Steam-Pump-Action Shotgun?

Hello Friends!

*You probably didn't notice the poll I had going.  I asked you what you wanted me to cover next, and out of a meager three votes, the winner is "History and Science".  So today's post is the result of that poll, and is especially for the two of you whose votes won!  Keep an eye peeled for the next poll, coming soon.*

The role of firearms in steampunk comes up often.  Firearms, so misunderstood, often become over or underpowered in the name of plot or assumed knowledge.  As a shotgunner myself, I would like to talk to you about shotguns in the 19th century, and some of the actual developments coming to the turn of the 20th century.

The term shotgun itself was first used in 1776, in Kentucky, USA.  With other terms like scatter gun, riot gun, pepper gun, and even fowling piece as appropriate names for the iconic weapon, nothing rings with as great a thunder as "shotgun".  Typically a smooth bored barrel and designed to fire shot of various size, including a single, larger projectile, it is a short/medium range gun with an effective range of 50-75 yards depending on the quality of workmanship, and ammunition, with high quality slugs from a rifled barrel (a possible feature even in the Victorian era) reaching an upper effective limit of 100 yards.  The shotgun was certainly the weapon of choice for hunters, but also served a significant military role, especially by cavalry troop in the American Civil War.  The last few decades of the 19th century saw a decline in military use, however, but they remained a strong presence in law enforcement, home defense, and sport.  As iconic to the American frontier as the revolver, it even developed little sister in the coach gun, a shorter barreled version designed to be used from the passenger seat of a stage coach, in tight brush, and other circumstances where a long gun would be disadvantageous.  The use of the shotgun in military action would not be redeemed until the Great War, where is served magnificently in the trenches.  Since that time, it has found various modifications and uses, and garnered favor among various demographics.

So, what of the technology?  Let's start with the basic design.  By the Victorian era, muskets and blunderbusses had given way to the more recognizable shotgun.  The muskets saw their last tour of duty to the crown in 1838.  The break action, breech loading design had taken hold, but it wasn't until the 1860s that cartridges, or shotshells, came on the market.  Until that time, the guns were hand loaded, and would take life threatening time to reload in battle, or in the face of a stampeding boar.  This led to the double barreled shotgun being a favored design, allowing a second shot before the necessary reload.  Another notable innovation was the hammerless firing mechanism.  Several designs were put forth in the middle 19th century, but it was the 1875 advent of the boxlock that gained the most success.  With its simple design it allowed for cheaper manufacture, and greater reliability.  Since its innovation, double barreled shotguns have had little need to adapt, and are still favored by sport shooters.  1880 saw the innovation of the ejecting cartridge, and the first automatic cocking mechanism upon closing the breech.

Enter John Browning.  The man who revolutionized firearms in a way no one else could.  In 1887 he completed the lever action shotgun.  More of a gimmick for Winchester, the company he worked for at the time, he went on to finish his design for the first, more reliable, pump action shotgun (1893).  In 1900, the very end of the wild west, and Victorian era, he patented the Browning Auto-5, the first semi-automatic shotgun.  The first two decades of the twentieth century saw some astounding firearms innovation, much done by Browning.

Let us backtrack for a moment, to 1884.  Up until this point firearms relied on black powder which was loud, smokey, and corrosive, and later, guncotton, which was unstable, and resultingly dangerous.  Both produced a number of problems on the battlefield, including unnecessary fatalities.  Then the invention of smokeless powder.  Smokeless powder proved more powerful than black powder, more stable than guncotton, gave off negligible smoke, and would even burn wet.  Beginning its use in France, it swiftly moved into prominence in middle Europe.  By 1890 there were patent disputes because several different folks developed chemical variations.  Needless to say, this became the standard in ammunition manufacturing.

A final, somewhat random note is that early shotshells were manufactured of brass, with paper shells becoming an option from the 1870s through about 1900.  The paper shells had many problems, including dampness and pinholes (which would reduce the effectiveness of the powder burn).  This led to brass bases, and wax coated paper to give them a little more reliability.  Plastic shells, of course, would not be seen until 100 years after the first, in the 1960s.

So where does this leave us in the world of steampunk?  Well, it leaves us with the king of close range combat an option.  Depending on the specific date you're meddling in, you could certainly wield a pump action, or even semi-automatic shotgun.  Being steampunk, it wouldn't be complete without some clock work or steam-powered anachronistic advances and ornate brass work, but this is technology you could certainly feel good about using in your projects.  Me?  I'll be taking my coach gun with me into town, just in case some bandits want to rough up the locals.  Hell, I even have a gypsy spell engraved inside the barrel for a little extra oomph.  Good Journey.

