Hobbies

[Joe Kriston]

A short while ago, when I was in one of my more perturbed snits, I stood in the doorway of one of my grown sons' room, where he, his older brother and some of their friends were sitting, eyes glued to the big-screen television, controllers in hands, playing some crazy shoot-'em-up video game that looked more graphic and lifelike than anything I had ever seen...As this had become a habit of theirs, after a minute or two I snapped "Is that all you guys do, sit around playing video games?"...One of them, without taking his eyes off of the screen or missing a shot on the controller answered "There's nuthin' else to do"...."Well, why don't you guys go get a hobby?" I barked...They all turned and looked at me like I just suggested they shave their heads and go sell flowers at the airport..."That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard" was my older son's response....Okay, it was just a suggestion...Anyway, it got me to thinking about hobbies, my own hobbies in fact, and what and if any purpose they serve...Seems like when you're a kid, your whole life is spent on a hobby or a series of hobbies, that is, doing whatever the heck brings you pleasure or amusement, unless, of course, school, homework, chores or church interrupt them...And I guess when one get's older, one is supposed to put away those childish things, like the Bible says, unless one doesn't, and then maybe they become hobbies...Naturally, as adults, a good deal of our time is consumed with our "have tos", so maybe one qualification of a hobby is a "want to"...As a kid, my main interest, or thing, was baseball...I played it, watched it, read about it, argued about it, dreamt it and fantasized about it...Even though I became somewhat disattached to it as I grew into adulthood, I would still sneak into Anderson Library at the Emporia Campus after supper and read the sports page of the Emporia Gazette and keep up with the pennant races and other vital baseball news...To this day, I still spend a fair amount of time watching baseball...Of course, I happen to have the misfortune of being a Chicago Cubs fan...If you're a baseball fan, and maybe even if you're not, you probably know that the Cubs haven't really won a championship in,like, a hundred years or something...So I spend a good amount of my amusement and pleasure time, hollering at the television, at the left fielder for missing the cut-off man, at the batter for swinging at a 3-0 pitch in the dirt, or the eight million dollar a year pitcher who just walked the bases loaded...One of my other pastimes, or hobbies, is tinkering with old vehicles...A while back, I made up my mind that I was going to learn to sew and redo my own interiors on a couple of my old projects...I bought a portable industrial sewing machine and started practicing my stitching...The bobbin would get jammed and I'd yank it out of the machine and fling it across the room...The machine zigged when I thought it should have zagged and I'd curse the manufacturer...The door panels that I spent about thirty hours making were too thick and the doors wouldn't latch properly on the truck after I put them on...Sure, I like to do things with my hands, but why do I spend my free time on things that frustrate me so?...I've even gotten mad at whoever the guy is that makes the crossword puzzle when I can't figure it out....Then I go to my "have to" on Monday morning and I back my truck over a bucket of tar, getting it all over the truck and driveway, and say "oops---No, prob....I'll just clean it up"...Maybe I've used up all of my anger on things that don't really matter---and nobody got hurt...

[Ronold F. Wallace]

Joe you ever take up the hobby of Girl watching. Much has been said and written about the subject but very unpredictable species.

[John Richeson]

I think it's good for kids to find a hobby or at least something they can be passionate about.

[John Richeson]

No Lois that would be this. Mini USB Fridge

[Joe Kriston]

That's actually a pretty good catch, Lois...I don't mind being "old school"----but "old fashioned" or just plain"old" doesn't appeal to me very well, I suppose...I did humiliate myself and try that Guitar Hero at a party once, and I think I got the worst score....

I was at a little coffee house last Saturday afternoon and there five people sitting around a table, including this big bouncer looking guy---all knitting...

