What in life most tickles your whiskers?

[Joseph41]

ATAR Notes members are diverse, and following on from this thread here, I'm super interested in hearing more about some of your passions.

You don't have to write much. And who knows? You might find somebody with similar passions.

(I'm going to do ten of mine lol - just because I've been thinking about it. But feel free to list just one or two!)

Spoiler

Design
The day before preferences were due, all 12 (or eight or however many we had in 2012) of my preferences were design-based. My #1 preference was Industrial Design at RMIT, and then Communication Design. I had (very) a late change of heart for a number of reasons, but design remains a passion - and I'm definitely rekindling it as a hobby.

Sport
Primarily cricket and footy. I played cricket a lot until a few years ago, when I practically retired at age 18 or something lol. And I'm a tragic supporter of the Melbourne Football Club, which has been... interesting. :/

Reading
Mostly classics, but I need to read more. Ever since uni started, I haven't really been able to read for fun haha.

Linguistics
Huuuuge passion, particularly sociolinguistics. I'd love to pursue my PhD in Discourse Analysis, probably focusing on the intersection between language, the media, sport and gender (so like, how the media linguistically represents female and male athletes). My Honours thesis was similar, but considered the gendered media portrayal of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.

Writing
Poetry.

Coffee
It's horrible, but I don't function well without it.

Mindfulness
And I need to do it waaaayyyy more. I really recommend this to anybody, by the way - there are lots of supported benefits.

Philosophy
Developed this passion at uni - and I think it's a pretty cool one.

Travel
There's honestly nothing quite like it. Scotland and South Korea are next on my list.

ATAR Notes
Clearly haha. I spend 26 hours per day perusing the Forums.

Looking forward to hearing about all of your lives!

[jamonwindeyer]

Great thread idea! Hmm, what am I passionate about...



Should those statistics make me reconsider my life choices?

But in seriousness, also electronics (I'm in my third year of studying it, so I'd hope so!), programming (reasonably fluent in C and Perl, have dabbled in Python, Swift and Visual Basic), music (love all sorts of music, have been playing guitar for 7 years, I sing too but the jury is out on how well), education (I am a tutor as well as being an AN afficianado ) and technology (I'm a self professed Apple fanboy)

[Joseph41]

^Jamon, why have I seen no singing on the official ATAR Notes HSC Snapchat account?

[jamonwindeyer]

^Jamon, why have I seen no singing on the official ATAR Notes HSC Snapchat account?

I'll have to rectify that for you somewhere down the line

[sweetiepi]

Coffee
It's horrible

I agree. Hence why I don't drink it.

Should those statistics make me reconsider my life choices?

Definitely not. (I mean I have about 37 and a half days clocked up here, maybe I should go read a book or something? )

Anyways, things I'm into:
- I'm really into looking at drugs and their chemical structures and how they work, it's always just intrigued me. (I even have some of my faves stuck up on the wall!
- Reading. If anyone's ever sees my timeline- all they'd really see is book updates. I just love reading. Enough said.
- Music. Apart from the listening to it, I've managed over the years to progress from singing songs like Lollipop to playing bass. Music's literally everywhere for me.
- Hot Choc. I can't get enough of it. It's my #1 energy source.

Edit: Typos

[jamonwindeyer]

- I'm really into looking at drugs

Come on, you KNOW this bit made me do a double take

[sweetiepi]

Come on, you KNOW this bit made me do a double take

Surely it's also specific to the degree I'm doing
(People always double take that )

[geminii]

This sounds awesome!

By far my BIGGEST passion is health. It was only recently that I realised that being healthy not only helps yourself, it also helps the people around you and the entire world too (I'm actually not exaggerating!)! -> http://www.cowspiracy.com/facts/
I didn't realise that health is such an important part of life - in fact, health is the key to a good life - and so that was how I decided I was going to do everything humanly possible, and perhaps beyond, to get myself an MD so I can be a doctor.
I would LOVE to get my degree and then travel to Washington D.C. in America to work at PCRM, the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, alongside Dr. Neal Barnard, who is my idol of sorts.

