I was speaking with a female college student the other day and asked her what she did for hobbies. "Hobbies? I don't have any free time for hobbies" she said. I then asked what her day was comprised of and she told me school, sleep, social activities and working out. It then occurred to me that she did have time for hobbies. Hers were socializing and working out. Most people wouldn't recognize socializing as a hobby so I started with the working out.

"How often do you work out?"

"Everyday from 1:00pm to 2:30pm."

Now I was beginning to wish I had that much free time each day to work on my hobbies, "An hour and a half each day?" Must be nice I was thinking to myself. "What would you do if you didn't work out?"

"An hour and a half to do what I wanted?" She looked around like the answer was written somewhere. "I would probably study or sleep more." She then asked "What would you do?"

"Simple...have fun with my hobbies." She had been working out for such a long time that she had forgotten that she was using her free time to do what she...wait. "Do you have fun working out?" I had to ask before I presumed.

"Yeah, of course. I feel better, look better. It is fun to reach new goals. Sometimes it is relaxing to listen to my iPod and zone out."

"I get it. So working out is fun and you do it in your free time. That's a hobby. Its exactly how I feel when I am putting together a model car or playing video games or matching U.S. Stamps to their album location." I knew what she was thinking, working out is exercise not a hobby and if I believe it is a hobby that maybe I should add it to my list.

Now, I am not an exerciser. I don't get up at ridiculous hours in the morning to run a couple of miles or do 1000 push-ups etc...

I do however love to step outside and feel the sun, as long as it's not too hot, and the cool breezes off the mountain. I like to grab my camera and take pictures of the mountains and wildlife.

I also like hiking up the mountain ever so often in search of new things. Whether it be a weird spider or an antler that has fallen from a deer, maybe some plant-life that is peculiar looking. Without even knowing it I am exercising. The brain and the brawn. 

If I was invited to play volleyball at my sister's house I wouldn't turn that down. I hope we play some football for Thanksgiving. 

You see, being outdoors and active doesn't feel like exercise because it is fun, leisurely. Who knew that staying fit could be fun? I see all those people at the fitness center trudging away on there running machines, and I wonder...why so much work? Because that is their hobby. It is what they choose to do with their leisure time. Leisure activities should be fun, whether you have a goal to increase your strength, lose some inches or just play a game.

If you have spent some time building models, you will probably agree that following the instructions can get repetitious and boring. Hence Kit Bashing. It kind of reminds me of the kid in the first Toy Story movie, Sid, who would replace parts of his toys with other parts from other toys. A little Dr. Frankenstein in the making. Kit Bashing is like that except, you are starting with parts and finishing with something the instructions are unaware of.

I build a lot of metal miniatures, for wargames and the like, and often find myself with spare parts. Hint: Never have me work on your car. In collecting these extra parts, I build a pile of possibilities. The boys at Citadel Miniatures know what I mean. In gaming, Kit Bashing your war forces is a needed advantage. Giving your models weaponry they can purchase but are not equipped with can be a real bummer.

Imagine you were twelve, maybe you are, who knows, and you are getting ready to play G.I.Joe with your friends. Imagine their surprise when you show them your upgraded figure. It is now equipped with a light saber in one hand and a Magma rifle in the other. Those Cobra villains don't stand a chance now. Well the same goes with your wargaming characters.

Kit bashing is all about creating something unique, for purposes of playing or display. How surprised would all your friends be if when they lifted the helmet back off a Boba Fett model only to find Barbie. Or Speed Racer on one of the light cycles from Tron. You could also trim off the base of a helicopter and use it as a turret on a tank. The Helitank. It flies, it drives over small buildings. maneuverability and firepower. 

So back to what I was saying, I build a lot of metal miniatures due to spare parts and unique creature results. With a little putty and very accurate knife skills, you can make any two pieces fit together. Adding wings, arms and heads is fun. Exchanging top halves, bigger arms and legs can be more difficult. Adding a character to a horse is easy when its a man but very difficult if its a woman in a dress.

Look for a section to be released soon in the Modeling section devoted to Kit Bashing. Some "How to..." and video instructions along with plenty of pictures. Have fun! And never settle for mundane.

Sometime ago, actually December of 2010, I decided it would be fun and profitable to create a Hobby website that had a magazine (periodical) feel to it, that brought all hobbyists together to learn and share. I was unaware of how much time was needed to do all the things other than what I wanted to spend my time doing, which was writing articles.

For those of you thinking, "Hey I will just start a website, it will be fun..." You may want to take a seat and listen to this.

It is fun, if you have 100% of your time to devote to it.

It is fun if you have a partner that can focus on the money aspect.

It is fun if you have a team of developers that input your videos correctly, manage modules and components like Forums, and Blogs.

It is fun if someone goes through all your pages and optimizes them and develops metatags for Search Engines.

