My hobbies

I have a lot of hobbies and activities. Here they are.

Skydiving

• My sport of choice is skydiving. It's a wonderful sport; nothing can beat the rush of a good skydive. If you want to learn more about skydiving go here. Currently I jump at Perris Valley Skydiving, which is a great drop zone, and also has an awesome wind tunnel.

Art

• Every summer I take a drawing class at the Art Center College of Design here in Pasadena. While I wouldn't yet characterize myself as a great artist, I do enjoy it a lot. Here are some of my drawings.

Piano

• I used to take piano lessons from James Boyk, Caltech's (ex) pianist-in-residence, who is a marvelous teacher and a great artist. I hope to take lessons from Jim again in the future when time permits.

Guitar

• Off and on, I've played lead guitar and sung in a variety of rock bands, mostly of the "garage band" variety. More recently, I used to play blues occasionally at Babe and Ricky's blues club in Los Angeles on their open-mike nights, which was very cool.

Acting

• A long time ago I appeared in several plays put on by the Caltech theater arts program (TACIT). Further details are here.

Singing

• I sang for two years with the Caltech Chamber Singers, and for a year with the Caltech Men's Glee club. Now my singing is limited to occasionally singing in karaoke bars (especially Smog Cutter, the greatest dive bar anywhere), much to the amusement and/or consternation of the patrons (who are fortunately mostly drunk).

Comedy

• I've always loved comedy, which I consider the highest form of intelligence. I occasionally write jokes, and one of my dreams is to do a standup comedy act. I took an improv comedy class at the Upright Citizen's Brigade, where I learned that... I suck at improv comedy. However, I do recommend the UCB's improv shows to anyone who likes comedy.

Yoga

• I do Yoga once a week at Yoga House in Pasadena. It's great.

Games

• I like pure skill abstract strategy board games, particularly Go and Shogi (Japanese Chess). I also like poker a lot, and have been known to waste a lot of time playing Half-Life, Half-Life 2 and Guitar Hero on occasion.