adult hobbies
This week has been less than optimal. There's the usual work stuff, okay, but outside of that my mind has gone off on one of its spirals, the kind of spiral i haven't been on since the Finding Clothes For An Ogre Debacle of April 2024
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I got into painting - I started with going to "paint and sip" events and then during the lockdown, pivoted to virtual events over zoom. This was good for two reasons - they gave me something to sign up for an *do* while stuck at home, and gave me some exposure to *people* even if only over zoom.
I enjoy it, and I have done a LOT of paintings - mostly in events with a teacher, but some by myself, and some following tutorials on youtube.
The downside - like with a lot of creative things - it generates a TON of "product". And I'm not nearly good enough to give it away, much less sell it - so it stacks up, LOL
Making music seems like a much better idea - music files take up a LOT less space than my stacks of paintings :D
I get the brain weasels though - if you buy all the gear to do something - how much do you have to use it to make it worthwhile? Maybe you can figure out a "per use" cost that will make you feel like you got your money's worth - like if you spend $250 on something - then you can consider it 'paid for' if you use it ( ... )
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Yeah, I think that part about trying to justify it is where things start to break down for me. Because certain things like computer games you pay relatively little money and get tens of hours of entertainment in return, it's a dollar per hour or even less for large or on-sale games. Books are more expensive, relatively speaking, but even still you're looking at maybe two or three dollars an hour. I spend around $100 a year (per subscription) on various media subscriptions, but if I only read an hour a week for the year, it's comparable. But then when you buy musical equipment that stuff usually starts at a few hundred and the sky is the limit. You really have to put in a couple hours a week for a year...
I guess this is how parents feel when their kid decides they want to learn an instrument. "Yeah, but how much do you REALLY want to learn it?"
I never really thought about all the product you end up when you paint as a hobby, but now that i have i'm glad i never got into it! I suppose you can reuse canvas and recycle paper?
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One thing that appeals to me about sea kayaking is that it can be expeditionary. People who enjoy it load up their kayaks with camping gear and go on multi-day tours around different islands or along coasts, fjords and so on. That excites me the same way cycle touring does - the opportunity for adventure! I know people also do that with canoes, but multi-day canoe/portage trips tend to be multi-person whereas kayakers tend to go solo. Closest thing i saw in the US is shantyboats: https://peoplesriverhistory.us/project/history/ although I also met a guy who canoed a bunch of the Missouri with just his dog, which sounded pretty awesome.
Practically speaking, i also live on an island whose inland waterways are mostly rice paddies or dried out creeks that turn into roaring torrents when the rain comes, so there isn't really as much option for calm lake or river paddling. (Honestly not sure if Taiwan is the best place for sea kayaking either, although the indigenous people of Taiwan canoed all the way to Madagascar and New Zealand starting ( ... )
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The multi-day trips do sound appealing. One reason I've held off on buying a kayak for lakes around here is because there are only a few close(ish) places to go, and they are generally packed with people.... so it seems like it would be less fun after only a few times out. I don't know. I keep going back and forth on it.
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