The Steampunk Strongman!

Hello Friends!

I mentioned previously that I would "later" write  about the place of the strongman and physical culture in steampunk.  Well, now is later, and I shall illustrate this most important aspect.  Physical culture not only belongs in steampunk because it was and emerging and popular trend during the mid-to-late 19th century, but because strength and ability are indeed a must for the intrepid adventurer and explorer.

As a quick recap, what is physical culture?  It is the concept of physical education as set in the 19th (and early 20th) century.  Physical culture included many schools of thought and many methods, all ranging from simple posture and breathing to rugged military drills, and everything in between.  The concept of exercise separate from lifestyle, and as a lifestyle came largely from the observation that as affluence grew, so did ill health.  The activities and diets of our struggling selves had kept us relatively strong, and with new, foreign foods becoming more available, and with work being mechanized and eased, people started becoming flabby as a regular trait (something that has continued to today.)  Of course, there were a great many things they did not know, and much we still do not know, so the search for a more precise understanding of the human being continues.

Now, where does this all fit in with steampunk?  Indeed, many places.  Let us look at a few reasons and examples to illustrate this point.  First, in the world of industrial fantasy, you have far more than just clockwork machinery and steam power.  Man power still existed as a necessity.  From the rural countryside, to the boiler rooms in the factories, strength of body was necessary to heave bushels of produce and lug massive wrenches and kettles.  The bodies of the labor class would be made of the very iron they worked on.  And the military class, putting the overly extravagant works to use, would be packing dozens of extra pounds to their bodies in the name of dominance.  The noble class?  They would not be seen as sickly in comparison to their subjects (though, historically, they were every bit as sickly.)  They would take up leisure activity, hunting, boxing and other sport.  All of this demand would lead worthy (and many unworthy) instructors to supply.  The military, lettered expeditioners, and noble sportsmen would be first in line for the uptake of exercise, sport, and combat instruction.  The labor class would be relegated to carnival stuntmen, and market square performers.  This area would be most open to the charlatans taking advantage.  The snake oil salesmen selling opiates, poisons, and placebos as health tonics, the illegitimate strongmen hefting empty bells, and the sweet talking performers selling convenient devices to shape them up in minutes a day!

Perhaps, though, there would be enthusiasts simply seeking a quiet life who would take on one or two students out of some bond or kinship.  Not all instructors belonged to the circus, military, or royal academies.  No, there were certainly the quiet strongmen who put their muscle to use working on the great boilers, and spinning cogs, who aided the farmers in the harvest in exchange for a simple meal.  You see, strength and ability do not require grand display, and there are many who would not seek fame.

If I may continue with this limited listing, there is then my favorite type of strongman, the one of the wild.  The explorer and adventurer.  The great traveling hunter, archaeologist, geologist, or even reporter.  Those who traveled the world through personal riches, jobs and commissions, and even military charters understood the need for a fit body.  One could simply not hunt in the jungles of Africa, investigate the Central American native ruins, and dig the Gobi Desert without a modicum of fitness.  Many of these men (and women) would be up on their boxing and wrestling, be accustomed to hefting weighted loads of gear and supplies, long treks through uncivilized routes, running from predators, chasing down prey, etc.  It was a life to be reckoned with, and those who survived were as cast of marble as the ancient Greek statues.  Those well-enough-to-do would carry membership to known academies, while the lucky peasantry would be forged from a life of labor.  There would certainly be dabbling in foreign cultural practices, such as those of India and China under the Crown, or of the Native Americans, and immigrant infusion in the Union, and on the frontier.  A wonderful real world example of this is Georges Hebert, a French Navy-man, who saw native Africans escaping from a natural disaster, once gave this quote:

Their bodies were splendid, flexible, nimble, skillful, enduring, resistant and yet they had no other tutor in gymnastics but their lives in nature.

Combining the gymnastic practices of the day with a regimen of moves based on the necessities of survival, he created the Natural Method, the prime tenet of which is:

The final goal of physical education is to make strong beings. In the purely physical sense, the Natural Method promotes the qualities of organic resistance, muscularity and speed, towards being able to walk, run, jump, move on all fours, to climb, to keep balance, to throw, lift, defend yourself and to swim.

