|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Salmacis81
Tol Eressea
Jul 29 2014, 11:33pm
Post #1 of 13
(746 views)
Shortcut
|
|
Any other tradespeople here?
|
Can't Post
|
|
I've been working in various trades since getting out of high school (now 33), started as a roofing helper, moved on to press operator/mechanic and did that that for 10 yrs, and now I'm doing HVAC with some plumbing and electrical.
Anyway, aside from my late father (machinist) and my uncle (auto mechanic), I don't know of anyone in a blue-collar trade that is a Tolkien fan (a few coworkers have playfully ribbed me about my Tolkien obsession in the past). Curious to see if there are any TORN members who are tradesmen (or women) - plumbers, electricians, construction workers, mechanics, etc. Even weekend DIYers.
|
|
|
squire
Half-elven
Jul 29 2014, 11:47pm
Post #2 of 13
(695 views)
Shortcut
|
Whew, that's a nice concession you made at the end there.
I can't say I've ever been in the trades, as you put it. I've been a designer, programmer, editor and a teacher. But I've liked making things all my life, and I've done a number of medium-scale home projects over the years, both repairs and improvements. Carpentry and paint mostly, but with some electrics and fabric work. I've never dared plumb the plumbing depths, aside from a few sink and toilet repairs.
You ask an interesting question about Tolkien fandom's professional scope! Let's see what answers come back.
squire online:
RR Discussions: The Valaquenta, A Shortcut to Mushrooms, and Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
Lights! Action! Discuss on the Movie board!: 'A Journey in the Dark'. and 'Designing The Two Towers'.
Footeramas: The 3rd & 4th TORn Reading Room LotR Discussion and NOW the 1st BotR Discussion too! and "Tolkien would have LOVED it!"
squiretalk introduces the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: A Reader's Diary
 = Forum has no new posts. Forum needs no new posts.
|
|
|
Meneldor
Valinor
Jul 30 2014, 12:58am
Post #3 of 13
(683 views)
Shortcut
|
|
During my 20 years enlisted in the US Air Force
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
I spent 14 years as an airplane mechanic, then 6 in the slightly less blue collar trade of flight engineer. I knew plenty of working class Tolkien readers.
|
|
|
Salmacis81
Tol Eressea
Jul 30 2014, 1:03am
Post #4 of 13
(682 views)
Shortcut
|
...because I had a feeling there wouldn't be many replies if I'd solely included people who work/have worked in the trades. So basically, the thread is for people in trades, or people for whom trades are a personal hobby.
And yes, I'm eager to see how many other tradesmen there are on this site besides myself. Not expecting many lol. Tolkien is seen as a bit of a nerdy and bookworm-ish thing among the vast majority of the guys I've worked with over the past 15 years.
|
|
|
Salmacis81
Tol Eressea
Jul 30 2014, 1:06am
Post #5 of 13
(681 views)
Shortcut
|
|
Maybe it's a bit more common among older blue-collar guys (no offense)...
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
As I said, the only ones I know of are my deceased dad, and his brother, who both read the books in the 70s (I'm assuming they are from the same generation as you). I've yet to have a co-worker with whom I could discuss Tolkien on our lunch-break (and believe me, I've asked around).
I have a lot of friends who are Tolkien readers, but none of them are tradesmen.
(This post was edited by Salmacis81 on Jul 30 2014, 1:11am)
|
|
|
Annael
Immortal
Jul 30 2014, 1:45am
Post #6 of 13
(672 views)
Shortcut
|
|
my brother was an electrician in the Navy
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
and then got into doing pretty much everything associated with houses - wiring, plumbing, framing, etc. He's a big Tolkien fan.
I built one house from the ground up with his help, and then remodeled another, so I'm definitely a DIY type.
To be sane we must recognize our beliefs as fictions.
