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LET'S DISCUSS! Hobbies


Proverbs31:28

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LET'S DISCUSS! Hobbies

Tell us about your hobbies!

What are your hobbies?

How long have you had this hobby?

How often do you engage in your hobby?

How did you get started?

What do you like about it? Dislike about it?

What are my hobbies: Well, I can honestly say that one of my hobbies is surfing the Net!

How long have I had this hobby: Since I got the Computer, then maybe 3/4 months after that, I went to computer classes for beginners, which learnt the basics, then I followed on with the next steps. I finished them in September 2008. Fortunately, My son has learnt me a lot, as he runs his own forum site which is the same as this one, & he lives with me.

How often do I engage in this hobby: Every day.

How did I get started: I came out of work and was finding life a bit boring, so my son introduced the idea to me.

What do I like & dislike about it: I like the fact that you can look up anything to your Hearts desire! I dislike it when it crashes!

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What are your hobbies? I used to have a lot more hobbies but have not had much luck with concentration lately so I pretty much stick to short-term projects. I make hairbows for DD and for friends. I also have started some small sewing projects (not sewing from patterns)- pretty much things that can be finished in an hour or so!

How long have you had this hobby? I have been making hairbows for about 7 years and I started sewing in January.

How often do you engage in your hobby? I make hairbows any time DD or someone needs one. Maybe once or twice a week. DD has a hairbow for every outfit so when she gets new clothes, I make more hairbows! As for sewing, less often. I am just learning so I try to practice but I become very drustrated with my own imperfection so I put it away and leave it alone for a while and then try again later.

How did you get started? I started making hairbows when DD was an infant. Every time I bought her an outfit, I bought a bow to match. When I started buying bows a little larger, the prices were going up and up! I taught myself how to make them and have never bought another one! Sewing, I just started in January. DD loves clothes and sees stuff she wants that I just can't afford so I thought I'd teach myself how to make all those cutesy outfits she likes.

What do you like about it? Dislike about it? I like making hairbows because I can pretty much do it no matter my state of mind. It is a good distraction but has become so rote I don't need my full attention. I also like the sense of accomplishment and DD always gets compliments on her hairbows, which makes me feel good! As for sewing, I like the sense of accomplishment I get when I learn something new. I dislike how frustrated I can get while trying to learn things! Also, because I am prone to obsessions, I tend to become very obsessed with learning new techniques, etc. and combine that with my need for perfection and I end up in tears a LOT!

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Guest ASchwartz

Hi FlowFreak,

Good, but, what are or what is your hobby?

By the way, my wife has gotten into two hobbies recently, one is doing stained glass projects. She takes a class and has made some friends there and is learning. Her second thing is crocheting. She is new to it and getting better at it. She tells me that its very relaxing for her.

I am getting into digital photography. I have a digital camera and will start a class next week where I will learn to take better photos. Fun.

Allan:)

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What are your hobbies? Photography, writing poetry/prose, drawing, painting, collecting "found" art/antique books, listening to music, dancing, trail/nature waks/hiking,beachcombing, and anything that sparks a creative "a-ha" moment.

How long have you had this hobby? Photography for a year that I have wanted to do for 10 yrs with an old 35mm that just didn't even come close to capturing the eyes. I made agreement with myself that when my 35 died I would invest in a camera to capture the eyes, and that was a year ago. I have been writing prose for about 10 yrs, but I didn't know I was. I was just writing from my soul. I actually wrote my first poem in one of those states of flow where it just flowed out, and that was December of 2007. I started drawing 12 yrs ago because I couldn't find the words, and didn't know I could draw. Actually my first drawing was a painting that was supposed to be a watercolor, but it's not a typical watercolor because I didn't know what I was doing, but I was amazed I had that in me. Collecting "found" art/antique books...all my life. It just evolved. Listening to music/dance...all my life. Beachcombing started when I moved to the beach 5 yrs ago-I could walk miles and miles and miles, and have not realizing how far away I have walked. Trail/nature walks and hiking...all my life tht I can remember.

How often do you engage in your hobby? As much as I can.

