On Would You Rather Fives

[danieldwilliam]

Would you rather [hobbies version]...

shop // sunbathe?

I'm not a great fan of either to be honest. Shopping I find a neutral activity. I don't hate it but I don't particularly enjoy either the process or the outcomes.

Sunbathing - depends a bit on what one means by sunbathing. Lying about in the sun with the intention of getting suntanned I don't enjoy. I grew up in Australia - the sun is dangerous. I'm warm-blooded so I find being in the heat, well, hot. I actively dislike sitting or lying about on the beach. (I love walking along a sandy beach.) So lying about in the sun by the beach is unpleasant.

Sitting in the shade beside a swimming pool on a hot day, with a cold beer and a book and some peace and quiet is nice.


dance // sing?

I am not a good singer. It saddens me and saddens my wife. I can't carry a tune when there are other singers or musicians involved. This is a shame. I like singing. I wish I were not actively bad at it. Dancing however, I am an enthusiastic dancer. My disco dancing whilst a student was famous. I enjoy Scottish Country Dancing. I used to go to lessons. A good ceilidh I find good fun. I am contemplating taking it up again, or taking up ball room dancing.

watch college football // watch NFL?

I quite enjoy American football. I've never watched an American college game and I think the scholorship system is exploitative. Ohio State University have a famous college football team. They have a 100,000 seater stadium. Tickets start at $150 for a seat in the gods. It's a billion dollar industry. The actual players get a scholorship and slim chance of being signed to the NFL.

I do follow British college football. My nephews played when they were at Uni.

Rugby is probably my top sport for watching and also coaching.


write // read?

At the moment I am finding visual media easier to engage with. Generally I like reading for pleasure and information but I find writing, which I am good at, rewarding. I'd say it was a toss up.

chat online with friends // hang out with friends?

I think I need to see more people physically but I have several relationships that work very well mediated mostly through online conversation. Both are important and useful. But at the moment, I think I need to see more people in the flesh.

Comments

[mountainkiss]

You know singing can be learned, right? It's not a question of born with it or without it. Talk to YFJ who has made a frankly astonishing transition from risible to lead tenor.

[danieldwilliam]

I am aware it can be learned. I think I am starting so far behind the gain line that the cost / benefit is not helpful - in a context where I do not currently have time to do things that I am already good at.

What did MFJ do to improve his singing?

[mountainkiss]

Had lessons. Practised the suggestions that were made for him. Joined a choir. It's made more difference to his happiness than anything else since I've known him except his nephew. But he wasn't doing all the other things that you are doing, and it sounds as though it means a lot more to him than perhaps it does to you.

[danieldwilliam]

I wouldn't mind doing some work to get better at it but a) pretty full at the moment and b) I genuinely think that it would be a lot of work to get me up to a standard where I'd be prepared to sing in public. I'm actually quite a distructive singer - I actively put people who can sing off their note.

And I'd love to be able to sing but have reconcilled myself to not ever being even acceptably bad at it.

[mountainkiss]

I'd be extremely surprised to learn that you are worse than he was. My assumptions about how long that would take to change turned out to be very inaccurate. I'm not trying to influence you in a direction. The "full agenda" argument is compelling and I don't know how much this actually matters to you, whereas it meant a great deal to him. But if your decision- making criterion is based on the belief that there's a major project involved before you can leave the house, that might not be true.

[danieldwilliam]

I will ask him about his experiences with it when next I see him.

[mountainkiss]

Sounds like a plan. Perhaps on 14/4 if you are around.

[alithea]

Ah, that is interesting.

I am a woeful singer and keep thinking one day I will try lessons because it is the thing I am awful at that I most wish I wasn't, but I think I'm afraid any singing teacher would be horrified at the prospect of trying to teach me! Not helped by my high school flute teacher, who was endlessly frustrated with my inability to sight-read music and eventually basically told me to quit.

[mountainkiss]

I don't think all teachers would want or be able to do this; part of the contracting needs to be clarity about where you are starting from. But there are certainly some who can; JW's singing was literally transformed after one lesson, and I truly cannot exaggerate how bad it was when he started. It turns out that there is a significant difference between having an unusable instrument and not knowing how to use it.

[alithea]

Yes. I used to say I was tone-deaf when I was younger, but I am not at all because I can hear perfectly well when something is out of tune!

I think I shall dip my toe back into musical things by re-attempting to learn flute in a more laidback fashion (a friend has got seriously into the local folk scene and keeps trying to recruit people to join sessions - I think the teachers she's met through that are far more used to teaching adult learners, whereas my high school flute teacher mostly taught people who were on their 2nd or 3rd instrument and had been learning to read music for a decade before she got near them!) and see where I go from there.

[mountainkiss]

That sounds very sensible. Really hope it is fun and rewarding.