In the "virile" or energetic sense, the system consists in having sufficient energy, willpower, courage, coolness, and firmness.

In the moral sense, education, by elevating the emotions, directs or maintains the moral drive in a useful and beneficial way.

The true Natural Method, in its broadest sense, must be considered as the result of these three particular forces; it is a physical, virile and moral synthesis. It resides not only in the muscles and the breath, but above all in the "energy" which is used, the will which directs it and the feeling which guides it.

This lineage survives today through military practices world wide, and the popular parkour movement.  This kind of strength and training would be most greatly employed by the intrepid explorer, either by rote, or by instinct and lifestyle.  His life might be made simpler by auto rifles, steam chariots, clockwork investigative lenses, but his body would be old fashioned sinew and bone.  A strength belied by his frame, and an ability unmatched by the noble savants.  This the the realm in which I play, and live.  I employ the wild strength of the mountain and forest, and of the trained hands and feet.  What is your strength?  Are you the quiet doctor who performs his daily routine upon waking, or perhaps of the gentry studying at the academies?  Do you belong to the carnival or circus, or perhaps just a laboring hand earning his way through work?  Please, tell me your strength, leave a comment, and join the discussion.  Good Journey.


 

Trousers or Pants?

Hello Friends!

I was once told, "Men wear trousers, women wear pants!"  Certainly, I had to check the veracity of that statement, and these are my findings:

Trousers is a 16th century word derived from a combination of the word "trews" and "drawers".  Of course, you know what drawers are.  It is simply a term denoting leggings that are drawn up.  However, I needed to dig a bit deeper to find out what trews were.  The word is derived the Scottish "triubhas", or French "trebus".  Triubhas, or trews, are close fitting tartan trousers, especially worn by select Scottish regiments.

Now, what about pants?  Pants has a simpler story.  Pants is short for pantaloons, which is in turn a French derivative of the Venetian "Pantaleone", a name of a favored Venetian saint from the fourth century.  So what does that have to do with clothing?  Venetians were known for popularizing a style of close fitting leggings, and so the clothing became synonymous with them.  Interestingly enough, the term "pants" became popular (along with the style) in the middle 19th century. 

What remains is the question, "Are pants for women?"  Well, in a word, no.  There is no gender role assigned to either term.  Of course, in proper Victorian, or 19th century American society, the grand majority of women would be wearing dresses, and be expected to wear dresses.  The lines drawn against the sexes were certainly far stricter than today.

We are not, however, living in Victorian England, nor on the frontier.  In fact, the majority of us are just seeking the flavor of the era to set in our fantasy.  Then there are those like me who are looking to develop a lifestyle largely based in the principles of the steampunk genre.  In steampunk, it is simple to find a woman wearing a pant suit as a business owner, or trendy woman on the town, however, this does not in any way delineate the terms.  No, The choice is yours.  Are you a stickler for the old ways, a pastoral laborer?  Trousers is yours.  Are you trendy and cosmopolitan, like a Victorian Londoner?  You'd be wearing pants.  Of course, there are other terms (breeches/britches, knickers, slacks...) but this article is about that one debate which fired my mind for a time.  Me?  I prefer trousers, as I have no need for Venetians hugging my ass.  Good Journey.

My Time on the Mountain

April 21, 2011, my wing chun sifu committed suicide.  It was a painful day, followed by more painful days.  There was a great cloud of sadness and depression over me for a time.  You see, I had, to the day, one week prior, been tested and advanced to the chum kiu level of wing chun.  Sifu conducted my test.  I was on top of the world, learning a new martial art, making progress, and making friends, including sifu.  Then it ended, so abruptly, so violently.  The following week I decided to practice my siu lim tao form and techniques at the normally scheduled class time, and then go hike up Camelback Mountain.  I decided to make it a progressive timed challenge (of which I made a 5 minute temporal improvement over the course of a month.)  I found it inspiring, purifying, and just what I needed.  Next week, on June the seventh, 2011, wing chun classes will start up again with sifu's wife (a skilled and capable wing chun sifu herself) and some of the senior students will take over teaching duties.  I will, of course, not cease to go to the mountain, my peace, and my stimulation, but I will have to change my schedule to accommodate the trip every week.  So I've come to this juncture, and I decide to tell you a bit of a personal story about my time on the mountain.

