10 Random Things I Love to do ...

Photography is one of the random things I love to do. I used to be horrible at it but, with practice, I like to think I’m getting better. The Better Half has actually taken photography classes and is teaching me a thing or two, so I can take gorgeous pictures too. I enjoy capturing not just special moments in time, but also random moments – and I love taking pictures of ordinary or even uncomely things and making them beautiful.

This started way back when I was 13; I used to get through my most boring classes by making those 4-knot friendship bracelets. Over time I started incorporating beads and things as well. I rarely do this anymore and you’ll never find me selling my wares on eBay or anything, but every so often, I get it into my head to pick up the hobby again, and all my friends will end up with funky bracelet.

I admit it. I like basketball. I’m not a sports fan at all, but I always played basketball when I was younger, so every once in a while, I just want to sit down and watch a game. I have a bad habit of spacing out when I’m eating in any type of sports bar and there’s a game on one of the million TVs staged around the dining room. No one ever realizes what’s captured my attention. I can’t help it, though. Give me a good player who knows the poetry and fluidity of the sport, and I’m mesmerized.

This is one of the most random things I love to do, and I can never help myself. If I read about an area, an event, a legend, a moment in history, or anything like that, and I don’t already know about it, I have to go look it up. For instance, I just reread Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams, and immediately dove into reading more about Native American reservations in Oklahoma to match up details with the story. I’m also the girl who used to go look into all the books Ann M. Martin namedropped in the BSC series.

As y’all most likely know, I love to cook. I don’t do it randomly, because it’s pretty much my thing. However, I do randomly experiment. I’ll glance at some new recipe for the basic idea, and then try to pull together a bunch of flavor profiles that I think will work with it. This is not always successful, I have to tell you!

When I was younger, I wrote poetry a lot. It varied between very, very, horrendously bad and pretty good. Even still, it’s sometimes the best method I have to vent my feelings. I’ll randomly make like I want to be the next Sylvia Plath and go to town – but mostly (and thankfully!) I just stick to fiction.

I love old video games. This is one of the best random things I love to do. I don’t just mean original Mario games, from Super Mario World to the original Mario Kart, although those are big favorites. I’ll also randomly take a few hours, sit down, and rock out on MediEvil, from start to finish. Sadly, that’s the only video game I’ve ever been able to play through to completion. Whatever, I love Sir Dan.

I’m a huge fan of Photoshop, and over the years, I’ve gotten pretty good at amateur graphic design. During random interludes, I’ll manip like a fiend. I’ll just spend hours and hours making graphics and photo manipulations, and then save them for some rainy day or new blog or something. This was worse when I used to be a LiveJournal addict, because I ended up making thousands of icons.

Okay, I admit it. Some days, for no reason whatsoever, I find a crazy outfit, go all out with the makeup, do something daring with my hair, and just take pictures. I never show them to anyone or do anything with them, but during times when I feel down about myself, this is always a great, random pick-me-up.

I don’t mean paint pictures. I can’t draw or paint to save my life. However, I have been known to randomly paint the trim in the bathroom or do an accent wall, just out of nowhere. What’s awful is usually I reach this decision because I don’t want to do some easier but more mundane task.

Life would be pretty boring if people didn’t do things at random. You don’t always need a rhyme or reason. Now that you know some of the random things I love to do, why don’t you share some, too?