For me, this boils down to: nurture the things that give you joy, particularly that things which others cannot take from you. That's why I'm slinging you a derisory contribution every however often it is. You are my liberal rage tamagotchi.
I love cooking, really complicated stuff with long processes, and I love learning new skills. Slightly pointless now since my partner died, he was such an appreciative person to cook for. He'd wake up most mornings and say, "That was delish! What's for supper?" Some hobbies need a buddy. So I've taken up the ukulele.
Very sorry to hear this. It's not remotely the same, but I remember doing a lot of cooking solo after a relationship failed years back. It took a long time to subsequently learn to cook with someone else. Podcasts make it a very pleasant experience. But admittedly none of that is as cool as the ukulele. Which, until this moment, I had no idea how to spell.
Well done on hitting your target. You managed to extract £50 out of me, which means I now have £50 less to spend on my hobby. Nice one.
My hobby is gardening. About 7 years ago it morphed into my job when I left the corporate world and retrained as a garden designer. It can be every bit as stressful as a day in the office in Canary Wharf but the results and the smiles on people’s faces are much more rewarding. Sometimes after a full day planting up someone’s garden I find the energy to do some gardening in my own, which is somehow that bit extra special, as I have nobody’s expectations to meet but my own. Pottering on a Sunday morning can sometimes turn into a full day of high speed activity trying to pack in all the things I didn’t manage to do yet and for which time in the season and daylight is quickly running out. I guess I am still driven to achieve, even if it’s a more floriferous border or a more impressive peach harvest next year. You can take a high achiever out of the targets driven environment but you can’t … etc.
Have a good few days in between - or ‘Chol Hamo’ed Christmas’ as my grandma used to say in her inimitable Yiddish way. Get your hands in the soil if you can. It will do you good.
I'm glad that you mentioned knitting as a hobby. So often, people sneer at hobbies that are common amongst women, but I only learnt to knit a few years ago and it has been a wonderful hobby to pick up (and not just because of the neverending supply of marvellous socks). There's something very soothing about the repetitiveness of it, it's almost zen-like.
I have noticed, though, that I still feel the need to be 'productive' with my time, so I often knit whilst watching TV. Except, I'm not really watching TV because I'm not good enough to not have to look at my needles, so I'm more listening to TV. This has taught me that there are two types of TV – the sort I can knit to and follow along just listening to the dialogue (eg Shetland, For All Mankind), and the sort that I need to really to watch closely (eg Severence, Loki). So it's turned out that knitting has been educational after all. Damn.
Hope you have a delightful and relaxing Christmas! God knows we all need one right now.
Knitting is a lovely hobby. It hits all sorts of notes - the development of knowledge and expertise on yarn characteristics, knitting techniques, garment construction. The physical act of knitting - the smell and feel of the yarn, the sound of the needles, seeing a pattern emerge, row by row. The satisfaction of creating finished objects for yourself or others, a gift of love (or self-love) and time, the connection to my mum (who taught me), to generations of women before and to nature. Plus I really love woolly hats!!
I was one of those people who became politically online through the Brexit process. Went on my first demos (I’m in my 50s), went to see my MP for the first time, argued with people on social media. After a while I realised it was eating me, so I quit Twitter and FB. Now try to engage in politics in a different way - this, books, podcasts.
Agree with you on hobbies - trying to play guitar is mine.
Great message, Ian. As a lazy fucker I always find it easy to go do a hobby... but then as a millennial growing up in this “Be effective or be poor and worthless” environment it often just turns into a form of self-hatred I can’t stop falling into. Because I work in video games, I’ve at least had the excuse that when I sit down to play one it’s “research”.
I got into Magic the Gathering recently. Yes. Even for me, as a Warhammer guy... Magic was too nerdy even for me. Since I got into it, I’m absolutely in love. I can be creative, expressive, forced to socialize.... and most importantly, it’s completely and utterly all-consuming. My brain can’t worry about work or life goals or politics... I have to find the mana to make creatures to block some wizard that’s trying to throw a mountain at my face.
So hurrah to your message! Keep yourselves sane, folks, because switching off is what the bastards want you to do.
