SHOPPING AS A HOBBY NO I AM NOT KIDDING. And a possible reason we have hobbies

this was our dining room. we never used it, so we made it a sitting area.
I donated the table and chairs to hospice.

Good morning. I hope your week end has been enjoyable. For me at least, I know today will be better.

Yesterday, after Yoga, I had my hair straightened. 4.5 hours of torture. Not relevant to this post, but that's part of its charm. LOL ?

According to my dear friend Daniel, (God I hope I'm remember the right Webster), a hobby is something that a person like to work at, collect, etc. in his spare time.  For diversity, and to see if it's changed over the millennia, I checked in with my 1927 Pocket edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Current English.

In this ancient book,  it's described as a noun  that is "Favorite occupation not one's main business." It also lists an early type of velocipede. Now I have to look that up. Holy crap. I'm thinking pterodactyl and it's a bicycle or tricycle.  

What's interesting, I think, was that in 1927, people probably did not have spare time. Not that everyone does now, but it's an interesting foot note in history at the very least.

So, this means that shopping is something, a person works at in their spare time. I can live with that.

I have quite a few other hobbies. I can loosely call myself an artist. I don't like to say I paint because there are many other media that I use.   I also do a lot of photography. Thank God one doesn't have to develop their own photos any more. I remember my mother having a dark room and doing her own black and white work. Of course, in my mind, I believe that was really the creative part. ho hum.

Also, I love to read. It sounds silly to say it's a hobby since it's such a huge part of my life, but it is something I have always done in my spare time. I like to sunbathe, decorate my house and collect things. I also love to garden and do flower arrangements.  I am soooo well rounded.

some of the things people do as hobbies.

        

See how organized I am in my painting?

This is in my Woman Cave where I do all my work.
It's not really cluttered. Just full.

 
BACK TO THE TITLE FROM WHICH I ALWAYS WANDER:

As far back as I can recall, I loved to go shopping. My mother hated it, so she would take me along. And later in time, I used to take the train to downtown Brooklyn and window shop in my favorite department store. One might have called it my spare time, after school. I'd now call it my escape from the emptiness in my house when I got home.[Both parent working and Grandma and Janis had died.] I had no money and, at that time was somehow content to just look at all the beautiful things I saw. I wish I could get that back.

As my allowance increased, I began to buy little things. The same applied for my first job. This was fortunately located two blocks up from the huge Macy's in Manhattan.  Eight floors, a basement and it took up the entire city block from sixth to seventh avenue. I'd go to the store at lunch time and wander about. Sometimes I'd buy little nick knacks for my studio apartment. I am one of those fortunate people who doesn't spend more than they earn. Yet, there were always things I would have liked to buy that were out of my salary range.


ah, Louis.

As I earned more and could afford better things, I bought them. But there were still always things out of my reach. Years later, a therapist pointed out that as you got what you'd wanted, and earned more money, your taste would change and you'd always want the next more costly thing. Well, it was true for me. I don't know about you.

When I couldn't afford a Coach bag I wanted one. When I had more than one,  I wanted a Fendi. (which by the way I got at an amazing sale at Macy's years ago. I had it until quite recently and still have the wallet I got on sale at Lord & Taylor).  And then it was a Louis Vuitton. I'm not sure if these things are related to self esteem issue rather than a hobby thing, but it was/is still part of the shopping challenge.

SALE SHOPPING AS A SUB-TOPIC:

I was a slow learner. I didn't discover coupons, and sales or clearance until my early thirties. When I did, it changed my hobby for good. I should have a tattoo that says "never pay full price". Or as it states in one of the songs in Wicked "I don't know if I've been changed for good or for better". That's probably not accurate, but it's close.

It was no longer shopping. I was  hunting. Now there was a challenge involved. What was the lowest price I could get what I wanted for? [never end a sentence with a preposition] sorry, I couldn't rephrase it.

where are the sale signs?

For so many years, in my "spare" time, I shopped.  And since I worked, and lived in a four season climate, and my weight fluctuated, I needed to buy clothes. Lots of clothes. And shoes. Any woman will tell you that your shoes have to be right or the outfit [and you] look bad.





THE DOWNSIDE TO THIS HOBBY  AND OTHERS:

This is our living room. You can't see the TV but we sit on that very comfortable lounge.  See, there are lots of things, but it's not cluttered.
Shakespeare would say the lady doth protest too much. I think I may have to rethink this.

 

Space. Space and more space. Or, really the lack of space.  One has several choices in this matter. One can become a slob, a hoarder or a generous person who donates things to charity or if they have them, poorer relations. In this case, I was the poor relation. Now after rethinking this, since I  put up these pictures, maybe another option is to have a little clutter.



I was re-organizing and this is some of the collectibles we own. Roseville, Royal Doulton, head vases, Stangl birds and assorted items.

I don't like clutter which is funny because if you saw how much "stuff" I have, you'd be shocked. It usually doesn't seem cluttered because I keep things neat, orderly and use my decorating skills to make it appear as if there were fewer things. Maybe I'm delusional, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Or not since I put up the pictures. What do you think?

My closets are tidy. But they do get filled with things I don't wear. Now that I'm retired and living in a place where if a man gets dressed, it means he puts on long pants, I haven't quite adjusted and don't know what kind of clothes I need. 



