That one unique Hobby you do, that is your private Nirvana...18927
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Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Many of you have seen my posts regarding the Dallas cowboys cheerleaders and my work in that vein as a hobby. I have been at it for around 35 years, and have met more than 300 former DCC in my visits.I remain in contact with hundreds of the former cheerleaders, either by email, messenger, or they belong to my group on facebook, one of the largest forums for DCC members that exists and likely the most popular. In my collection I have game used poms, a uniform blouse, stars, boots and even a tour jacket used for eight years. I also have a massive collection of trading cards, playing cards, calendars, hot wheels, frisbees, and so forth. I can say that I have well over 5,000 signed items, with over 200 of the girls respective signatures. Each year the team assembles the alum members to cheer at a halftime for a game in December. I began planning for that venue a year ago and had a good idea what I wanted to do this year. Working with one of the girls I knew was going, I arranged to send my jacket, cap, and a book for signing at the reunion. This year the advance returns suggested 199 girls coming of which around 179 showed. The alums returning represent the squad from its inception in 1961 as the Belles and Beauxs, a high school group who cheered for the team at the Cotton bowl, until the early seventies when the team moved to Texas Stadium and began selling beer, requiring the squad to switch to adult cheer members. From that point on began the classic Dallas cheerleaders we all know and love or hate depending your viewpoint. Along with the items I sent to be signed were special packets, for three girls I targeted that are all but impossible to work with through the mail. The first was a folder of pictures for Zhenya Kapolkova, a Ukrainian member who cheered this year and was badly injured in a car accident after trying out and who made the squad while recovering from her injuries....a rather amazing story as everyone loves an underdog. The second was a set of four pictures for K-Sexy, or kashara garret, a lady who works for the organization after cheering for four years that just isnt good about answering her fan mail. In any sport, or arena you work in you will always have that one person that is the GOAT....the hallmark of that particular sport or thing. The greatest of all time and someome that is considered a legend. You could select several from the vintage DCC squads, but the one that most people agree on is Tami Barber. She cheered in 78,79, and 80 and was legendary for her pigtails she wore. She appeared on love boat, jeopary and nearly every telethon and tv series they could find a reason for the cheerleaders to visit. I am friends with Tami and message back and forth alot, she lives in an RV and wanders the country at her whim with no mailing address. She is also fighting cancer sadly. I had let her know I would like to get some things signed and she mentioned she would come to the reunion if I could get something in her hands there to sign....challenge accepted! My friend Kelly chose to take the jacket to mandatory practice at the sign in table as the girls came in, and asked as many as she could to sign. When the jacket left here it had 55 signatures, but returned with at least 95....including several legends I had only hoped for. Here are some pictures  Three of the alums wearing their signature alum jackets, center is SYdney Macarthur , a friend of mine, who owns Livelovegameday, the clothing company who manufactured and supplied the jackets.   A few of the alum groups present that day!   Jacket and cap at the entrance, for signing Saturday. Notebook to sign for those who did sign so I could figure out who signed what. My returns at the end of the weekend were amazing, thanks largely to my friend Kelly Stus, and her work to get things all done for me  everything nicely signed by Zhenya for me    Tami Barber the GOAT!    Here you see the three girls signatures all bunched in a group in the loops of the logo...Tami Barber, Sydney Durso, and Heather Dunn ! Priceless. Also that weekened I was able to have around 37 other girls sign it including Kitty Carter who cheered in the seventies, starred in the reality show series and owns the dance studio where the girls often practice. Cydney Lewis was also able to sign for me...well known for the famous picture of Danny White the cowboys quarterback kissing her on the sidelines.  Kelly also managed to get Kashara to sign for me, shown here    My grails, signed by Tami barber  Zhenya also signed my jacket!     Sydney modeling the jacket  |
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 Collector
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BrianGreensnips private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Darkseid_of_town Wow. Pretty impressive. | ||
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 I haven't aired it out. It's part of the provenance.
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Galen130 private msg quote post Address this user | |
Yeah, I was going to show off my dragon statues collection. I can't top that @Darkseid_of_town... |
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Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Galen130I love dragons, my brother bought me two of the Mcfarlane dragons from Game of thrones for christmas ! Dragons are very possibly inspired by the fossils of the dinosaurs found in the area where the legends began for them. Dragons rock! |
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I haven't aired it out. It's part of the provenance.
