A middle-aged person takes up a hobby: https://t.co/VQL0I75wBJ
— Defector (@DefectorMedia) December 30, 2022
Mild twist at the very end! Felix Kent, for Defector:
… The year I turned 40, I decided I wanted to learn to stand-up paddleboard. This was only a few years ago, and so the causal chain is easier to reconstruct. At a family gathering, I saw my cousin on a paddleboard. Then, later that summer, I was walking by the river where I live, and I saw a stranger on a paddleboard. It seemed really nice. The river is pretty, the trees are pretty. It seemed like it would be nice to spend time on the river in that way.
But this narrative still leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Why a paddleboard and not a kayak? Why that particular moment in time, when I had already lived in the same town for years and years, and no doubt seen dozens of people having a nice time paddleboarding? A lot of online articles about trends in paddleboard sales turn out to be thinly veiled or totally unveiled PR pitches. What the 2019 Outdoor Foundation (the Outdoor Foundation shares a website with the Outdoor Industry Organization) Special Report on Paddlesports & Safety tells me is that at the time they ran their numbers, there were 3.5 million stand-up paddleboarders in the U.S., and that 1.5 million people had adopted the sport since 2013. They also say, “Surf culture and mindset still lingers through the stand-up paddling community,” which gets at something important and also weird about stand-up paddleboarding, which is that although obviously its own thing, it can also feel like one of those collaborations Target does with fashion designers, where something self-evidently cool and also more-or-less unobtainable for normal people, in this case surfing, is made much less cool but at least available…
Even though it felt dorkier to succumb to an obvious trend-driven desire as a middle-aged person, in the most literal sense I could not possibly have done this earlier in my life. For one thing, I have more money; for another, I am not scared of driving in the same way. Both of these are developments I have complicated feelings about, especially the driving. Driving is, actually, a terrifying thing to do, and also bad for the world. However, driving is a useful precondition to taking up location-specific and equipment-heavy pastimes, as is disposable income…
The things about California are that it is every bit as beautiful as its reputation would suggest and that it is beautiful in a way that constantly recedes from the viewer. The freeway winds through golden hills that cannot be accessed. There are secret beaches and secret stairways—there is a giant set of white steps in Echo Park that I encountered for the first time in the moonlight and that felt as close to magic as anything ever has, a magic undimmed if irrevocably altered by the fact that I later learned that they were a central part of Eric Garcetti’s daily workout plan—and then there are places that are not secret at all, but are almost impossible to get to without time and money. A lot of the California obsession with real estate is pragmatic—who can afford to live here now and under what conditions is a serious question—but some of it has always seemed to me to have an art market undercurrent, a desire to carve off a chunk of something undeniably beautiful for oneself. The entire archive of Zillowing Out addresses these questions much better than I can; it also suggests that these are actually universal questions that I see through the lens of California because I live in California.
The point is that in that moment of gliding out on the board, it felt like everything I wanted from California was being given to me…
Going out on the river was great. There was some incompetence on my part, but nobody noticed or cared. There were egrets and a great blue heron and lots and lots of ducks. There was construction equipment and tug boats and people fishing. I saw the town I lived in from an angle at which I had never seen it. I came home and drank my coffee and felt good about myself and the world.
There should be and probably is a phrase for the opposite of a guilty pleasure; in my head I have been calling them aspirational pleasures. The pleasure is real, but so is the knowledge that your most judgmental high school teacher would not find anything to criticize in how you are spending your time. And just like with guilty pleasures, that knowledge tinges the pleasure itself, echoing through the ways you think about it and talk about it. Every time I went out on the river I felt good about it, and proud of myself, and every time I decided that I would rather do other things I felt bad and furtive about it, and every time I checked my tide app (the river is tidal, OK?) or my wind app I felt like I was making a claim about who I was and I felt both good about it and ridiculous. After all, I had had four decades to form a sense of myself, and that self was not someone who knew about tides. But also I had had four decades of watching previous beliefs I had formed about myself dissolve and re-form under the day-to-day accumulation of events. I had gotten over feeling bad about things I used to think of as guilty pleasures—at the end of the day eating marshmallows out of the bag is just a pleasure—so maybe this could be the same. Maybe a thing could just be fun…
kindness
The thing about paddleboarding is you have to be OK with falling in the water some while you get your sea legs under you. I’m still not great on them. Kayaking is so much less effort and I’m lazy kinda. So I tend to do that more.
cmorenc
I took up stand-up paddleboarding in coastal north carolina at the age of 69, four yesrs ago. I now own two solid SUPs, which are much better suited than the inflatable kind for small ocean surf and the inland waterway, where you need to be able to ride through boat wakes. Two SUPs – so i can take companions with me SUPing. My younger daughter loves it.
