Helen Speaks

I am a lover of hobbies.  I get a new hobby at least every year.  One summer I made a handbag out of duct-tape (a posh woman off to Ladies’ Day at Ascot told me it was ‘gorgeous’).  I got into drawing portraits, particularly of random people, at university.  Then there’s knitting – it’s art, maths, fashion and energy conservation all in one! (Not to mention RSI.  Don’t knit with cold fingers)  Also sewing.  Making clothes is both fun and useful.  And painting.  And origami.

And then there’s musical activities – I’ve been in choirs, musicals, and a steampunk pantomime.  I’m learning the piano.  I play the ukulele.  I’ve been a member of two folk clubs.  I love to sing.  I like writing songs.

Oh, writing!  don’t get me started…  I’ve loved writing since I was a child…  short stories, longer stories, fanfiction, poetry, songs, blogposts, even essays can be fun.

And then there’s an assortment of shared activities.  Theatre is brilliant, to visit and to be in.  And roleplaying games, particularly of the plot-heavy table-top variety – it’s improv theatre with more dice.  And board games too.  And many Gilbert and Sullivan related things.

Oh, and there’s always reading, any geek knows that.  Books, magazines, blogs, webcomics.

There are common threads to my hobbies – craftiness, artiness, geekery, reading and writing in various forms.  But I’m not sure I have much confidence in my ability to do any of them that well.  I’m a Jill of All Trades, and mostly happy to be so.  Have you ever looked at the world and wanted to do as much as you possibly could in it?  I have, anyway.

OK, I’d be fooling myself if I said that I want to do everything, which is just as well really.  Bungee jumping has never appealed.  I might at some point visit a war zone but becoming the full time Middle East correspondent for the BBC is not a career choice I’ve ever considered open to me.  Even so, I’m 28 and still don’t entirely know what I want to do when I grow up…

I guess I could start my own theatre group, try to be a better musician and made some money, become an artist or run art workshops, write craft books, become a columnist or a novelist, or…  the possibilities are still pretty endless.  Also I’ve a degree, which means I could do a masters in a subject I actually care about and maybe become a therapist or a social worker, maybe I could be an advocate for people with learning disabilities.

And this is pretty awesome.  But still…

What do I do with my life?