Hobbies

I was sitting at Palm court today and was reading the paper when I came across this article about a pageant entree, and I felt that some of her hobbies were a little odd, and I wanted to complain about it. So I pulled out my computer, drained my coffee cup and wrote what you see below.

If there’s something I’ve noticed, its how people, in general, are starting to get boring. It seems that “surfing the net”, “meeting new people” and “travelling” are popular hobbies. First of all, being able to use the internet, and doing so often shouldn’t be considered a skill anymore. Well, not a highly respected skill. It should take the back seat with reading and being able to make two minute noodles. On the other hand, being able to make two minute noodles fancy, but adding things that would actually qualify it is a meal would be more like cooking than a backseat hobby. Secondly, I don’t understand the whole meeting new people concept. How exactly does that qualify as a hobby? Is there some kind of meeting new people roster that I’m not aware of? Is there a meet new people day? Does that mean that the person picks a day where they plan to go out of their way to meet new people? I don’t know but I guess that it’s now starting to sound like a real hobby. Lastly, let’s take a look at travelling. How does one go about that in a place as small as Fiji? Does going to the shop down the road count? I hope it does, because then I can add travelling to my own list of hobbies. Perhaps travelling is a code word for something else, like shopping or bar hopping or perhaps even taking the bus. Personally, I love bus rides. When taking a bus you never have to worry about the actually driving, or seat belts (in this country anyway as there's no such thing as safety in a bus), there's almost always a clear view of the scenery (most buses are sans windows) and it’s the cheapest form of transport. To pull back to the hobbies, I’ve got to ask, what is a hobby and what can you do in Fiji that qualifies? There's definitely swimming, with all the water around the country, you can’t throw a stone without the stone ending up in water. Then again the water might just be a giant puddle in the middle of the main road or the creek that runs through Suva, both of which are bodies of water that you would definitely not want to swim in. Fiji does however have the Blight Waters, the Pacific Ocean and many rivers and pretty beaches to frolic around at. Reading is a hobby that has definitely taken such a far seat back that it’s sitting in the boot of the car. No one wants to read anymore. Sure, it’s a gross generalisation, but if you ask five children off the street whether they’d like a nice book for their birthday or a shiny new DS, I'm sure they’d pick the latter. Heck, I’d pick the latter. But we’ve got to look at all the bonuses of books; they’re cheap, don’t need batteries and expand the imagination (if it’s a good book). The DS may be pretty and shiny, but needs new games when the player gets bored, relies on electricity and might give the child carpal tunnel syndrome, and that’s never fun. Sleeping should definitely be listed as a hobby. I love to sleep. I miss being able to sleep and not have to worry about the day ahead. Worrying might be my most common pastime, but if I had my way, it would be sleeping. Sleeping is fun. There is nothing like the theatre of the mind to keep me company when I’m curled up in bed, on the couch or even lying on my desk at school. It is not recommended, however, to sleep at school or on a couch in a furniture store because you’ll just end up looking silly or missing something vital in class. When it comes to listing hobbies, try not to lie (because if you’re boring, people deserve to know), always play around with funny and smart looking words (use big words to describe little things, like saying that you’re an autodidact instead of saying that you teach yourself things) and try to find an interesting hobby immediately before someone asks what you do (it’s always good to be prepared). Then again, that’s just what I think.