Hobbies

Music/Other Instruments

While Banjo is my favorite, I have picked up a habit of getting too many instruments. Here is a list of the ones I own now:

• Guitar
• Vangoa WI-100 (Electronic Wind Midi Controller)
• microKORG (Synthesizer)
• Harmonica
• Trumpet
• Cuatro
• Mandolin

Beekeeping

I am a beekeeper! Here are some things I have done with Beekeeping

• My partner and I won 3rd place in Georgia and 1st place in Atlanta for Dark Amber honey !
• I setup a hive in my backyard last summer.
• Set up a hive in the Lake Claire Community Land Trust and offered free Hive Tours to community members

Woodworking

In the fall of 2025 I found myself living back in my parents home, and within the basement was a full wood shop that had not gotten attention in an unknown amount of years. I found myself watching Ben Greco videos where he builds gourd banjos.

Well, my love of banjos mixed enough with my desire to actually craft something phsyically, and I went through the process of creating my first one. It was a long processess with so many moments of feeling like I was a god who could achieve anything, and an idiot who had no business using a power tool. Nontheless, I spent the time carving into the cherry with a rasp. I spent the time slaving away at tuning pegs to make them into their shape. I pulled the banjo head as tight as I could over a gourd I bought from a random man in Georgia. For all of that I'm grateful for this skill.

As of today, I'm still actually staining this project. But on a trip I took to Savannah in Novemeber I strung it up and played it on the GA coast and in cemetaries and in swamps. It buzzed like crazy, but it was mine.

Commodore 64/Retro Computers

I got a Commodore 64 in June of 2025 and It's been extremely fun to learn.

This hobby was also picked up by just finding people and asking them. I went to the Vintage Computer Festival at Southern Fried Gaming Expo in July of 2025, asked people what to do, and they showed me all I needed to know.

My current setup is a basic Commodore 64 with a Meatloaf as a virtual Disk Drive emulator. It let's me easily push software to the computre wirelessly.

I have made a few programs using it, and I hope to make more!

I would be absolutely nowhere if it were not for the support of the folks at The Atlanta Historical Computing Society. They welcomed me warmy and have been amazing at helping me learn about my old Commodore.

Running

I am a runner. It is hard, but I enjoy it. Anyone can run. Here are my tips.

• You'll want a good pair of running shoes - injury sucks. Bonus is this motivates you to do it,
• Ignore all girnding concepts here - this is about doing something difficult and taking it easy. Walk as much as you want, no one is looking, but try and be amazed at what you can do.
• Join run clubs in your neighborhood! Runners are nerds and don't care if you're slow. They're excited to see you run!
• Try running just once without music. You'll either love it or hate it, but you can say you've done it.

Gardening

I have killed many plants. I will kill many more, but it's a nice thing to do.

• I've had most success with my plants on my front porch. Summer and spring plants are easy and strong.
• Water them once a week on Sundays, and if they start looking weak after 3 weeks add in Wednesday.
• Last summer I grew Strawberries, rosemary, chives, mint, basil, and tomatoes. All survived great but the Strawberries. Tomatoes were the best I had in my life.

BirdWatching

I have picked up Birdwatching. Here are my tips

• Download this Merlin App
• Go outside with it running and just watch
• In my community I have a lot of Wrens, Cardinals, and Robins!

Stargazing

I have picked up Stargazing. Here are my tips:

• Download this Sky app, the pro version is really needed I just don't like ads.
• Go outside at night and look up.
• Currently Orion and Gemini are looking wonderful. Also sometimes Canus Major
• For a while Pleiades and Jupiter had my full attention. Shoutout to r/itsalwayspleiades

Sewing

I did this a bit last summer. It was really fun and here are my tips:

• Buy a cheap kit, watch a single YouTube video, and then fix an old hole in something you own.
• It's also super easy to add patches to things - this was a fun distraction and makes phenomenal gifts.
• Ideally, also think about getting a specific thimble. It really helped me not poke myself and with driving in the needle.
• In my personal opinion, cheap needle threaders should be taken to the backyard and shot.