Me and Hobbies

Image Source: nvcs.stier.org

 

After graduation, it’s a shocking phase for me (I don’t know about the rest of you) to be free from formal education, of not being obliged to routinely attend classes and submit assignments on time. I can choose whether to continue my studies right away or to postpone it for a while or even not to continue at all! It’s an amazing power, isn’t it, to be given such authority of directing your life course?

So, now I am at home whereas everyone else is busy with their hectic schedule, be it for studying or working. But never assume that I have been idling at home. I am a person with plenty of hobbies! I can’t sit still without doing anything. Even if I’m forced (by situations) to do so, my head wanders a long way, and my heart agitates for some occupations and/or preoccupations.

Frankly, I have always employed myself with several hobbies at a time since I was a child. As a child, I played a lot with toys and imagination, of course. Often, when my sister and I travelled in a car at the back seats, we would turn around to face the cushioned seats and imagine that they were sewing machines. Dress after dress were being piled into our imaginary mountains that stood majestically beside us.

Next, as I got into school, singing and dancing took most of my time. My idols range from local to international singers. I was a huge fan of Siti Nurhaliza, Fauziah Latiff, Feminin, Richard Marx, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Hilary Duff and Avril Lavigne. I could still remember clearly that as a kindergartener, I had requested for Feminin’s album from my father. Now that I’m 24, looking back at the 5-year-old me, I think I was being rather odd for requesting such a gift at a young age. But that’s not all, soundtracks touch my heart too such as Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and other big movies like The Lord of The Rings and Harry Potter. Again, imagination conquered my world-I performed a lot of imaginary solo concerts in my room. I learned to recognise pitch and tones via these hobbies which are very useful for my latest hobby.  

Those were the hobbies from the earlier phase of my life. Naturally, a flower will have to bloom when the right time comes. From a kiddy girl growing into a teenager, face colours attracted my attention. I began experimenting with make-up since I was in Form 3. Fashion magazines were studied like school textbooks. Beautifully modelled advertisements were scanned and analysed for my experiments. I worked really hard to create the looks that I wanted every single day up until the days while I was doing my Degree.

After a while, I got bored over some of these hobbies. I look around for more adventure. Well, I do play computer games and Playstation stuff but they are all small hobbies. I’m talking about MAJOR hobbies. In the 5^th Semester of Degree, I found my new passion, which is playing the piano. Learning to play the piano is never ending, I believe, along side reading (I forgot to mention about reading. Reading and playing the piano are treated equally in my heart. Well, maybe piano is positioned a bit higher in my heart I suppose, for the time being ;) ). One day, you might be proud of yourself for being able to play Fur Elise or Moonlight Sonata. After some time, you realise that your playing isn’t deep enough. Then you’ll try to polish your skills by practicing exercises and reading the history and background of the composer. Without you realising it, you feel like you know the person behind the music. You are connected with a person whom  you have never met, who was from a different country and culture, who is in a different world (because most of them were already buried six-feet under).

The post is a bit long and self-centered I realise, but what I’m trying to say here is, learning isn’t confined to classroom learning per se. Your playtime can also be your learning time. Each and every hobby that I have, I value it with my utmost attention and passion. It is fun to do what you love and it is even more interesting when you learn to direct and monitor your own learning. You’ll learn to do research,  make observations from experts and amateurs, and correct your own mistakes all the way to mastery.

Dear readers, what are you waiting for? Pick a hobby and learn to master it! Let us be the director of our own learning:)