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アマチュアの趣味
雅子さんは、「どうしたらそんなに趣味に費やす時間があるのか、勉強は忙しくないのか」と聞かれることがあります。ピアノ、歌、料理、執筆、縫い物…。本業は物理学を学ぶ大学院生ですが、雅子さんは実に多彩な趣味を持っています。多忙な毎日を過ごしながら、趣味を楽しむ秘けつはあるのでしょうか?
Amateur Hobbies
By MASAKO YAMADA
Last week, I wrote about my latest hobby: sewing. I mentioned in the
article that I had gotten patterns for pig dolls and frog dolls on sale
and I went on to describe the making of the pig dolls. This week, I report
that I have finished making the frog dolls!!
People have asked me how I find the time to do such frivolous things like
sewing, cooking, freelance writing, piano and voice. I am a busy graduate student, am I not? My answer is really simple. In order to do one thing
well, I must expect the quality of the other things I do to drop. Sometimes,
I must completely forgo doing other things.
I spent almost twelve hours on Saturday sewing the frogs. During these same
twelve hours, one of my roommates talked on the phone with a friend, went to
school and discussed research with a colleague, went to Boston Common to
ice skate and went to a party in Cambridge.
Another roommate went to the gym to work out, studied at school, watched
a movie and hung out at a friend's house. In the meantime, I was busy
ironing, cutting fabric and sewing buttons. I hardly left the room to go to
the bathroom, much less to prepare and eat a meal.
Of course, the question is whether making a couple of dolls is worth sacrificing going to the lab to do extra research or sacrificing the company of friends. Certainly, it's not every weekend that I would spend an entire precious day hunched in front of my sewing machine. However, not only do I
consider these extracurricular activities to be an important part of my
life, I think they make me a more balanced person.
In general, my hobbies tend to be rather asocial hobbies, since they all
involve lots of time spent alone. I've always been a person who appreciates
this kind of private time and I would be the first to admit that these
pleasurable hours are essentially of no use to anybody but myself.
It has taken a very long time, but as I get better at my hobbies, I am
finding that there are more and more ways that I can put them to good public use. My piano lessons have led to my performing for the public, my years
spent cooking have led to my writing a food column for a local magazine, and
my sewing skills will — hopefully — lead to my being some kind of Santa Claus sewer.
From the start, I have planned on giving away the frog dolls. I think
that is one of the reasons I spent so much time working on them. The pig dolls
that I made last week took a lot less time, since they were for myself. I'm not of the "it's the thought that counts" school that validates giving
away sloppy handmade items to others, and I worked hard so that these frogs
would have a polished look.
I often feel full after preparing a fancy meal, and it's not rare for me
to go without eating while others enjoy the fruits of my labor. The feeling
I had when I finished the frogs was very similar.
I've made efforts to refine my hobbies so they don't have obviously amateur
qualities. I suppose that on some level, I've always considered all of my
hobbies to be as important as my primary occupation of being a student.
However, because of time constraints, they have never been developed
fully.
My piano teacher just told me that I am lucky that, as an amateur musician,
I can choose to play whatever I want to play. It's true that if I don't feel
like practicing, I don't have to, and that I could quit tomorrow without any
economic repercussions (besides saving lots of money on tuition). I
understood what he was trying to say, but I couldn't help thinking, "Yes, but
I will never be as good as you are."
I would choose to be pretty good at lots of things that I like, rather than
be very good at one thing. This is not the right choice for everyone — it will
not make me rich or famous — but it works for me. I do think it's a bit
ironic that I fear that my hobbies are not up to par because I don't have
the time to refine them. Perhaps I should be more worried that my hobbies are cutting into the time I spend on my real job.
Last week, I wrote about my latest hobby: sewing. I mentioned in the
article that I had gotten patterns for pig dolls and frog dolls on sale
and I went on to describe the making of the pig dolls. This week, I report
that I have finished making the frog dolls!!
People have asked me how I find the time to do such frivolous things like
sewing, cooking, freelance writing, piano and voice. I am a busy graduate student, am I not? My answer is really simple. In order to do one thing
well, I must expect the quality of the other things I do to drop. Sometimes,
I must completely forgo doing other things.
I spent almost twelve hours on Saturday sewing the frogs. During these same
twelve hours, one of my roommates talked on the phone with a friend, went to
school and discussed research with a colleague, went to Boston Common to
ice skate and went to a party in Cambridge.
Another roommate went to the gym to work out, studied at school, watched
a movie and hung out at a friend's house. In the meantime, I was busy
ironing, cutting fabric and sewing buttons. I hardly left the room to go to
the bathroom, much less to prepare and eat a meal.