It is a fabulous sport for developing your balance in ways that cross-training translates to eg better balabce on snow skiing. When you inevitably take many falls during the learning curve, you simply splash harmlessly into the water and climb back on. Unless you stand up while keeping your center of mass and momentum dead-center straight down wit gravity’s pull, a-dunking you will go.
I find myself slipping into a pleasant zen-like state paddling through scenic marshes or out in the ocean beyond the breakers.
lowtechcyclist
One of the things I’m planning to do when I’m retired (less than a year away now!) is learn to play the piano. We’ve got a piano in our living room because my wife plays the piano, though she very rarely does anymore. And when the kiddo was in elementary school, he took piano lessons, and we still have the instructional materials. And I’m sure there’s plenty of other resources available to teach oneself the piano. So I’m going to do it. If it turns out lessons would be helpful, I’ll do that too.
I’ve loved listening to music all my life, but I’ve never learned an instrument. For some reason, my sisters got music lessons in one instrument or another, but they skipped past me. And asking my parents for something was usually asking for trouble, so I let it slide. But I’ve always regretted not learning to play an instrument, to make music as well as listen to it. So next year I’m going to do something about that.
rm
Did a similar thing in my 40s with roller skiing. One of many problems with roller skiing is that you will sometimes fall, and when you fall it will be on pavement, not snow.
Ten Bears
I’ve been planning to wait till I’m seventy to take up a hobby.
Should probably start thinking about it …
ant
I tried a paddle board once. Fell right in. Immediately.
And that was the end of that.
A canoe is a much better craft for being on the water quietly IMO.
eclare
@lowtechcyclist: Take piano lessons! They’re fun and focus you, e.g., the teacher will be here in two days, I’d better practice Moonlight Sonata.
Plus they introduce you to great piano numbers.
Shana
What a lovely essay. And the end is funny. Worth the read.
Tom Levenson
That story speaks to me. My wife and I recently found a place north of Boston that is more or less on the water. We haven’t figured out yet really how we relate to the very different outdoors from what we’re used to but in which we now find ourselves spending a lot of time. Kayaks are on the list. But this might be too.
Math Guy
A few months into retirement and I’m starting to write. One day I may try to get published, but right now I enjoy tinkering with something and trying to get it just right.
Taking up the piano sounds like a great idea.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Nice read. I agree with the writer that we shouldn’t feel guilty for indulging ourselves a little and not care so much what others think. As long as you enjoy something and it doesn’t hurt anyone else, go for it. Even if it’s following a trend
NotMax
@ecale
Have piano lessons evolved?
For beginners, there’s only so many times an adult can stand hearing In a Wigwam.
zhena gogolia
@NotMax: Moonlight Sonata would be a ways off from first year.
I asked you this in another thread and then never stuck around to see if you answered — what’s your take on White Lotus season 1?
My husband’s big number was Mr. Popcorn Man.
NotMax
Uh oh. Finger failure. #12 ought to be @eclare.
Apologia maxima.
SFBayAreaGal
@lowtechcyclist: I too want to learn to play a couple instruments, the piano and drums.
Unfortunately for me, the school offered to pay for the instrument if my parents income was low enough to qualify. They made too much to qualify and didn’t make enough to afford to buy the instrument.
eclare
@NotMax: I had to Google that! No, when I took lessons about thirty years ago it was more classical, the first was Moonlight Sonata, then Fur Elise, etc. Alas, even after six years I never conquered Clair de Lune.
Dan B
@lowtechcyclist: Do you know how to read music? That capability is important and a key to the universe of music
I took piano lessons for years but had grim teachers and not much talent. But I was very glad to read sheet music.
zhena gogolia
@eclare: I’m confuzzled. Moonlight Sonata is really hard.
