I have always been a lover of books. Since I was a child, reading has been one of my favorite pastimes. My mom and grandmother would buy me books which I would read and then reread for weeks.As an adult, I have remained a voracious reader, spending about $200 a month on new books. I haven't been able to do that, of course, since my unemployment. In a choice between groceries and a book, one has to choose the groceries by necessity, though I would gladly choose the book instead. After all, a book will stay with you longer than the groceries will, unless you are talking about that tub of Rocky Road ice cream. That stuff seems to stick around, usually on my hips and ass, for far longer than seems fair.
Well, having only the same handful of books, which I have now read several times each, for the last 8 months has grown intolerable. So, a week or so back, I decided to splurge and get some new reading material. I bought 6 books and a DVD collection of Season 1 episodes of my new favorite TV show, Supernatural. Yes, I am well aware that the DVD collection is not reading material and was completely unnecessary, especially for someone trying to conserve money. But the show is very exciting, reminding me of the old series The Nightstalker, with Darren McGavin, and the two lead men are both very handsome. And, I have always espoused the notion that no one should eek out an existence on bare necessity alone. There has to be something fun, or frivolous, or enjoyable for its own sake in everyone's life.
My particular hobby of reading can be as expensive or inexpensive as I choose to make it, but not all of them are. My brother, for instance, loves horseback riding. He owns two horses which he and his son train and ride for fun. Anyone who knows anything about raising horses is aware that they can be an expense. Feed, hay, veterinarian visits, stabling, trail ride entry fees, etc. add up to a pretty penny. My sister loves scrapbooking, which can also run into money. Different colored/textured papers, die cuts, buttons, stickers, punch thingamabobs, albums, and such are not as cheap as I had thought. She actually has a suitcase filled with scrapbook stuff, which seems like a waste of money to me. Of course, she thinks my buying hardbound books is a waste of money. "Get the paperbacks," she tells me. I don't, of course, because I don't like holding a small paperback book; I prefer hardbound. And I'm a stubborn ass. Or, she tells me to check out copies of books for free from the library. I respond by telling her that she is one to talk, the person who put the crap in scrap books.
I have a friend here in blog land who is in to paintball. I was asking him about that and apparently, that is another expensive hobby. He has a special suit he wears that cost him $700. His gun ran him, I believe, $500. When he actually goes to play, he has to buy paint balls, canisters of the gas propellant, the park entry fee, money for lunch, gas for the long round trip, etc. He estimated that every time he plays, he spends a few hundred dollars.
But as I stated already, no one can live by just going to work, going home, going to work, going home. As Stephen King observed in The Shining, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. So, I am not obsessing over my purchases. And if my sister wants to spend hard earned money on 12"x12" sheets of plaid paper, who am I to gainsay her. If my brother wants to buy bales of hay for an animal that is just going to poop it out a few days later which my brother then has to shovel out of a stall, I say full speed ahead. I, in the meantime, will be immersed in the world of imagination, sipping a glass of iced tea, and having a few homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, since the Rocky Road seems to be finished again. I hate when that happens!
