Scatter Plot

F.i.v.e

I love hobbies. I literally have over a hundred of them. I love trying new things, I obsess for a few days, then I find something even better. In the past year itself, I've tried quite a few things. Canoeing, rock climbing, kayaking, hiking, long boarding, running, jogging, blogging, singing, memorizing speeches, reading, writing, shopping, sewing, knitting, film making, photography...to name so few. Of course, I've only stuck with a few of these hobbies, and I still love them. Many I want to take back up because I liked it while it was happening. You should see my Pinterest... it isn't pretty.

Hobbies to me are like candles, and not the ones that last forever, but like, birthday candles. The candle is said hobby, and there are multiple candles going at once, and slowly but surely they are all melting onto the cake. The flame is my passion for each hobby, a few will get blown out in the wind as the cake is carried across the lawn to the birthday girl, but some are resilient for the time being. Wax drips down the side, making a mark on the cake, making an impact on my life. As the birthday girl blows out the candles, the flames disappear, ending my interest in that hobby, but I may still have a longing for it, as it did melt onto the cake. Of course, there are a few flames that are absolutely stubborn as heck, and the birthday girl ends up getting spit on the cake as she blows them out. Those hobbies last for quite a long time, a few months at the most. But you can't forget the sparklers. Those waxy sticks that sparkle and are absolutely impossible to blow out without dumping them in water. Those hobbies are the ones that continue, and I will probably continue all my life. Writing happens to be one of those sparklers, my hyperfocus worthy hobbies.

So I got really lost in that metaphor, and you probably did to. In short, my hobbies come and go, and it kills my parents, my friends, because they never know what my interests will be the next day. Mom will be talking to her friends, and she can never get it right.

"Rachel absolutely adores sewing." Mom said, her friends smiling at the sweet notion of a teenager being interested in sewing.

"Mom...I dropped sewing when I messed up on that stitch, remember, it was like ten stiches in." I corrected. Mom raises and eyebrow. She slowly stands and makes her way into a secluded room, probably to call grandma and cancel the sewing machine as a birthday gift.

Yeah, I dodged a bullet with that one...no offense to any sewing fanatics out there, I commend you.

To me, a hobby is something that is spontaneous, and most of the time doesn't last long. It's fun trying to fill out surveys for school when they put three lines for the hobby section...do you want my most recent, or the ones I don't consider hobbies anymore because they are so engrained into my everyday life? Why did you only give me three lines?

I could never do sports for this very reason. I did soccer for two years, and ballet for six, but mom took me out of both because I lost interest. She made me stick to it for a while because naturally cost a lot of money. She got sick of watching ballet recitals where instead of participating, I'd sit down on the edge of the stage and swing my legs about because it was more entertaining then the dance. I love to dance when it's spontaneous, not drilled. To me, we weren't performing, we were repeating something that grew boring weeks ago. Just because new people were watching, doesn't mean I actually cared. The same thing happened with soccer. I have asthma, so coach rarely actually let me play. If I wasn't sitting out the whole game, I was playing defense, and no one kicked it my way. It was so boring. I remember several games where I sat in the middle of the field and pulled out the grass. Mom was absolutely done with me. Her final attempt to get me to participate in any thing skillful was piano. I. Suffered. For. Six. Years. Straight.

Four teachers, and in those six years, I only advanced three levels. My brother took off with it, but to me, the stickers weren't rewarding enough. Plus, they wanted me to practice! Who practices things? I'm absolutely for the winging it method. It's probably the reason I don't do homework and just wing the test. (I was a monster for my Spanish teachers).

The big picture, I have a lot of hobbies, but I can't be pressured to go through with them. The second my parents try to guilt trip me into going rock climbing because they are paying for a monthly membership, I zone out, and begin to see it as a burden rather than fun. I still love rock climbing, but not when I'm required to go due to money. This most likely drives my mother insane. She pays for membership, she buys me a hundred dollars worth of equipment, I use said equipment once and don't go climbing again for a year. I think dad understands better, because he has the same mindset that I do. He totally does the same thing. You should see the amount of diets he's tried in the last three months alone...he hasn't followed through with any of them. Of course that's slightly different, but he totally does it with hobbies too.

Currently my hobby is hair styles...we'll see how long this one lasts. I'm already wanting to get it all cut off. If I go bald in the next month, you'll know why.