FelonyGovt
@lowtechcyclist: My grandmother was a piano teacher, and when I was a kid I had free and mandatory piano lessons. I hated them, hated practicing, hated how my beloved grandma turned into a stern taskmaster. And now I remember almost none of it, and I’m sorry.
Van Buren
I can vouch for the secret beaches-one glorious late spring day, when any beach on Long Island would have a crowd, my wife and I had an amazing beach to ourselves in Big Sur.
NotMax
@zhena gogolia
Never seen it. Not on a service to which I subscribe. All I know about it is that more than a few were put off by the ihinly veiled incest in season 2.
trollhattan
The wife does this, likes it. Tried once with her, in the ocean in Hawaii. My sketchy balance utterly failed me and after serial falls, plus cracking shins against the board, I sat on the damn thing. Sit-down paddleboarding is a thing, yo.
Best combo must surely be beer yoga paddleboarding. There are classes; I am not making that up.
The better inflatables are now good enough one does not need a traditional rigid board taking up all that bloody space the 350 days it’s not in use.
eclare
@zhena gogolia: Maybe I’m misremembering, or more likely, maybe I had a scaled down version? Like a Big Note Moonlight Sonata? But I remember it as pretty easy. Clair de Lune, and anything by Mozart, infinitely more difficult. I still have no idea how Mozart crammed so many notes into so many pieces.
NotMax
@NotMax
Sigh. Not my day.
ihinly = thinly
zhena gogolia
@NotMax: Season 1 has a beautiful soundtrack of Hawaiian music, especially celestial choral music. And it makes Hawaii look really good.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Dan B:
This. I remember being shown simple musical notation in middle school choir (we didn’t really need it, our teacher decided to show us to fill time one day) and I couldn’t figure it out and was bored
zhena gogolia
@eclare: Yes, you must have had a scaled down version. I guess it’s better than In a Wigwam!
Eolirin
@zhena gogolia: The first movement of Moonlight Sonata isn’t that hard, it’s what most people associate the song with. And there are simplified versions of it that are even easier.
The third movement is extremely difficult.
eclare
@NotMax: Whoa! Had not heard about that. But as I commented earlier, I saw one of Mike White’s early films, and I vowed after that never to watch anything by him again.
zhena gogolia
@Eolirin: I beg to differ — to play the first movement well is extremely hard.
NotMax
@eclare
Practice, practice, practice.
:)
zhena gogolia
@eclare: He is a genius.
Dopey-o
Flowkey is one of several apps for piano training
@lowtechcyclist:
https://www.flowkey.com/en/s-learn-piano?utm_campaign=19198168483&utm_source=g_c&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=640301597415&utm_term=b_learn%20piano&adgroupid=learn-piano_143582696079&gclid=Cj0KCQiAzeSdBhC4ARIsACj36uEaRf07L9dNlt8MyBgeJ8H2R3nf4DgHnPiLkt2R5lKEZRTIMghgpQoaAqzsEALw_wcB
ETA sorry, can’t make the blockquote and hot link functions do right today….. but you should have enough info to investigate for yourself.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@zhena gogolia:
Looked that show up. Apparently it’s fantastic and it’s been renewed for a 3rd season. If I had HBO Max I’d check it out
eclare
@trollhattan: How are you doing with potential flooding?
zhena gogolia
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I think you’d like it.
OHJo
We have whitewater kayaked for over 40 years, and still love maneuvering through less-than-large rapids these days, but now that we’re approaching 70, became curious about sup-ping last summer. Our county parks have them for rent on several different lakes, and we had a ball just trying to stand up, and yes, falling in a time or two. Looking forward to trying our recent inflatable boards on some gentle rivers this year! Stay safe, everyone, and wear your pfd’s!
Dan B
@trollhattan: I had that experience with water-skiing on Lake Erie. I fell in ten times in a row. My brother skied three and a half miles. I was very sick the next day. Falling in at speed involves ingesting much of Lake Erie.
zhena gogolia
@NotMax: It’s not veiled at all, it’s just not clear whether or not it’s incest. And doesn’t ever become clear.
Why is that off-limits?
eclare
@Eolirin: I must have just played the first movement, then. It’s just a bonus to brag that I played Beethoven! Even if it’s easy Beethoven.
