On handbells and hobby-horses

I spent most of today at a handbell retreat, by which I mean a day-long rehearsal that covered most of the music we'll be playing for the rest of the season, with occasional breaks to stretch our legs, and a nice potluck lunch. Our first performance is tomorrow's service (11 AM, Old South Church in Boston! - come, see me try not to tear out my hair as I play more handchimes than any sane person would attempt!).

We've also got a fair number of new people, so the other point to the retreat was to start to get to know these people. The 'getting to know you' question proposed was this: What's the subject that just gets you going -- that your friends laugh whenever it comes up, because they know you're good for a twenty-minute monologue on it? I came up with handcrafts (and proved it by going off on a rant about machine-made quilts vs. hand quilting).

On my way home, it occurred to me. Some of y'all I could guess at an answer for that question, but not nearly as many as I might. So, to anyone who's interested: what's the subject (or subjects) that get you talking?

x-posted to LJ and DW