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Who in the World Is Elliot?
Elliot Templeton is kind of a real person. I say “kind of” because he’s actually a Star Wars action figure I found deep in the bowels of my mom’s piano one day in 2008 whilst getting it tuned—a lost relic from my childhood who I’m sure slipped past the piano chords while fleeing Darth Vader through the swamps of Dagobah.
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Reading Hobby: An Impromptu Library
Ever since we evacuated our home and left our belongings in Asia eleven months ago, we have been making do with temporarily rebuilding our lives from thrift stores and whatnot. We’ve lived off savings, purchasing things that we can use until we leave, things we don’t mind giving up at the drop of a hat.Continue reading “Reading Hobby: An Impromptu Library”
Metal Detecting Hobby: Notable Finds, October 2020
Is it snowing where you are? October has come and gone, and we’ve got a few inches on the ground up here in northern Wisconsin, and sometimes I feel like the metal-detecting season is coming to a close too. It’s a sad feeling. Sometimes I dream about digging up a coin spill, and I don’tContinue reading “Metal Detecting Hobby: Notable Finds, October 2020”
Metal Detecting Hobby: Notable Finds, September 2020
The end of September marked my third full month of detecting the Midwest. Normally I live in southern China, a place you’d think is just brimming with relics, but is really a horrible place to swing. Something called “the Cultural Revolution” (where they destroyed many of their wonderful relics and melted all their metal downContinue reading “Metal Detecting Hobby: Notable Finds, September 2020”
Metal Detecting Hobby: Notable Finds, August 2020
As the canopy above turns a golden orange and the leaves start falling, I envision a end of the metal-detecting season closing in. For that reason, I’ve started analyzing some of my favorite finds from the summer. I’ve already posted my Notable Finds from June and July 2020, so brace yourselves now for August. COINSContinue reading “Metal Detecting Hobby: Notable Finds, August 2020”
Metal Detecting Hobby: Notable Finds, June and July 2020
As I mentioned in another post, I got my Garrett Ace 400 from a pawn shop for Father’s Day, and it’s been a constant hobby for me ever since. I’ve posted a few shots of my favorite finds on Instagram, but I’d like to display some of my better finds from this summer here. COINSContinue reading “Metal Detecting Hobby: Notable Finds, June and July 2020”
LEGO Hobby: A Library Story
Is there anything more relaxing than organization? Not for me. Even if I’m sitting on a beach, I don’t want to just sit there with my thoughts while my bald scalp burns. I’d much rather gather all the shells and pile them up into types, sizes, or colors. Books are exactly the same. Oh, toContinue reading “LEGO Hobby: A Library Story”
Bird Drawing Hobby: Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus)
I can’t recall ever seeing this bird at any point before this Spring, when my family happened upon him while hiking south of Rockford, IL. The bright red and white colors on his breast reminded me more of the tropical birds we see on our island in China than something from the Midwest. The birdContinue reading “Bird Drawing Hobby: Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus)”
Drone Photography Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction
I fly the DJI Mavic Pro Platinum. Ever heard if it? I purchased this drone on a whim. It’s not the cheapest thing out there, and I must have caught my wife on a SUPER good day, the day I convinced her we needed one! You know….for the company. She agreed that, for the sakeContinue reading “Drone Photography Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction”
Bird Drawing Hobby: Eastern Towhee (Pipilio erythrophthalmus)
I’ve seen this bird my whole life but never really sat down to study it. It’s in the New World Sparrows family, but you’d never mistake him for a sparrow. Since this was my first time photographing it, I consider it #392 on my Life List. It’s got a fairly unique call deep in theContinue reading “Bird Drawing Hobby: Eastern Towhee (Pipilio erythrophthalmus)”
Bird Drawing Hobby: Canada Warbler (Cardellina canadensis)
I first saw this migratory bird in May at the Seward Bluffs Forest Preserve in Winnebago County, IL. I shot a few pics from quite a distance, but it was an overcast day and the canopy was pretty thick by then, so proper lighting was lacking. Still, I got enough detail to conform the ID,Continue reading “Bird Drawing Hobby: Canada Warbler (Cardellina canadensis)”
Birding Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction
Like most of my hobbies, this one began later in my adult life. In fact, I was just 33 or 34 when I started, thanks to a friend who visited us in China. Steve remains the most avid bird-watcher I’ve ever known, and when he and his wife visited us in Hainan, his passion forContinue reading “Birding Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction”
Drawing Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction
I’ve doodled all my life but have never taken any art classes outside grade school. My doodles are generally pretty crappy, but I learned early on that I could copy what I see pretty accurately, if I just take the time to do it. Ever since COVID hit, my whole family has gotten more intoContinue reading “Drawing Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction”
LEGO Hobby: A Frisbee Story
Despite COVID, we really enjoy spending our Friday mornings out looking at garage sales. Lately we’ve been buying up whatever sporting equipment we might need. This week we picked up three frisbees and a full load of baseball gear. We’re ready for summer finally, in its final month. My son, Meshach (9), is a naturalContinue reading “LEGO Hobby: A Frisbee Story”
LEGO Hobby: A Swimming Story
It’s summertime, and it’s hot. We haven’t dipped our toes into a swimming pool, lake, or ocean since January (snorkeling in the tropics). It’s been too long. Thankfully, I can swim vicariously through my Lego selfie. Of course….his adventures are a little more frightening than I’ve ever experienced! ©2020 E.T.