I had been to the mountain once before, made a three hour tour of it, going off trail, taking rest breaks, photos, and just generally enjoying the time.  Since I was a child, I've loved mountains, but never spent much time in and on them.  After relocating to Arizona in 2009, it took me more than a year to make my way to one of the many mountains here.  Camelback Mountain is perhaps the most famous mountain in the Metro-Phoenix area.  On that first trip, I decided that I would be coming back.  It was such a joy and adventure.  Then the events of April 21 occurred, and the decision to make another visit was at hand.

An interesting formation from part way up the mountain, with more mountains in the distance.

Wearing my wing chun school t-shirt, and my beat up old sneakers, I began up the mountain.  It was slow going at first, catching my stride and my wind, but once the trail devolved into stone and boulder, I'd found my pace, and my high.  You see, the extra oxygen and adrenaline heightens your system, and as a side effect, heightens your mood.  Forty minutes after entrance, I reached the summit.  I was worn, but as I looked out over my city at dusk, I was happy.  I found a flat spot, and performed siu lim tao in remembrance of sifu one time.  It felt good.  I pounded down a protein bar, and a pint of water, and jaunted back down the mountain.

A view of my city from the summit.  Yes, there are more mountains on the horizon!

This pattern continued for more than a month, with one week off for a trip to Vegas (another blog, another time.)  In the midst, I found I needed better shoes, and purchased a new pair of hikers, and they have served me well.  Rocks and gravel (yes, there is plenty of loose earth along the path) make for difficult footing without tread, and I slipped, non-hazardously, several times.  After the first week, I began timing myself.  With an initial time of 40 minutes for the 1.2 mile trek, I conditioned myself enough over the course of a month and more to a 35 minute summit.  There were a couple of weeks I even summited an extra day, just because I yearned for the adventure.  One night, I didn't summit at all because an old friend called me on my way there, and I just took a side trail to a big boulder, and once I hung up, I practiced some wing chun atop a great stone.  It was certainly a refreshing night.  I even found myself summiting on the night of "The Rapture" and as I looked out at my city at dusk, I said, "Who needs a rapture when we have this?"  You see, folks, I do not need heaven, I need life, adventure, and experience.  After all, isn't that what the steampunk lifestyle is about?  Innovation and exploration?  There may not be much left to discover, not much need to plant a flag, but there are personal journeys, discoveries, and adventures to be had.  Every place, every day holds the possibility of adventure.  I urge you, be that curious Victorian or frontiersman, get out and explore your world!

Looking over my city from Camelback summit at dusk, the very evening of "The Rapture"

Tonight, June 2nd, I made my way up the mountain.  My final trek in lieu of wing chun class (remember, I'll not cease the journey, just reschedule.)  Upon summit, I saw something peculiar.  I noticed a man sitting atop a rock, reading from a leather bound tome with a seemingly captive audience.  I decided to disengage my personal music, and listen in.  What I found was that I had adventured my way to a wedding.  A pair of fellow adventurers had decided to make the grand life commitment atop the mountain, atop my mountain, in my city.  I was nearly moved to tears, for I am surely a romantic soul.  It was so wondrous, and so beautiful to see a couple in love sharing one of life's most singular moments in such a grand place, and such a grand way.  I audited the ceremony, and once completed I felt the need to applaud and congratulate.  Folks, the newly married Casey and Ashley Phillips, joined by the minister David Joaquim, are such a lovely couple, and a couple I am indebted to meet.  They allowed me to give them special mention here, in front of all of you, and asked nothing in return.

Casey and Ashley Phillips, joined in union by the minister David Joaquim

To them I give the greatest of my wishes.  And so fitting an end to my wing chun mountain journey.  I began when a minister ended it all, and ended when a minister helped a couple to a brand new beginning.  Indeed, every chapter closes to a new beginning.  Good journey.

The Age of the Strongman

Finally, in these fledgling days of this journal, I get to the subject of my truest expertise:  Physical Culture.  This post will, indeed, be little more than an introduction to an idea.  Back in 2004 I was certified as a personal trainer.  Up until that point, I had learned exercise from my father first, and from school, books, and magazines second.  I always had a desire to have a strong body, but my trek into the world of martial arts made it a necessity.  By the time I graduated high school I had decided to pursue physical knowledge to supplement my martial arts, and perhaps make way for a career.  I formally studied exercise science for a couple of years, leading up to my testing and certification as a personal trainer.  Circumstances being what they were, it was a wasted opportunity for several years, especially since I wasn't nearly as enterprising as I could have, or should have been.  Enter Matt Furey.

