stay in the shallow end

I need a constructive hobby. While my current hobbies of surfing the web, watching television, and eating haven’t quite reached destructive levels, it’d be nice to do something with my spare time that has tangible benefits.

I’ve given this some thought in the past, and I always conclude that any hobby that I pick up should meet two criteria in order to truly benefit me:

1. Must not require electricity.
2. Must require being outside.

Unfortunately, these criteria give rise to a clear conflict of interest: a) I love electricity and b) I hate nature.

After spending three hours in the backyard Sunday raking up leaves, I decided I should give landscaping/gardening a shot. I kind of enjoy it while I’m doing it, and being able to immediately see the fruits of my labor provides very satisfying short term feedback, which does not seem to ever happen as a grad student.

So I’m going to try to put in a half hour after getting home every day just cleaning up the yard, and see how that works out. If it actually sticks, then maybe I’ll plan a full fledged project.