- James Hillman, Healing Fiction
* * * * * * * * * *
NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
(This post was edited by Annael on Jul 30 2014, 1:46am)
|
|
|
Cirashala
Valinor
Jul 30 2014, 2:36am
Post #7 of 13
(667 views)
Shortcut
|
I sew, I carve, I sculpt, I draw, I can/preserve foods, I bake, I garden (and just planted fruit trees this past spring, though they won't fruit for at least a couple years), I have worked with leather in the past making lots of different things, like bookmarks and keychains and purses and moccasins and belts and such (only reason, and I mean only reason why I don't anymore is because the kit was my dad's and I don't have one of my own now that I'm an adult and married- they're very expensive but on my wish list). I make and have sold beeswax candles before also, and make my own laundry soap (again, lack of supplies has so far kept me from expanding to homemade lye bar soaps, but it's also on the list). I can also paint some, though mostly landscapes (haven't had an art class since elementary school, but I'm actually pretty good at it all things considered- I can also do some animals and sold a tiger painting to one of my high school teachers as it was the school mascot), and I quilt. I hope to learn how to knit and crochet, once I'm available to take a class or two (I was taught how to knit as a young child, but don't remember).
I've also helped build fences, decks, barn style sheds, laid bricks in a patio for my grandmother (and will be helping my husband finish painting the inside of the roof on Thursday) and helped with remodeling jobs (I'm actually significantly better than my husband at building things/with tools- my parents only had girls and they were definitely DIY types, plus my dad worked in construction for a while). And I figured out how to replace headlights and windshield wipers and the like on my car myself within fifteen minutes(haven't yet learned oil changing yet- I'm not quite strong enough to get the tight nuts off to empty it and replace the filter). The headlight thing was strictly because I was told by napa that I would have to take my car to a mechanic to replace that dinky little bulb, and I said "screw that". I did find out why he said that though- my tiny hands (and I mean TINY- my ring size is barely a 6, and was a 4 when I got married before I had kids) barely fit in my old elantra. I ended up getting it, and can now do it strictly by feel- something I've had to do in my van as I can't even see the socket.
Someday I hope to have my own property (meaning more than the quarter acre I have now) where I can keep animals as well as an orchard and huge garden, and sell both my crafts, and my surplus canned goods/fresh fruits and vegetables, at farmer's market. But before that happens, my husband has to graduate with his master's in mental health counseling, which won't be for three more years (poor guy had to do one class at a time with his work schedule, which is making the program 6 years long rather than three).
So does that count as far as trades go? 
Edit- I also write fan fiction, and have dabbled in poetry- does that count as a trade too?
(This post was edited by Cirashala on Jul 30 2014, 2:37am)
|
|
|
Eowyn of Penns Woods
Valinor
Jul 30 2014, 4:37pm
Post #8 of 13
(642 views)
Shortcut
|
|
Girls aren't raised to be helpless women in my part of rural America, either*.
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
And dads here often brag more about daughters doing things than sons. ;)
We might start out helping to do the things where our smaller frames and hands make us more fit for the job if it doesn't require adult strength, but many keep getting trained for bigger and tougher DIY stuff around the home. By the time I was in middle school, my mom would yell for me first, instead of calling my dad at work if there was a plumbing emergency or somesuch. I still help with everything or do it myself with or without supervision. We do as much construction, remodeling, maintenance, and repairs as we can before calling in the professionals (relatives or not): carpentry, plumbing, painting, masonry, electrical work, old-school mechanical repairs and simple installation of stuff...whatever. She still doesn't like it, but my mom eventually got used to seeing her baby girl up on the garage trusses or walking on the house roof. Not that she didn't worry about me standing on an attachment and holding on to the back of a small tractor, too, but she's more afraid of heights.
We also tend to be a creative family on both sides, so I do the artistic stuff, too, as well as creative thinking. BTW, there are supposed to be plenty of free online knitting tutorials if you really need the help outside of local classes. I'm giving the spinning wheel a rest for a while, to get some knitting done now, myself. =)
*Exceptions, like the daughters of close relatives more influenced by their *bleep* mothers than the fathers blood-related to me, do exist. Regrettably.
