Whatever dits your dah...

RobertaX has a post up about her trip to a HAM (radio, not pork) fest/swap yesterday. She babbles about things I don't completely understand with some big price tags attached. She met some other HAMs that are big names in that world.

My first (admittedly uncharitable) reaction was along the lines of, "$750 for a telegraph key? What kind of dope would spend that much on a chunk of wood and met... Oh."

It's a passion of hers. I don't really understand it, as it's not my thing at all. (I keep putting off applying/testing for my Tech license; I've enough expensive hobbies for now.) But you know what? That doesn't matter at all. She enjoys it, and that's all that matters.

I dated a gal once upon a time whose thing was plants. Plants of all kinds, but her very special favoritest thing was Gesneriads. African Violets. She collected them, had shelves full of them, and knew the names of each individual strain. We made more than one trip to a store about two hours away that does nothing but violets. I thought it was kind of weird then (and still do now), but it made her happy and that's all that really counted.

MrsZ's thing is cattle. She knows the breeds, the strong and weak points of each, how to watch for disease of various types... Me, I look at the field and say, "That one looks tasty..."

Me? My thing is guns. I've got a small safe full of them. I know the make, model, and caliber of each one. I can discuss pros and cons of direct-impingement vs. gas-piston actions. I can run down the shelf at the store and know most of what I'm looking at without too much trouble. (Yes, I get stumped by the more obscure stuff, but not always ... I knew what I had when someone handed me a Volcanic Volition!) MrsZ ... doesn't get it. She can shoot 'em, but doesn't really care about the difference between .223 and 5.56NATO, or the advantages of a Keith-style LSWC over a LRN.

And it's all good. Variety is the spice of life, man. I'd be excited too if I was wandering down a fun show aisle and got to lust over my Grail*, or meet Messieurs Supica, Nahas, and Burg. (Dick is a hell of a nice guy, I've had the pleasure of reading his posts many times over on the S&W Forum.)

So, Roberta, I apologize for the unkind thought you never knew I had, and I hope that you come across a '73 Ultimate in a flea market somewhere, sitting on the table by the sign that says, "Everything $5"!

* - a correct shooter-grade Ithaca 1911A1, for the record. If anyone knows of one for a semi-reasonable price that might be available, please keep me in mind. I would part with more than one piece to pick one up.