A year or so back, during yet another over-scheduled revamp, I decided to give myself permission to do NOTHING or ANYTHING in the evenings after supper & dishes were done; around 6:30 pm. That's been one of the best un-scheduling decisions I've ever made. However, it did turn into a lot of reading, and even as an inveterate reader, it got to be too much. So...wait for it....I made a list! Of activities I might consider FUN that could be alternatives to reading. That's where the idea of watching NBA PlayIns and PlayOffs came from.
April 12, when I started watching this year's NBA PlayIns and PlayOffs, my on-going evening routine halted. There's been so much basketball in the evenings that I had no qualms about reading on the few free evenings there wasn't. Now NBA is almost over. There are a maximum of 2 games left: Thursday and Sunday (the series is 3-2 and I expect it will go the full 7 games, the way the teams are playing). This means I'm going to have to be responsible for my evenings again, so I've been checking my FUN list to see what I still like and what new fun I might like to add.
OLD FUN I'LL KEEP
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| Adult Coloring |
I wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of Adult Coloring, as where to draw the line between fun and wasting time seemed questionable....but it was low investment and though I haven't done a lot of it, I've enjoyed it.
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| Music Listening |
Though I play a lot of music, I don't listen to a lot of music of the instruments I play. Not sure why, though I guess I'll say I'd rather spend the time playing music myself than listening to it someone else play it. It's consistently recommended that listening to music is essential for musicians, so I decided to bite the bullet and try some Music Listening. But where to start?? There's so much! It happens that one of the flute books I'm playing out of contains themes from famous pieces, many of which I really like and most but not all I am familiar with. So I decided to start by choosing one of those themes and listening to the whole piece. Well, didn't that open a door! With so much information on the www, there's no end to what you can find out. I do a little research on the composer and the era, a little on the piece itself, read some explanations about the piece by people who have some expertise, and listen to as many versions as I want on YouTube. I've really enjoyed this.
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| Focus Reading |
Evening reading is limited to Focus Reading, which is a topic or author I'm reading separate from the rest of my willy-nilly reading. One such topic is to read about other Epi/Pandemics in human history, and I have a book on AIDS still to go. I have two author series pending: Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series and a trilogy and one spin-off by Rick Collignon set in New Mexico.
AN OLD IDEA REVISITED
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| Yoga |
I have inconsistently and unsuccessfully tried doing Yoga in the
evenings for a long time. I always really liked it when I did it, but
it felt obligatory and I cut it when I decided NOTHING after dinner. I'm putting it back in the rotation to try when I've missed a morning session.
New Ideas
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| Movies |
I found a couple of DVDs that I purchased for the music camps Sally & I did lo these many years ago: The Magic Flute and The Red Violin. Sally and I ran out of time; I'll watch them.
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| Netflix Series |
Friend Sue told me about a Netflix series called Grace & Frankie with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin that she found very enjoyable. Since we're now streaming Netflix, I have access to that...if I can wrestle the controls away from Ron! There are 94 30 minute episodes; it could be a lot of Fun!
How It Will Work
Draw Straws
I've decided to do Draw Straws. I've made little slips of paper with each activity, and each evening I'll draw one and do the activity that's on it. Fun, right?
It is fun to have fun!
Dr. Seuss
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