I’m sitting in the hospital room I’ve been in since Tuesday and can’t even begin to explain how bored I am. Let’s chat about anything except politics, I could use some distraction.
I collect hobbies and may even know something about your hobbies. What do you like to do?
Does your hospital room have one of those 0-10 pain scales? I hate those!! I’m so bad at them! I need something more objective so now i use 4 wakes you up and 7 makes you teary/cry. For 10 they say ‘worst pain imaginable’ so i always think it’s like my arm was ripped off and I’m in a car fire with shards of glass. Nothing has ever been a 10.
I have experience some of what I’m told is the worst pain possible. Kidney stones, migraines that hit like cluster headaches. I wouldn’t rate any of them a 10 because I’m always like… I could definitely feel more pain. Kidney stones are unmanageable pain, but it’s not sheer agony shrieking through every nerve constantly.
Like you could rip off my arm and that would fucking hurt unimaginably, but then you could always pour salt on it after.
Basically you don’t rate pain at 9 or 10. At that point you are unintelligible and someone rates it for you.
I’m a newbie in photography. Just got a second hand Fujifilm X-S10 and Sigma 18-50 lens a few weeks ago, making time to go out and explore new places is now the harder part haha.
I love taking pictures, but I’m too lazy to carry my camera around, so I usually just end up using my phone lol
I’m sitting in the airport lounge in Accra after spending a week here in Ghana.
I’ve taken so many pictures and I think this has been a life-changing journey. Before this, I used to write daily, but whether from aging or just fading desires, I’d all but stopped writing anything in the last few years. This trip has renewed my fervor for writing again, so I’m just excited to pursue my lifelong hobby writing just because I can once again.
If you’ve got nothing else better to do, I made some daily posts in an old-fashioned blog I’ve kept for a while: https://kaitco.wordpress.com/ (Maybe skip the post where I wallow in depression from Tuesday… 😅).
A week is such a short time! I love to travel, but I have to admit, Ghana wasn’t really on my radar. What’s the story behind the trip (if you don’t mind sharing)?
About 20 years ago, my grandmother built a house in Ghana near Cape Coast as a sort of legacy for her children, grands, and great-grands. It’s been on the list to visit while she was still here and also while my dad was still here, so this has been a very emotional journey. My grandmother used to spend about 9 months out of the year in travelling particularly in Africa because she always felt that it was our “true” home.
My aunt goes every other year, and I finally had the time and the means to go. It was a very fulfilling trip because this was our family home, and I was with some of my cousins, too. A week is a short time, but there is so much to see and to do, that even 3 months wouldn’t be enough time. I got a wealth of experiences though even in this short time, and now I can plan better for the next time I come here. ☺️
I am in love with jollof rice!! I feel like that’s all I ever want to eat for the rest of my life! Haha!
Out of interest, how does one “collect hobbies”? What does that involve/look like?
Basically, I get into a hobby and I do it until it is all encompassing. Then right about the time I get to where you really have to grind to the next level, I lose interest.
Geocaching is one and Ingress another.
I was a hardcore geocacher for about 3 years until I realized I just wasn’t into it anymore. I played Ingress for a few years as well and just kinda burned out.
I’ve been really interested in pre-colonial american history recently amongst other ancient societies. I even wrote an essay recently on the origins and meaning of the cave motif in Olmec altar thrones. In short, I believe it materially comes from the fact that the Olmecs had only relatively recently left cave dwellings and temporary housings to form the first cities in the Americas. However it also served the purpose of legitimizing the power of the Olmec rulers as caves were very religiously significant. Other mesoamerican mythologies viewed caves as a place that is close to Xibalba, the Mayan form of underworld. Xibalba was viewed as a place like earth that resided within the primordial sea through which the middle world (viewed as a creature drifting in the primordial sea) floats. Xibalba was full of people and creatures which could be communicated with and even bargained with. The shaman-rulers of Olmec society would likely consume hallucinogens and/or deliriants like Datura and then either enter or sit at the entrance of the cave to communicate with Xibalba. Knowing the effects of Datura and plants like it, this had to have been an incredibly unpleasant and probably terrifying experience. I am doubtless that the feat was considered brave. Anywho, the Olmec rulers would have a cave carved at the front and center of their throne, often with someone standing in front of it or exiting it. Fun fact: Sometimes, likely after or slightly before the death of that ruler, their throne would be turned on its side so that it is vertical and carved into what may be the face of that ruler. You can still see the scar of the cave carving on the side of the head for some of them. Here’s some pictures!
pics
I also love the Incans but I know less about them. Their textiles are wonderful though.
pics
Just a hobby really but I am taking an art history class and thats why I wrote the essay. Wish I could get paid a decent living to write about it though
I’m a sucker for anything non-European in history and folklore. (I don’t dislike the European stuff, just that I’ve been exposed to it all my life so it feels “ordinary”.)
Me too! The unfamiliarity is exactly why I find pre-colonial history so fascinating.
