Snapshot 2: Hobbies

My hobbies can be broken into two categories: 1. The things I wish I could do but due to extreme lack of skill sadly cannot and 2. The things I actually do to occupy my free time. Let's start with the former so I can end on a good note...

Unsuccessful Pastimes
I'll cut to the chase - i'm not athletically gifted, I have no rythm, and I can't carry a tune. I hate to quote a tween chick flick, but Anne Hathaway's character in Princess Diaries says it perfectly: "I am a synchronized swimming, yoga-doing, horseback-riding, wall-cIimbing-type girl. My hand-eye coordination is zero."

In my defense, I played softball as a youngster (however, I only hit one ball the whole season...) and was on the badminton team one year in highschool. But as for basketball or volleyball, sports I would like to be good at, that would use my near six feet tall frame to an advantage, I am dreadfully unskilled. Although I did develop a new way to put extra umph into shooting a three-pointer. It involves flinging one leg, bent at the knee, backwards while thrusting arms skyward and releasing the ball. I thought I'd send a video of it to Kobe's trainer. As for the other two, it's pretty simple: I'm pretty much tone deaf and I can't dance.

Successful Pastimes
While I enjoy doing many things, the two that come to mind first are reading and cooking. Words are powerful. I love the way people mold and sculpt them to express different views or stories. I'm currently in the midst of The Magician's Nephew, C.S. Lewis, Bleak House, Charles Dickens, and HP and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling. Usually it bothers me to read more than one novel at a time but this was an odd set of circumstances.

Cooking and food engages all the senses. It's creative, stimulating, methodical, and always results in a product. My favorite thing about cooking is how it spans generations and cultures. Food connects people, brings them together under a common need for nourishment and a shared sense of pleasure. I was my mom's kitchen helper since I could make a stirring motion and have been hooked ever since. I don't exactly have a specialty yet, but baking is what I like to do best.