Just Wondering

[ladysprite]

What do people without hobbies do? I know they exist; as far as I can tell in just about any workplace the vast majority of the people there just don't have any real interests or activities they participate in outside of their job. So.... what do they do with their time?

I've got a half-day today. I spent the morning shopping for ingredients for recipes to try at this weekend's SCA Cook's Guild meeting and starting preparatory cooking for that; while the eggs were boiling I worked on translating the next part of a period Italian cookbook. Now I'm going to work on writing up part of a period dance manual; if that gets boring I have a shawl I'm crocheting that I can work on. Tonight I'm having friends over for a gaming session. Last night was dance practice, this weekend is Cook's Guild, the weekend after that is a gaming convention.

If I didn't have any outside interests, I think I'd end up just growing into the sofa. I can't fathom that lifestyle.

Comments

[hfcougar.livejournal.com]

I've read other entries on what you do on your days on and your days off, and unless I'm just way off the scale, I do have one observation - I don't think most people have as much energy as you do. Even given that I have a lot less energy than most people do, I still think I'm right about this.

In my free time, I sleep. Or do my homework, or catch up on LiveJournal and the Guinea Pig Daily Digest. During the summer, when I didn't have classes, I spent a lot of non-work time sewing or acquiring things for sewing garb, and some time shopping for camping equipment and other supplies, but I think of those less as "hobbies" than "stuff I have to take care of".

Like I said, I could be out of touch. No, I know I am. Depression adds an unknown quantity to everything, and for every day on which I get some incredible amount of things done, there are about fifteen or twenty on which after I've done the things I must do (go to work, go to class) doing my homework or taking a shower is an achievement.

I also agree with the "non-hobby activity" suggestions. I used to spend a lot of time reading, and watching movies on video. I wouldn't call either of those a hobby, though they did add enrichment to my life. But they accounted for a not insignificant amount of my free time. LiveJournal is similar - it's important to me to at least try to keep current with what my friends are thinking and feeling and doing, and it does sometimes suck up a lot of time, but I wouldn't call it a hobby per se.