This summer I was involved in three "hobbies". Wet shaving, woodworking, and Coleman lanterns. I got into wet shaving and joined a forum and gradually while reading the posts there I realized I would "need" hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stuff if I wanted to be respected in that community. I recently wanted to shave my head so I bought a bag of disposable razors. A few days later I was in a hurry and needed to shave so I just whipped some shaving cream on my face and grabbed one of the disposables and presto, I was shaved. It was an enlightening experience, kind of like when Percy Jackson stops eating the lotus flowers. What have I been thinking? The same is true, but not to such an extent, in woodworking. Since my wife cross stitches I am also familiar with that hobby and the forums a little; it is also true there but not to the same extent. I have found in Coleman collecting it is not true at all; what gains the most respect in Coleman circles is the ability to fettle an old lantern and get it running again. I have decided to rank the hobbies I know in terms of what they cost versus the satisfaction you gain from them, with low cost and high satisfaction being the goal. Woodworking ranks low simply because of the cost of admission; it has a very high satisfaction rate.

1) Coleman lanterns
2) Counted cross stitching
3) Woodworking
4) Wet shaving

What do you think?