Hobbying

I decided to start a new categories on the blog, “Hobbying”.

Then I got to thinking, just exactly how many hobbies do I have? Does anyone have this many hobbies? I mean, if they define what I do as a hobby.

Ah! Dilemma from the weirdest corner of my mind!

MSN defines hobby as “enjoyable activity: an activity engaged in for pleasure and relaxation during spare time”.

For sure, I do have a few honest to goodness hobbies:

#1 Blogging.Duh! 🙂 I blog here, there, over there, and now there too. I love it! I mean, I get to write about whatever and however. Not quite whenever, but whenever possible. If I can do this for a living, that would be kind of cool.

#2 Cooking. I mean, outside of the usual dinner of the same ol’ repertoire, cooking would be considered a hobby of mine. I am certainly enthusiastic about it!

#3 Playing the piano/guitar and singing. Although I can’t guarantee that it is pleasurable for everyone else. LOL.

#4 Geocaching. A new obsession. 🙂

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But then there are the other “enjoyable activities” that I can’t quite categorize. I mean, these wouldn’t fall into a traditional “Hobby” definition. But then again, they ARE things I engaged for pleasure during my spare time.

I don’t consider “reading” as my hobby because I don’t read religiously or consistently (except for Harry Potter and Harry Dresden!) like Rude Cactus. But then again, by having a book bedside to read when the mood strikes is more than most people. So, some may consider that a hobby.

You know what I mean? Where do I draw the line of something being a hobby and when it’s just, well, something that you do?

Like…

?? Drinking. LOL. I love me a glass here, a pint there. Does that make it a hobby? Or do I have to know all about the wine and become an enthusiast / wine snob or do I need to have consumed beer from 80 different countries to consider “drinking” a hobby?

?? Photography. I am no Ansel Adams, obviously. But I like taking pictures. All kinds of pictures. I don’t go out on a weekend searching to just take pictures but I will bring a camera along just to see what may happen by for me to take a picture of. I don’t go into a dark room to develop film. I don’t go to gallery to study other people’s works. But pointing a camera at someone and capturing the moment, now that’s pleasure during my spare time. But is it a hobby if I’m not all into it though?

?? Geeking Out. I am not a gamer like my hubby but I can talk about that. I dabble occasionally with my oddest choice for games but I don’t live and die by it like I do with my #1-3 hobbies. I go crazy with all the geeky stuff but I don’t employ that full time like many other full-blown geeks. I mean, they’d look at me as Geekdom’s village idiot, or worse, a wannabe. I am interested but I am not 100% immersed. Does that make geeking out a hobby? Or I’m just a geek, period?

?? Sewing. Well, I do own a sewing machine. I have made costume pieces in the past. And I am picking them up again now. It has become a Halloween tradition, I guess. But I don’t sew on a regular basis like folks who, you know, REALLY sew. Will this count as a hobby or as a temporary lapse of judgment…I meant…a project?

?? Getting People Together. At least once a month I get my coworkers out drinking. Like tonight! We even invited a few strangers into the group and turned out to have a great time over all. I grab people to go do group things like Ren Faire or seeing a movie or having dinner. I can do it and I do it well and I love doing it. But is that a hobby? Or is that just another bit of OakMonster’s magic ability or is it to be filed as a personality disorder?

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Okay.  Too much thinking for my own good.  I’m going to bed.  But you guys get to think on this some more and help me define my own tangled thought.

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