Hobbies
Next week (except it was actually last week, because I started this entry over 2 weeks ago and forgot to continue it), I plan to pare down my expansive and room-hogging hobbies. My craft room is currently a massive and disastrous catch-all and it's stressing me out. My living room and bed room stressed me out all week and I finally got the opportunity to clean them, and ugh, so much better. I want this for everywhere.
So... my hobbies. I don't really have a passion, but I have things I default to, and things that make me generally happy to do. Then there's a million other things I tried, liked, but never got back to.
I'm mentally going through my craft room and thinking of which hobbies I love vs which hobbies I have time to get into. These requirements rarely have a crossover. I need to start making time for the hobbies I really like. And for the hobbies I want to like, the ones I want to have time for, I'm making time to get done what I wanted to get out of them. Sewing, for instance - everything I bought once had a specific purpose, but now they are just a pile of fabric. I want to go through these things, write down what they are and what project I bought them for, and if I still have interest in doing it, set it aside and make a plan to actually do it.
Off the top of my head, there's drawing and painting, which is the most important hobby I have right now, and the one that I chiefly wish to hone. My fine art supplies are going to be hard to go through, because sometimes it just strikes my fancy to pick up an old medium, like pastels, and get to it, and I love it, but that fancy doesn't strike me more than once a year, max. I guess that's another thing I need to make time for.
My jewelry stuff brings me no joy anymore, but brings me fame and fortune, figuratively speaking. It's the only thing that gives me a secondary source of income, on the occasion I make a sale through etsy or land a booth somewhere. I don't like it anymore, though. Steampunk has been a dying fad for a while now, and it's showing in my sales. I still make bank when I booth, and I like selling it, but I don't like setting up a table and I don't like making them (even though I do end up liking most of the designs I come up with - a task that gets harder and harder as the years go on and my interest wanes). But friends and family praise my creations, and I don't want to disappoint some of them.
(edit: this weekend, I went through all my jewelry supplies and pared it down to only things that inspire me, and have it all in one carry-case. Even now, I feel I was too generous with my collection, and like everything else I'm cutting down, I'll have to give it a round-two soon)
I took up knitting a long time ago, but I mostly did it to get my mind off my dad dying. I like to do it, still, but it's not too useful anymore. I would like to give this a second try, though, so hopefully, I can make time for it in the future. It feels weird, though, like I should be doing something else with my hands or something. It feels almost too indulgent, maybe. But there are some things in the yarn hobby that I think I can get rid of. Felting was cool to learn, but I think I'm over that. I bought a sock loom, and that just annoyed me, especially since the directions get a little confusing around building the heel, and took weeks just for one sock (I'm sure it wouldn't take so long if I had way more time to dedicate, but). Crocheting could be fun, but there was a project last year that really wrecked my ambition for it. I mean, I've got yarn for knitting, I may as well keep some crochet hooks. Embroidery and needlepoint is something I've always wanted to get into, but never got the chance, so I'm hoping next year will yield some time for that.
Sculpting and woodwork are my anger management devices. I shan't be getting rid of too much there. In fact, I'd like to expand on that a little bit (though not so soon in the year - I'd like to hone my drawing and designing first). I'm afraid to go through or get rid of any of my SFX makeup, because I spent so much money on it, but I haven't had any time for it. I'm hoping this will be the year I can carve out some time to dedicate to it.
This month, I'm going to get back into practicing the violin. As I stated in my Resolutions post, I felt the devastating blow of being ghosted by my former tutor, and also had an overbearing friend that combined, completely closed me off from my violin. This month, I'm going to start practicing again. Next month, I'm going to start the search for a new tutor.
I want to stay on top of it, and I also want to keep some time to noodle around with my ukulele (another 4-string. Can't go back to a guitar after these instruments).
The non-tangible hobbies I had in the past tend to cost money and/or require me to leave the house. I feel better home, or in a coffee shop, so I can probably give writing a casual go every year, since it costs nothing to keep up (however, I do reference old diaries and notes like crazy, which take up space in an annoying way - probably best I transfer such things to digital). Urban exploration is free-ish, super fun, but risky and no fun to do alone, and my usual explorer crew have abandoned the hobby for the most part. I wish I could love ice skating more, and I have a season pass, but when I took on more things last year, it hindered my ambition. Maybe I'll get back to it before my pass is up and see if I'm rekindled enough to go another year. Aerial arts, while awesome, is really costly, and the classes fill me with dread before each session, because it's rough, but really ended up yielding such little results. Sure, I could do class-specific things I couldn't do at the beginning of the term, but what use are these new muscles if I don't keep shelling out $75 per term? And what use are these outside class? I can get good use out of stretching and barre, but they are still expensive for things I can do home or at the gym.
