I received mixed comments to my posting yesterday on throwing away the television. On the one hand, Snoskred likes TV because it gives her a break from blogging - and Matt thinks that the pursuit of the unholy dollar to the exclusion of all else is wrong. Fair call. On the other side, Aurelius was glad that he’d lived in a place where TV reception was terrible and he’d had a chance to kick the habit.
This got me thinking about extra-blogular activities - those things that we do when we’re not blogging.
I mentioned back in early May that I’d bought myself a Nintendo Wii. While it has not proven to be the great distraction that I had hoped, it is still a wonderful thing to behold and has provided some fun.
For those of us with small children, or in new relationships, or really demanding jobs, the choice is easy - there are enough time-fillers in the day already and we’re lucky to find time to get any blogging done at all. My job is demanding, but I love it (and blogging) so I find the time for them.
Here’s my extra-bloggular list, outside of work and afterwork time:
- getting out to the movies (once a fortnight maybe?)
- dining out with friends (at least once a week)
- dining out with my partner Helen (probably only once a week at the moment if we’re lucky, need to do something about that)
- taking Ringo the Wonder Dog for a walk (dropped off a lot with the cold of late, used to be 3-4 times a week, hmm)
- reading (a mixture of fiction and non - at least some time daily)
- volunteer work (I try to do something at least once a month)
- playing with the Nintendo Wii, usually alone (at least once a week)
- watching DVDs (at least once a week)
I’m not sure if running the active domaining experiment counts as extra-blogular - probably not, as it involves playing with blogs 
What do you do outside of blogging?
I am a tv-avoider - I don’t enjoy it much, and usually feel it’s a time waster. I have so very little free time, I don’t want to spend any of it on something so brain-deadening.
I usually read, garden, hang out with my family. When I have more time, I silversmith, creative-write, spend time with friends.
Not much of a life - and I need to get better about spending time offline.
Hi Jeri,
thanks for your comment.
Do you have any photos of your silversmithing work online? It’s something that I would like to do one day as an adjunct to re-learning blacksmithing (if I ever get back to it when there is proper shed-space available).
Best regards, Andrew
Hi Andrew,
I don’t have a TV so was quite interested in your post.
I read, play guitar, talk to my partner!, spend time with friends, eat, drink
Doesn’t sound like a lot but I personally prefer it to watching TV.
Hi Christine,
thank you for your comment.
I think that reading, playing guitar, talking to your partner, spending time with friends, eating and drinking are all infinitely better than watching 99.9% of what is on TV
PS: I’ve just found your blog via this comment, will add it to my RSS feed ASAP, good clear information on how Google works, thanks
Cheers, Andrew
When I do watch TV, I tend to lean towards the more educational stuff. For example last night I watched a new episode of Air Crash Investigation on National Geographic. Being an aviation fan these are always interesting. I also have greatly enjoyed The West Wing, which I now have the entire series on DVD and am about to start watching season 7. It’s taught me plenty about American Politics with excellent acting thrown in as a bonus. If I am going to watch TV it is never commercial free to air, we have pay TV and until recently couldn’t even watch the free tv because our reception was terrible. They’ve started putting actual ads on the pay tv which irritates me plenty, but I just flick around when they are on.
What I do for fun - I like to get out of the house. We just got a new car so today we were out driving.
I like to go to beaches and in summer we snorkel when we have a day off, as long as it’s not a weekend day off because there’s too many people around on those days. I take photos, too. I paint. I like a few computer games from time to time. 
Cheers,
Snoskred
http://www.snoskred.org
Hi Snoskred,
thank you for your comment.
I forgot to list “going for a drive” above - I am a big fan of it too. Your life seems full and healthy… and I have to wonder how my life might be a little easier if I took more time to exercise or just get out of the house more.
It seems to be a common thread in this series of TV/life balance posts that a lot of bloggers are active rather than passive TV users. By “active” I mean that they are into watching exactly what they want, when they want it. My guess is that this comes with the “higher than average technical competence” amongst bloggers, combined with active watching as a general trend across the whole population.
I take photos too, but I’d have to be the world’s slackest Flickr user
Cheers, Andrew
Andrew - here’s some links to older metalsmithing projects, all jewelry stuff. (although this may drop me into the moderation queue…)
http://smugpuppies.com/2007/02/12/chain-creation/
http://smugpuppies.com/2007/02/03/friday-workbench/
http://smugpuppies.com/2007/01/16/metal-jewelry-projects/
Looking at the dates - I haven’t done anything noteworthy in a while!
Hi Jeri,
thank you for sharing your work with me
I like the etched brass pendant the best. It looks like a good hobby to have.
Best regards, Andrew
Thanks Andrew, I’m subscribing to yours also.
Hi Christine,
you are welcome, and thanks
Best regards, Andrew