1.) Growing your own food
This is both challenging and fun. I have a garden of Thai peppers and habaneros in my backyard. I started gardening when I arrived home from the TMTA (Texas Music Teachers Association) Piano Performance Competition of June 2014. At a Kroger in downtown Houston, Texas, where the competition took place, I bought one Thai pepper and one habanero. I later planted the seeds of them in my backyard, and I am expecting the third harvest of Thai peppers to be soon. Currently, there are two live Thai pepper plants of consecutive generations as well as seven live habanero plants.
Growing your own vegetables and fruits is fun because of the possibility of harvest. When the first few leaves of lettuce are visible, the gardener is filled with gaiety. When the first few flowers of pepper plants blossom, the gardener is ecstatic. There is always some thrill in the process because there exists a possibility of disaster. When growing pepper plants, the gardener loves to see ripening pods, but is nervous about eating extremely hot chilies. When flowers blossom, the gardener is worried about the number of flowers that will be successfully pollinated. When leafy greens grow, the gardener is worried about the possibility of pests ruining the year's crop permanently. Yet when the gardener is still content in the amount of the harvest, the suspense is released and he/she is satisfied.
When growing vegetables and fruits, one must have the ability of innovative problem-solving. One consistently worries about how to protect plants from inclement weather and must also deal with ants, aphids, insect larvae, fungal growth, and bacterial infections. When one is on vacation, insufficient watering is a concern. When I took a vacation to Rocky Mountain National Park, I faced this problem. As my whole family was away, I had to create a temporary, timed watering system using a soaker-hose, a timer, and a holey chair. We tested the system, and it worked according to my plans. However, when we came back from the vacation, we found out that only seven of the eighteen plants survived. After a few minutes of investigation, we found the source of the problem: the timer's battery ran out of energy! There are many variables in growing your own food, and one must be able to accept the fact that it is not easy to control all of the variables. This is why gardening is both fun and challenging.
2.) Crocheting or Knitting
Crocheting or knitting may be repetitive, and definitely takes much dedication and time. Personally, I prefer crocheting over knitting. For one, it only requires one stick—in this case, it is a hook—while knitting requires two needles that are dangerously sharp. Also, crocheting is more versatile and easier to undo (in case of a mistake). Basically, a crocheted fabric is a gigantic chain of slip knots. Knitting is more repetitive: there are two basic stitches: the knit and the purl, which are opposites of each other. A knit fabric is harder to undo, and, in my opinion, takes a longer time to create. However, with some time, the results can be wonderful. I've always had a "if you don't have it, then make it" attitude, and it is always a delight to tie off the last stitch of a project.
When I was eleven, I crocheted the small purse shown below.
My father found it strange that I was so happy when I finished and said that I was being too effeminate of a boy. However, I always was, and I might cover this topic in a later blog post. Personally, I believe that knitting or crocheting is not simply an activity for females. Historically, this has been the case, but I advocate for others to try this, too, particularly if you haven't yet.
When I first began crocheting, I never really thought about knitting. It was because I did not have access to knitting needles. Being from a Chinese family, though, I found out that it was easy to make knitting needles from chopsticks. Thus, I went to a Chinese restaurant and took back a pair of the cheap bamboo chopsticks. I inserted the chopsticks in a pencil sharpener to taper the ends to a point, and then I used sandpaper to smooth out the tip. The knitting needles worked well, and I was pleased with my own innovation. Nevertheless, I did not find knitting any more fun than crocheting, so I soon stopped knitting. And this is totally fine! In life, nobody will enjoy everything, but until you actually try something, you will not know whether you like it or not. This is why I giving you these specific suggestions.
3.) Traveling
*Blogger deleted the entire post starting from this point. While my memory of the deleted post is still fresh, I shall try to retype everything from my memory. I wish myself good luck!
Hang a map of the world on a wall and obtain a dart. Shoot the dart at the map with your eyes closed. When you see the location on the map that the dart landed on, remember that location and plan a vacation to that area.
The purpose of what I described above is to allow you to experience the world as a whole. When people go to the most popular attractions of the world, they are called "tourists". These tourists live in relatively comfortable conditions and have detailed plans on where to go. I'm telling you not to be a tourist, but to be a traveler.
A traveler is one who does not only go to the most popular attractions. A traveler is one who knows that Paris is not the entirety of France. One cannot visit Paris and say, "I have seen France!" Similarly, one cannot go to Washington, D.C. and say "I have seen the entirety of the United States of America!" The problem is that these places are unrepresentative of the whole, whatever this "whole" may mean. It may be a vernacular region, or it may be a formal region such as a state or a nation. (Yes, there is a difference between a state and a nation; a state has a political boundary, while a nation has a cultural one.)
It is most fun if you do not go overboard in planning a vacation. Find a place to stay and have some room for exploration. A tour, although it may be informative and interesting, does not count as a mode of exploration!
I believe that you understand my point by now.
4.) Learning a Portable Instrument
Learning an instrument is, I believe, universally accepted as a respectable undertaking. If I were to recommend an instrument to learn, it would definitely be the piano. I am biased, since I play piano, but I do have some arguments to present in favor of piano.
Nevertheless, this is not the topic of this section. I advocate that you learn to play a portable instrument like a recorder. It relieves boredom on long trips, gives you more talent, and develops your coordination and preciseness of muscle movements. Plus, you can easily assemble and transport a portable instrument, so you can play it anywhere with ease.
"Casual playing" is a term I use to describe the style of playing portable instruments in informal settings. (That is, you are not an onstage performer.) Some instruments of the symphony orchestra are usually played formally, but can also be suitable for casual playing. I recommend in this category the oboe and the clarinet. The oboe produces a warm, piercing tone that is mesmerizing to listen to; the clarinet produces a clean, pure timbre that resonates appealingly. The clarinet is the easier one to learn, but I personally prefer the oboe.
Notice that these portable instruments tend to be small, common woodwind instruments. These are the easiest to carry, and are therefore suitable to casual playing. Just this Halloween, I went trick-or-treating while playing Christmas carols on my plastic recorder!
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The second part of the list, shown below, contains some interesting things you can try in your spare time. I've left out elaboration.
- Singing
- Writing
- Creating origami models
- Trap-making
- Learning a martial art
- Learning a language
- Ballroom dancing
- Computer Programming
- Flag designing
- Cooking
- Public speaking
- Debating
- Composing music
- Filming videos
- Rereading this list so you can actually start doing something
Your blog pulls in readers. Awesome job!
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