I did actually “SCA” a bit this weekend. My husband was working from home downstairs so I decided to drag my music stand up to the bedroom and practice my recorders (both the soprano and tenor). I was going through a book of dance music (which we don’t play much of in Margaurite’s group because she finds it boring). I found a piece that, while simple, still challenged me on my weak areas: playing in the upper register (particularly high G and above) and runs involving B-flat. So that song gave me a good chance to work on both of those issues without just running scales or something. It was fun and kinda took me away from all the awfulness of the world.

My favorite hobbies seem to have that in common: usually solitary and involving practice or solving minute problems. Whether I’m trying to brush out a kanji character, master a pen stroke, memorize vocabulary, figure out a song, or refurbish a doll, I get so involved with the process that the world falls away. That right there is my happiness. Can’t do that all the time, though. Life is too demanding.