It's a very cold wet miserable day. But it is February so it is what should be expected. This is what makes one appreciate the nice days. That's the problem with thinking heaven is having everything always perfect. That is NOT a good forever experience in my way of thinking. HA!
I need to be working on some projects in the garage shop, but the cold is making me think that sitting here in my warm office, writing, is a better experience. I have to agree with myself. At least for awhile. Warm is always good until it becomes too hot.
The Obvious Truth is Building
If I was living alone, I would have started an ever growing model train layout of some sort in a room of its own in my house. It would be in a conditioned space where I could comfortably be working on something for it in any weather. My detail model workshop would be in the same space too. The big messy work would still be in a separate space to keep the layout clean. I had a large layout started when I lived in Ohio. There they include large basement areas in most homes.
Since Ohio, model trains have been sort of a fringe loner interest of mine. I never got other family members to think of it as an enjoyable family hobby. I admit it is rather pointless in a way. Especially for the non-retired with everyday higher priorities to manage. Many hobbies are like that.
I think the construction and the design/build is where the interest is for me. Just running toy trains isn't a prime driver. The desire for me is the construction to never end because it is the creating that is the hobby.
For outsiders, running trains may seem to be the hobby. Building is just a step to get into the running. To me it is not. Running is simply the excuse to build. Creating a small scaled down world is a god-like experience and that creation experience is the real high.
I think it is the way I am wired. The work getting to a goal is my enjoyment. Once there it is time to move on. That's why I have been a good construction worker all my life. I can complete a project for a customer and am extremely happy to walk away from the finish. I don't need to ”own” and operate it.
I do complete a lot of things that I want the result for myself, but I am always going on to the next project. I could easily remember and write a material list of every part and piece I used in an installation job well after I left the job. Not forever, but certainly for weeks. It is like playing back a recording.
So my hobby is making things. Any things. Many things. It is not the thing that is the hobby I know the real core desire is in the making.
I am not alone. My wife makes quilts. She has probably a hundred finished quilts. So she collects finished quilts as she (we) certainly can't use all of them. Her real hobby is making quilts. That is what she says when asked, “What is you hobby?” The answer is always, “Making quilts.”
What is my hobby? Making just about anything.