Whenever someone starts talking about health, diet, nutrition, etc... count me in! I get pretty aggressive sometimes haha

[Coffee]

Coffee
It's horrible, but I don't function well without it.

I agree. Hence why I don't drink it.

Not really feeling the love right now LOL.

Some things off the top of my head:
- Reading. I've always read a lot, but I think what really kick-started my passion for reading and literature were the classics. I've been reading a lot of historical fiction lately though too, which I love.
- Travelling.
- Education. Education is such a privilege, it is truly something I value. I think it really is one of the most important things to me. I love learning and I want to keep learning, always.
- Fitness and nutrition. I started working out halfway through Year 10 and I really fell in love with it. I also practice yoga which I find so relaxing and good for the mind and body. I'm also incredibly passionate about good nutrition and healthy eating- I also love cooking which ties into this, I guess!
- Art. Art has always had a huge presence in my life. I've been drawing for as long as I can remember and I find it very relaxing and therapeutic. I've also played various instruments through the years- piano being my primary choice. Interestingly enough, I wanted to work in the film industry when I was 8-15, I was really keen on cinematography. I drifted away from that a bit but I still toy with the idea every now and again. I've also discovered that I have a bit of a knack for photography and it's something I really enjoy. It's fair to say though that creativity has always been a big part of my life.

[Joseph41]

Wow, in hindsight that was terribly worded.

For clarity: I absolutely love coffee. It's horrendous that I can't function without it.

I don't find coffee horrendous - quite the opposite haha.

[Aaron]

AFL
North Melbourne - now with membership

Coding/Programming/IT in general
Have been interested in computers since I was young. Started learning to code from around Year 8-9 and turned initial interest into a suite of 5+ different languages. I like to relate coding/development to art => you have so much flexibility with a coding language.. you can create essentially anything. Imagination runs wild.

Education
Given my career area, it's hard not to include this. In 10 weeks I will complete my MTeach and hopefully land a job for a Term 3 start (watch out all you Year 12s!). I love the idea of lifelong learning... it's something that I think everyone should do. Whether it's a short MOOC, or a diploma or something... learning something new or refining existing knowledge is such a great thing.

Music
Everything that branches under EDM (electronic dance). Yippeeeeee!

I could go on for ages but i'll keep it to four

[elysepopplewell]

Reading
This year I've made the resolution to read a lot more! And so far, so good! For me, the biggest gain is that there is a correlation between the amount I read and the quality of my writing. I've got "The Existentialist Cafe" on my list though - so I can use it to learn more about important ideas of humanity as well as just being an exemplar of writing styles.

Writing/Language
I love writing! I love reading good writing! I love language! I'm studying Italian now, after doing HSC French, and I'm always fascinated with the frustrations of learning a new language. I want to be am a writer (confidence, El, confidence). The ability to manipulate words to create meaning, install thoughts, and prompt feelings, is just larrrrrrvely.

Travel
Of course! I'm in Europe now, but I also love Asia. And I mean travel, moreso than tourism. Although I went to Verona on the weekend and I was your absolute tourist stereotype, taking pictures at Juliet's balcony... But, my favourite experiences are complete cultural immersion. I'm the person who is going to ask you a million questions about customs, rituals, ideologies, and so on, when you tell me that your neighbour is from anywhere but Australia.

Feminism
~duh~ This wasn't always a part of my life. I got into it when I read Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and then I went on a spiral of gendered literature in the HSC - Sylvia Plath, Betty Friedan, so on... But that was all theory. Then I left school and I started Uni, I started clubbing, I started working in different professional spheres, I studied social and political science...and very quickly I realised the importance of feminism. Last year, I interviewed a survivor of FGM, she lives in Melbourne. I realised what an amaaaazing job she was doing expressing her anti-FGM agenda, despite English not being her first language, despite being an immigrant, and despite it being quite a traumatic experience to share. Then I thought that I should be doing a whole lot more with my privilege, and that's how I got to my current standpoint.

