Before I begin this immense endeavor, I figured I was obliged to do some research. Hobbies, pleasurable pursuits, diversions, leisure activities...whatever you call them, they've always been around. The ancient Greeks wrestled each other naked. The Mayans played a dangerous Ball Game where losers were sentenced to death. Medieval Europeans enjoyed falconry, the hunt, and unhorsing each other with heavy sticks at a full gallop. And for women, of course, there was needlepoint. It wasn't until fairly recently, however, that the majority of people had enough spare time to partake of pastimes.
While there are your typical hobbies, like birding and basket weaving and bridge, there are also some more eccentric ones out there, like geocaching (hiding and finding treasures at particular latitudes and longitudes), gravestone rubbing and storm chasing.
Being a linguistic nerd, it interested me to learn that the word hobby was coined in the 17th century and came from the hobby horse toy, a fun little amusement that literally didn't go anywhere.
Anyway, it's Labor Day weekend and that's all the studying I'm willing to do for now. I'm also a bit tuckered out from working on my first hobby this afternoon. Who knew that something so easy-looking was so much work? Look out for my first activity post next week...
