Well, I'm not a rocket scientist by any means, but I'm definitely a rocket science enthusiast. Building high power rockets, flight and recovery, and rocket videography are aspects I enjoy the most. Rocketry has many peripheral fields of interest that make it a really enjoyable and lasting hobby.
I've been interested in this hobby, to one degree or another, since I was kid. (Yep, back in olden times when men first landed on the moon). I grew up in the Sacramento area near Aerojet. Model rocketry was quite popular in the early 70's.
I guess I didn't fully appreciate how monumental it was that humans reached out with hard work and technology to land the Lunar Module and other equipment on the surface of the moon. That a man took a small step that was a giant leap for Mankind. I just thought model rockets were cool and liked building them. I couldn't wait for the next Estes or Centuri model rocketry catalog to show up in the mailbox.
Nowadays, I still enjoy building and flying rockets. I don't get to indulge in my hobbies as much as I'd like. There always seems to be a time or money issue that slows things down. I still manage to get some part of a project done a little bit at a time.
Organizations like Tripoli Rocketry Association, the National Association of Rocketry, AERO-Pac and others; provide self-regulation, education and the means to organize the safe environment needed to properly conduct launches. I'm thankful for all the folks out there who organize the launches and events. Thanks also to the developers; the real rocket scientists, and the vendors that make it possible to enjoy rocketry to the fullest. And a special thanks to the professional leadership of our organizations that deal with the legal challenges and other issues.
The flight of a rocket is at once the symbolic, and the realized, natural human quest to reach out and expand life's ultimate endeavor: To survive. Space habitation and the means to get us there will ensure that grand endeavor! I think amateur rocketry and private enterprise will play a key part in our emergence into the infinite frontier!