GREENWOOD'S POWER RANKING™ OF HOBBIES I HAVE STARTED AND THEN ABANDONED
Do we all do this? I know I am not the only one.
I am a firm believer in trying new things. Other than new foods. Or going to new places. Or meeting a bunch of new people at the same time. Honestly, I’m not really a firm believer in trying new things. I DO, however, get way too deep into new hobbies and interests constantly. Most often, after the shine wears off, I end up abandoning these hobbies. Abandoning maybe is too strong of a word, as for a lot of them, it’s more like I take a REALLY long break.
Without further ADO, let’s rank some of these bad boys.
Painting
I KNOW. There was a brief moment in my life where I really wanted to be a little more artsy. I don’t know what possessed me to do so, but I went to Hobby Lobby and purchased a $5 watercolor starter kit. I literally made it maybe 30% of the way through my first painting, which was a beginner tutorial situation on YouTube before I realized that I was NOT cut out for this particular expression of art. I wish I had a picture of that misguided attempt at a bird, but sadly, I didn’t even stick to it long enough to take a picture. C'est la vie.
Watching Baseball
My in-laws are baseball people. I have friends that are baseball people. I discovered after about a quarter of a season, that I am not baseball people. Don’t get me wrong, in the right setting baseball rules. Going to a game, almost no matter the quality that is on the field, is typically a good time. I’ll go to a baseball game at the drop of a (baseball)hat. I discovered that actually watching baseball by yourself, just for the joy of watching baseball, is not something that interests very much. I didn’t really play growing up. I played as a kid but got drilled in the head at my first at bat in kid-pitch baseball when I was like in 4th grade and that was ALL SHE WROTE. I did, however, enjoy listening to Rangers games on the radio while I was working the past year. Baseball radio makes FANTASTIC background noise.
Collecting Vinyl Records
Kaleb gave me his old record player at some point in our friendship because I had decided that I wanted to get on this Vinyl train. I love going to used bookstores, antique stores, etc. and hunting for deals. This felt like a natural extension of that already ingrained want to pick through other peoples’ leavings. I quickly discovered two things. One, I like music, but I don’t like LIKE™ music. I’m working on it, and my quest will likely be featured in a future POWER RANKING™, but when I had decided to collect vinyl it was really for the wrong reason. Two, if you don’t find those suckers super used, they are EXPENSIVE. I couldn’t believe how expensive new vinyls are, so for once I made a fiscally responsible decision and put this hobby on hold.
Star Wars: Legion
I should have known that this one wasn’t going to stick. In theory, this game makes a great argument for me. In practice, everything about it just takes TOO LONG. For the uninitiated, Star Wars: Legion is a table top war game themed after Star Wars. You buy un-assembled and un-painted plastic miniatures, assemble and paint them, then you can play the game. MUCH LIKE WATERCOLORS, I DID NOT ENJOY PAINTING THESE MINIATURES. The game is pretty fun, but also it just takes longer to play than I have the ability to focus for at this point in my life.
Bass Guitar
When I was in high school I really wanted to learn how to play an instrument, and like most people that play the bass guitar, I picked it because I was told it’s the easiest one. No shade to all my bass heads out there, but it did honestly seem easier than it should have been to get proficient enough to play at the church. My last gig, lmao, was playing my high school baccalaureate service. I was terrible at this instrument, and not at all committed to practicing. I honestly would sit down with the intention to play bass, and end up playing Rock Band on my Xbox telling myself it still counted. I briefly came out of retirement to play for our church staff at a battle of the bands Christmas party at some point, but it had been 10 years since I had touched a bass guitar and remembered basically zero about it. I am certain that I was the reason we did not win that battle of the bands.
Comics
I really wanted to get into comic books in college. I got pretty deep into a few series, but it got pretty overwhelming pretty quickly. Honestly, comics are dope, and for a while I transitioned into buying the like 10 issue collections instead of keeping up with all the series week to week, and that had some legs for me. I did that for a couple of years. Ultimately, I just realized there I would rather spend my money on normal books instead. I’ve been comic-clean for like 5 or 6 years now, minus some trades I picked up at the Shawnee Friends of the Library sale for free a year or two ago.
Magic: The Gathering
If you like card games, this is the best one I ever played. It basically dominated my life for a decade. I spent so much time and money and brain power on these little cardboard squares. I remember when I was in 9th grade getting a paycheck, and spending LITERALLY EVERY DIME of that paycheck on MTG cards the day that I deposited that paycheck. It is sometimes referred to as “cardboard crack” and I think that is an apt name for this game. It scratched so many of my itches. It looked cool, it was collectable, it was competitive and engaging, my friends were all into it. Sometimes, I hear about a new set of cards they are putting out and I get the itch again, but I am proud to say that with the help of the Lord, I have stayed away from the devilry.
RuneScape
You never quit RuneScape, you just take long breaks. I first logged onto RuneScape in 2004 when I was in 4th grade. The most recent time I logged onto RuneScape was 2024. This stupid, amazing, horribly boring, incredibly engaging, ugly but somehow charming game has had its hooks in me for 20 years. I want to say that I am done with this game. I mean, hell, I’m 30 years old now. I can’t be playing the same stuff I was playing in FOURTH GRADE, but alas, there is a hole in my free time that, often, it feels like RuneScape is the only thing that can fill it…
Power Ranking™
Get off my back people. Chill out Carl, I know it has been almost a year since my last power ranking. I’M WORKING ON IT. I am proud to say that I am back. I am probably not back nearly as often, but I do have a couple of these bad boys written out already, and am looking forward to writing some more. I know they are a dumb, pointless, ARBITRARY, but I do love making them and I hope they make you all chuckle a little.
PS. Please send me some ideas for Power Rankings. I need more fuel for this fire.
TEX TAX
