Pobsession, by Kristy

To me, a pobby is a hobby type of activity that has acquired obsession status. It's a hobby you just can't stop doing or thinking about.

Idea! I think I want to do a timeline of the pobbies in my life.

My Pobbies Timeline

5 - 12 years old:

Drawing people that were going to be in my next story, and occasionally starting a story (almost never finishing);
Also listening to sappy, poppy, or morbid music to egg on my prepubescent moods;
Also reading books

Interesting factoid: My drawings were mostly girlish women with frothy, curly hair and puffed-out ballgowns. Sometimes there was a poor family thrown in for good measure, complete with honest woodcutting father. There were a few cats and dogs and a unicorn. Oh, and the members of The Babysitter's Club, of course.

12 - 22 years old:

Running in order to race in order to win in order to get recognition;
Also listening to inspirational music and reading inspirational quotes and books in order to feel in control of my life;
Also reading books

Factoid: Running is not necessarily good for me. It gets me overcompetitive, hyped up, hyper, exhausted, and filled with thoughts of superiority.

27 - 30+ years old:

Writing blog posts, online articles, and novels, especially during National Novel Writing Month;
Also reading books

Factoid: You, my dear Once-Upon-A-Weekers, have helped me feel okay with continuing to write in a hobby sort of way.

28-29 years old:

Cloth diapering;
Also reading books

Factoids: I joined a listserve for cloth diaperers and got pretty intensely into the search for the perfectest, cutest, washablest diaper. I suppose we saved money in the long run. I spent $300 at the most for cloth diapers and cloth diapering materials. Disposable diapers are about 30 cents a piece and we would have had to buy 70 a week, perhaps, so one year of cloth diapering saved us $1,092 of disposable diapering expenses. If you say that laundering diapers twice a week cost us a certain amount in energy bills...Well, I still don't think it cost us $792. Hunh. This has taught me two things: 1. I did good with the cloth diapering. 2. I might still be a little bit obsessed.

29 - ? years old:

Homemaking;
Also reading books

This one's kind of embarrassing. I am so into websites like The Brocante Home Chronicles and Little Jenny Wren and books ranging from the Little House series to Little Women to Extraordinary Touches for an Ordinary Day to Happy Living! A Guidebook for Brides to Happy Living for New Homemakers to Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House. You might think the embarrassing thing about this pobby is my tendency to skip housecleaning week after week, but no. I have shame about the combination of wanting to live this way and then not measuring up.

31 - ? years old:

Knitting;
Also reading books

Factoid: Look for some hand-knitted gifts, dudes. I am on a knitting tear.


P. S. Don't laugh, but this reading books thing is really cutting into my life-living.