I make animal sounds!

LISTENING: I Make Animal Sounds!?!
Animal soundsTruth be told, I’m really keen on bizarre people. My favourite participant on the reality TV show, Big Brother, was a Welsh woman who said her favourite hobby was ‘blinking’. I mean – BLINKING, BLINKING, it’s a biological impossibility not to blink, how can that be a hobby?

And then, in Vietnam I met a British guy who told me his favourite pastime was to make animal sounds, so he spent the next 3 hours entertaining me with a lot of woof woofs, cluck, clucks, eeaw eeaws, and a cock a doodle do or two. It was hilarious, but not as hilarious as the next night when I hooked up with him and some other people from different nationalities and I found out that animals don’t make the same noises in different countries. OMG – I kid you not!

Don’t believe me? Well, check out this video

The wonderful and weird hobbies: Gongoozling

wierd hobbiesImagine you have seen this announcement in a national lifestyle magazine:

‘Some hobbies are physical, some challenge our mental capabilities but some are just bonkers. We recently interviewed 1000 people about their hobbies and we think: Planking, Cosplay and Gongoozling are three of the most wacky and insane hobbies we’ve ever heard of’

To win a 4 day City Break to a European destination of your choice, please write about the strangest hobby you have ever heard of.  Keep it short; no more than 150 words please.

To give you some inspiration here is one of the aforementioned hobbies that  we think is just plain wacky:Water hobby

 

 

 

 

However, if you need more ideas, why not check out the hobby and interests section?

Ideal hobbies

formula 1For most of us, money and time prevent us from trying new activities and exploring different things.

So, imagine that money and time weren’t problems, what five things would you most like to have a go at and why?

My top five would be:

  1. Formula 1 driving
  2. Collecting cinema posters
  3. Playing Mexican dominoes
  4. Learning how to sing or play a musical instrument
  5. Playing hockey.  (Hockey, seriously is a great sport; and it definitely ticks all my boxes.  I’s a team sport, it’s extremely physical, very aggressive but strategic at the same time)

Hobbies and Personalities

hobbies personalitiesMost people believe that the hobbies you take up and keep up are a reflection of your personality.  In addition, it is also said that your hobbies give an indication of your specific skills and abilities.

With this in mind:

  1. What types of personalities and which skills and abilities do you think match the aforementioned hobbies?
  2. What do your hobbies say about your personality?

janette poolFinally, in my free time I am nuts about watching sport, doing adventure activities, disco dancing, opening bottles of wine and playing pool. So, do you think I’m a well-balanced person or do I need a therapist or maybe a witch doctor?

 

Popular hobbies in the past and new ones to try

hobbies past and presentThere is nothing better than spending a little time doing things that make you feel over the moon.

Listen to popular British presenter, Zoe Salmon, talk about how incredibly beneficial hobbies are.  She explains how hobbies can be  a fantastic way to unwind and how they can even boost your creativity. However, please take some of what she says with a pinch of salt as she does suggest that baking is therapeutic and obviously that’s just nonsense!

Click here to listen to Zoe

Hobbies past and present

scottish dancingMy mother was very keen on exposing me and my siblings to lots of different hobbies and experiences. Unfortunately, her idea of having fun, for example: boiled egg painting, playing the violin, stamp collecting and learning Scottish dancing (by the way, you can tell from this photo that not only did I feel like a complete moron but I obviously didn’t know what the hell I was doing) was not the same as mine. Indeed, none of my mother’s ideas were close to my top two million favourite pastimes.

Yep, we  are like chalk and cheese.

So, after years of doing what she wanted me to do I decided to put my foot down and I begged her to allow me to take up disco dancing. She said that despite the fact that disco dancing was vulgar she would allow me to do it if I paid for the classes. So, first I learnt how to make jewellery and then I sold it and then I started my life-long love affair with disco.

So, what 3 hobbies did you do when you were a kid and what 3 hobbies do you do now if you have time? Write your list and post it quick.

Hobbies that pay: dog walking

dogwalkingIf you are mental enough to like dogs, you could make some spare cash by walking them. I know, definitely not my cup of tea. But hey, don’t mock it, it’s a full-time profession in countries like the USA and it’s becoming more popular in the UK.

Lots of people want to have little and big pooches to cuddle; to act as chick and guy magnets in the park; and to talk to when nobody else can be bothered to listen to them. However, in our increasingly busy lives, nobody has the time to take their four-legged pets for regular walks.

Most dog walkers charge between $10 and $18 per walk, depending on location and number of dogs, and overnight dog sitting can cost an arm and a leg.

So, if you need some extra cash, why not try to start this enterprise in Málaga?

Hobbies and Health Benefits!

mind bodyDo you want to keep your body and mind in synch? If so, then you had better get an enjoyable hobby. Recent research has alleged that taking up and taking part in a hobby can reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and sharpen the mind.

Many people think of hobbies as a diversion to help pass the time, but according to this research, hobbies also play an important role in the health and well-being of an individual, particularly the elderly, by reducing the risk of depression and dementia. Hobbies can be an effective tool in reducing stress and lowering blood pressure, and hobbies that engage the brain, puzzles for example, have been found to be effective in delaying the onset of Alzheimers.

OMG, I’m having palpitations and I’m about to self-combust because I don’t have any hobbies that engage my brain. Quickly Janette, think of something: jigsaws – no – dull as dishwater, crossword puzzles, no – too difficult (you actually need to know stuff to do them), memorising all the capital cities in the world, no – that’s just too nerdy.

Help me, help me now!

No, seriously, you could be the saviour of my future mental health. Please comment and give me some ideas. However, if your idea involves a WhatsApp application, you can forget it! I’ve just spent the weekend with a WhatsApp fanatic and it’s like talking to someone from another planet.