SHOPPING FOR YOUR OTHER HOBBIES:

Whew. At least I don't feel so bad when I buy art supplies. I use them and have them on hand should I need something in particular. Oh yeah, I also do flower arrangements. They too are all over the house. The shopping again, is not the problem. It's what do I do with the finished products?




One of my arrangements. I bought the vase at a yard sale for three dollars.
 

This is the entrance into the bedroom.

working on a painting from one of my photographs.

 

I have nearly no wall space in my home. My husband would tease me and say that there is not one horizontal space that doesn't have something on it. That sometimes temporarily includes chairs or the washer and drier.  That's when he gets annoyed. 


BUT WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO DO?

I will surmise that those of you reading this, could, and hopefully? will give me a list of other activities. I honestly do not get the buzz I used to get when I shopped. I don't go anywhere shopping as often because, let's face it, I've run out of room and really don't want to spend money on things I don't really need. But of course, in America, overspending and shopping is actually ones duty as a citizen, but you all know how I feel about that.

I used to kid around and say I was saving the economy, one store at a time. I still am. Think of all the jobs I've saved over the course of my lifetime.  Still.
I do give my barely used things to local charities. I like Safe Space which is for women who have fled domestic violence. I give money to charities for animals and veterans and Native Americans mostly.  Please don't suggest that I volunteer for anything. I just don't have it in me.

I just took this pic. I didn't straighten up before.

 

 

So. There it is. All laid out neatly. Like my closet.

THEORY:
The more time one has to spend on survival, the less time one has for hobbies. If getting drunk is your hobby, and you don't only do it in your spare time, you may have a problem. 

Hobbies are things that are truly enjoyed, unless they are time fillers you use to try to give your life meaning when you've lost it. 

Only you can know which is which.

Thanks for reading. And, if you have some suggestions, well you can reach me.

DO YOU HAVE GOOD LUCK? BAD LUCK? OR NO LUCK AT ALL?

Apparently, the concept of luck has been with humans for a really long time. I hadn't even thought of that until I looked for a symbol to illustrate this post. This one combines several cultures.

So, what is "luck"?  According to my dear friend Webster, Luck is: 1. The seemingly chance happening of events which affect one: fortune; fate.
2. good fortune, success, etc. (hmm. should a dictionary be allowed to use the term etc. ?   It seems that when you're business is to define something, that's a cop out. Anyway) 

The rest goes on to use some colloquialisms, and to define lucky, which is basically the same, but an adjective.

I like that it said, "the seemingly chance" happening. This would suggest, at least to me, that they are hedging their bets and not saying that luck is definitely random.           And it would seem not be all that random.

I'm not looking that up. It means by chance, with no design and completely by happenstance.



 


That being said.  I've read about at least three or four people who have won the big lottery twice. TW#ICE!!

When I lived in NY I sent in money to play a buck a week for a year. In that year, I won $1. That was it. I'm sure you know friends who get those quick picks or whatever games they have and often win something. They get more money and usually give it back.  That's the part that doesn't seem so random. But I digress.

What kind of luck do you think you have? Or should I ask what you feel you have?  Sorry, I had to throw that in.

 I have given luck some thought.  I believe there are many different types of luck. Some examples are good luck, good bad luck, bad luck, terrible luck, no luck and as I write, I'll probably think of some more.

Personally, I think I have good, bad luck. You'll no doubt need an example.


Good luck, is never having a flat tire. Good bad luck, is having a flat tire in your driveway, or in the olden days, in front of your school where you could make a phone call and stand outside in the rain for 40 minutes.  Yeah, maybe that wasn't so lucky.  Bad luck is having a flat tire in the ghetto very late at night without a cell phone or gun. And probably being a person who is white.
No luck, is not having a car.

I think you might be getting the idea.  I think some of it does depend upon your attitude. You can choose to see all negative things as bad luck, or karma or fate, or you can look at the positive side to it and feel better about what happened.

You also can help your luck just like anything else. It is true, you have to be in it to win it. You can't say you never got a job if you never applied. Right?

I will grant you that some people just seem to have a shit load of bad luck dumped on them. It's hard for me to understand sometimes because I haven't dealt with those types of things. You know, being homeless and jobless.

I do know some people though who seem to have a hand in their bad luck.  You know, gambling or drinking the mortgage money. Some people have a disease that if not checked, will contribute to lousy luck. Everyone knows people like this. We all think we know how to help them, if they would only listen to us, they could get out of the mess. And sometimes that's true.

We also know that people don't listen to advice and maybe they need to experience this shit so they can learn something. At least I hope so. I'd hate to see so much suffering for no reason.

 

As I'm writing this, I started to think about one of the words I used. Karma.  Back to Webster. In Sanskrit, it meant fate. In Buddhism & Hinduism, a person's actions in one reincarnation thought of determining his fate in the next.


Even if you don't believe in reincarnation, you might understand that when things seem to be bad luck, they may be the universe or God's way of challenging you. Having bad things happen, losing, making mistakes, these are how we all learn. So maybe it's a teaching method.



One thing I do know is that there are very few things in this world that I have any control over.  Someone I love dies. I need surgery. You need surgery. Your house burns down. The list is endless.

The only thing you have control over is how you see it. Your attitude. My attitude. That's it.

One of my favorite quotes is by Aldus Huxley, he said, "Experience isn't what happens to you, it's what you do with what happens to you". (I was close)

           

ANSWER TO THE TITLE QUESTION:

You have, whatever kind of luck, you believe you have.  You can take that to the bank.