Rock Balancing Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction
I don’t consider myself an artist, just like I don’t consider myself a photographer or an author or lepidopterist. I dabble. One of the things I began dabbling in a few years ago is rock-balancing. Perhaps you’ve visited rivers where someone stacked some rocks, one atop another, as some sort of Zen-message to the universe.Continue reading “Rock Balancing Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction”
Game Design Hobby: Dice Football
Dice AND football!? What could be better? Now this is a technical, note-taking, stat-tracking game which I designed cuz I’m a football-loving nerd. I’ve made adjustments so I can play entire Green Bay Packer seasons, tracking offensive stats all the way, but I can also play it simply as “Team A” vs. “Team B.” It’sContinue reading “Game Design Hobby: Dice Football”
Fossil Hunting Hobby: A LEGO Story
I don’t know if I’ll ever get around to illustrating all of my hobbies in LEGO, but it sure gives us something to do on a rainy day! Truth be told, I’ve never found a fish in Utah, but I’ve seen some of the videos where people have. Absolutely fascinating. ©2020 E.T.
Fossil Hunting Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction
Now here’s a hobby that was completely foreign to me for most of my life. Sure, I grew up in Wisconsin where the Laurentide Ice Sheet has been messing things up for millennia. But I never knew about it until I came across whole fossil formations in and then purposefully sought to learn more. FewContinue reading “Fossil Hunting Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction”
Game Design Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction
The Good Lord blessed me with creative siblings who could invent a new game with just five minutes and a bag of garbage in hand. In fact, one of my brothers once told me that he longed to be stranded on a desert island just so he could use coconuts and rocks to design newContinue reading “Game Design Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction”
LEGO Hobby: A Star Wars Story
Like all smart people, I grew up loving the original Star Wars trilogy and collecting the toys. I sold them all when I moved to China in 2014, and that was a sad, sad day. But now I get to relive those memories through my children—and the only downside is that JarJar Blinks has beenContinue reading “LEGO Hobby: A Star Wars Story”
Metal Detecting Hobby: A LEGO Story
Continuing to mix my hobbies, I made this one for my son after a long day of, yup, metal detecting. Enjoy! ©2020 E.T.
Butterflying Hobby: A LEGO Story
I enjoy mixing hobbies on occasion. While playing Lego with my son, he likes me to craft him some stories. This one was today’s. ©2020 E.T.
LEGO Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction
Lego has been a part of my life since childhood. I never really considered Lego a hobby, though, until my kids were old enough to find them interesting. Now, it’s become pretty much a daily ritual. Living in China, we could either access the really crappy, fake versions made from a waxy plastic, or weContinue reading “LEGO Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction”
Reading Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction
I’m a heavy reader. Ever since I took part in the Pizza Hut BOOK IT! program in elementary school where students could get paid in pizza for reading so many books, I’ve been a book hound. Reading is, perhaps, my oldest hobby of all, and it is absolutely the only hobby that I know willContinue reading “Reading Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction”
Butterflying Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction
Some of my friends affectionately call me “Butterfly Boy,” and I guess I’m OK with that. Butterflying may not be the most manly hobby in the world—especially when a phrase like “prancing through the flowers after his fluttering friends” aptly describes what I do—but again, I’m OK with that. My wife, in fact, has comparedContinue reading “Butterflying Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction”
Metal Detecting Hobby: First Time in Illinois
My family left all our belongings in China when we evacuated for the States at the end of January, and that includes not only my brand new drone, but also our metal detectors. And I’ve been lamenting that fact for months. My wife picked up on my laments and bought me the Garret ACE 400Continue reading “Metal Detecting Hobby: First Time in Illinois”
Genealogy Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction
As I’ve written elsewhere, I hadn’t intentionally pursued any hobbies until I turned 35. When that dam sprang a leak, however, the torrents flowed. Each of my three-decade-long curiosities quickly turned into a passion, though some of those passions were short-lived. Stone-polishing by hand with ever-increasing grades of sandpaper, for example—yeah, that one lasted aboutContinue reading “Genealogy Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction”
Metal Detecting Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction
I’m a bit surprised that it took me 34 years to get interested in this, perhaps the coolest nerd hobby of all. I say “nerd hobby” because of the stereotype: that lonely oddball down at the beach in headphones three sizes too large, swinging a stick over the sand and hoping that the next BEEPContinue reading “Metal Detecting Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction”
Journaling Hobby: Daily Journal Styles to Try
As mentioned in Elliot’s Introduction, I have been journaling daily since college, though I experimented long before that. Over the years, I’ve tried many different styles of journaling, and in this post I’ll take you through some of my favorites. The Necessities: Date and Location. No matter the style, I thinks it’s important to alwaysContinue reading “Journaling Hobby: Daily Journal Styles to Try”
Journaling Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction
Journaling Since Childhood I have been a lifelong journal-junkie. I can blame my awesome mother who assigned me writing assignments from the minute I began homeschooling in second grade, but I’d rather blame the typewriter I found in someone’s garbage in first grade. Hmmm. Dumpster-diving. Perhaps I did have some great hobbies growing up! SoContinue reading “Journaling Hobby: Elliot’s Introduction”