It is fun if there is someone on your team that knows how to promote the site through Affiliate Marketing and Search Page Ads.

It is fun if you have a great server and email service with lots of data storage.

And so far... it has been fun. Because time allowed me to receive help from each of those above mentioned individuals. I can not put into words how much I have appreciated all their help in making my dream happen.

It has been my stance for many years that the advertising industry controls us far more than we believe. With the onslaught of "Sex Sells!!" it is no wonder that we crumble to the pressure to follow that way of thinking. Rules, dogmas, standards, all come to the cyclic test of time and tolerance. So as it should be with advertising, but somehow it has evaded this natural change.

Sometime ago, words of profanity would never been used, couples would not have been seen sleeping together and far be it to see any type of nudity on television. With the keywords of "sex sells" lingering over our heads, slowly these barriers were tore down. Rob and Laura Petrie had separate beds through the entire "Dick Van Dyke Show" series. A new show, "Agaist the Wall" has four sex scenes in the pilot episode. And although James Bond was supported by some very sexy ladies back in the day, until Jimmy Smits showed his complete nude body (back side) on NYPD Blues, the naked body rules for network television had not been crossed.

We as humans process rules in cycles. Follow along here:
1) We establish a rule. We will keep it simple, say we establish a personal rule of no eating after 8pm. Trying to lose weight, we know that food that sits around in the stomach after 8pm turns to fat.
2) We break the rule. This usually starts as a simple mistake. We come home late from work and grab a bite. We look at the clock and notice it is 8:30pm. Oops. Well it is just this once. Every time we take this step it builds up layers of degradation of our tolerances.
3) We reduce our standards and tolerances. As we continue to break the rule we justify our actions by degrading our standards. 8pm was too strict, 8:30pm will be fine, then 9pm and finally 10pm and later.
4) We disregard original rule. Our 8pm rule still exists in our minds but not in our actions. With the number of after 8pm incidents of eating increasing we become complacent with our original rule. It seems nullified by our actions, so we become uninterested.
5) Complacency breeds contempt. So as we disregard our rule we also notice that the original goal of losing weight is disregarded. We realize that through our own reduction of tolerance and complacency that we have sabotaged our goal. We become dissatisfied and angered. So what do we do?
1) We establish a rule......

We do this with so many things. So why not advertising? At some point there were rules that were established by official entities that did not allow "sex sells". The same principals above were in practice except, instead of No. 5 going into effect we were stroked to believe that there was no reason to become distracted with the dissatisfaction of our original rules being disregarded. "Sex Sells" became the new standard to which the stretching of our tolerances became even more elastic. The MPAA ratings are a perfect example of degrading tolerances. Why was something considered not viewable to a 13 year old back in 1966 considered ok in 1984? What changed? Looking at the history of the Hays Code to the current MPAA rating system you will find years of tumultuous change. The change and degradation of our tolerances were constantly under fire by movie companies and movie viewers. So the question is... Has sex always been an important tool for our commerce or have we been lead to believe that it is? 
Taken from BlogLESS, a group trying to change the way the advertising industry thinks; "Creativity here seems to be tacitly understood as the ability to dupe an ever-savvier consumer; a good advertiser is a good manipulator. This fact implies that the common view of the role of the advertising industry is to outsmart the public." http://www.designlessbetter.com/blogless/posts/an-old-advertising-dogma

Lucky for us, the ad world is changing. People are becoming more aware. Thanks to the efforts of BlogLESS and other sites that are promoting ethical behavior of the industry. Hopefully with this, so to will the content of movie and television productions change. Soon we may be able to restablish rule No. 1 again, instead of blindly believing what we are told.

Looking for contributors: An article gets a free year subscription and a continuous column gets a lifetime membership. Use the Contact Us form to submit idea and to request free username and password.

We are always looking for great stories about hobbyists and the hobby they love so much. If you know someone that has an interesting hobby or you know an interesting person that has a hobby, please let us know. Just use the Contact Us link and drop us a note. We will take care of the rest.

So what do you want to do better in the kitchen? Cooking wise that is. Lets keep this “G” rated. Some people want to have better recipes, while others just want to make the food look better. Still others want to develop better knife handling skills. Lastly, some just like to experiment with taste combinations. We can help with all of those. Go to www.cerebraldiversions.com join our club and fill out the Cooking Poll in the Crafts section. There will be a random drawing from the entrants for a $50 gift card to Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Do you collect? You should check out “The Big Collecting List” at www.cerebraldiversions.com and see if your collecting hobby is listed. If not, then join our club and tell the community about your collection. We may even interview you and your collection for an upcoming story.

Please send us your best Extreme Sport photos to post at www.cerebraldiversions.com and have a personal interview posted along with your pictures highlighting your skills.

At www.cerebraldiversions.com you can win a gemstone by being the first to correctly identify four minerals by photograph alone. The prize is a pair of 1.75 carat each oval cut amethysts.