Matt Furey introduced me to the concept of physical culture.  It was because of his newsletter, and later purchased programs, that I began to understand that there was more to fitness than strength and a beach body.  Since that time, more than half a decade ago, I have gained immeasurable resources and knowledge.  But the question remains, what is physical culture?

Physical culture is the over arching concept of health and fitness during the 19th century.  This was the age of the professional strongman.  At a time of budding scientific curiosity and understanding, the edifiers of physical culture drew upon long standing military, athletic, and labor traditions.  There was a recognition that life made easy by technology seemed to necessarily reduce peoples' physiques, vitality, and health.  Looking back in retrospect, we can certainly say that affluence has its price, and exercise for the sake of exercise becomes necessary when life is easy.  Of course, they got as many things wrong as they got right, but health and exercise are an area readily tested, and over the course of a few short months people can say whether or not something is working for them.  This was also a time of charlatans and sideshow entertainment, and the carnival strongmen were certainly not always honest with the veracity of their feats.  However, without this age of free trial and error, and carnival popularity, we may not have expanded in knowledge of the human body so rapidly.

I've rambled on quite enough at this point, and I would like to leave you a couple of old names is physical culture that I believe are well worth their salt, and paved the way for greater physical understanding.

Eugen Sandow
Alexander Zass
Martin "Farmer" Burns
Georges Hebert

These names should give you a good preliminary search, as you wait for my more expansive articles to arrive.  How will this fit into your steampunk cosplay or lifestyle?  I'll tell you later.  Good journey.

Choosing Your Steampunk-Best Hat

Hello, friends!

This will likely be a short entry, but I wanted to bring up hats.  Between those who cosplay, and those of us who simply live the life, formal hats abound.  Of course, there are many hats, and certain hats fit with certain garments best, but I would like to bring to your attention the four chief choices:  Topper, Homburg, Bowler, and Fedora.

The number one choice for those in cosplay, and the most formal is the top hat, often called a topper.  They can be manufactured of silk or wool, cheaply for costume, and boutique for the life.  It is simply the gentleman's hat, best suited for formal functions and the theatre.

 

                                                                            photo linked from Wikipedia


Second in line in formality, and yet far less popular, is the Homburg.  A fine hat, none the less, it came into popularity with King Edward VII in the first decade of the 1900s.  Certainly dapper, and coming in just at the end of the "steampunk" timeline, it is more than appropriate wear.  Featured as the villain's hat the "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", Alfred Molina wore it quite well.  If you're tired of silk toppers, but still desire the height of high society, I suggest you take this hat.  Perhaps best suited for politicians and gangsters for cosplay, anyone can really wear it with pride.

                                                     photo linked from Wikipedia


Next in line is my personal favorite.  Despite the trends in entertainment, the bowler is the hat that won the wild west.  The bowler was designed to replace the top hat for horseback riding and gamesmen.  Because a gentleman must always be a gentleman, especially in public, he must dress properly, but a top hat is simply too delicate for the rigors of the outdoor lifestyle.  This is where the bowler came in.  As a special commission, it had to be sturdier, less expensive, and yet still quite dapper.  The stingy, curled brim, the lower crown, and being hardened felt made this a most choice hat.  Though truly a step down in formality, it was the first gentleman's hat to be made in a range of quality for all levels of society.  A working man's hat, an outdoorsman's hat, The bowler represents both coattails and rolled sleeves.  It fits well on both sides of the pond.  My friends, this is a choice hat.

                                                                             photo linked from Wikipedia




Finally, we get to the most popular hat until the baseball cap.  The Fedora.  Now, let me make this clear, the trilby and the panama, though derivative, are not fedoras.  I have a very strong, personal bias against the trilby (I will kill you if I see you wearing one.)  The panama is really only appropriate if you're wearing casual whites on a riverboat, so that's off this list too.  No, the proper fedora is a moderately brimmed hat, most often snappable.  There will likely be a slight upturn at the back, but nothing dramatic.  Despite being more a favorite of the noir scene, it dates back to the 1890s (though primarily as a women's hat, and not coming prominently into men's fashion until 1919.)  This hat will certainly put you in a unique niche with your steampunk cosplay, but it is an acceptable accoutrement.  A fine hat by any standards (and I really will kill you, quite viciously, if I catch you wearing a trilby.)