Media
I don't know if I can say this is a passion or a strong interest. I can't say I'm passionate about bias media, but it does interest me. I enjoy perusing different sites and looking at the way their agenda and their audience align, and how, in turn, this will generate different types of conversation. You only have to look at the difference in comments on Facebook posts made by the Sydney Morning Herald, the Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, and Sunrise, to see the differences in the way audience and ideology match the agenda of a media outlet. And of course, I am passionate about the way media can cause a lot of greatness. I'm looking at a career in media and publication, but my long run goal would be able to harness media (print, digital, social - who knows) in a way that promotes human rights. #careergoals #amalclooney #notmurdoch

[Joseph41]

Eeee amazing posts! I love reading stuff like this, because usually you can almost *feel* the enthusiasm when people speak about what they love.

Keep them coming!

[sudodds]

Film
Definitely the big one. Pretty much love every aspect of it, both watching and making them, and when it comes to making them I have a keen interest in pretty much all areas; scriptwriting, acting, directing, cinematography, editing etc. etc. (though doing them all at the same time is the most terrifying thing I've ever experienced). Films have definitely been a pretty big part of my life (that felt really corny to write haha), and defs the kind of thing that I get the most 'nostalgic' feelings for. When I watched the new live adaptation of the Jungle Book I legit started tearing up just because the introductory soundtrack was the exact same as from the original and I felt like I was 5 years old again. Problem is though that I'm way too stuck into my "comfort films," that I know I love and no matter what mood I'm in can make me happy that I haven't branched out enough, and I need to watch way more - particularly some of the more classic films. I've got a list of all the ones I want to watch before the end of the year (suggestions welcome!), and I'm slowly getting through it As you can probably imagine I'm pretty excited to start film school TOMORROW  (well not really "film school," but close enough)! Kinda in the same realm, but I'm also super into animating as well Done a few 2D projects on photoshop and a 3D animation on blender. I also really love blending both animation and live action together 

Dogs
I love dogs. Look at my dog. How cute is my dog. The cutest of all the dogs (but I think other/all dogs are still pretty damn cute  ).

History
...surprise!
Russian and American history are the faves, but I'm also super into the "behind the scenes" of history as well (historiography). Became a bit obsessed with learning about ideology, dialectics and linguistics (onya joseph - though I looked at it more from the Derrida/Foucault/Postmodernist/"everything is a social construct is a chair really a chair?" side haha) in history extension, and that has definitely still stuck. It was pretty funny, spoke to my modern history teacher recently about this stuff and realised I've read more books on all these topics AFTER the hsc than I ever did during... oops? (if you haven't read Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari... do. So good.)

Basketball
Defs not the best basketballer in the world haha (blame the fact I'm 5'2), but I still love playing it  Thought that I hated team sports after playing football since I was super young and absolutely loathing it (probably partially to due with the fact my dad was the coach  ) but when I started playing basketball that all changed completely (I did ban my dad from attending the games though as he could never seem to leave his "coach" self behind)! Played all the way through high school and planning on starting a casual league team with some friends at uni

[sweetiepi]

Dogs
I love dogs. Look at my dog. How cute is my dog. The cutest of all the dogs (but I think other/all dogs are still pretty damn cute  ).

Basketball
Defs not the best basketballer in the world haha (blame the fact I'm 5'2), but I still love playing it  Thought that I hated team sports after playing football since I was super young and absolutely loathing it (probably partially to due with the fact my dad was the coach  ) but when I started playing basketball that all changed completely (I did ban my dad from attending the games though as he could never seem to leave his "coach" self behind)! Played all the way through high school and planning on starting a casual league team with some friends at uni

Such a cute dog! (I rate your cute pupper 11/10 ) <3 Dogs are always very cute (can't say the same for cats, shame )

I feel you with the height thing! I'm not that in Basketball, but I had a similar problem with netball, which I occasionally did play throughout HS!
Also update on my coffee situation (no hate to you, Coffee, I know she'll kill me for disowning the beverage): I had one this morning. And I still don't like it. But then again, I had it without sugar because sugar makes me tired and that wasn't going to help me at 7:45 at uni lol.

Another passion of mine: family.
I may not get along with them all the time, but I cherish every moment I get with them and try to live every moment with them to the fullest. There is nothing better to me than waking up on a Saturday morning with my 4 and a half year old sister wanting to give me lots of cuddles. Cuddles are great.