Passions & Hobbies

Things that I am passionate about:

-Writing songs and singing anything.

-Writing in general (including blogging, poems, and in my journal).

-Spreading the message about Confidence and how it affects every part of your life.

-Reading. Reading ALL THE BOOKS.

-My Kindle (If you’re reading this, Kindle, I love you more than cheese, I swear).

-Cheese.

-Cooking & baking (but only when I am in the mood to cook or bake).

-Fluffy fat baby animals (also, fat babies in general).

-Science. Reading and learning about science and new discoveries.

-My family and friends.

And there is certainly more! But I find myself in the position of wanting a hobby. I tried book clubs for awhile, and while I really enjoyed the gatherings, inevitably something would come up and I’d be unable to attend two or three times in a row, and then I felt all weird and self-conscious going back after a long absence, and I ended up just abandoning the book club all together. I learned how to knit, proceeded to knit my mother a six-foot-long scarf, and then couldn't for the life of me figure out how to knit anything else, and eventually kind of gave up.

Reading IS something I personally consider a hobby, though. I read a lot, and I thoroughly enjoy the time spent with books. I read approximately one book every day. I read on the train, when I’m walking to and from the train, when I’m jogging on the elliptical machine at the gym, and randomly throughout the days. I never understand people who think reading is silly or stupid. How can escaping into a story of another person or another world or a big adventure, or learning interesting new subjects, or about the lives of famous people or historical figure possibly be boring?! I love reading, and will always continue to read, but this is about finding a new hobby and integrating it into my life.

Oh, Kindle, you mechanical ball of love, joy, and books. I love you so very much. I shall never leave you! We will be together FOREVER. Kindle + Jyssica = TRUE LOVE.

I’m a terrible artist! I want to be able to draw or paint the things in my head, but I just can’t seem to get what’s in my head on the paper! I can mimic other things, though. I’ve freehand drawn a number of comics, like Dilbert, Far Side, and Calvin & Hobbes, just looking at the original and recreating them. But while I suppose I could always embark on a fun and thrilling career of cartoon forgery, I am really not the fugitive type, so I think I’ll refrain. Maybe I could take an art class?

I love to cook and bake and experiment with new foods and recipes and just wing it with no recipes and a dream, and try it out for dinner. Boyfriend and I cook together at home, and I find it fun and interesting. He likes to be in charge of cooking the meat, and he’s all BAM like Emerill on the spices. It’s really nice! I’d LOVE to take a cooking class, actually. But all I’ve found here are little 2 or 3 hour classes on a specific thing, like pasta making (rad!), when what I want is a one night a week class for a month or two!

How I feel when I cook: Fancy as hell.

I love my singing and songwriting, and I’m really not bad at either. I sang competitively in middle and high school and even won some awards. I also won a couple for poetry contests. But neither of these things are really something I could make a living with, or are what I consider a “hobby” in terms of taking time every week and really focusing and learning more and being engaged with it. I sing all the time, and I write when inspiration strikes.

I’m crafty and I love to make things and DIY stuff, but can this actually be a hobby? I’m not scouring pinterest for ideas or spending my weekends making random crafts as gifts or party favors. What would I do with random things that I crafted if it wasn’t something I needed? Example: Made a framed chalkboard for my apartment, but I don’t need to craft an endless supply of them. I made a cool shadowbox for Boyfriend’s and my collection of foreign money, but I only need the one. Unless I was able to give them away as gifts, what could I do with a crafty ability?

I’m at this age of upper 20's, in a stable relationship, with some but not TOO much time on my hands. So, I want a hobby. Boyfriend has video games and building these really cool e-cigarette contraptions of wonder and mechanics, some of my friends have kids, which is certainly more time-consuming than a hobby, and I just want something I can be interested in and learn about and work on, but not a full-time-job's worth of time needed to invest.

Any suggestions, world?

I leave you with this picture of the greatest food in the world.

IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL. *sniff!*

How Do You Feel When Your Face Is Naked?

I recently read this article on Buzzfeed about a girl who went makeup-free for a week and the things she learned from it. First of all, she was super uncomfortable with her own face when she wasn't wearing makeup, and had a bit of a self-conscious meltdown, followed by the eventual acceptance of her face and the epiphany that she doesn't NEED makeup all the time.

This kind of article offends me a little bit. Not in the way that I’m throwing things around or resentful towards the author of the article. Just in the way that as a woman, she felt that she had to wear makeup every single day in order to be accepted, and it took a fairly abrupt and severe experiment to cure her of that way of thinking. I’m offended FOR the author.

What does that kind of thinking mean for girls like me? I don’t wear makeup. Not to work, not at home, and only occasionally for a nice date or family event. And even then, it’s just mascara and eyeliner, and then I feel FANCY AS HELL. I’m all like “Look at me, I’m so fancy! I have bits of chemicals and stuff on my eyes!” And yes, when I do wear it, I feel like I look good.

BUT I DON’T FEEL ANY BETTER OR WORSE ABOUT MYSELF OR MY APPEARANCE WHEN NOT WEARING ANY.

This is a very important point. I am not a hideous troll, nor am I in any way a supermodel. I am an average, very-pale female. I keep myself relatively groomed, I get my eyebrows waxed and my hair trimmed. These things I do for me. I have bushy eyebrows and I like the way I look when I am groomed. But I feel no inclination to cover my face in makeup, or spend a ton of money on expensive makeup or beauty products. I do what feels good for me.

Not me. At least not once I shower!

WHOA DEFINITELY NOT ME.

In the end, I like my face, makeup or no. I am comfortable with the way I look. Do I occasionally get self conscious about my looks or my body or my super-thin hair? Of course. Do I compare myself to airbrushed perfection in magazines or on tv? NOPE.

People, PLEASE don’t compare your physical looks with anyone else. You are you and there is nothing you can do about it. Be comfortable with yourself, or change yourself in whatever ways make you feel good. But don’t compare yourself to others. What’s the point in looking at someone else and categorizing all the things you don’t like about yourself or that you wished were different? It only serves to make you feel bad about yourself.

Trust me, there are enough things in this world that will try to make you feel bad without adding yourself to that list. You should be your own biggest cheerleader, your own staunchest supporter of who you are. People may try to bring you down, but only you can control the way you feel about yourself.

If wearing makeup makes YOU feel good, then by all means, go for it. I’m not saying that no one should wear it. I’m saying that we shouldn’t be wearing it because of the world telling us we should. Listen, the makeup companies just want to sell their product. Magazines and tv commercials are the best way to do it. Telling you you need it is a good way to do it. It has nothing to do with YOU, it is about them. Do what feels good for yourself, not something an article may you feel bad for not doing.

Should I feel about myself because I don’t wear any makeup to work? Would you? A better question: Would you feel badly about yourself for not wearing any (you rebel!), or for what you think other people will think? How would it make you feel if other people didn’t even notice? Would it make you feel worse if they did notice?

Maybe these are the types of questions we should really be answering. Thoughts, anyone?