Interests

Interests

I share with many of my friends the curse of having too many interests. Having too many interests often means that we spend far less time than we would like pursuing the things we love to do. It inevitably means that the depth of knowledge and ability in our interests is often more shallow than we would like. However, there are advantages to having a lot of interests. For one thing, it is very hard to get bored. Also, being interested in and sincerely studying a wide variety of things gives us versatility in life, and the ability to enjoy conversations with a wide variety of people.
I have interests within many academic fields, but most within history, philosophy, international affairs, programming, world religions, and language learning. I have eventually focused my time more and more on Japan, China, and Asia as a whole.

From a very young age I looked very much up to my uncle Thomas. In particular, I became fascinated by Karate, something which he excels at. His successes in the Norwegian championships, Scandinavian championships, and participation in the European and World championships in kata were admirable but his work as the head instructor at the Stavanger Karate Club (and of my grandmother's house) was the primary reason that I came hold the deep interest for Japan and its martial arts which I have today.

This interest, based first only on the martial arts, widened when I entered college and now the history and culture of both China and Japan have come to fill both my academic and private reading time. This doesn't mean that martial arts has dissapeared from my life. In Japan I studied Kyudo, traditional Japanese archery, and if I ever get back to China I would like to study Bagua, another martial art.

I like a variety of physical activities from basketball and baseball to backpacking, programming, and touring the countryside by bicycle. My father helped a lot, teaching me much about a wide range of sports. As for other hobbies that have taken my time are role-playing games, writing stories and poetry, travelling, and of course reading.
Along with my various interests has come a constant desire to be somewhere else. No matter where I go, I soon yearn to be somewhere else that I have travelled or have yet to travel to. Thus, in Japan, I yearned to return to Norway. Now back in Norway, I can't wait to get back to China or Japan, and so on. No place seems to satisfy me and I get a kind of mild depression if I stay in one place too long. I thus hope to eventually find some career which will keep me moving frequently, filling my senses with new smells, sounds, sights, and tastes so I might think a little less of the last place I was at.

As for other little things, I have had a love for role-playing games since I was six years old when in addition to my yearly gift of a few star wars figures, I got a box called "Dungeons and Dragons" which had a lot of influence on my childhood. No, I didn't become a satanist or a creepy drug using suicidal violent maniac. Instead, I believe the game gave birth to my love of reading, learning, and fascination in foreign cultures. However, it wasn't all good, role-players are often outcasts or "the weird" kids in school which don't fit in otherwise. The result was that I got a lot of friends who didn't necessarily fit in the super popular crowd. They were however, a group of very creative, intelligent, and inspiring friends who I have learnt a lot from. I also believe my love for role-playing is responsible for my love of writing as well. Rather criticizing role-playing as silly, I think it is mostly a positive form of entertainment which promotes creative energies. I haven't played much in a long time but now that I'm back in Stavanger I'm going to try to start up again playing AD&D with some friends at work.
Kyudo in Yokohama

AD&D campaign at Nextel Feb - August 1999

Last Updated: Sat, Sep 11, 1999


	I share with many of my friends the curse of having too many interests. Having too many interests often means that we spend far less time than we would like pursuing the things we love to do. It inevitably means that the depth of knowledge and ability in our interests is often more shallow than we would like. However, there are advantages to having a lot of interests. For one thing, it is very hard to get bored. Also, being interested in and sincerely studying a wide variety of things gives us versatility in life, and the ability to enjoy conversations with a wide variety of people. I have interests within many academic fields, but most within history, philosophy, international affairs, programming, world religions, and language learning. I have eventually focused my time more and more on Japan, China, and Asia as a whole.
		From a very young age I looked very much up to my uncle Thomas. In particular, I became fascinated by Karate, something which he excels at. His successes in the Norwegian championships, Scandinavian championships, and participation in the European and World championships in kata were admirable but his work as the head instructor at the Stavanger Karate Club (and of my grandmother's house) was the primary reason that I came hold the deep interest for Japan and its martial arts which I have today.
	This interest, based first only on the martial arts, widened when I entered college and now the history and culture of both China and Japan have come to fill both my academic and private reading time. This doesn't mean that martial arts has dissapeared from my life. In Japan I studied Kyudo, traditional Japanese archery, and if I ever get back to China I would like to study Bagua, another martial art.
	I like a variety of physical activities from basketball and baseball to backpacking, programming, and touring the countryside by bicycle. My father helped a lot, teaching me much about a wide range of sports. As for other hobbies that have taken my time are role-playing games, writing stories and poetry, travelling, and of course reading. Along with my various interests has come a constant desire to be somewhere else. No matter where I go, I soon yearn to be somewhere else that I have travelled or have yet to travel to. Thus, in Japan, I yearned to return to Norway. Now back in Norway, I can't wait to get back to China or Japan, and so on. No place seems to satisfy me and I get a kind of mild depression if I stay in one place too long. I thus hope to eventually find some career which will keep me moving frequently, filling my senses with new smells, sounds, sights, and tastes so I might think a little less of the last place I was at.

	As for other little things, I have had a love for role-playing games since I was six years old when in addition to my yearly gift of a few star wars figures, I got a box called "Dungeons and Dragons" which had a lot of influence on my childhood. No, I didn't become a satanist or a creepy drug using suicidal violent maniac. Instead, I believe the game gave birth to my love of reading, learning, and fascination in foreign cultures. However, it wasn't all good, role-players are often outcasts or "the weird" kids in school which don't fit in otherwise. The result was that I got a lot of friends who didn't necessarily fit in the super popular crowd. They were however, a group of very creative, intelligent, and inspiring friends who I have learnt a lot from. I also believe my love for role-playing is responsible for my love of writing as well. Rather criticizing role-playing as silly, I think it is mostly a positive form of entertainment which promotes creative energies. I haven't played much in a long time but now that I'm back in Stavanger I'm going to try to start up again playing AD&D with some friends at work. Kyudo in Yokohama AD&D campaign at Nextel Feb - August 1999