Ostomy Memories of Hobbies

MANY RETIREES, I SUSPECT, KEEP BUSY WITH VARIOUS HOBBIES.  I know one guy who collects stamps.  Yesterday he gave me a recent acquisition:   the famous 2022 Ukrainian stamp featuring the soldier giving the finger to the Russian warship.  My brother-in-law has a miniature railroad.  Another relative travels all over the world.  I know a gal who repairs bicycles.  Another does miniature decorative glass objects d’art.  When I thought about it, I realized that I have no hobbies.  Am I worse off because of it?  Absolutely not.  “I don’t have hobbies,” said George Carlin.  “Hobbies cost money.  Interests are free.”  So, I have interests.  Walking for health is an interest.  Writing these daily posts is an interest.  Keeping up with the Dodgers is an interest.  But wait!  The dictionary defines ‘hobby’ as ‘an activity done regularly in one’s leisure time for pleasure.’  Carlin, with his keen eye for language detail, has appended an extra element:  the cost of the activity.  If your interest comes with a price tag, to him, it has risen to the higher category of being a hobby.  On second thought, then, I guess that I do have one hobby:  I buy books.  I get good vibes just looking at my books, particularly once I’ve read them.  My relative who travels, he is time bound.  But me, when I read, I am time traveling, and I don’t have to worry about TSA agents rummaging through my stuff.

Does "Watching all the girls go by" fall in the hobby category? It fits your dictionary definition of it.
"Brother, you don't know a nicer occupation.
Matter of fact, neither do I."

If Carlin has a point, then you're talking about a mere interest rather than a hobby.  That's unless you prefer to take an expensive vacation to a beach resort to do your watching.  Then the expenditure upgrades it to a hobby.  :)

Hi Henry, I guess I have a hobby and not an interest as I've bought several hummingbird feeders so I can watch them flit about and listen to their little chirps as they come and go from the tree next to my deck.

Hello Henry.

Thanks for the stimulating thought for today.

It is not my place to criticise people like Carlin for redefining subjects to suit his own perspectives, as I tend to do this a lot!

However, my dictionary defines ‘interest’  as: ( among other things) a ‘subject or hobby etc., in which one is concerned’.

Conversely, it describes a ‘hobby ‘as a : leisure –time activity pursued for pleasure.

Neither of these definitions include the concept of finances.

From this discussion, I am presuming that almost everything I  ‘do’ ( including diddly-doo!) becomes and interest for a while and, when I become ‘concerned’ , these things  might be defined as ‘hobbies’.

Best wishes

Bill

 

DOING DIDDLY DOO.

Did it, did it, did diddly doo.
I know that diddly doo is true.
At diddly doing I’m a star.
I’ve done diddly doo all day so far.

 

I did, I did, do diddly doo.
For diddly doo is what I do.
Playing diddly doo on my guitar.
I  sing diddly doo and oompah pah.

 

I did, I did, do diddly doo
‘Cos diddly doo’s important too.
Diddly doo is my coup d'état.
There’ll be diddly doo in my memoir.

 

I did diddly doo for you today.
But diddly doo was done my way.
Worsels did diddly doo did they.
With diddly doo aah, oo aah – aye.  

 

But diddly doo is daft some say.
Why rhyme, to diddly doo convey.
But take my diddly doo away.
I’m diddly doo use at all that way.

 

Those who govern do diddly doo.
Doing diddly doo for me and you.
If diddly doo’s their official line.
They’ll do diddly doo to the end of time.

 

I do diddly do, as I can see.
People do diddly doo for me.
I do diddly doo, then do it more.
‘Cos diddly doo’s worth living for.

 

I’ve diddly doo to do today.
I do diddly doo most everyday.
Now diddly doo is done, – OK.
There’s diddly doo that’s left to say.

 

Almost everyone I ever knew.
Used up their lives with diddly doo.
Those who protested that they did not.
Spent their time doing diddly squat.

 

                                                                B. Withers. (2009)

                                              (in: Contemplation 2010)

 

PS: I've been trying to find a way of presenting these rhymes in delineated verses, as they should be read.  Hence, I am experimenting with soft returns instead of hard ones. Let's see if there is any improvement in the layout! 

PPS: This seems to have worked okay. However, these little things tend to be both annoying and frustrating, which is where composing a rhyme to encapsulate the theme seems to be the order of the day. So here goes (in my second edit) for my attempt at trying to explain what the problem is:

Best wishes Bill:

 

MANY HAPPY RETURNS.

 

I type my poems into WORD
so sometimes feel it’s quite absurd
that when I try to transfer them
the spacing seems to be mayhem.

 

There is no space between each verse
but what, for me, makes this thing worse
is that I thought I typed it right 
so it was pleasing at first sight.

 

I like to think that when I share
my rhymes with other folks elsewhere,
that they may read my poetry
as it was written down by me.

 

It’s been accepted over time
that in the layout of a rhyme
each verse should end with its own space
so surely this is still the case.

 

I’m not a techie sort of guy
but sought to find some reasons why
my rhymes in Word would not transfer
and save those spaces I prefer.

 

From my enquiries I would learn
it all comes down to which ‘return’
I use to end each line below
the one above, so now I know.

 

A ‘hard-return’ has worked for me
in Word, when used for poetry,
but then, it does not work elsewhere
when these same rhymes I wish to share.

 

But, with a ‘soft-return’, it might
transfer to other systems right.
So, no more crappy hard returns,
but only happy SOFT -returns.

 

                                                B. Withers 2022

  

Amazing coincidence. We have the same hobbies. In Britain, the slang word for girls is "birds". Flitting about and chirping, similar sounds and movements too.