Tell me more about the bagpipes!

My primary passion in my non-professional life is the bagpipes. I started playing when I started college, and it went from something cool to do to somewhat of an obsession. I own a set of bagpipes and a kilt, I play in piping competitions in the EUSPBA (Grade 2 solo, Grade 4 band), subscribe to piping magazines, maintain my own piping website, follow and contribute to an online piping forum, attend week-long summer piping schools with other pipers, have a lot of pipe music on my computer. I've also been to Scotland (twice), have decided to play my bagpipes in each of the 50 US states and 10 Canadian provinces (check progress on this quest), and am dating another piper (yes, they do come in female these days). I have piping friends all over the east coast of the US and in Scotland, and pipers are some of my favorite people to party with. I play weddings and funerals, play in bars on St. Patrick's Day and St. Andrew's Day, and teach people to play the bagpipes.

Am I obsessed? Maybe, but I don't care. It's fun.