25 Things about me: Hobbies

Dear Internets,

You probably think I spend so much time online that I don't have a real life. You would be right. However, I do have some outside interests. (Just one or two, Internets. I still love you bigtime.)

10. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I sometimes do triathlons. You might not know that I'm extremely slow at doing them. Once, the only person to finish after me was a sweet 72-year-old lady who was doing her first triathlon.

There are many reasons why I'm slow. When I'm not concentrating on not drowning or swearing that I'll never put myself through another triathlon if I can just get my bike up one last hill, I tend to start daydreaming. I pay more attention to the flowers and birds than I do to the other people racing. (Unless there's a hill; then I'm struggling to see through my tears of pain.)

I swore off triathlons after a particularly stressful triathlon season last year. I had trained more than I should have because I was trying to be faster than a somewhat-psychotic former supervisor. I didn't have time to relax, and I ended up sore and bitter. Then, about a month after my longest triathlon, one of my coaches was killed in a cycling accident. While his accident put a lot of things in perspective for me, I still felt somehow betrayed by the sport.

I'm thinking of doing a triathlon again this year though, which pretty much proves that I don't learn from past mistakes.

11. My main hobbies are making things (I like to come up with personalized gifts), baking things I can decorate, and reading. I love yoga, but don't do it consistently enough to consider it a hobby.

I recently rediscovered the awesomeness that is the public library. I am trying to read 50 books this year, but I'm sort of stuck on "Howard's End," so I don't know if I'll make it. I have a much easier time finishing mysteries.

12. I am ashamed to admit it, but I have a tendency to read the end of books first.

I trace this bad habit back to childhood, when I "borrowed" a magazine from my sister that she'd gotten at her church youth group. It was filled with stories about the importance of volunteering and the dangers of drugs and alcohol.

One story was about a girl who was dog-sitting her "nerdy" (but nice) friend's beagle, Snickers. Some "cool" (but bad) kids found out the girl's parents were out of town, and convinced her that she should have a party in her basement. Everyone was drinking beers. The girl even drank a wine cooler, figuring "it's not really alcohol, and it will help me fit in." When people started playing darts, she worried a little, but figured the "cool" kids knew what they were doing. Suddenly, she heard yelping. Snickers had been hit with a dart! At that moment, Snicker's owner, who had gotten back into town early, came down the stairs and --

I have no idea. My sister caught me reading her magazine and took it back. I was scarred for life, people. I never found out what happened to Snickers! He was probably OK, right? Darts couldn't hurt a beagle that badly, right? Right? But maybe he did die, leading the main character to forever regret straying from the path of righteousness. I WILL NEVER KNOW!!!

Ahem. Sorry. Back to my hobbies...

13. I tend to get really obsessed with a hobby for a while, and then suddenly put it on the back burner. I taught myself to knit, but haven't yet done anything more complicated than a scarf. I was briefly obsessed with betta fish, and carefully researched tanks, heaters, filters, live plants, vitamin supplements, and snail varieties until Valentino had a little betta fish palace. I got bored with teaching Bailey tricks after he learned "wave," "roll over," "high five!" and "you get to sleep in the bed with me after I have a bad dream."

I am interested in just about everything, but only to a point. After a while, I just want to try something else.

Tomorrow: movies and television. I'm on a roll, people!

Love,
Jane