OHJo
@Eolirin: Agreed! Have played the third movement, but never up to tempo!
NotMax
@eclare
My very limited understanding is it’s consensual, FWIW.
Nicole
I thoroughly support any adult deciding to learn an instrument. For me guitar has been my pandemic project and it has brought so, so, much joy. I tried learning it a few times over the course of my life, but this time it’s stuck. Probably a combination of the internet now having oodles of excellent resources for any instrument one might want to learn and guitar manufacturers really stepping up the game on starter level guitars.
jnfr
@Math Guy:
I am also writing more now that I’m retired. I hope that continues and strengthens for me and for all of you who do that work.
I have friends who have taken up other sorts of artwork as well and that’s been really enriching for them.
NotMax
@zhena gogolia
As stated, never seen it. Only thing can go by is reactions I’ve come across whilst web surfing.
lowtechcyclist
@Dan B:
I know enough from hymnals to know that lower and higher notes on the page correspond to actual lower and higher notes, but that’s the total extent of my ability to read music.
@eclare:
I think I’ll see how it goes at first by myself with advice from my wife. I’m sure that at some point, I’ll need lessons to get better. The only question is whether that’s right away, or a few weeks or months down the road.
SiubhanDuinne
@zhena gogolia:
Yes. But it’s really pretty easy to play badly.
Another Scott
@Eolirin:
@zhena gogolia:
The Chicago version doesn’t seem too tough.
Hehe.
I took some violin lessons for a while. Nothing like starting off with a ridiculously difficult instrument, especially without an in-tune, tuner… :-/
I learned the 5 notes to the Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind theme at one point. Dunno if I could still pick them out on a keyboard or not…
Enjoy, everyone!
Cheers,
Scott.
Eolirin
@zhena gogolia: It depends on what level of mastery you’re looking at I guess. Making the notes sound like the song really isn’t that hard. Playing it with professional level dynamics is more challenging sure. Beethoven has layers of difficulty.
I never personally found it to be nearly as difficult as anything even semi-complex by Mozart, but I struggle more with high technical precision than getting feeling. I have an easier time with Chopin than Bach, for instance. I know my Aunt was very much the opposite, so it may just feel this way to me, idk.
Raven
You should have seen the surf down at the Manhattan Beach Pier this morning!
https://flic.kr/p/2oahJc8
lowtechcyclist
@eclare:
“Too many notes.” – Salieri, Amadeus
Math Guy
@jnfr: Things that use different parts of the brain are good for you. Music, art, learning a new language, . . .
Raven
They call them YOLO boards. You only live once.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Having a project makes most people happy. It can be almost anything, as long as it engages you
FelonyGovt
@Raven: I was there this morning!
NoraLenderbee
I suggested indoor rock climbing when my husband and I were 61 and 59 years old. Just over a year later, we are going to the rock gym twice weekly and wishing we could do more. It’s a lot of fun, as well as an ego-humbling experience. We’ve climbed outdoors twice with a guide and once on our own, and it’s also fun, but a very different experience from the gym. I had no idea I would like it so much.
I also would love to learn piano, preferably from a teacher. It just seems like such a production …
CaseyL
I’d probably like paddleboarding… if I stayed sitting down!
OTOH, I’ve been vaguely interested in learning to kayak for quite a long time. Maybe not so vague; I would love to learn to kayak, though I have little upper body stamina.
The thing stopping me is, I also have a fear of flipping the kayak so I’m underwater and unable to come back up – which is a strange fear, for me, since I’ve never been afraid of the water in my life. Spent every summer all summer swimming and body surfing in the Atlantic, well into my 20s (and would still be doing it if the Pacific wasn’t so damn cold that you need a drysuit). My fear isn’t of the water per se, it’s of somehow being stuck within the kayak, upside down, and unable to get out.
But I may have to rethink that. There are few hobbies that have interested me that I’ve not taken at least one swing at – and there are so many coastal areas around here I’d love to see that are best seen by kayak.
Raven
@FelonyGovt: Manhattan Beach?? Cool, been going there all my life!
NotMax
@Eolirin
How ya feel about Chopin?
