Exactly. It's not that the movements are painful, it's just that the last two fingers on my right hand are numb and I have almost no fine motor control with them. It wouldn't seem like those two fingers would count for much, but they do. I do a lot of holding and spinning of mandrels (the thick wires) with that hand, and I found that I used to drop them way, way too often when I first got the problem. So I haven't worked at it since, but I'm itching to get back to it and try to adapt to what's apparently my new normal.

If it helps, I've tried blowing glass a couple of times, and you'd have to inhale really, REALLY hard to inhale any of it.  The kind of glass work I do is commonly called lampworking, and is a little smaller in scale. But working with molten glass that way can be interesting, too. You need a whole new set of clothing requirements: No man-made (in other words, meltable!) items, no shorts or short sleeves, and because sometimes the glass rods "pop" from thermal shock if you heat them up too quickly, absolutely NO plunging necklines! *OUCH*, from experience!

I have a couple of photos of some of my work around on an old computer, I'll see if I can dig them out or just take a few new ones.

It sounds like fun.  Would probably embarrass myself staring at all the soft willys, so I hope dark sunglasses would be permissible. 

Stained glass is MUCH easier than you'd think. Just requires quite a bit of tools and supplies to get started. Worth it though!!

Swords like that are sexy, but killing or maiming with a sword is a much more personal act than firing a gun.  I was raised by Irish parents who hated guns.  My father told us that if we pointed a gun at someone and it was empty, the devil would put a bullet in there and make it go off.

He hated the cowboy era when we all had toy cap pistols and wore them on plastic holsters with cowboy hats and boots.  I remember one day my sister had caps in her pocket and they went off with a lot of smoke and noise.

I thought about taking up fencing at one time.  Not as self-defense, but for the exercise and graceful movements.  I never carried when younger or wanted a gun in my house.

Hitler was careful to make sure Jewish people were not able to own firearms before the Nazis started knocking on doors and taking people away.  They would have thought twice if they feared their knocks being answered by someone pointing an assault rifle.

I am a huge fan of Jaipur, especially of course the Taj Mahal - a wonderful testament to love.   If you are fortunate enough to have your own driver and guide, you can avoid the queues, hawkers and crowds somewhat to take in the history and majestic beauty.

I also love ****et, we avoided the main tourist areas and stayed at a wonderful hotel with a completely private beach - they set up your sunbeds, have a cafe on the beach for lunch/drinks etc - the water is fantastic for snorkelling and the exotic fish will be swimming at your feet once you are six inches into the water!  It's a great place to learn to scuba dive and Ian and Tom got their Padi's while we were there.  We also chartered a boat to a private island and the hotel sent a staff member with us for the day -truly how the other half lived LOL!

Bali was fun 

Gambling in Macau was fun - like Chinese vegas only the food was better!

Hanoi was an interesting place to learn the "other" side of the Vietnam war - there are "guides" paid by the Government to follow foreigners around in the museums etc and tell you how bad the Americans and French were!!!

Hong Kong - dirty but lively city - wouldn't want to live there because of the pollution and the Chinesification - but a great place to go for a party weekend

Where have you been, Jost - I'm sure you have great reviews!   Expat life is truly a gift ...