Going Back to My Hobbies

Pastor Steven Teo's call to go back to our hobbies burned in my heart and kept lingering in my mind. At first I was aghast when I look stock of my life and found to my great horror that I have no hobbies.

What does the proverb say about all work and no play? No wonder I'm getting dull, losing my lustre.

After a few days of soul searching I found that at this point in time the only thing that constitutes a hobby is blogging! I never imagine myself saying this but I look forward to Saturdays when I can catch up on my posts.

The great thing about blogging is that it gives me practice in writing, something that I used to enjoy in my school days and later when I was editing and contributing articles to our church newsletter.

You will not believe how difficult it was for me to string together a coherent sentence and make proper thought transitions after a lapse of about 6-8 (?) years.

Anyway, I looked back over the years and found a number of hobbies which I would like to reclaim.

• Cross-stitch. That reminds me of a piece of unfinished cross-stitch from 1991. That's a 17-year break! It's a beautiful piece featuring a "Love is..." bridal party back in those days when that cartoon series was the rage. Maybe finishing it would be significant.

• Crochet. Believe it or not, I used to crochet baby booties, doilies, chair backs, tops and even a dress! My pet project was crocheting Pam's baby dedication gown. Maybe I should start crocheting some table mats or runners for our new coffee table.

• Knitting. I knitted baby booties in my school days and a number of scarfs a few years back when we were on holiday in Perth. Progress for knitting is slower so I'd better start with crocheting 'cos it's very gratifying to see one's handiwork taking form fast before your very eyes.
  

• Reading. I love to read, preferably non-fiction with a happy ending. Better still if there is a lot of funny situations, wit and repartee sprinkled liberally between the first and last pages. Not interested in chillers or thrillers and cannot tahan situations where the bad guy wins the game. Touching, "kam tong" circumstances that bring a tear or two is ok. Despite the government's efforts to encourage people to read we have to admit that reading is an expensive hobby with the escalating price of books nowadays. Furthermore I have the bad habit of not being able to throw or give away my books which leads to more clutter in the house. However I just cannot get the hang of reading books online or from the PDA. I find that it is too "sterile." Part of the joy of reading is the tactile satisfaction of flipping the pages and having visual snapshots of certain passages that will enable me to roughly locate them amongst the many pages when I want to refer to them again. I just wish there is a library with affordable subscription and a good and up-to-date collection of books that I can join in Penang.

• Cooking. I used to cook and invite the youth (most of whom are now married with children) over to eat. Then I got lazy and busy as work began to consume my time. I like the cooking part but I hate the marketing and washing up. The maid can take care of the washing up but marketing is still tedious.

• Singing. I used to sing in the bathroom and my mom used to complain that I spend too much time in there. What to do? I only sound good in the bathroom 'cos it had the best acoustic of all the rooms in our house. Nowadays there is hardly any song in my heart. Maybe I should go karaoke but shy la if I croak.
  

• Ballroom dancing. This will have to be postponed indefinitely until my darling decides to waltz or cha-cha me.

Time to get started. Recovering the cross-stitch would be a good start.