Websters Student dictionary defines 'Hobby' as "An interest or activity engaged in for pleasure"...
Thinking back, my very first hobby was setting things on fire!...It was 1964 ish, the summer after Kennedy got shot, I was 5yrs old and infatuated with the magic and science of fire! I would collect sticks and stuff and pile them up, then, when my Dad got home from work, we would light it on fire! Oh what joy and madness! I can remember the lessons learned to this day! How to make it, how to control it, etc...
As I matured and mastered the hobby of fire, I diddled around with the catching of snakes and turtles, bugs and frogs, birds and rabbits, fish, fur bearing quadrupeds, you know, the basics...bow and arrow, wrist rocket, pitfalls, deadfalls, snares, set lines, box traps etc...all the various ways and means to catch something either alive or dead was of interest...Also digging holes! I loved to dig holes and build massive forts underground!
Then, in the 70's, as a pre teen, I became an excellent student of fist fighting and throwing things at people...also avoiding the Law and Authority figures of all sorts...riding bicycle for miles at night and the maintenance required...
In the late 70's early 80's I took up drinking and shooting barroom pool and Strumpet running...Trollop tracking, Flaxen haired floozie pursuing and luring disciplines...I got pretty good at drinking, but performed well below average on the rest...
I took up going to Church in the mid 80's and that was a fun Hobby! Plus, Pentecostal, a guy can just jump up and run around during the service and scream and holler all they wanted to without anybody thinking less of you for it! A guy got in shape without having to join a health club! I think Church is a good Hobby, as long as you dont take it too seriously! As in any Hobby, some folks just get carried away into obsession...
Well, its good to have a foundation of hobbies to build an interesting Life upon, the skills you learn from one translate over into another...
I like Metal detecting on account of its a Hobby that can actually PAY for itself! Plus, I can use all the other Life skills to complement and add to my success! Hobbys teach perserverance and dealing with disappointment! Which comes in handy when a fellow gets married and gets a job...
FWIW, I can still set a 330 Conibear bear handed!..Been doing so since 1979...never had a tool, and learned how to do it ...Long time beaver trapper....I'm quite proud of this skill..
on my tombstone someday...'Well, he could set a 330 Conibear bear handed, also pretty good at throwing things and setting fires, other than that, digging holes and running around yelling and screaming'...