Perfect spot, BTW, to reintroduce Rachmaninov had big hands.
eclare
@Eolirin: I loved playing Chopin…
Amir Khalid
@NotMax:
Pianos have evolved. There are digital pianos now that are good and more affordable than traditional acoustic ones. You can plug in headphones so that you don’t drive your family nuts practising scales over and over.
eclare
@Raven: Go Dawgs! Do us proud!
Chetan Murthy
@NoraLenderbee: Oh, I’ve been thinking of starting that — I’m 58 — but have been holding off until I can do a single pullup. Old fattie here, sigh. Gettin’ back in shape after the enforced sedentary isolation of the pandemic has been hard work (though, rewarding, b/c all exercise yields endorphins).
Eolirin
Also, just to say, for anyone interested in learning any instrument, it’s a grind, and you’re gonna be bad at it for a long time, and that’s okay. You just gotta keep at it, consistently, with patience, and stay kind to yourself through lots of failures. And pace yourself. Or you’ll burn out pretty fast.
Dan B
@lowtechcyclist: That’s a good start. Some of the other notation is complicated but I’m sure the internet has great explanations.
eclare
@NoraLenderbee: That is impressive!
FelonyGovt
@Raven: I live there!
Raven
@eclare: UGA isn’t coming !!
Kelly
I did a bunch of telemark skiing at downhill ski area’s in the 1980’s. In the early 1990’s our boys transitioned from skateboards to snowboards. As wiry young teens they were good at almost immediately. I tried one day, bruised my tailbone so bad I had to roll up a sweater sit to drive home. Manual transmission 4×4 pickup made the drive extra special.
Now days I’m happy to XC ski easy terrain on ungroomed trails.
Eolirin
@NotMax: Chopin is my favorite, but the fucker loved to throw in mathematically impossible extra notes and you just kinda have to roll with it.
eclare
@CaseyL: A good friend of mine gave up white water kayaking after getting stuck for a terrifying while. But there are less dangerous kayak journeys.
Plus I think there are kayaks now that are easier to get out of if you’re upside down, so you are not trapped like a turtle on its shell.
scav
My piano teacher must have been seriously old school. No memories of any wigwams: only acres of Czerny.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
Or even Spinning Song, fun as it was.
OHJo
@CaseyL: Many of the newer sit-on-tops are quite nimble, and very rarely flip. Even so, you would be free of the boat! Worth a try!
Chetan Murthy
When I was in my 20s, I skied a bit — like, maybe 3-4 trips to Colorado — and I was pretty good at it (for a beginner, sure). It was fun. I did a ton of ice skating, banged-up my knees a bit, and now, well, at 58, I wonder if it’s possible to start skiing at my age. Something tells me “no, granpa”. Ah, well.
Raven
@FelonyGovt: We’re you in the water? I went to Noah’s bagels because Coffee Bean and Tea is gone. I told the dude I lost my hearing aid and that the VA might replace them. He gave me everything free!
Eolirin
@scav: Hanon and Czerny are really helpful.
eclare
@SiubhanDuinne: Spinning Song is very fun to play!
FelonyGovt
@Raven: No, my husband and I walk along the Strand almost every Saturday morning. I’m not much of a water person.
I miss Coffee Bean as well. A lot of those have closed. The guy at Noah’s is really nice, glad he took care of you!
Denali
I have never conquered the Third Movement of Moonlight Sonata. The first parts are so beautiful. I would kill to play Chopin’s Nocturnes well.
Kelly
@CaseyL: Sit on top kayaks are fun and you won’t get stuck in one. Practice getting back in in a protected deep water spot and you’ll be ready to go. Plenty of good sit on top flat water kayaks. For white water a self bailing inflatable kayak is a lot of fun. The best ones essentially have an inflatable paddle board for a floor. Roll it up and it’ll fit in your trunk. My middle school age grandkids love them.
Raven
Raven
@FelonyGovt: I thought I was in Peet’s
lowtechcyclist
Speaking of hobbies reminds me of what I said shortly after I first became a homeowner: that buying a house meant I’d never, ever need to go looking for a hobby again.
Of course, I was teaching full-time then, and actually I did pick up a hobby: I hadn’t been able to find a decent stereo cabinet that fit my 1980s-vintage stereo components and my mixed collection of vinyl and CDs, so I built one. With just a circular saw and a drill.
