Martin, YES, you are correct. I like being creative. I love wood. BUT, I also love lots of other stuff as well and find my release in other things.
I just didn't find my love on a wood lathe.
If we take, "creative and wood", and combine it with other things I love, being, CNC and colors and computer design, I love to create things like my Wolf box.
We had a swap project a year or so ago and I made a "paradise box" with some of my mods to it. I called it "wolf box"
http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?36434-Swap-project-received
I REALLY enjoyed making that box and I want to do a lot more of that.
As to turning - I find it to be boring, not creative enough, and the end result is always the same ole same ole. To me, a bowl is a bowl is a bowl. A pen is a pen is a pen. Sorry - I don't mean to offend, the work is wonderful, but this is what it is to me.
If I want a bowl - I can make that in CNC. I can make a pen. BUT, I can also add a LOT of flair to those things and I don't need to follow the "round only" convention. I can make a leaf bowl - with sections in the inside. I can use wood, plastic, brass or aluminum. Really, only imagination limits me there. I want to make colors, textures, shapes, stains, dyes, glazes. I want to push the limits of my mind, design software, and CNC.
I feel like my mind wants to explore the galaxy, but a lathe limits me to a tiny island on earth. It's a really beautiful island in the south pacific with beautiful hula dancers, but I want to explore the rings of Orion
On the other side of the coin - I am being SEVERLY restricted by getting my house in order so I can retire. I am replacing windows on my house, installing vinyl siding, doing some landscaping, remodeling my kitchen, building cabinets from scratch, plumbing, wiring. HOPEFULLY, I will still be alive and healthy when and if this is all completed. Then, I can delve, uninhibitedly into the rings of Orion.
OK - enough - eyes rolling up in my head.
I guess really - I am a space shot.