Recently, I met Mr Shuang at a leather crafting workshop. Discovered he was formerly an engineer and now hobbyist instructor.
He has a regular group who learn making leather crafts like wallets etc.
How did he become interested in leather crafting? Well, he was teaching balloon sculpting and wanted to teach something thats more permanent.
We all know the famous accountant turned wall mural artist.
The visual artist turned sand art artist. It seems the experential economy does have a place for those of us who want to pursue passion in our hobbies.
3D Latte artist I met in Penang. Although watching him make the 3D foams, I wonder how much of it became a routine, rather than self expression?
“Your mind is the garden, your thoughts are the seeds, the harvest can either be flowers or weeds.”
William Wordsworth
Japanese man seriously flying his kite
Hobbyist propagating his air plants from seeds
Several years ago, after my MBA, himself had a crazy idea that I do a temp job with Starbucks as a coffee barista. I did not take up his suggestion as I was worried about running into my friends in this down-and-out state. Many years later, I would be paying good money (instead of being paid) to learn café culture and how to do latte art. Café culture is really big time in Asia now, and something I really wished I had picked up.
How to make good use of your downtime, whether voluntary or involuntary. No experience is ever wasted. In his timeout figuring out his next step, Steve by Apps Hat Mini” href=”#”> jobs learnt western calligraphy and the landscape of printed font was never the same again. (I can’t stand courier.)
Author of Roget’s Thesaurus, Dr Peter Mark Roget, published his Thesaurus of antonyms and synonyms in his 70s. An obsessive-compulsive, with a family history of depression, making lists calmed him. You can read about his story in this website on late bloomers.
I’m drawing inspiration from (2015) “Deng Xiaoping” by Ezra Vogel. In his 3yrs, banished by boss to manual labor in the Jiangxi rural countryside, Deng, the chief architect of China’s economic rise, read late into the night, and was formulating, how to reform China. He was 65 yrs old then, while men younger than him fell to depression.
85 Ideas on what to do with your downtime.
Some ideas here came from “How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free – Retirement wisdom that you won’t get from your financial advisor” by Ernie J. Zelinski. I’ve added my own cultural specific ones. Free lessons can be obtained from the internet (Youtube), internet, local library or local community centres.
Learn art of Japanese tea making
Experience Café Culture
Coffee Appreciation class
How to create latte art
Learn western calligraphy
Learn Chinese calligraphy
Learn to bake Hokkaido milk bread
Join a club such as the Lions or Rotary.
Join public speaking club such as Toastmasters
Learn to grow plants
Record the history of your hometown
Create a drawing of your family tree
Write your family tree on how your ancestors have affected your life
Become a connoisseur of inexpensive restaurants. (ieatishootiblog)
