In Constant Flux

I really am.  Ask anyone who really knows me, especially Aim or my mother.  I grab hobbies like Dean Martin grabs women.  The real problem with my hobbies, however, seems to be expense.

Here are a couple of examples:

I have always loved camping of all sorts.  I love car camping for things like canyoneering or just a weekend out with the family.  I love backpacking to get back into places you can't get to otherwise.  As a kid, we had a pop-up trailer that I also greatly enjoyed because it allows you to be outdoors with a little slice of home comfort.

When I got home from Mexico and moved out on my own and got married, etc., I realized that I had very little camping gear of my own.  So, I bought some.  Not all at once, but slowly.  I thought I was smart.  If I buy things slowly, Aimee won't really realize how much money I am actually spending.  Well, it turns out that Aimee is smarter than I am.  Plus, she works with small children who try to pull the once over on her on a daily basis.  So, it turns out that camping is expensive.  (But, that hasn't stopped me from doing it and convincing Aimee to take me here.)

When we got married, the in-laws lived up in Idaho.  We would make fairly frequent trips to visit, all while enjoying lovely books on tape.  (On a side note, ask Aimee how much she loves the guy who reads the book.)  One thing I did not know about Aimee's dad when we got married is his love for cycling.  I can't think of a time before Idaho that I had ever even seen a bike at their house, and believe me, I spent a lot of time at their house.  Anyways, we visited the Idahome once and good ol' Father-In-Law had just bought a fancy new road bike.  And, much to Aimee's chagrin, he suggested I take it for a spin up the road.  Now Aimee, who has some foresight, knew exactly what was coming.

When I got back to the house, I needed a road bike.  So, I bought one.  It was fancy.  And expensive.  Even though I got $1000 off.  So far, I still love it.  (The Father-In-Law and I will be riding across Iowa this summer.)

So, to make the above long story short, I like to collect hobbies.  I like to think of it like the late, great Aldo Leopold does:

"You do not annex  hobby, the hobby annexes you."

See, there it is.  It's not my fault.  I was chosen.

Sometimes, I like to be annexed by a hobby and then later on down the road be un-annexed by it.  I still don't think its my fault.  Blame the hobby.

As a reward for reading my ramblings, watch this and giggle.





P.S.    To be continued...