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Galen130 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Darkseid_of_town I don't collect them anymore, especially after I got married back in 2016. Lol I do have some nice one's from all the way back to the early 2000's through to the McFarlane dragons from about 10-12 years ago. All of them are boxed up though...no room to display them (yet). My first dragon is hand-carved and came from Thailand...a serpent dragon. It was a fun collection while it lasted.  |
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Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by BrianGreensnipsIt is a hobby like any other, with perhaps a few more challenges, mostly in the avenue of secrecy, privacy and being able to penetrate the layers of the groups, learn who the players are, and so forth. There are sisterhoods within sisterhoods in this group, ad many factions, each with its own set of members. For instance, you might notice the yellow rose emblem....a woman who cheers for five years with the squad is given a yellow rose charm, for belonging to that special group. Each year one girl is chosen for the pro bowl, and each year when the selection is announced, the former pro bowlers come to announce and welcome her to that elite group. There are show groups, all stars, and many other elements within the squad that make it hard to understand, tough to break into and quite a challenge. I chose to operate and create a forum in facebook dedicated to the squads and girls from all generations....it was an enormous gamble because most of the working forums for the squad on facebook were related to the reality show making the team. Salmon swimming upstream to defy that and make a group dedicated to all generations, all dallas cheerleaders ever. It worked, we drew the girls from the earliest times through the early 2000s in the bunches , who all loved a forum that they could fit in and belong to. We currently have over 150 former DCC in that group, and I get help on the daily from the actual girls themselves with information, stories, pictures and posts to keep it moving. Only comment I can make is that in this hobby, if you dont get cooperation from the girls on the squad and formers , you arent going far. I am lucky enough to have around 90 of the girls as friends on facebook alone, nevermind, instagram as well. I also knew a few of the better names to get as admins, in choosing Steve Snider who owns and created www.pompedia.com, the nets largest site for professionl cheerleading information. I have known and worked with Steve since the 90s and he was first choice to help me I also got Misty Schmitz, who owns and operates 123DCCGallery on instagram. We treat all three sites as sisters and crosslink each other and share information and efforts. This provides a good flow of traffic to the forum I have and also insures we have admins watching who know the venue well. |
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 It gets old smelling it everytime I go outside my door.
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Nearmint67 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I used to have some marbles back in the 70's, I've since lost all my marbles... lol.... @Darkseid_of_town great jacket... We do not want to see you sporting it at the super bowl |
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Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Galen130yep, Dragons are awesome and I love them. I can say that working with the dallas cheerleaders, meeting these ladies and being friends with some of them for close to forty years now, I never get tired of seeing them in uniform and learning the histor and meeting the legends that built it all. In our group we have some of the girls that were highschool cheerleaders and cheered at the first cowboys super bowl. Valesta Henderson, Betty Jeffrey Johnson, and Virigina Mauldin were all part of that group, as they belonged to what was known as the divine nine at the time. For me it was ...bittersweet watching my teen-age crush Tami out there still dancing, still doing what made her feel special after all these years and despite her battle with cancer. Nothing is more glorious nor heart wrenching as watching each year as the veterans retire and the rookies jump on board for their moment of time in the spotlight.  The years havent stolen her diginity and she is still wide aware of the world around her and her place in it.I respect that...she doesnt let others tell her she cant anymore |
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Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Nearmint67Oh the jacket....well it was worn by the girls for eight years, four seperate cheerleaders and is a small. I couldnt fit in it if I tried, but I also am careful now to only allow former cheerleaders to wear it , out of respect. The original girl it was issued to in 1983 is Kelly Zaloudek, who I am friends with.  I know she is watching, so i am careful what I do with her jacket.  Sydney who cheered for 7 years for the DCC then cheered a year for the Mavs, and is a friend of mine so I let her model it for me, for a few pictures though  |
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HAmistoso private msg quote post Address this user | |
| They are watching...? | ||
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Collector
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Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user | |
| they know me on facebook, on instagram and so forth. They see everything I post on my profiles and pages, as well as within the group.The woman that was first issued that jacket, Kelly Zaloudek can follow and see what I do with her jacket she wore for two years....and so can they three girls who followed her. They are an organzation big on respect and if you get the thing going the wrong way for you, its very difficult | ||
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It gets old smelling it everytime I go outside my door.