[lois gueli]

John, Maybe it's just me but your computer looks like it could double as a wine cooler.
Joe, "One man's junk is another man's treasure." It sounds to me like your sons do have hobbies. You just don't particularly like the hobby they chose. Maybe you're feeling left out, left behind in the gaming world, dare I say "Old?'" A lot of parents would be happy their children were spending time together. Of course I don't know how old these boys are; I'm assuming their not in their 30's or 40's yet. If they're in school and/or working and half way productive human beings then I would say playing video games is a "hobby". Maybe you could ask to join in and sharpen up on your hand-eye coordination. You know what I mean "totally humiliate yourself in front of your kids and their friends."
I was invited to a "Fiber Night" two months ago. It has nothing to do with metamusil or whole grain cereals. The woman who invited me is a fanatical "knitter". She spins her own wool (she has a beautiful spinning wheel) dyes it and then knits these incredible pieces of clothing. Everyone in her family (including her husband) wears home-knit socks!
I haven't been brazen enough to ask about their underwear.
So she invites me to "fiber" night and I knit a little bit about 23 years ago so I figure I would go. I pulled out my old knitting needles and some acryllic yarn that I have and she took one look at my acryllic yarn and tells me to follow her upstairs to her "closet" where she pulls out some "cashmere" yarn for me to practice on. To make a long, boring story a little shorter; I go home and start "practicing". After a day or two I decide that it's really not something I'm that interested in and put my knitting aside. A week or two later I received a call from Jofran telling me about the beautiful skein or blue cashmere yarn she purchased for me and how beautifully it will match my eyes and just look stunning as a scarf. Guess what? I have a new hobby!!!

[Joe Kriston]

Wow, that's quite a setup you have there, John....Back in 1985, somebody gave us a new-in-the-box Radio Shack TRS-80 home computer---one of those cassette-driven jobs...One day I took it out of the box, set it up on a desk, and decided that I was going to figure this thing out...A customer even gave me a handful of video games for it...After about a week or two, I just gave up---it didn't take, I guess, and I never touched a computer again 'til the 21st Century...Of course, the internet wasn't around in those days, and the idea of sitting in front of a glorified calculator didn't appeal to me after a while...Glad you took to 'puters so's you could set up this cool website....

[John Richeson]

I do have a current hobby. Building computers and learning all about them and related software.

I know, I know, its boring as can be and definitely not something you want to do if you are single (Joe) and expect to attract women. Cars would be much better for that.

I have always been fascinated by them ever since the early 80's before mice and Windows and Internet. My mom said I always liked gadgets and puzzles as a kid. I guess I still do.

Here is my recently built one at my home. It's like a freakin console. Great for gaming and music too! I am installing Windows 7 on it this weekend.

See this link.

[Joe Kriston]

Aah, yes, the blues....I always envied people who play any kind of music...I have a tough time playing the jukebox....Seems like whatever hobbies, or pastimes, that I spend the most time on are those that take me in the opposite direction of where life is currently taking me...If things are fast-paced, I like to do stuff that's laid back and relaxing....If things are slowly going on an even keel, I like to do stuff more high-energy....

[Rhys Miller]

As a teenager I used to strum on my old beaten-up acoustic guitar every day. I've taken up guitar again now - only electric this time, and much bluesier.

[John Richeson]

Me and my brothers loved baseball too, Joe when we were growin up. We lived for it. Of course we had baseball cards galore. I remember my brother was the best collector / trader of all of us. I can still see his Micky Mantle, Rager Maris, Hank Aaron and even Babe Ruth cards in my mind. He had hundreds of good ones. Eventually as we got older we lost interest. I am not sure what became of our cards. Probably in some memorabilia store somewhere, worth $thousands.

With no technology to speak of except 3 tv channels in black and white, we had other hobbies such as coin collecting and stamp collecting and of course playing marbles along with daily baseball games. Later I became thrilled with building model rockets that really launched.

Times have changed so much. I am not sure what to make of it. In some ways......what I would have given for a Google back then to find out how to excel at our hobbies or a You Tube video to learn how to be a better pitcher and see how other kids across the world played baseball. It would have been nice to be able to text my buddies to get a baseball game together after school. Things were sooo very different. Life seemed to move slower then.

It was not all good.....but sure I have mostly fond memories of those pre-technology days.