How did you get started? My eyes have always been drawn to see instead of just looking. There is a barn I used to see sitting slightly elevated everytime I had to stop at the stop sign at the end of a country road we lived on. The barn sat across from me. I always like the sharp angles on the structure. One night while stopped at the stop sign I was drawn at that moment to "I wish I had a camera that could capture what I see." The moonlight was dancing all over that barn, but the moonlight was subdued, and it just created some of the most awesome sharp shadows on those angles, and the contrast in relation to the moonbeams and the way the barn was sitting I knew I would never see it again. I do in my mind. Writing began during my first hospitlization when another "inmate" gave me a journal saying writing helps. Drawing began around the same time to help ease, and also to help breakthrough. Collecting "found" art started when I was a little girl, and then a GW store was opened here, and I decided to go check it out, and I'm hooked. The antique books started in the local library when I was older during a book sale. I liked the way the books looked, and the treasures I found written and tucked inside that had been there for years and years, which made me remember all the "antique books" I read, looked at, and stayed in as a child, some of them which I have. Music/dancing for as long as I can remember. I grew up where I think all music orginated and originates from today-the Delta Blues which traveled up I-40 to Nashville and beyond. Trail/nature walks/hiking began as a little girl. Beachcombing started 5 yrs ago.

What do you like about it? Dislike about it? Likes: Photography I like because there isn't as much equipment/tools involved during the actual proccess. Dislike would be after the proccess it can be time consuming and in my disorganized, creative, haste I wish I had taken more time to be more organized with the set up of albums, and the different photoshops. I got to many photos in 3 different areas I'm trying to consolidate. Drawing I like because it has a different "feel" to it, and the dislike is I have to pull out all the tools that I wish I could just leave out and come back to. Beachcombing..likes would be the sounds, sights, smells, and feels. The dislikes are trash/litter such as cigarette butts, shot fireworks trash, empty cans, and vacationers being uniformed about beach environment such as digging huge holes in the sand and the dangers to the environment and to people in doing such. Trail/nature hikes....Likes would be the tranquility and connections made to nature, and the dislikes would be humidity, mosquitoes, snakes, spiders and their webs. Listening to music is meaningful, enlightening, and stimulating, and the dislike would be when there is a need for just silence. Dancing is always a like...only unless the music isn't conducive for me.

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Hi FlowFreak,

Good, but, what are or what is your hobby?

By the way, my wife has gotten into two hobbies recently, one is doing stained glass projects. She takes a class and has made some friends there and is learning. Her second thing is crocheting. She is new to it and getting better at it. She tells me that its very relaxing for her.

I am getting into digital photography. I have a digital camera and will start a class next week where I will learn to take better photos. Fun.

Allan:)

Allan,

The way these communications have played out between us has me with a smile on my face and a :).

I've never done stained glass, but an art professor I once had did. She brought one of her pieces to her art appreciation class, and told us about. I was intrigued, and it's something I would like do, and also I have always wanted to get my hands into clay and spin the clay on a wheel. I love pottery, which is some of my "found" art that people have thrown away.

Starting the digital photography thing....it will be fun and you probably will become a "slave" to your camera not going anywhere without it hanging from your neck, even as you sit in your psycotherapy chair. It probably won't be hanging around your neck, but it will be nearby!:D

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Well, the first thing about my hobbies is how I gave them all up, gradually, during my marriage. So in many ways, I'm rediscovering them now.

I used to enjoy hiking and nature photography, and the Oriental game of Go (Japanese name) or Wei Ch'i (Chinese). The hiking and photography went together. I had a fairly elaborate kit of Nikon lenses and a film SLR (I describe it as a classic case of male "mine is bigger than yours is"). But film is expensive; I'll probably go digital once I can afford it. I've been hiking since I was a kid, and took up bird photography in my 20's. It satisfied the type-A part of my personality by giving me a goal, taking the best picture I could, that nevertheless didn't cause me stress, because there's really not much you can do to get the animals to pose except to spend a lot of time being quiet in nature. In a way, I could fool myself into relaxing.

Go is something I can afford now, since there are local clubs that are nearly free. The game is considered one of the Zen Arts, along with calligraphy and flower-arranging. It is a strategy game whose cultural position is somewhat similar to Chess in the West. However, the rules take less time to learn, and the game is more complex. Basically, it's fascinating; anyone interested in learning more about it, feel free to contact me. There are many resources online. I've been playing for almost 20 years now. I'm approaching the equivalent of a first-degree (lowest) black belt (there aren't really belts, of course, but the rating system, being Japanese, is similar to the one for martial arts. The formal name is "first dan".) That means that I've just about stopped being a beginner. :-) "Minutes to learn, a lifetime to master."

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I am getting into digital photography. I have a digital camera and will start a class next week where I will learn to take better photos. Fun.

Allan:)

Now this is a hobby I can get behind! Before digital cameras were abound, I purchased a very nice Canon SLR and began learning what I could about photography and got pretty darn good at it. Several years ago, when photgraphy became almost entirely digital, I invested in a "decent" digital camera and again taught myself enough to take good pictures but never could afford the really nice camera I wanted or needed to take great pics! Now, my flash died so I only have a pocket digital camera which takes pictures but thats about it! Perhaps one day I'll have the camera of my dreams and be back to picture taking.

