flavoured coffee with lots and lots of coffee whitener, but no sugar (because the corn syrup in the whitener is sweet enough). Not cream, because then I have to add sugar. I brew it however I can, and I could care less that my younger self would be deeply offended by my bastardised and low quality java.

Other obsessions that are now meaningless (in the sense that I don't feel like I need to be an expert about them anymore):
- wine (if I like it, I drink it now, and who cares if it is a 1994 sauvignon blanc from the Errazuiz vineyard in southern Chile or not!)
- blues music (who cares about the whole history of the blues...I listen to what catches me)
- classic literature (again, I read it if I like it, and forget the longwinded analysis)

Basically everything you can know in high school

Cosmology and space are one thing, I used to be obsessed with all that.
Physics is another.

I used to pride myself on being a dinosaur "expert" when I was in middle school. I now don't pay nearly as much attention as I used to.

A while back, I would have said the War of 1812, but I've reawakened my interest in that war, thanks partly to NS. More directly related to NS, I've seen a renaissance in my love of reading.

The Bible.....

I can't really remember anything that I used to obsess over that I don't still obsess over now...

Yeah, I've mainly kept the same hobbies since forever.


No wait! What Sarzonia said! seriously!
Thankee Sarzo'.

with the exception of the 1812 thing. I've always found that interesting.

The Star Trek Customizable Card Game (http://www.decipher.com/startrek/index.html).

I wouldn't say obsessed, but I still have my collection at home. Not that I've used it in several years, now....

--The Democratic States of Cogitation

Coffee is something that I have had to abandon as an obsession. In Brazil you simply can not get good coffee, stupid though that sounds, as we are one of the worlds largest producers of coffee. All the good stuff gets exported, and of course no-one is going to import coffee into Brazil.

Another thing I have stopped obsessing about is punctuality. Being British, this was a value for me, for a very long time. One simply could not be late. It was very bad form. Now I live in a latin culture, not quite the same thing. Well nowhere even close actually. Eight o'clock here means generally somewhere between a quarter to nine through to half past ten.

I used to play AD&D, back in the UK, I had to know, by heart, the details of all the monsters and treasures and the abilities of the differetn classes. The THACOs for each level of each class etc. Now, I simply could not care less. It is not because I don't play any more, it is simply that for some reason I stopped being so nerdish about it. (Playing tabletop RPGs in a foreign language is strange)

hmmm...well.....I used to love every aspect of paintball, but i could no longer justify the money i put into it. Everyhing about dinosaurs used to fascinate me up until i was about 12. And i used to be obsessed with hydroponics.

Chess. I used to play 4 or 5 games a day, consistently, from the time I was about 12 to 15, but haven't played in the 5 years since.

The interesting part is that it was a huge change, because there'd be 50 of us playing every day at noontime at school, so everyone I associated with played.. so quitting meant a good deal.

The weird thing is, I haven't replaced my obsessions with anyth....oh wait, yes I have. Now I'm politically obsessed...and addicted to NS. Never mind.

NS fills the hole in my life, left after stoping caring about anything at all.
quite sad really :(


i need a woman :p

If we are going to count hobbies, then I would have to go down a huge list, starting with the GI Joe and Star Wars figures of my childhood and moving on to comics, tabletop roleplaying games, console games, computer games, magic the gathering, etc, etc. Ive been into a lot of stuff. But, the big thing, in my opinion is popularity. Popularity is so important in high school. So much depends on your popularity throughtout those late elementary/middle school/high school years, and then when you finally go to college, its all over. Assuming you go to a good institution, popularity no longer matters and things like intellectual ability take on a new meaning. So, the big thing, in my opinion is popularity.

I agree with the popularity thing...though in University there were just more groups of cliquey popular kids (kids, that's right, because most of them still acted like they were in high school). Then there were the ones who were 'uncool' in high school who got to try out being cool in University by partying and sleeping around. Meh. University was a big disappointment for me...stuff I could've learned on my own, still highly stratified social spheres, and not much free thinking going on. Well, at least it got me a good job. Still, if I do go back (to study law as I plan), it's going to be an awful lot different for me now that I don't feel the need to be social to any great extent...I have just the amount of friends I need:)

What things did you pride yourself on knowing absolutely EVERYTHING about, and spent ridiculous amount of time obsessing over, that now don't tickle your fancy anymore?

My family history, I know all there is to know.
I am proud to know it and proud of my family.
It still "tickles my fancy" but I do not spend the same amount of time reading it as I did. I think after I retire as an old man I will get back to it.

I was always pretty good with capital cities. I can tell you any capital city from a country in Europe now, but in my prime I could name that for almost every country in the world. Sad, isn't it?

I agree with the popularity thing...though in University there were just more groups of cliquey popular kids (kids, that's right, because most of them still acted like they were in high school). Then there were the ones who were 'uncool' in high school who got to try out being cool in University by partying and sleeping around. Meh. University was a big disappointment for me...stuff I could've learned on my own, still highly stratified social spheres, and not much free thinking going on. Well, at least it got me a good job. Still, if I do go back (to study law as I plan), it's going to be an awful lot different for me now that I don't feel the need to be social to any great extent...I have just the amount of friends I need:)

It sounds like you chose a bad university to attend. If you go back, try a different one.

Tons of stuff. Then NS took over.

Two words and a letter: Dragon Ball Z.
I lost interest when I saw the entire series.. and I know too much about it. But I no longer care.

Of course I'm still known as Majin Kakarotto accross the internet... Crazy ToT RPing-ness. Back in the day, 1998.

That I could spell Dinosore when i was 3 years old. And everyone else my age couldn't.

:D

Physics and history. I still have a passing interest in those, but only if they come up when I'm studying something else.

The color of the boathouse at Hereford.

hmm. not to much about me has changed. i used to be very concerned with being in a certain relationship, but not any more. still obsessed with violence, death, sex, metal, my friends, dental health,figuring out what makes certain groups tick, finding the perfect pair of boots, hot quiet guys with long hair, hairdye, salad and the internet. nice life i have here, eh?