heh, thought it looked remarkably familiar 
I suspect Dad’s was the same.
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it was quite popular at the time
I’ve recently decided to try to learn Tiki carving. In talking with a local Tiki artist, he said the technique is the same between small carvings and big ones and the only real difference is the tools. He suggested I start with a Demel and dowel rods as they’re cheap and not a big deal if they get screwed up. Wife got me a Dremel and wood carving bits for Father’s Day and after copious amounts of YouTube watching and such, I’ve made 2 attempts so far. The one on the left was my first one and the one on the right is my 2nd that I finished earlier today. I like the nose and eyes on the first one but I feel like I did better with everything else on the 2nd. It’s all about self-critique and figuring out what to focus on next.
I’ll eventually need to work on finishing (sanding + staining) but I want to get a few under my belt first.
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Very cool! I have purchased a dremel recently with a lot of accesories that I don’t understand.
Even my girlfriend is fascinated by the dremel and was thinking about getting into carving, but without any idea what.
Now she knows: Tiki carving!
Thanks!!!
EDIT She wanted to take up pottery originally, to replicate some chinese art … but maybe this can be dremeled too?
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- Cooking -Anything but sweets.
- Gaming - A lot less now… putting all my spare time into bass
- Movie nights with family - Kids developing certain tendency for horror movies and Star Wars… so yeah.Alien(1), Predator(1), Scream… and a few other lighter… as they are not ready for The Shining yet. I am letting them pick the horror movie. They are leaning towards exorcist next because they saw an ad.
- Teaching kids, some basic self defense… just because world is becoming a weird place.
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I do general mountaineering (walking and climbing) and ski mountaineering (spend 3 months of each winter in Chamonix in the Alps doing this one). And, somehow (I’ve never quite figured out how), I became a moderately serious gardener some years back…
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Did the same, many years ago. Taekwon Do. Not so much for self defence, as Taekwon Do sucks for that, but to find “direction” in life.
Teaching kids martial arts was one of the best experiences in my life … and most of my kids became way better than I ever was.
What martial art do you do?
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I was taught Karate (Shotokan) by a portuguese master that lived more than 20y in Japan… very very very strict.
Started at 5.
At the age of 9 we were doing Kumite.
Was a Blue Belt by the age of 12… never failed. At 17 I tried going back but to another school and a different style… Went up to Orange… and was faster and better than the brown belts.
A few years later did 1 year of Kung Fu and 2 of Krav Maga Security.
I am not a fighter and will never initiate anything … and have always taught that to my kids… “Your goal is never to hurt, but to block others from hurting you.”
In between… Nei Gong… Tai Ji(those slow moves have more defense and attack hidden than what people expect)
I’ve only started teaching them because of bullies, that they encountered at a time and school ignores the problem. We believe that two of those kids might be on the spectrum but aren’t very well accompanied by professionals.
Basic things only… how to escape locks and submissions… how to leave the other party breathless so you can run to a teacher, stuff like that.
Nothing that is direct punching / kicking, etc. Block, control, safety.
Yes… from any block / control in Karate or Krav Maga you can go very easily into proper damage / submission / humiliation… but that’s the wrong approach for martial arts in my view.
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Ah, we share a similar story, only I started later … and my main focus was TKD. Did also several (hard/soft) styles of Kung Fu, Pencak SIlat and also Shotokan Karate (to chill) … and some Iaido, of course (still have two beautiful Katanas from that time!).
I should have done Krav Maga - which is in my opinion the best defense system - as some Krav Maga friends of mine (security guys and motor bike gang types) seriously kicked my @ss when playing around on some parties.
I’m also not a fighter. Don’t know why (^^), but some people feel provoked by me, so I got into unfortunate situations quite often. But could always talk myself out of a it … and I can run really fast, if necessary
My Krav Maga friends told me that there are only three spots you need to know and inflict maximum damage there. Hard and quick.
But this is something that shouldn’t be tought to kids…
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Never. Only small safe things… if it’s anything that with adrenaline can break or injure… I am not teaching them that… not yet at least.
Krav Maga has two common components…
Civilian - Sporty Martial Art to defend, lightly control and create a window for escape.
Security - Used mainly by security forces… Control and Submission. Frequently taught to police / riot forces… you understand what this leads to.
On the streets I only had to use a martial art once (Karate)… and that was because a junkie tried to jump me. Immediate reaction… was defense… elbow control… urazuki(ura-tsuki - had to go Google… had forgotten spelling) to ribs 8-10… and out of there. Only time… and regret it to this day.
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Yeah, I was confronted with that a few times. Stupid drunk Krav Maga friends … and me (sober and therefore even more stupid), easily challenged.
Very painful … for me. No “fight” took longer than 15-30 seconds. All fights ended up with me on the ground and some laughing guys on top of me, chanting “had enough?!”
Their motto was “Go for the kill”, by the way. So that’s that…
I learned my lesson
I am happy that I always got out of “situations”, be it confronted with fists, knives or guns (in the US, of course).
When I was younger I would have thought I am “better” than the others (which is often not the case … TKD is mainly high kicks. High kicks in a street situation = you loose!) and now I know that I’m not.
Age has it’s advantages (but not many ^^).