So this year will be the year of shirring my hobby storage, and not starting any new projects til I've finished old ones.
So... my hobbies. I don't really have a passion, but I have things I default to, and things that make me generally happy to do. Then there's a million other things I tried, liked, but never got back to.
I'm mentally going through my craft room and thinking of which hobbies I love vs which hobbies I have time to get into. These requirements rarely have a crossover. I need to start making time for the hobbies I really like. And for the hobbies I want to like, the ones I want to have time for, I'm making time to get done what I wanted to get out of them. Sewing, for instance - everything I bought once had a specific purpose, but now they are just a pile of fabric. I want to go through these things, write down what they are and what project I bought them for, and if I still have interest in doing it, set it aside and make a plan to actually do it.
Off the top of my head, there's drawing and painting, which is the most important hobby I have right now, and the one that I chiefly wish to hone. My fine art supplies are going to be hard to go through, because sometimes it just strikes my fancy to pick up an old medium, like pastels, and get to it, and I love it, but that fancy doesn't strike me more than once a year, max. I guess that's another thing I need to make time for.
My jewelry stuff brings me no joy anymore, but brings me fame and fortune, figuratively speaking. It's the only thing that gives me a secondary source of income, on the occasion I make a sale through etsy or land a booth somewhere. I don't like it anymore, though. Steampunk has been a dying fad for a while now, and it's showing in my sales. I still make bank when I booth, and I like selling it, but I don't like setting up a table and I don't like making them (even though I do end up liking most of the designs I come up with - a task that gets harder and harder as the years go on and my interest wanes). But friends and family praise my creations, and I don't want to disappoint some of them.
(edit: this weekend, I went through all my jewelry supplies and pared it down to only things that inspire me, and have it all in one carry-case. Even now, I feel I was too generous with my collection, and like everything else I'm cutting down, I'll have to give it a round-two soon)
I took up knitting a long time ago, but I mostly did it to get my mind off my dad dying. I like to do it, still, but it's not too useful anymore. I would like to give this a second try, though, so hopefully, I can make time for it in the future. It feels weird, though, like I should be doing something else with my hands or something. It feels almost too indulgent, maybe. But there are some things in the yarn hobby that I think I can get rid of. Felting was cool to learn, but I think I'm over that. I bought a sock loom, and that just annoyed me, especially since the directions get a little confusing around building the heel, and took weeks just for one sock (I'm sure it wouldn't take so long if I had way more time to dedicate, but). Crocheting could be fun, but there was a project last year that really wrecked my ambition for it. I mean, I've got yarn for knitting, I may as well keep some crochet hooks. Embroidery and needlepoint is something I've always wanted to get into, but never got the chance, so I'm hoping next year will yield some time for that.
Sculpting and woodwork are my anger management devices. I shan't be getting rid of too much there. In fact, I'd like to expand on that a little bit (though not so soon in the year - I'd like to hone my drawing and designing first). I'm afraid to go through or get rid of any of my SFX makeup, because I spent so much money on it, but I haven't had any time for it. I'm hoping this will be the year I can carve out some time to dedicate to it.
This month, I'm going to get back into practicing the violin. As I stated in my Resolutions post, I felt the devastating blow of being ghosted by my former tutor, and also had an overbearing friend that combined, completely closed me off from my violin. This month, I'm going to start practicing again. Next month, I'm going to start the search for a new tutor.
I want to stay on top of it, and I also want to keep some time to noodle around with my ukulele (another 4-string. Can't go back to a guitar after these instruments).
The non-tangible hobbies I had in the past tend to cost money and/or require me to leave the house. I feel better home, or in a coffee shop, so I can probably give writing a casual go every year, since it costs nothing to keep up (however, I do reference old diaries and notes like crazy, which take up space in an annoying way - probably best I transfer such things to digital). Urban exploration is free-ish, super fun, but risky and no fun to do alone, and my usual explorer crew have abandoned the hobby for the most part. I wish I could love ice skating more, and I have a season pass, but when I took on more things last year, it hindered my ambition. Maybe I'll get back to it before my pass is up and see if I'm rekindled enough to go another year. Aerial arts, while awesome, is really costly, and the classes fill me with dread before each session, because it's rough, but really ended up yielding such little results. Sure, I could do class-specific things I couldn't do at the beginning of the term, but what use are these new muscles if I don't keep shelling out $75 per term? And what use are these outside class? I can get good use out of stretching and barre, but they are still expensive for things I can do home or at the gym.
So this year will be the year of shirring my hobby storage, and not starting any new projects til I've finished old ones.