Your hobbies

[jedusor]

Day 01 - Introduce yourself
Day 02 – Your first love
Day 03 – Your parents
Day 04 – Your music
Day 05 – Your definition of love
Day 06 – Your hobbies
Day 07 – Your best friend
Day 08 – A precious item
Day 09 – Your beliefs
Day 10 – An inspiration
Day 11 – Your siblings
Day 12 – What’s in your bag
Day 13 – Your mode of transportation
Day 14 – Where you live
Day 15 – Something you love about yourself
Day 16 – Your first kiss
Day 17 – Your favorite memory
Day 18 – Your favorite birthday
Day 19 – Something you regret
Day 20 – Your morning routine
Day 21 – Your job and/or schooling
Day 22 – Something that upsets you
Day 23 – Something that makes you feel better
Day 24 – Something that makes you cry
Day 25 – Your sleeping habits
Day 26 – Your fears
Day 27 – Your favorite place
Day 28 – Something that you miss
Day 29 – Your favorite foods/drinks
Day 30 – Your aspirations

Right now, unfortunately, my hobby is the internet. I keep trying to cut down my computer time, but it's really hard, even though I always feel way happier and more self-confident when I spend my time doing other things.

I do puzzles, sometimes as a social activity and sometimes by myself. Mike and I have been co-solving more often lately, mostly cryptics, which have long been a weak spot for me. He's learning to verbalize his thought processes more, which helps me contribute bits and pieces to clues I wouldn't be able to fully get on my own.

I juggle, although not well. I am decent at diabolo. It's been too sunny these past few days for me to enjoy being outside, but it was nice and cloudy today, so maybe the weather will be nicer and I can go practice at the park soon. I want to be a better juggler than I am.

Motorcycle riding isn't really a hobby for me yet, but it will be as soon as I can afford a bike.

I read much less than I did as a child, at least in paper form, and I can tell that my attention span is suffering. I've read a lot of decision-making literature the past couple of years, and I definitely want to read more of that. There are a few journals I'd like to subscribe to, but journal subscriptions are incredibly expensive. I should find a library near here.

I cook, which I didn't really realize was a hobby until I started being around people who don't. I'm good at making food that I like to eat, which is enough for me to consider myself a good cook. I want to learn more about biochemistry so I can bake more intelligently. Stovetop cooking I can fake, but baking is a science.

I write, mostly fanfic but some original as well. I wrote the first draft of a novel in 2007, and I have a bunch of unfinished original work. I'm not embarrassed about my fanfic anymore; I've actually been meaning to write an essay pulling together my thoughts about why fanfic is a good thing, especially for young teens. I have at least one more novel in my head right now that I don't think I'll be able to write with any amount of self-respect until I've studied a lot more biology. And someday when I'm a real neuroscientist, I'm going to write a book about preference (working title: "Why You Like Orgasms").

I think. It's an odd thing to list as a hobby, but it seems like I treat it as more of one than a lot of people do. I like to think about things and people and how they interact and why they interact in the ways they do. I like to think about my own thoughts, and analyze my own assumptions and reactions and behavior, and compare them to what I can see in other people. I wish I could read minds--not to judge, not to control, not to use, but just to have more data about how human cognition works beyond what I know about myself and what I can guess about others.

Comments

[cometcrazie113.livejournal.com]

Definitely want to read your fanfic essay when you get to that! :)

[imagines.livejournal.com]

Why You Like Orgasms

I'd read the hell out of a book with that title, just so you know.

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

It'll be posted on this journal, for sure.

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

I like that title too. I'm wavering on it because while I'll certainly address sexual pleasure, that will be just one of my examples of the many mechanisms of pleasure, not the focus of the whole book. I don't want to either scare off people who don't want to read a book about sex or disappoint people who do. Why You Like Things might be more accurate, but it's not as snappy. Maybe I'll add in a subtitle to clarify--The Science of Preference or something like that.

Incidentally, if you want to read a book about this stuff, there are several good ones already out. How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer is a light read, mostly about conscious cognitive decisions (consumer choice, high-stress environment decision-making, etc.), but it does discuss the general phenomenon of pleasure. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell is similar to How We Decide and draws from a lot of the same research, but Gladwell writes persuasively about why we should trust our instincts more, whereas Lehrer is more neutrally informative. Descartes' Error by Antoine Bechara is specifically about the balance between emotion and reason, and how they interact in the process of judgment. It's kind of dense and covers a lot of ground, coming strongly from a neuroscientific point of view. It's written for the layman, but it still might be easier to read and comprehend after you've taken a basic neuroscience course. (Lehrer and Gladwell both take more of a psychological approach, only touching lightly on the biological details.) The Science of Orgasm comes at pleasure from a physiological point of view and focuses specifically on orgasms; I haven't read more than the first chapter or so, since I got bogged down in the stress of graduation while I had it out of the library, so I can't say much about it. I do intend to finish it eventually.

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

Thinking is totally a hobby. You can tell because people will tell you you spend too much time & energy on it, just like any other hobby!

I had no idea you had taken up juggling!