Since then, I’ve built a metric ton of bookcases (my wife and I are both bookworms from childhood), rolling carts for cookbooks and computer components, my wife’s bedside table, my son’s toy cabinet, and a few other things I can’t think of right now. I have particularly enjoyed designing bookcases for the books we’ve got: I’ve got bookcases that are just deep enough for your standard-size paperbacks that can fit snug against a wall without being in the way. I’ve got one bookcase that has shelves for atlases to lie horizontally on. And best of all they’re made from real wood and can hold the weight of the books!
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
Pedal piano or go home.
:)
Burnspbesq
If you’re taking up piano, at some relatively early stage in your development invest in a copy of Chick Corea’s Children’s Songs. Varying degrees of difficulty and a lot of fun melodies. I’m having a blast learning them on guitar (the guitar transcriptions are long out of print, but I stumbled across a PDF copy online).
Another Scott
@NotMax: Ha! That’s excellent. Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Tom Fitz
Thanks to my son I took up mountain biking at 49. Still at it 27 years later. I feel lucky to enjoy something so strenuous, otherwise I’d get no exercise except house/yard chores.
eclare
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Det8bJy9CSzk&ved=2ahUKEwjt9K7I1rb8AhVsQjABHZrXC0wQz40FegQIQRAI&usg=AOvVaw2H0oMfJLhSrpFB9C5_otRu
Trying this. Please don’t kill me if it doesn’t work. One of my faves.
trollhattan
@eclare: Thanks for asking. We’re looking at a week of rain and the Sac River prediction plot shows it cresting Tuesday above the historical highest measurement. (But, 1 whole foot short of “flood stage.”)
https://www.cnrfc.noaa.gov/graphicalRVF.php?id=SACC1
Crews are already on the levees, monitoring.
Leslie
@SiubhanDuinne: That one I remember. I can still play it in my head. I used to jazz it up for fun (different rhythms, extra notes, etc.).
I want to relearn piano, one of these days. First I need a piano.
eclare
@trollhattan: That’s good that crews are there.
FelonyGovt
@Raven: They’re next door to each other.
I’ve lived here for 30+ years. There’ve been a lot of changes.
SiubhanDuinne
@eclare:
So many cool pieces of music based on the spinning wheel motif. Schubert’s Gretchen am Spinnrade. The opening song (“When maiden loves, she sits and sighs”) from Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Yeomen of the Guard. Two or three traditional spinning songs from the Scottish Hebrides. The spinning chorus from Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer. Antonín Dvořák’s orchestral fantasy The Golden Spinning Wheel.
I know I’m forgetting some obvious ones. When I worked in radio and did thematic classical music programs, I had a whole list.
trollhattan
Oh lordy, the ingredient list must go on for days.
CaseyL
@OHJo:
@Kelly:
“Sit on tops” – I like even the name. Thank you; I will definitely check those out!
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
Oh my stars and garters, did someone say scales?
:)
eclare
@SiubhanDuinne: You know so much more than I! I just loved playing a fast song.
Delk
A few friends like Pianote for learning piano.
Omnes Omnibus
@Another Scott: I recently brought my violin to my place from my parents’. Step one in starting to play again.
NotMax
@eclare
Hie thee to the Zez Confrey catalog.
;)
Omnes Omnibus
@Chetan Murthy: Most climbing is done with your legs. Especially as a beginner.
SiubhanDuinne
@eclare:
Oh, I loved playing it too! If I hadn’t broken my left arm a few years ago, I would think about taking up piano again. I was never very accomplished (not that I would be now, either, of course, but it would just be for the sheer hell of it now instead of an obligation).
eclare
@NotMax: That is piano key racing!
Raven
@FelonyGovt: yea I know, crossed the street and thought it was one place
eclare
@SiubhanDuinne: I sometimes break out a Big Note book to play. I need to make a more concerted effort, I used to love it and I do have a piano.
jnfr
@Math Guy:
I’ve also started to study the Korean alphabet. It’s definitely engaging.