Congrats on hitting the sub goal, Ian. Merry Christmas ya cunt
Ian I wonder if you’ve ever come across the US cartoonist Walt Kelly? Pretty much unknown here - I only know him because my uncle worked in Canada in the 50s and brought books of his cartoons back which I read when I visited. They’re a mixture of 50s/60s political commentary and complete lunacy with a fondness for terrible puns and mangling of the English language. Most famous line from him is ‘We have met the enemy and he is us.’ Also a cartoonist who could convey a great deal with few pen strokes. I intend to do as little as possible between Christmas and new year. Have a good one!
Thanks for your subscription nag yesterday - I was one of those who responded to it, and I'm glad it helped to get you over the line and keep this thing going for longer. Many thanks for your fabulous work, past and future.
And let us know how those Ayn Rand action figures from Dorian work out.
I left a drunken comment last week expressing my gratitude for your writing and calling you a cunt, and then deleted it in the morning. Kind of wish I’d left it. You keep me sane too. (Although as a member of the global knitting community I can tell you it’s a hotbed of division, as demonstrated by the Great Designer Cancelling of 2017.)
In those lovely between days I found myself doing a jigsaw. I never do jigsaws. (I’d allegedly bought it for the grandkids but I’d tricked myself into getting it for me.) It was bliss, a great cover for doing nowt but matching patterns and colours and cooking up some peace of mind for myself whilst doing something pleasantly pointless. ( I didn’t even have the energy to knit.) Now it’ll be back to politics and in an election year. But hey!
For me, this boils down to: nurture the things that give you joy, particularly that things which others cannot take from you. That's why I'm slinging you a derisory contribution every however often it is. You are my liberal rage tamagotchi.
I am terrified by how exquisite those final three words are (thank you)
I love cooking, really complicated stuff with long processes, and I love learning new skills. Slightly pointless now since my partner died, he was such an appreciative person to cook for. He'd wake up most mornings and say, "That was delish! What's for supper?" Some hobbies need a buddy. So I've taken up the ukulele.
Very sorry to hear this. It's not remotely the same, but I remember doing a lot of cooking solo after a relationship failed years back. It took a long time to subsequently learn to cook with someone else. Podcasts make it a very pleasant experience. But admittedly none of that is as cool as the ukulele. Which, until this moment, I had no idea how to spell.
Well done on hitting your target. You managed to extract £50 out of me, which means I now have £50 less to spend on my hobby. Nice one.
My hobby is gardening. About 7 years ago it morphed into my job when I left the corporate world and retrained as a garden designer. It can be every bit as stressful as a day in the office in Canary Wharf but the results and the smiles on people’s faces are much more rewarding. Sometimes after a full day planting up someone’s garden I find the energy to do some gardening in my own, which is somehow that bit extra special, as I have nobody’s expectations to meet but my own. Pottering on a Sunday morning can sometimes turn into a full day of high speed activity trying to pack in all the things I didn’t manage to do yet and for which time in the season and daylight is quickly running out. I guess I am still driven to achieve, even if it’s a more floriferous border or a more impressive peach harvest next year. You can take a high achiever out of the targets driven environment but you can’t … etc.
Have a good few days in between - or ‘Chol Hamo’ed Christmas’ as my grandma used to say in her inimitable Yiddish way. Get your hands in the soil if you can. It will do you good.
This is such a preposterously well written comment it should, by any rights, be a blog post. Thanks for writing it.
Bless you Ian, you keep me sane - many thanks.
I'm glad that you mentioned knitting as a hobby. So often, people sneer at hobbies that are common amongst women, but I only learnt to knit a few years ago and it has been a wonderful hobby to pick up (and not just because of the neverending supply of marvellous socks). There's something very soothing about the repetitiveness of it, it's almost zen-like.
I have noticed, though, that I still feel the need to be 'productive' with my time, so I often knit whilst watching TV. Except, I'm not really watching TV because I'm not good enough to not have to look at my needles, so I'm more listening to TV. This has taught me that there are two types of TV – the sort I can knit to and follow along just listening to the dialogue (eg Shetland, For All Mankind), and the sort that I need to really to watch closely (eg Severence, Loki). So it's turned out that knitting has been educational after all. Damn.