                                                                   photo linked from Wikipedia


Okay, so I lied, I'm giving you a bonus.  The quite singular pork pie.  The pork pie hat is found quite often among jazz musicians and early comedians (though, by no means exclusively.)  This hat was indeed the hat of choice for the worldly British gent on the scene.  Once again, much like the fedora, it can come with a generous brim or a stingy brim, or anywhere in between (all dependent on the manufacturer's niche, and designer's eye.)  Though not strictly formal, it is a hat of quality character.  With popularity through the mid-19th century, it was a favorite of Americans during the civil war, as well as the Brits.  I find it a charming hat, with the stingy  brims more suited for comedy and music, and the more generous brims for evening wear.  I would suggest you stay away from the woven straw variety (of any hat, really) unless you're at a picnic, performing vaudeville, or at the fair.  Get yourself a pork pie today, and paint the town red!

                                             photo linked from Wikipedia

Well, my friends, this is the end.  I have ranted quite long enough, and this article has turned out quite a bit more lengthy than intended.  Please, choose carefully when looking to adorn your head, and if you're going whole-hog on steampunk cosplay, don't forget your goggles and cogs--another topic for another time.  A final note, and suggestion:  Please treat a hat like hair, make sure it suits your head and face well.  Get it properly fitted, and please don't wear it with your t-shirts and blue jeans.  Slacks and henleys are fine, but you have to at least look somewhat dress-casual, or steampunk disheveled (still buttoned up...) to pull it off.  That's it, my friends, I have said enough.  Good Journey!

The Path of the Renaissance Man

A time ago I decided that the best path in life for me to follow was that of the renaissance man. A renaissance man is one who has attained significant proficiency across a broad range. The classic renaissance man held the arts and sciences in high esteem, and he always sought out the next level of understanding. This is my quest, and I would like to share it with you.

There are many great thinkers, past and present, who have postulated what it is to become the ultimate human being, or superhuman. The world of education attempts to give us a hunger for this by exposing us to a broad range of subjects. However, as I look around the world I know I notice that people, like all nature, tend toward the path of least resistance. Knowing this, however disheartening, it is easy to understand why so many appear so ignorant. There is much of which I am still ignorant, but it does not stop me from searching.

The renaissance man ideal is to pursue many subjects to rote proficiency. In my honest, humble opinion it is unnecessary to spend a lifetime mastering one single subject. Yes, the world needs specialists, and I am by no means suggesting that anyone should abandon a knack or passion for the pursuit of less of more. What I am advocating is picking up where school left off. We spend almost the first two decades of our lives learning many things others deem important to life, and the majority of us leave it behind as we enter adulthood. Sure, many go on to higher education, or become skilled tradesmen, and many don't. All those options lead to limited proficiency.

Those who follow the path of the autodidact, the self teacher, often go on to accomplish more personal triumphs than their peers. The road of the autodidact is filled with passion, frustration, excitement, and depression. For every thing learned, increasing questions arise. There are days when everything seems bleak and pointless, and progress is incredibly slow, but there are also days where progress moves at such a blinding rate that it is nearly impossible to measure until the pace slows.

So where does one start on the road to the renaissance? Figure out what is to be learned. I have an ever growing list of things to accomplish. Some things are small, and can be done in the space of a weekend, while others may take years to hone. Some may take the rest of my life to reach a satisfactory level. So make a list, and keep a journal of progress. Find certification courses where needed, and use all resources within your means. The public libraries and the internet will be your dearest friends, but don't shun the advice of those who are potential mentors. It may take years to become a surgeon, but military field medics can be trained in less than a year. It may take a lifetime to learn all the subtle nuances of your favorite martial art, yet a competent fighter can be built from the ground up in six months. This is your goal: Not mastery, but rote proficiency. And remember, mediocrity is never acceptable.

A sample list for you to start with:
+Attain a level of health and fitness such as everyday strength and vitality are greater than the average person.
+Learn functional, practical combat
+Develop basic emergency medical skills
+Learn wilderness survival, and emergency urban survival
+Develop a fine art (music, painting, sculpture, etc.)
+Be well read in classic and popular literature
+Understand basic financial and economic principles
+Dive into social and political philosophy
+Learn about the natural sciences
+Find an understanding of language and culture

I hope to help spark something inside you and help you learn on your path as I share my journey with you. Thanks for tuning in, good journey.