Jay
@CaseyL:
the make rotomoulded sit on kayaks these days. They come in short, (for rivers and maneuverability) and long, (distance, straightish lines). in both groups they vary from highly stabile to moderately unstable. The less stable ones are used by more skilled paddlers who want to do more challenging water, from smallish rapids to moderate waves and surf. In both, a rollover just dumps you and any loose gear into the water. The more “expert” models are for people who don’t mind getting wet punching through a standing wave or hole, or through waves and surf. Water temp determines if you wear shorts and a t-shirt, a shortie wet suit, a full wetsuit with boots, hood and gloves, or a dry suit. They are quite a bit cheaper than sit in kayaks and basic models can be found at Costco in the spring, and many Box Stores.
With sit in kayaks, white water or expedition, basic lessons, (YMCA, Rec Centre, etc) spend roughly half the class time in a pool or outdoors, teaching carefully supervised Eskimo and other rolls, to the point that they are muscle memory. After passing a basic course, rolling over in calm, waist deep water is no problem. In a current, in a river, or surf approaching a beach, is a whole other matter, mostly from the issue of either your head hitting objects, or in a river, getting up only to be dropped in the next mess.
They also make folding kayaks and inflatable kayaks of varying quality and types. They even make folding canoes.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
No love for Jonathan Edwards?
NoraLenderbee
@Chetan Murthy:
You don’t have to be able to do a pullup! It’s like climbing a jungle gym. You can start with whatever level of strength and fitness you have. If the bug bites you, you’ll get stronger fast. There are loads of Youtube videos that demonstrate basic techniques. Our local gym is offering a membership deal this month …
Jay
@Chetan Murthy:
in rock climbing, most climbs of 5:10 and below, 90% of it is legs. Hands and arms just stabilize you while you reposition your feet, (sometimes both feet).
As you climb, arm strength and endurance will come.
StringOnAStick
@trollhattan: There are indeed much higher quality inflatable SUP’s now. When we decided to move to Oregon from Colorado, I sold my fiberglass race trainer lake board and got an inflatable that is useful for low level whitewater. It isn’t as fast as the race trainer, but it’s a lot more stable and fits easily inside my Prius so I use it a lot more since it’s easy to transport.
And all you folks thinking about learning to play music should go for it; there’s great play along options on the web. I played cello as a kid and took up bass guitar 15 years ago. I bounced around to several instruments based on where is be using them and settled on low G tenor ukulele after arthritis made me give up mandolin. Our town has a weekly fun ukulele players group and while they do simple songs, it’s great sight reading exercise and everyone is welcoming and friendly. I had such positive reactions to my singing on our recent backcountry ski trip that I’m going to take it up a notch and perform at the monthly open mic night in a couple of weeks. Never say never, just find the time to start and then find your tribe! You have no idea how much joy you’ll get from playing with others.
NotMax
@eclare
Other end of the spectrum?
There’s always room for Joplin.
;)
eclare
@NotMax: Lewis echoes Joplin. Wow. Thank you.
Ripley
I’ve recently started working in audio / video editing; it started as some minor project work for the main job, but I’m enjoying the learning & process much more than work would require.
StringOnAStick
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): There’s two ways to do music on stringed instruments like a guitar, one is learning to read notes and the other is learning chord names and shapes, skipping the former. Most self taught people do the latter. If learning notes is stopping you, then go around it. The web is filled with programs and YouTube channels for anything from very basic starting skills to high level jazz improvisation.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Long, long, long time fan. And of Darlene’s skill in consistently singing just off-key.
Only a professional musician and chanteuse IRL could do what they done did.
eclare
@NotMax: Have you seen Florence Foster Jenkins? No way Meryl Streep could have done that without knowing how to sing.
lowtechcyclist
@eclare:
Worked just fine, and sounds like it would be fun to play. I’d only ever heard the Mamas & Papas version before, so thanks!
NotMax
Watched Good Wife’s Guide to Murder (a Tubi original movie) late, late, late last night. Lifetime network production quality, meets the quota for cheesy dialogue as well. Overall engaging enough, although the resolution left something to be desired (but I can’t quite put my finger on what). Solid B popcorn whodunit.
lowtechcyclist
@SiubhanDuinne:
Nah, I’m not much on that “sinners in the hands of an angry God” crap.
(Sorry, couldn’t resist, I knew you didn’t mean that Jonathan Edwards!)
NotMax
@eclare
Yup. Good story, so-so execution.
