What interesting things are you learning about at the moment? I'm making a list!

[PhloxOfSheep]

I'm fortunate to have a little time on my hands for the next few months and then will be home and glued to the sofa with a newborn.

So! I'm rethinking my hobbies/what I like to do in my spare time (currently swimming, gardening, reading, occasionally yoga and Pilates) and have decided that in addition to these I want to learn about something new!

I used to do this a lot: pick a subject, or come across something that piqued my interest, and then learn about it. But I haven't done that for ages so I'm giving myself a kick up the bum to get back to it.

I've just started a British Sign Language course online, and am thinking of doing a recreational maths course on FutureLearn, both just for the fun of it and to force my brain to do something, but I want at least one more!

So interesting people of MN - what are you learning about at the moment? The more unusual or quirky or oddball, the better!

So far I'm thinking:

• It's a shame that I used to be able to recognise lots of our native trees as a kid and I now can't

and

• The recent gorgeous threads about jewellery have taught me that I quite like Art Deco rings, but know next to nothing about AD

So maybe that's two things there I could start with!

I do this all the time! Get really into a specific topic and learn loads about it/read around it. In the past couple of years it has been:

Gorillas

Polar bears

Wolves

Tigers

Crocodiles and alligators

Soviet gulags and Russia under Stalin (the book Gulag Archipelago is stunning)

9/11

Rock climbing (I've never set foot on a rock and never will, but I'm fascinated by the climber Alex Honnold and people who free solo)

Toddler psychology

The history of humankind (the book Sapiens: a Brief History of Humankind was fantastic)

Various serial killers

I enjoy looking at wikipedia pages on these topics as a starting point and then taking it from there.

Im learning how fucking hard stripping wallpaper is even though everyone said itd be easy.

Other than that, do you have a garden? I remember putting a bird feeder somewhere I could see from the sofa I was mostly on and learning about the birds that visited.

Nothing very interesting but…

I have been learning French on and off for 32 years now. I still couldn’t remember the word for ‘ladder’ this morning.
I’m learning how to train a gundog.
DH and I have taken on much bigger garden and we have both learned lots about plants, flowers and how to tame them.

This Autumn I fancy doing a couple of cooking courses, but I’m not too sure which cuisine yet.

@WeatherSystems I like wolves too. That's a good shout. Do you also learn about your username? There's a course on FutureLearn called Come Rain or Shine: Understanding the Weather that's made my course shortlist.
I have a copy of Sapiens, currently unread. I'll bump it up the tbr list!

@Letsallscreamatthesistene Hmm that's a hard pass on stripping wallpaper I do have a garden though, and thankfully my bird knowledge is much better than my tree knowledge!

Octopuses 🐙

I’m learning Welsh!

Not at all useful but at the moment I am learning how awful people are at applying for jobs.
Last in a very long list of bad cover letters u have got two give me thies job cos I wood be good wiv it while I fully understand that a lot of people have problems with English writing and grammar this person has 30 + years of work experience listed and has a very traditional English names on his ID so presume as English.🤔

@Letsallscreamatthesistene
I know how you feel , I hired a wallpaper steamer after a day of frustration. So much easier!

Could you learn something that would be usefull that could look good on a cv if / when you go back to work .
Basic 1st aid , COSHH, manual handling , food safety, ect

@AlCalavicci First aid is definitely an option. I was thinking of doing that regardless now that I'm going to be a parent.

@absolutecarnage I like languages and love Wales but Welsh might be a bit out of my league! How long have you been learning?