Fun.
It's a short word for something of which I try to have an awful lot.
How do I have it? Well...
I spend a lot of time with my friends, mostly other physicists and astronomers. We're an eccentric, reclusive, lot and rarely seem to meet people outside of our field. It's too bad, but such is life. I can only imagine that somewhere, right now, a young economist is busily typing away about how he never gets to meet anyone who isn't in economics or business. Those people I do meet outside of physics, I meet playing volleyball, softball, tennis, or golf. At the moment, softball and golf are out of season, unless you are insane enough to spend hours outdoors in Rochester's winter. There are indoor tennis courts here at the University, and I play occasionally. Volleyball is the ideal winter sport for me.
Right now, I'm involved in two volleyball leagues, a 6-on-6 intramural run right here at the UR River Campus's recently renovated Edward Hajim gymanasium, and a 4-on-4 intermediate league at the MCAC gym. I'm also part of a weekly pick-up game. Volleyball is a fantastic sport whose complexity and beauty I underestimated greatly until I began learning to play about a year and a half ago (Summer of 1999). Special thanks go to Ken and Eric for teaching me nearly everything I know about the game. Plenty of interesting drills for players of various levels, and any volleyball equipment you might ever want are available at VolleyballOne. They also have the rules and history of volleyball, as well as plenty of links for more info.
When I'm not playing a sport, I might very well be watching one: baseball, football, basketball, and especially hockey. Hockey is by far the most underappreciated of the major professional sports. Think about what it offers: the physicality of football (well, at least a good bit of hitting), the creativity and spontaneity of basketball, and far more continuous action than any of the other three. Yep, even more than baseball ;). Canada was right about something. Now, someone from up north has to explain curling to me. Sure, it IS somewhat hypnotic, but is it a sport? Rock throwing and sweeping? I don't get it.
The rest of my spare time is split between cooking, board games, and
trying to figure out where the rest of my time went. Sometime soon
I'll think about putting together some recipes or something. It will
be tough to do; I cook by guesswork and feel rather than set recipes.
It makes for some adventure and the occasional bad meal, but sure is a
lot of fun.