Hobbies

Rock Climbing

Rock Climbing was probably the longest and my personally favorite hobby for quite a while. The reason of such love is simple and obvious to any rock climber. It is all about challenging yourself and having fun. Also it's a perfect way to find very good and livelong friends. It's a great way to stay fit minus all of those boring exercises at the gym.

Mountaineering

My desire to start mountaineering started back in Russia. My best friend, Misha, got to do several expeditions that would take to some high peaks in the world, most of those located either in Russia or in ex-soviet union republics. He would disappear, come back in a month full of happiness, excitement, and colorful pictures. I always wanted to join him; the only thing that stopped me was my financial situation. But I did not give up, I joined my university Alpine Club, where supposedly they would teach us how to mountaineer. In the end, they not just taught us how things are done but also became our second family. Mountaineering was a reason why I started rock climbing; I was preparing myself for some big serious mountains. My first mountains that I climbed were in Colorado. I did bunch of 13ers and 14ers, some of them on foot, some of them on skis, some of them roped up. I am looking forward to the bright future and hope one day I will get to experience some of the Russian mountains with my best friend Misha.

Skiing/Snowboarding

The only thing that we could think of before we moved to Colorado was snowboarding. Snowboarding was a cool thing in Russia, and of course we wanted to be cool kids just like anyone else. It's probably took us couple days of falling before we got hang of it. But once we did, it was awesome experience. Snowboarding got old after couple years and we started skiing. I quickly fell in love with skiing, it felt much more natural to ski than to snowboard, probably because I used to ice skate since very young age. About a year ago I crossed to the dark side and started tele-skiing. It feels just like skiing but more freedom plus I can go back country and ski untouched powder much eaasier.

Mountain Biking

There is a saying that comes from Russian writer, Nikolai Gogol:"What Russian does not like fast riding?" Silly question, indeed we like fast riding and fast driving. My first mountain biking experience started in Colorado, but I also have been to Utah numerous times where you can ride premium slick rock trails that can't be found anywhere in the world. I ride mostly cross country; I think that it's better that way, you work hard on uphill section and you get rewarded by having fun at the downhill. Biking is an awesome after work activity, half an hour and you pedaling in a golden leaved forest taking your mind far away from work and the city.

Scuba Diving

Have you ever been to aquarium? Scuba is the same thing if you can imagine yourself inside of one those tanks in the aquarium. Gravitational forces, light, sound works differently under water. All of the organisms and fauna are different from the ones above the water. So it does feel a bit like being alien on another planet. Plus, if you do travel across the earth to some rare tropical island, it feels rewarding to do something more than just lying in the sun and drinking refreshing beverages.

Traveling

Who does not like traveling? Personally, I enjoy traveling a lot. Different parts of the world have something very special and unique to offer, I have been to several different countries since I moved to US but those have not fulfilled my wish list. If only I could travel more, I would. Unfortunately, there is always that time-money dilemma that has to solve before you can travel.

Sky Diving

Sky Diving is probably most terrifying thing that I have done. Although everyone says that it is extremely safe, you mind tells you opposite every time you jump out of a plane. I got lucky to do 9 jumps, one of those was a tandem skydive and the rest were part of the AFF program, which is a program that teaches how to jump on your own. I have not jumped for a while but my priorities might change when summer comes.

Dancing

I started dancing with my brother at the end of the high school back in Russia. We had a mutual friend who was in a Russian Folk dancing troop for a while and traveled all over the place. Occasionally, he would have to skip school for dancing and the excuse always worked. My brother and I wanted to have a similar life style and that's how our dancing career started. From that point of our lives we got to travel a lot, dance a lot, compete a lot (including competition on national television), hang out with numerous dancing friends and skip some of the boring school days. I stopped dancing when I got in Russian college, but I still remember a bunch and use it to impress my American friends. A year ago, me and my brother started dancing again, only this time it was salsa.

Ice Hockey

Back in the day, when my family was poor and could not afford anything, I saw my friend ice skating. I liked what I saw and wanted to try it pretty bad, the only thing I did not have skates and there is no way my parents would buy me those things. I took me a week probably and got pair of skates. It was my friend's mom's white figure skates; I was not sure how old those were but at least couple decades. I was embarrassed at first; my skating progress went uphill when I stopped caring about what other people going to think. Next winter I was playing hockey with kids from my neighborhood. Also I got better skates from my friend; those were only a decade old and were made for speed skating. Looking back now, I understand why I am still pretty good at skating and hockey, if you can skate in the skates that I had learning, you can skate in anything.

Beer Brewing & Bartending

This is my fairly recent hobby. Drinking beer is one thing; creating beer is totally different thing. I guess living in state that has most microbrewers per person inspired me and I decided to give it a shot. It is fun, relaxing activity and pretty rewarding too. It takes at the most 5 hours of total work and 4 to 6 weeks of waiting around. In the end, you get 50 bottles of beer that cost you $25 to $30 and get to share your piece of art beer with your friends.

Also, I got bartending certificate not that long ago. I had a crazy idea of improving my social skills while bartending. But it seems almost impossible to find a such job with out any experience. It does sounds like a dream job though, serve people drinks, socialize and get paid.