Saturday, April 19, 2008

A man's got to have a hobby

The other day one of my students asked me "what I do" for fun, and I had to pause to think, and then just evaded the question (quite smoothly, I think) - perhaps because I couldn't think of anything, perhaps because the only things I could think of would seem strange and nerdish to a teenage boy. Or perhaps I just don't have a life; I'm not sure.

But the question made me think of a sketch from the truly odd British comedy series "Big Train" in which some men are talking to Mother Teresa, who has her diary out and is trying to find a time when she is free to make an appointment with them. Finding that she is booked up for the next several months, she says, "But I do like the idea of paint-balling."

Like in all "Big Train" sketches, the punch-line is submerged somewhere within long, awkward silences, but it's clear enough there - as if Mother Teresa would ever go paint-balling. Haha.

And why is the idea so absurd? Because Mother Teresa had more important things to do.

I'm not really one for paint-balling, but I wonder if anything in my life is so important that I don't have time for a hobby.

Or maybe I'm just too busy blogging to do anything else.

2 comments:

Joel Parsons said...

Doesn't writing count as a hobby?

mpp said...

Yes, it does, but it also fits into the category of hobbies that fourteen-year-old boys would think of as "nerdy" ;)