As noted in my profile, the alternative title of this Blog was "serial hobbyist" as I am constantly collecting new interests and am desirous of starting new hobbies at regular intervals.
At present, my active hobbies include reading, creative writing, photography (mostly of my children, but not exclusively) and scrap-booking (again, for my children). Though, even that last one has been on temporary hold until I get a small desk for the only remaining spot in my small home: this oddly placed nook in my bedroom that serves no real purpose.
There are a plethora of other hobbies/activities that are of interest to me but which I do not engage in frequently enough these days. These include: hiking, music (discovering new bands/artists & going to shows), as well as knitting/sewing and other crafts. To be honest, knitting is something new and really should be included in the category below.
Then, there are the hobbies I want to take up/learn: tennis/golf, running (as in 5k's), gardening, cooking/baking, and music lessons (piano and/or clarinet).
What is missing from my life of course, is time. Before I was married and especially before I had children, I used to think that I did not have enough time to do this, that and the other. I was an idiot.
Besides time, the other problem I have is that I get completely sidetracked; hence the name of this Blog. This is most evident with reading. For example, just before I went on maternity leave following the birth of my son in November 2010, I was listening to an audiobook called First Family: Abigail and John Adams by Joseph J. Ellis during my 90-minute round trip commute to/from work. While on maternity leave, I watched the John Adams TV-miniseries from 2008, starring the talented Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney. This led me to plan to go back and read a biography about George Washington and continue in succession reading about each past President in order of their presidency. I planned to do this via audiobooks once I returned to work in early 2011. It is now late May 2011, and I can reveal that this has not happened. Instead, in the meantime I started reading Nora Ephron's collections of essays: I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman (thanks to a FB post about it by NPR) and I Remember Nothing: and Other Reflections. Reading Ms. Ephron's collections of essays in turn prompted me to give focus to my own scraps of writing about myself whereby my plan was to write an essay about whatever topic interests me and eventually collect them into some semblance of order and gift the collection to my children when they are adults, as sort of a family history, as well as an outlet for me to write. I could continue explaining this particular sidetrack, but I think this well illustrates my point and I will leave further examples for future posts.
Would have - should have - could have. As I sit here responding to your blog I am saying this in reference to the 89937343 other things I could be doing, should be doing and would be doing if I had not been side tracked by your blog. If we don't allow ourselves these moments of diversion we may miss some of the things that enrich our lives. How many times have you found something cool because you got lost trying to find something else?
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