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Nearmint67 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Darkseid_of_town Some great memorabilia you have there. I had an account with Hard Rock Cafe about 20 years ago and worked in their corporate head quarters in Orlando for a few years. They have some things displayed through the facility that were awesome. Some of the things I remember seeing was an Elvis Presley Cape with all the gemstones. It was blingin'. James Deans' Harley was in the lobby for years. (I never could bring myself to sit on it) too many video camera's lol... But the real gems were in the warehouse (you can probably google Hard Rock Cafe tours) but they had one of Elton Johns' baby grand pianos, Kiss outfits and more musical instruments than 10 bands could play. It was amazing. I never saw any Dallas Cowgirls there, they were probably hanging out with Hugh Heffner & Gene Simmons & James Caan at Heff's mansion..... |
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 Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Darkseid_of_town Cheerleaders are amazing athletes who, sadly, do not get enough credit or recognition for their sport. Your DCC memorabilia is AMAZING.  |
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
| As anyone who has read my recent travelogue can attest, I also have a particular hobby that is not something that comes up every day. Naturally, I mean my collection of goshuin, or 'pilgrimage stamps.' Goshuin are a Japanese tradition developed during the Edo Period (17th ~ mid-19th century) when persons who travelled needed to be able to account for their movements and activities. Pilgrims who went to Buddhist temples and/or Shintô shrines would request a goshuin - an official document of the pilgrim's visit for the purpose of prayer that included the name/location of the temple and the date - from a priest, monk, nun, or anyone else who had official permission to give goshuin. Goshuin are kept in a special book called a goshuin-chô. This tradition is ongoing today, and in the past few years has become very Very popular, to the point where goshuin have become a major means for some shrines/temples to raise money, as a nominal fee is charged. Shrine goshuin tend to be simpler than temple goshuin, like this one from Kasuga Taisha Grand Shrine in Nara:  This one is a little fancier, and came from Shintô Shrine of Shusse Inari in America. I got it at a ceremony in Los Angeles (and there will be another ceremony for New Year's in Little Tokyo  ): This temple goshuin is from Banshô-ji in Nagoya:  Some goshuin can include special stamps for various occasions. This one from Mii-dera in Shiga prefecture has a stamp in the upper left corner. That is a commemorative stamp for the 1300th anniversary of the Saigoku Kannon pilgrimage (oldest Buddhist pilgrimage in Japan). This temple is stop #14 on that pilgrimage:  Shrine goshuin can have special stamps, too. This is another goshuin from Kasuga Taisha Grand Shrine, like the first one above. This one has a different stamp in the centre. This one commemorates the 1250th anniversary of the founding of the shrine. This goshuin is no longer available, and the unique stamp used to make this goshuin has been destroyed:  This is a fun one from the Shunjô-dô Hall of Tôdai-ji Temple in Nara. The second line from the left is written in Sanskrit and not in Japanese. This goshuin is a little more difficult to come by, because it's not one the hall advertises. You have to specifically request it. Requesting an unusual goshuin at a shrine/temple is literally called 'ordering from the secret menu':  There are even goshuin that are quite rare. This one is from Daikaku-ji Temple in Arashiyama. Once every 60 years, a sacred sutra written by Emperor Saga goes on display. I was there for that in 2018, and it won't happen again until 2078. This is the goshuin for the sutra viewing:  This one is also a bit special. It's for the Yôgô-dô Hall of Sensô-ji Temple in Tôkyô. This goshuin was available for only a very short period of time in 2010 because, shortly after the temple started offering the goshuin, the unique stamp used to make it BROKE not once, but twice. After the second time, it was seen as a sign, and the stamp was not replaced. Needless to say, this goshuin is no longer available and likely never will be again:  The goshuin-chô themselves can be very nice, too. This one is from Futami Okitama-jinja on the coast in Mie prefecture, and it features the famous 'wedded rocks' for which the shrine is best-known:  This is from Fuji-san Hon-gu Sengen Taisha Grand Shrine (yes, a mouthful), a shrine that venerates the goddess who inhabits Mount Fuji. Naturally, Mt. Fuji is on the goshuin-chô:  Not just the goshuin, but the goshuin-chô can also be made for special occasions. This one is for (I believe - dates for this very old temple get a little dodgy) the 1250th anniversary of the founding of Tôshôdai-ji temple in Nara:  I'll be back in Japan next year, and I'll see what I can find when I get there. |
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Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Byrdibyrdthese are gorgeous, wow thanks for sharing! I had no idea this even existed myself....are you of japanese extraction yourself or just something you enjoy doing? |
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Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Nearmint67I learned a long long time ago, when you think you are the best or have the best, there is someone out there who could line their parrot cage with your collection and time after time that seems to happen. I can only imagine the memoribilia the hard rock has in its collections! |
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It gets old smelling it everytime I go outside my door.