Hope you have a delightful and relaxing Christmas! God knows we all need one right now.
Knitting is a lovely hobby. It hits all sorts of notes - the development of knowledge and expertise on yarn characteristics, knitting techniques, garment construction. The physical act of knitting - the smell and feel of the yarn, the sound of the needles, seeing a pattern emerge, row by row. The satisfaction of creating finished objects for yourself or others, a gift of love (or self-love) and time, the connection to my mum (who taught me), to generations of women before and to nature. Plus I really love woolly hats!!
I couldn't agree more. I keep offering to teach any man who wants it how to knit, but so far none have taken me up on it.
Jingly bollocks to all!
As one of the twats who bunged you fifty sheets yesterday, all I can say is it better be fucking worth it. Happy bastard Christmas!
Nice piece, btw
And a happy fucking Christmas to you too x
I was one of those people who became politically online through the Brexit process. Went on my first demos (I’m in my 50s), went to see my MP for the first time, argued with people on social media. After a while I realised it was eating me, so I quit Twitter and FB. Now try to engage in politics in a different way - this, books, podcasts.
Agree with you on hobbies - trying to play guitar is mine.
And congrats on hitting your subscription target.
Great message, Ian. As a lazy fucker I always find it easy to go do a hobby... but then as a millennial growing up in this “Be effective or be poor and worthless” environment it often just turns into a form of self-hatred I can’t stop falling into. Because I work in video games, I’ve at least had the excuse that when I sit down to play one it’s “research”.
I got into Magic the Gathering recently. Yes. Even for me, as a Warhammer guy... Magic was too nerdy even for me. Since I got into it, I’m absolutely in love. I can be creative, expressive, forced to socialize.... and most importantly, it’s completely and utterly all-consuming. My brain can’t worry about work or life goals or politics... I have to find the mana to make creatures to block some wizard that’s trying to throw a mountain at my face.
So hurrah to your message! Keep yourselves sane, folks, because switching off is what the bastards want you to do.
Congrats on hitting the sub goal, Ian. Merry Christmas ya cunt
Even as a comics nerd, we'd look at the Magic guys and think: those poor bastards. Good work mate.
Ian I wonder if you’ve ever come across the US cartoonist Walt Kelly? Pretty much unknown here - I only know him because my uncle worked in Canada in the 50s and brought books of his cartoons back which I read when I visited. They’re a mixture of 50s/60s political commentary and complete lunacy with a fondness for terrible puns and mangling of the English language. Most famous line from him is ‘We have met the enemy and he is us.’ Also a cartoonist who could convey a great deal with few pen strokes. I intend to do as little as possible between Christmas and new year. Have a good one!
I too am greatful to the additional c*nts who have made this a permanent fixture.
With pleasure I did
Me too
As ever a joy to read.
Thanks for your subscription nag yesterday - I was one of those who responded to it, and I'm glad it helped to get you over the line and keep this thing going for longer. Many thanks for your fabulous work, past and future.
And let us know how those Ayn Rand action figures from Dorian work out.
Thank you - if journalism doesn't work, D and I are going straight to Mattel with the Rand action figure idea.
Could not be more pleased to learn that Striking 13 is here to stay. Many thanks coming to you from across the pond ♥️
I left a drunken comment last week expressing my gratitude for your writing and calling you a cunt, and then deleted it in the morning. Kind of wish I’d left it. You keep me sane too. (Although as a member of the global knitting community I can tell you it’s a hotbed of division, as demonstrated by the Great Designer Cancelling of 2017.)
Oh you should have left it, it sounds perfect. Thanks Rachael.
In those lovely between days I found myself doing a jigsaw. I never do jigsaws. (I’d allegedly bought it for the grandkids but I’d tricked myself into getting it for me.) It was bliss, a great cover for doing nowt but matching patterns and colours and cooking up some peace of mind for myself whilst doing something pleasantly pointless. ( I didn’t even have the energy to knit.) Now it’ll be back to politics and in an election year. But hey!
Great piece thanks!