so BESIDES research... what do you do?

[nyghtfalls]

lol... just thought i'd ask about people's interests outside of graduate school. i suppose a part of me feels strange posting this as most people have told me that there is no life beyond your course work and research in grad school. Eeek! Scary for me, because i am simply in LOVE with fiction writing and would like to publish soon (although the agent will prob drop my manuscript like a booty on the dance floor). Fav movies? Mine is Sin City, Ninja Scroll, The Dark Knight, and many other awesome flicks. i'd also like to study video game design and become an independent vg developer sometime down the line. Anyways, that's a small part of me and my moonlighting life... :-) anyone else wanna post their hobbies/interests/quirks? also, is it unrealistic to expect to actively engage in other intellectual/recreational activities outside of graduate school while also kicking ass in your research, etc?

[ewurgler]

I love my dog and spend lots of time at the park with her.

I like to sew

I love to cook--mainly soups.

I like television.

[waitinginohio]

knit, play drums/percussion, cook/bake, dream about the dog (probably a bernese mountain dog) I will finally get once I'm done with UG, watch the Office, 30 Rock, and Chuck, and make lists/plan/organize.

And try to get everyone around me to think more sociologically. :wink:

[Tritonetelephone]

I'm glad you posted this - I'm also preparing for grad school to completely wipe out my non-academic life but there's some things I'd like to hang on to. Right now I'm an electric violinist for a very loud local band. But we'll be breaking up soon since I have to move for school. Other than that, I want to keep up all my community work... GLBT activism and the like. I also like studying pharmacology and abnormal psych on the side - but I don't really want to incorporate them into my graduate research.

[socialpsych]

Not a sociologist but crashing this thread anyway... :twisted:

I don't think it is at all unrealistic to expect to engage in outside activities. I am an amateur ballroom dancer and I know several grad students who also dance. Sometimes they get busy and start coming to practice a little less often, but they manage to keep it up. I'm sure it is a great stress releaser--it is for me. It's great to have something to work on in a different domain other than school. I certainly intend to keep practicing and competing through as much of grad school as I can.

[evenstar]

Yayy I like this question, let's see there's surprisingly a lot!

I have a couple shows I must see each week, the most important of which is Supernatural!!

I'm currently attempting to learn the violin (it's hard...even though I played oboe all throughout high school so I am musically inclined)

I love to cook

The sociologist in me analyzes commercials for gender stereotypes and ridiculous overgeneralizations. Oh and thinking of potential research topics for graduate school.

Watching my favorite movies...I could seriously watch Lord of the Rings all day, any day.

Hmm that's it for now, but there are more

[ewurgler]

I forgot my foremost hobby: Trying really hard to get my NYtimes column comments either selected by the editor or in the top 15 reader recommendations.

In case you were dying to know: I've had 2 comments in the top 15 for reader recommendations (postion 7 and 13) but NEVER selected by the editor. I'm still working on it.

[waitingforoffer]

I like travelling and taking pictures. I especially like shopping (mainly buy clothes and cosmetics). I also like Japanese anime and manga. Recently, I am playing World of Warcraft.

[That_One]

I play Tennis and the Uke!

[migrationdude]

Tritonetelephone, I've also been involved with LGBT organizations for the past four years I love to travel (part of me is looking forward to the visiting weekends at least for that reason), and am quite a shutterbug. Recently I've been playing Europa Universalis III a lot -- it's more of a history major addiction than one fit for a sociology type, but it satisfies the world-domination streak in me

[living_in_paradise]

What a refreshingly stress-free thread!

My non-research interests are language (I'm studying Vietnamese) and travel (I live in Asia and try to get out and explore as much as I can). Beyond that, it's food, food, food (mainly the consumption thereof, but I'd like to start growing it as well).

[hip2btriangle]

haha, so funny that there are a handful of gamers on here. i've spent a good chunk of time WoWing myself -- i ended up justifying my wasted hours of gameplay by writing a (very good!) paper on self-identification and gender identity in avatar creation.

let's see -- very involved with LGBTQ activism (moving towards trans issues now, and figuring out how to address neoliberal issues that surround gay/trans politics), run a 501©3 website about gender stuff that i might link to after i know where i'm going to grad school (;]), and i loooove to cook!

[Tritonetelephone]

Yeah, I don't do the MMORPG's, but I like video games a lot too (I'm surprised no one has commented on my awesome icon yet!). My SoP last year had some stuff about wanting to do gender and video games. I only own a PS2, but enough of my friends own a 360. I played a LOT of Halo 3 before my best friend moved. Now they only play Gears of War :roll:

I haven't been playing anything regularly lately... God of War II has been on my shelf for a while, maybe I should get that one out. But I've been watching my bf play Bioshock, and even though all my friends have played it and I'd seen little snippets of it, I had NO idea it was so scary!!

[hip2btriangle]

bioshock is terrifying. i can't even watch a scary movie unless someone holds my hand. even the old resident evil games freaked me the hell out.

super mario any day!!!!

[Tritonetelephone]

bioshock is terrifying. i can't even watch a scary movie unless someone holds my hand. even the old resident evil games freaked me the hell out.

Yeah, I don't like scary movies at ALL, but my bf does and even he can't play Bioshock alone. I've played Left 4 Dead, and that was a little scary at first. But nothing on the level of bioshock. (Plus, you can play as the vampires, which is MUCH less scary than playing as the humans.)