**********************************
NABOUF
Not a TORns*b!
Certified Curmudgeon
Knitting Knerd
NARF: NWtS Chapter Member since June 17,2011
(This post was edited by Eowyn of Penns Woods on Jul 30 2014, 4:41pm)
|
|
|
Salmacis81
Tol Eressea
Jul 30 2014, 6:08pm
Post #9 of 13
(628 views)
Shortcut
|
|
Well I was more referring to construction or mechanical trades...
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
...the type of trades where hand tools and power tools are used, just because that's what I know. Though I guess technically, agriculture is a trade
|
|
|
Cirashala
Valinor
Jul 30 2014, 6:32pm
Post #10 of 13
(625 views)
Shortcut
|
|
Well, to be fair I use nearly all hand tools- I don't like power tools
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
I use hand loppers to cut down unwanted shrubs, a shovel to mix in the peat moss to fertilize and prepare my garden for the season, a hoe to dig the furrows, I pull the weeds and plant the seeds by hand. I use an axe to cut down old trees (and I have split firewood before, though we did use a chainsaw to cut down the tree and section out the trunk, but I do know how to use a regular saw). I use a hammer instead of a nail gun, a screwdriver unless the wood is too thick. I haul buckets back and forth, I use a wheelbarrow. I have a push mower, though eventually I plan on acquiring one that doesn't have an engine at all (yes, as I said I prefer using my own power, rather than engines). I use paint brushes instead of rollers. I use a hammer and metal stamps to stamp leather, rather than a roller or power stamper. I both hand sew and use a sewing machine. I don't have enough property for one yet (not til husband finishes school) but instead of a tractor I may well get a horse and plow. We'll see- it's not going to be a commercial farm, but rather a self sustaining plus extra big garden and orchard type farm- I guess they call those hobby farms).
The fence, shed, deck, laying bricks- those are construction trades anyway But agriculture still uses a wide variety of hand and power tools as well, especially as maintenance is a part of farming. You have to check fences, repair fences, keep barns and other outbuildings (if any- we have a large shed for now) maintained, the house maintained. You also have to keep your tools in good working order.
|
|
|
boldog
Rohan
Aug 1 2014, 9:19am
Post #11 of 13
(614 views)
Shortcut
|
I work in a firewood mill where I operate wood splitting machines, and drive excavators, and loaders and heavy machinery. I also work for my familys flower growing business, which also uses a lot of machinery.
I believe that Azog and Bolg are possibly the only two orcs who may be an exception to the typical evil nature of an orc. Azog had brought up his son, well enough that he actually acknowledges him as his own son. That is a first for any orc. And Bolg sets out to march upon Erebor in vengeance of his fathers death. How many orcs will Try and avenge another dead orc? Most will just forget about the dead one. This gives me hope that Orcs, have some traits of good in them, even if it is small aspects.
|
|
|
Dame Ioreth
Tol Eressea
Aug 4 2014, 1:57am
Post #12 of 13
(587 views)
Shortcut
|
He was an Oliver Curwood/Zane Grey man but he also loved poetry. He was born in 1912.
My daughter is a baker and she loves Tolkien.
I've often wondered what the demographics were for Tolkien readers. I know around my neighborhood there are lots of police officers, nurses, firemen, teachers, and government workers and very few Tolkien fans.
Where there's life there's hope, and need of vittles.
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
|
|
|
Salmacis81
Tol Eressea
Aug 9 2014, 1:13pm
Post #13 of 13
(574 views)
Shortcut
|
|
As far as my experience goes...
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
Almost all of the Tolkien fans I know are in white-collar or art-oriented fields, like teaching, insurance sales, writing, musicians, etc (I do play and write music on the side, but it's not my primary job).
|
|
|
|
|
