Rube's Musings: Just Add Water and Stir...but Don't

I’ve been asked a question (a few times) through my life in various social/online settings that always confounds me and today I’ve taken the time to really think about it as well as address it. 

Here’s the question:  What do you like to do/What be your hobbies?

I’m lumping these together although I understand the nuanced differences between the two questions.  Laziness is a total disease and should be diagnosed and treated.  I’m willing to be the test dummy for this particular study.  And I’m sure there are other folks about me who would be relieved as well because they too are affected by it, thanks to me.  But moving on to the question…

This is why I become all befuddled when someone asks these particular types of questions.  Sure, as a young’un I could have answered that with some bit of alacrity, such as, “um….I love to bike *pause*…and to read *pause*…and play the flute *pause*…” (wow, seriously though how much of a geek was I?!).  But as an adult, nyet.

I just don’t think life is so interesting, wait, scratch that, I’m not that interesting (life is just fine) anymore.  I’m still a geek and boring as hell.  I like to read…still, and I like to write…more than ever, and while I don’t play the flute anymore…I like listening to it.  But this sorta boring stuff isn’t what makes me interesting to other adults, I don’t think.  It makes me, as I said, boring.  Most are looking for “well I like to go hiking and then kayaking and then maybe run 610 miles in an hour and then maybe wrangle some sort of wild animal and then…etc, etc, etc….” 

Good gracious.  Really?

And how does one staple all this down to just a few interests anyhow?  For instance, if I was truly forced (as in someone holding a gun to my head) to answer this sorta question, it would be more on the lines of something like this:

I like to go on long drives, alone, where I blast my music and ignore the world and indulge in my guilty pleasures of song choices (like Mylie Cyrus).
I like to sit and blog on a sunny patio somewhere listening to my ipod and sipping a cool glass of something.
I like to read a good book, curled up on a piece of comfy furniture and get lost.
I went horseback riding, and liked it.  Does this count?
I once went ATV’ing and was a speed demon.  Does this mean I ‘do’ this?
I like to laze on the beach and feel the wind on my skin.
I love long hikes during the fall when the colors of the world is in the midst of changing and I capture it on my camera.
I love cooking all sorts of foods, when I’m not feeling lazy (really, that study needs to be done already before this becomes an epidemic).
I like to color, paint (which I do badly), doodle, sketch, try anything artsy for the first time.
I like to debate…that’s it…I like to debate.
I like to research random crap so that I feel more enlightened and can hold a conversation.
I like to try on different make up techniques which I use once and then never employ again because I forget them at the time or because of…yes, laziness. 
I like to put on crimson red lipstick when I’m feeling down because it gives me a personal ego boost.
I like to post nonsense on FB that makes others laugh.
I like to go to the Asian grocery store to wander the aisles and discover all sorts of new things.
I like to watch documentaries and cry, alone. 
I love to talk philosophy with just about anyone.
I like to sit and watch people because isn’t that the best thing in the world?
I like to be sarcastic and I’ve honed the art form hence I use it, with relish (and mustard and ketchup).
I like to be in the kitchen with my mom as she cooks and the house is filled with familiar scents of childhood.
I like to go to Dunkin Donuts with my bro and the cousins so we can gossip.
I love to sit with my dad and learn the music of my forefathers.
I like to text/chat with my besties and then when I see them, act as if we haven’t texted/talked in forever. 
I like decorating Christmas trees, putting out Halloween decorations, watching clouds float across the sky, listening to morning birds chirp, laugh while watching kids playing (in a completely non-creepy way), listen to the rain against the roof, gaze at snow falling and blanketing the earth…

You see what I’m getting at here?  I like all sorts of random (and not so random) things and sometimes nothing at all.  All these things and so many other things makes me…me.  I am a complex person who has yet to discover so many “possibilities” I may love to do and won’t know until I try.  So how can I tell you?  Life presents a vast array of options that to pigeonhole myself and say ‘this is what I like and don’t like’ is foolish to me and not giving myself credit.

For instance, I may not ever entertain the idea to go flinging myself off great heights but if someone binds me up and throws me off a plane with a parachute, who knows…(okay but this isn’t an invitation of any sort to do this because I will exact revenge shortly thereafter even if I loved the experience.  Just sayin’).

Here’s my suggestion (because I’m positive that absolutely everyone is waiting for it breathlessly): if you feel so inclined to know someone and ask them what they like to do?  Don’t.  Just don’t.  Make conversation.  Take the time to discover them.  Ask them about life and experiences because through that you will easily find out the rest of it all and it’s not a forced subject where they have to shove everything into a few generic sentences.  Half the fun of meeting anyone new is to discover who/what they are and it’s not in one swift ‘go’.  Watch as their eyes light up, as their posture change, as they lick their lips in anticipation because there is something they’re dying to reveal about themselves and someone who seems legitimately interested and (miraculously) listening.  Treat them like they are a fascinating package, a wonderful surprise, which you slowly open and with great anticipation. 

Stop living in a ‘just add water and stir’ world, basically.  We crave instant gratification and that in the end, isn’t gratifying at all although we’ve convinced ourselves it’s what we want/need. 

Slow the hell down, Folks, it’s as simple as that.