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Nearmint67 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Darkseid_of_town Maybe one of the wax museums should enshrine some of the cheerleaders from each team. That would be a cool tribute to the cheerleaders contribution to the sport. |
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Darkseid_of_town I got into collecting goshuin back in 2005, long before the surge of popularity going on now. I'm not of Asian descent myself (I'm solidly Scandinavian), but I do speak Japanese, so acquiring goshuin is easier for me than it is for a lot of foreign tourists. Unless you go crazy for it like I do  it can be a very affordable hobby. Each goshuin only costs a few bucks, and your collection will always be unique to your trip(s).Since goshuin have gotten so popular, they're starting to get pretty snazzy. This is a kirie (stencil-cut) goshuin from Osaka Tenman-gu in Osaka:   This is a needlepoint goshuin from Miwa-jinja in Nagoya:  I have no idea what they'll come up with next! |
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 Collector
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Zombiebigfoot private msg quote post Address this user | |
| When the pandemic started I took to foam crafting mask covers. It turned into a fun hobby that just drew me in completely! Those led me to making other props & weapons to display (nothing too over the top yet! Lol!). Still working on a project for a friend who owns a local shop; stepped away from it once restrictions were lifted to get back to work but I’m eager to get back to it! Made this Sub-Zero mask cover for my future nephew-in-law:  This led to a weird, steampunk-ish cover for my niece:   Made a gauntlet just for the heck of it while I was at it:  These were just early projects when I first started out, but an excellent way to take my mind off of what was the current state of the pandemic. I can’t wait to share this new project with everyone; very Stormbringer inspired!   |
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Zombiebigfoot Those look pretty cool! |
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Collector
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Zombiebigfoot private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Byrdibyrd Thank you! I’ve moved into interstellar painting/pouring also; helps me zen out & find my inner Bob Ross for awhile.  |
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 Masculinity takes a holiday.
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EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
My personal nirvana is reading anthologies of short science fiction stories from various eras. Music is often considered to be a record of the Zeitgeist of an era, I like to find it in the future predictions of science fiction writers. For example, much of the writing from the early 1970's was dystopian in nature, predicting a future that humanity had ruined through pollution, war or other biproducts of our greed and ambition. I'm currently reading this one from 1969. It's not as negative or depressing as I would have expected. In January 1969 Richard Nixon came into office with a promise to end the Vietnam War and did in fact start drawing down troops in the middle of the year. That may have had a positive impact on the mood at the time. Many of the stories share a common theme of a move towards a utopian future but with glaring side-effects that highlight the imperfections. There's also a gratuitous use of overly complex words in most of the stories. Almost like there was a vocabulary competition among the writers going on at the time. |
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Where's his Bat-package?
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Byrdibyrd private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @EbayMafia VERY cool! Love a good science fiction critique. The genre often doesn't get the respect it deserves. |
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 I don't believe this....and I know you don't care that I don't believe this.
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GAC private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by EbayMafia There's a few heavyweights not on that list...where's Asimov, Clarke, P.K. Dick, Huxley (maybe he'd be too old by then). |
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Masculinity takes a holiday.
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EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by GAC @GAC it's specific to short stories published in 1969. Could also be limited by publishing restrictions on some work from that year. |
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I don't believe this....and I know you don't care that I don't believe this.
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GAC private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by EbayMafia Ah...only 1969...got it! Thanks!! |
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Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I am always amazed at the unique and varied hobbies people have or love, that do that special thing for them and take them mentally into another place. I think they are the true geniuses in this world because they can build and collect and define the hobby or collection they either invented or specialized in. Anyone can read trade publications and gain a working knowledge and follow the Jones' so to speak for a hobby but few actually create their own special place and take and become the pioneers that created it or defined it. Some awesome things being shown here, keep them coming ! neat stuff guys thanks for sharing. Best luck to each for your specialized collecting and enjoyment .... |
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 Pretty sure the Thing and my wife aren't the same height.
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PhilCoulson private msg quote post Address this user | |
| My hobby aside from comics is working jigsaw puzzles and I picked up seriously during the pandemic in March of 2020. Since then I've worked 286 puzzles. 80% of them are 1000 pc puzzles with the rest being 500, 1500, or 2000 pc ones. It started slowly but I became hooked and now I puzzle every night at home when the day is over and the wife and I watch TV or listen to music or whatever. I really picked it up last year and worked 119 puzzles and then another 113 this year, with maybe one more before year end. Not long after starting I began to take pictures of each puzzle and keep a spreadsheet containing the name, size, brand, etc of each. This started when I accidentally got half-way through one and realized I had already worked it before. Now I can just check against the census before working one. I have a goal to work 1000 puzzles / 1,000,000 pieces. Probably will hit that goal in about 7 years if I don't lose interest. My wife also puzzles with me but doesn't keep up with how many she works but it's probably just a quarter of what I work. However, she has an unofficial puzzle group where she keeps up with all the ones we work and swaps out with other people of like interest whom we've met mostly by accident when buying used puzzles at estate sales or yard sales. We currently have about 150 unworked puzzles in the garage. My favorite are super hero character puzzles which I have a hard time passing up when I see new ones. Here a few pics.     |
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