(That’s not, BTW a quote from Madame Defarge.)
schrodingers_cat
I have revived my art practice since the pandemic. I draw, color and am getting back to painting as well.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
They were utterly brilliant. I first came across them as a freshman in high school, and heard some of Darlene’s standards for the first time on that album. Took years before I could listen to a “straight” version of, say, Autumn in New York or Cocktails for Two without their sounding wrong.
:-)
SFBayAreaGal
A little off topic.
Wave action a few days ago at my favorite place to walk at the beach in Pacifica, CA
https://youtu.be/tqjw5KnNR3I
SiubhanDuinne
@eclare:
My favourite FFJ remark was when she was in a taxi accident and slightly injured. Asked if she wanted to sue, she responded “Goodness, no! I should give him money — my high C is higher than ever!”
JoyceH
I recommend Fur Elise. Also Beethoven, but a lot simpler than it sounds. Something you can play fairly early in your piano learning, that sounds quite impressive. I have a keyboard that I tinker around with, with a long range goal (still very remote) of playing ragtime. I’m starting to feel a hankering, though, to get one of those cheapie roll-up pads that are digital drums. Drumming is something I’ve never done that looks like fun.
For more adventurous pursuits, my near-range ambition, like planning for this spring, is to go zip-lining. Something I’ve never done, doesn’t appear to require any actual skill, but looks like a lot of fun.
RSA
@Nicole: Hey, me too!
I started thinking about what to do with my free evenings during the pandemic, and I thought, “Guitar lessons.” I found an instructor—I need human oversight—and have been learning, starting from zero, for a little over a year. I’m terrible, but it’s still fun.
EntroPi
@Chetan Murthy: I started climbing around when I turned 40-ish. My very young kids were doing gymnastics, and there was a wall there, so a friend and I decided to try it out.
Turned out to be a lot of fun, even though we were pretty awful. I haven’t been back to the (better) gym since pandemic. But my kids watched back then and got into it. My daughter, now a senior, was on the team for a while. They never learned to have any fear of heights and to implicitly trust the ropes, which I could never do.
Of course, that time I almost fell into one of those Ithaca gorges didn’t help with height awareness.
Also, I still can’t do a good pull-up. Arms are for hanging from, legs are for pushing, and – most importantly – core is to keep them connected. Flexibility is a nice bonus.
BellyCat
Been in or on all manner of floatation devices. SUP is inches from the water and best employed in a supine position on calm water in the sun, where on can roll over into the water when too warm. A delight when tethered together with a favorite picnic companion!
CaseyL
I completed a couple little household thingies today – and I do mean, little: hanging a picture and changing a light bulb – and afterwards for some reason felt really happy.
The picture is a poster from the old Nature Company that I’ve had… well, since the store existed, so 25+ years? I miss The Nature Company, and therefore cherish the poster. The glass cracked when I took the poster down to accommodate rearranging the living room, so it needed replacing; and having been repaired, the poster had to be put back on a wall.
The second small job was changing a light bulb in a ceiling fixture. It’s a very-vintage fixture, as old as the house (1969), where you pull down the glass bowl down and remove it from a couple of wire hangers to get at the bulb. Putting the bowl back on meant feeling around to put the hangers back in their slots. I should probably get the fixture replaced (those wire hangers seem brittle with age) but it’s just so ridiculously retro I have great affection for it.
I don’t know if it was the unusual physical activity (climbing a ladder, working overhead) or just that both have been sitting around waiting to be done for quite a long time. But the positivity rush was quite welcome.
Anne Laurie
I have been told that cross-country skiing is accessible at most fitness levels, good for building endurance, and fun as both a casual group activity & for winter tourism…
CaseyL
@Anne Laurie:@Chetan Murthy:
I tried to ski, once. Maybe it would have turned out differently if I had an actual instructor, rather than a friend. But the issue I ran into was an inability to surrender to the motion: every time I got a glide going, I’d stiffen up and fall over. (And need at least one person’s help to get back up again, which got real old real fast!)
Snowboarding looks like great fun, but you’re fastening both feet to a single object and then surrendering to that. Probably not for me, alas.
I do quite like snowshoeing.
BigJimSlade
@FelonyGovt: In high school (early to mid 80s) I would meet a friend by Mac’s Liquor and walk down the street to the beach for the day. Lots of summer days there.
BigJimSlade
hello