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TKD is fantastic for kicking shows yeah… in street even Karate fails… that’s why I tried complementing Karate with other arts. There’s not “one skill to rule them all”… and they all could have their use cases.
Krav Maga is one of those… it’s effective because it drinks from 5-6 different arts.
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I love Martial Arts, I’m a black belt in TKD (did this with my son) and currently trying to learn Muay Thai and Kali/Escrima sticks.
In the past I’ve also trained in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Judo, Karate, Lau Gar, & Chung Chang Do.
I was a huge gamer up until I picked up my Bass, i haven’t touched a game since I did though cause it’s a slippery slope, I like the kinds of factory and sandbox survival games that you spend 100’s to 1000’s of hours. Factorio DLC is coming out soon and that’s going to be so hard to resist.
Tabletop D&D is a favourite (Baldurs Gate 3 was another video game I racked up several hundred hours in) although we haven’t played proper tabletop in a long time. We did get one of the Wizards board game box sets a couple of weeks ago though and are introducing the mancub to it on family game night. (He’s 12)
Health and fitness has always been a thing but I kinda ground to a halt a bit before Covid hit, but I got a kick up the ass recently and have gotten back into it with a mix of Calisthenics, Kettlebells, Muay Thai, Kali, and Yoga/Animal Flow. (11.5Kg, 25lbs down in the last 3 months.)
I skip the family movie time mostly cause husband and child are into horror and I am so not… lol.
I prefer to read my horror, as well as fantasy and science fiction and usually have a couple books on the go at anyone time.
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Yeah… my fitness took a toll last year.
First year and a half of COVID… I managed to stay fit and healthy… suddenly lots of stress and incompetent developers appear at work and that sends me to the hospital twice… one with heart scare and 1 month later 2 ulcers… since then… medication… tons of it. Managed to put on 25KG in a year. … so yeah… working on that!
At least I stopped smoking!
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Ack not good! Grats on the smoking though, that’s a significant achievement (one I have done myself)
I feel the stress. We got bought out in early 2020 and had a major implementation for most of 2020/2021 going on. Then over the next 2 years they kept us on our toes with a lot of will they/won’t they on what was happening to our original company until they pulled us all in as employees of the main one and turned our original company into just a brand name.
Then promptly announced a deal with yet another company that was to buy the one that bought us, that was 18 months of chaos in which our counterparts finally understood what we had been going through for the last 2 years. The deal fell through thank goodness, but not after a epic ton of 80 hour week work that they insisted they wanted to go live on the day the deal was approved.
At the same time they put our original company crew on a hiring freeze and we’ve watched our original IT applications department get pretty much decimated and much of our best talent left because of all the pay bullshit, unknowns and other crap that was going on.
Since the last deal fell through they now want to bring all our highly custom designed and written systems into their very out of the box systems and there’s only about 4 of us left with the in depth knowledge needed to make that happen. I am one of them and I am 90% utterly burnt out.
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Traveling has always been my passion, but recently I’ve discovered a new thrill: chatting online with strangers from around the world. It’s amazing how you can learn about different cultures and perspectives just by striking up a conversation. Whether it’s swapping travel stories, discussing local cuisine, or sharing tips on hidden gems, connecting with people online adds a whole new dimension to my adventures. It’s like expanding my travel experiences without leaving home! Anyone else here enjoy chatting with strangers online? I’d love to hear your stories and recommendations for great online communities!
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Well, I’d say the Venn diagram for people on this forum, and people who like to chat online with people they’ve never met, is pretty much one overlapping circle. Or, more accurately, a small circle entirely enclosed by a larger circle.
But maybe we are no longer strangers to one another, even if we haven’t met in person.
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Ohhh I have introduced my son (he’s 14) to D&D. When I was young I bought Basic (red box), Expert (blue box) and Companion (green box) and played with my friends: the summer was the right time for it!
So 3-4 years ago we have started to play with my young brother (he’s a very appassionate gamer, work with it and he draws since 3) and in these summer hot days (here in Rome Italy does 38-39 celsius) my lounge area, with clima, is perfect to play it.
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I got a call to participate in the Total Archery Challenge at Brighton Ski Resort yesterday. I haven’t shot my bow in a couple years and that was just 20 arrows one day and another time a year before that.
My wife bought me a bow seven years ago and I shot regularly for a few years, but then I started playing bass and kissed all my other hobbies goodbye. But, my brother in law called me a couple days ago and said they had an extra spot that was already paid for. My week has been super busy so I didn’t have time to take any practice shots. I didn’t even remember where my anchor points are on my face. Before I stopped shooting I bought a new sight and forgot what pins were set to what distance. So, I was very unprepared for this.
I had no idea what I was getting into. The tournament is set up like a golf course on a mountain. You shoot from a cone to a target, closest arrow wins, then you move on to the next. I only took 10 arrows with me and quickly made the goal to at least have one arrow left at the end of the day. I was lucky to achieve that goal.
All in all it was a really fun day spent with my bro in law and my nephew and I’m excited to train up and do better next year.
my arrow is the orange one. One of my better shots from the day
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3" to the left, and that would have been a single-shot freezerful o’ mutton. Sounds like a great time.