Of course, the question is whether making a couple of dolls is worth sacrificing going to the lab to do extra research or sacrificing the company of friends. Certainly, it's not every weekend that I would spend an entire precious day hunched in front of my sewing machine. However, not only do I
consider these extracurricular activities to be an important part of my
life, I think they make me a more balanced person.
In general, my hobbies tend to be rather asocial hobbies, since they all
involve lots of time spent alone. I've always been a person who appreciates
this kind of private time and I would be the first to admit that these
pleasurable hours are essentially of no use to anybody but myself.
It has taken a very long time, but as I get better at my hobbies, I am
finding that there are more and more ways that I can put them to good public use. My piano lessons have led to my performing for the public, my years
spent cooking have led to my writing a food column for a local magazine, and
my sewing skills will — hopefully — lead to my being some kind of Santa Claus sewer.
From the start, I have planned on giving away the frog dolls. I think
that is one of the reasons I spent so much time working on them. The pig dolls
that I made last week took a lot less time, since they were for myself. I'm not of the "it's the thought that counts" school that validates giving
away sloppy handmade items to others, and I worked hard so that these frogs
would have a polished look.
I often feel full after preparing a fancy meal, and it's not rare for me
to go without eating while others enjoy the fruits of my labor. The feeling
I had when I finished the frogs was very similar.
I've made efforts to refine my hobbies so they don't have obviously amateur
qualities. I suppose that on some level, I've always considered all of my
hobbies to be as important as my primary occupation of being a student.
However, because of time constraints, they have never been developed
fully.
My piano teacher just told me that I am lucky that, as an amateur musician,
I can choose to play whatever I want to play. It's true that if I don't feel
like practicing, I don't have to, and that I could quit tomorrow without any
economic repercussions (besides saving lots of money on tuition). I
understood what he was trying to say, but I couldn't help thinking, "Yes, but
I will never be as good as you are."
I would choose to be pretty good at lots of things that I like, rather than
be very good at one thing. This is not the right choice for everyone — it will
not make me rich or famous — but it works for me. I do think it's a bit
ironic that I fear that my hobbies are not up to par because I don't have
the time to refine them. Perhaps I should be more worried that my hobbies are cutting into the time I spend on my real job.
Shukan ST: March 10, 2000
(C) All rights reserved
- latest
- 一番最近の
- sewing
- 裁縫
- mentioned
- 触れた
- article
- 記事
- patterns
- 型紙
- describe
- 説明する
- frivolous
- 重要でない
- voice
- 歌
- graduate student
- 大学院生
- In order to 〜 , I must expect the quality of the other things I do to drop.
- 〜 するには、ほかにやっていることがおろそかになると覚悟しなければいけない
- forgo 〜
- 〜 をやめる
- research
- 研究
- colleague
- 同僚
- Boston Common
- 公立公園ボストン・コモン
- work out
- トレーニングする
- hung out
- ぶらぶらした
- fabric
- 生地
- much less 〜
- ましてや 〜 などしない
- whether 〜 is worth sacrificing 〜
- 〜 に 〜 を犠牲にするほどの価値があるかどうか
- company of friends
- 友達とのつきあい
- entire precious day
- 貴重な一日すべて
- hunched in front of 〜
- 〜 の前で背中をまるめて
- sewing machine
- ミシン
- extracurricular activities
- 日課外の活動
- more balanced
- より円熟した
- In general
- 概して
- asocial
- 非社交的な
- involve 〜
- 〜 を要する
- appreciates
- 価値が分かる
- I would be the first to admit that 〜
- 真っ先に 〜 と認めるだろう
- pleasurable hours
- 楽しい時間
- (are)of no use to anybody but myself
- 私以外の人には意味がない
- put them to good public use
- 公の場で役立てる
- performing
- 演奏する
- Santa Claus sewer
- 匿名で自分の作った手芸品をあげる人
- giving away
- 人にあげる
- I'm not of the "it's the thought that counts" school
- 「心さえこもっていればいい」と考える人たちには属していない
- validates
- よしとする
- sloppy
- ずさんな
- polished
- 洗練された
- fancy meal
- 豪華な食事
- fruits of my labour
- 私の苦労の成果
- refine
- 磨き上げる
- primary
- 第一の
- occupation
- 職業
- time constraints
- 時間的拘束
- economic repercussions
- 経済的な影響
- besides saving lots of money on tuition
- 月謝代がかなり浮くこと以外は
- it works for me
- 私には合っている
- ironic
- 皮肉な
- are not up to par
- 標準に達していない
- are cutting into 〜
- 〜 にくい込んでいる