I like pictures that tell a story. Here is a flower I photographed:

popflowerR.jpg

I like it because it seems so much like me. Nobody noticed her imperfections until she was put in the spotlight, asked to shine. Until then, she could hide her flaws and pretend all is well and that she is like all of the other flowers. But, when someone takes the time to really look at her, to pay attention to who she really is, her flaws are not only visible but obvious.

And, here is a butterfly: butterfly1.jpg

Another good story, I think. This butterfly truly believes she is blending in. That she goes unnoticed. She prefers anonymity but doesn't realize how much she stands out. She doesn't recognize her beauty. She wonders what others see in her. This picture was taken in a butterly garden and she was the only one not flitting from spot to spot. She seemed content to just "be"; no need to draw attention to herself.

Edited by Proverbs31:28
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Malign,

Your description reminded me of the game of backgammon I used to play, but when I looked up the game of Go all those stones and positions intimidated me. As I read the how to play sections it reminded me some of backgammon, but with twists. To me it would be like playing backgammon and checkers at the same time together-I've never played that much chess. Still...the game of Go is unique in how the game is won or lost.

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I read a lot. All non fiction: history and biography of all sorts. Both have a lot to say about the human condition.

My wife & I do genealogy. My 2nd wife [ I am a remarried widower] & I are 5th cousins once removed; and, we have learned a lot about our surname. Not all are related. "Not all Stuarts are kinsmen of the King.".

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I like it because it seems so much like me. Nobody noticed her imperfections until she was put in the spotlight, asked to shine. Until then, she could hide her flaws and pretend all is well and that she is like all of the other flowers. But, when someone takes the time to really look at her, to pay attention to who she really is, her flaws are not only visible but obvious.

Gah. Proverbs,

Imperfections or not, what I saw in that flower picture was beautiful. Who'd want to be just like all the other flowers, anyway? Perhaps perfection is a touch overrated.

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Well John, not all reading is equal. I never got into the habit of novels. Plays and poetry, yes; novels, no. reading law must be a grind. making law is akin to making sausage as Bismarck said. So, it is a grind.

I like biography and history of many sorts; as an autodidact would. Recently, I got back into enjoying much of my old likes. Some, it was goodbye to all that. so, I have never really gotten back to music; memories and all that.

I am a geezer; not an old timer. Big difference.

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Well I’m a bit of a girly girl and I really like to cook and sew and play the piano. Music was a big part of our household growing up (as strange as it sounds “no singing at the dinner table” was a rule that came up pretty often in our house, lol) I’ve been playing the piano since I was a kid and I started cooking at a young age too. I asked for an “easy bake” oven but my mom insisted that I learn how to use a real one, and I’m glad that I did. I like cooking for other people because it gives me a sense of satisfaction.

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  • 2 weeks later...

What a helpful thread.

I am thinking of hobbies to get involved in once I take leave from work in the next month or two. It is quiet challenging for me to be involved in something which is just about interest, enjoyment and fun. Not that my past time consumers have not been fun although they have been interests which have required such structure and commitment and effort beyond fun.

I am looking into photography at this point. I have enjoyed reading the past posts about photography. I am concerned that I will become obsessed with perfection and hence I have become a little ambivalent about taking on this hobby. But then again I have not come up with an alternative interest.

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Guest ASchwartz

Hi Confused,

Oh, just forget about perfection. Perfection is a "fun buster." Just get out your camer and take pictures. It is fun. Just have fun. It's fun having fun. :)

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Confused,

Go back to the post from Proverbs:

I like pictures that tell a story. Here is a flower I photographed:

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...popflowerR.jpg

The point was made that what made this a great photograph was the imperfection of the flower she chose to shoot! :-)

Photography is fun.

I tend to be a perfectionist, too. But I found that I could try to take the best possible picture, and yet still let it go if I didn't. That way, the type-A part of me had something to focus on (heh), but I could still relax doing it.

So it worked for me, and I hope it does, for you too.

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Guest ASchwartz

Hey, all,

No one has commented on the photo of me and my late and beloved service dog, Mingo, who I miss terribly.

First, no one has said a thing about that handsome guy with Mingo :)

Second, what do you all think of Mingo? I now have her grandaughter, Maggie, who is wonderful, too, but definitely not Mingo. I really have to post Maggie too.

Anyway, that's me. Don't you like all the hair on my head???:D

Allan:D

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Allan,

I think it's great that Mingo has such a fine legacy of service puppies to remember her by.

However, I'm not sure about "handsome guy" with all the "hair on [his] head", since the hairier one seems to be sticking her tongue out at the camera.

Never mind, it makes you look distinguished. ;-)

A fellow alopecia sufferer.

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