MY HUSBAND'S PHASES

I have to say that being married to or living with someone is a fascinating way to learn new approaches to the art of living.  One of the things that I find most interesting about my husband is what I refer to as "his phases."  He is always in a phase of one sort or another.  That is, he goes through periods of intense interest in a new subject in which he learns everything he can about it and buys a lot of books and paraphernalia related to it.  Then when the phase subsides, that interest still remains part of his life but takes something of a backseat to whatever his new interest is. Of course, one issue is that my husband tends to spend a lot of money on stuff related to his interest-- but often this spending has inured to my pleasure and benefit as well.  Some of my husband's phases have included:

Classical Music and Opera      --      This involved season tickets to our provincial   symphony orchestra as well as tickets to classical events in a major city near where we live.  Of course, at a classical performance on a Friday night after an exhausting week, I generally fall asleep, but I like the CD collection we amassed during this period.

Country Music  --  Who knew country music could be so great?

Guitars --   It was during this period that my husband composed a song in my honor.  It is called "Scary Wife" and sounds vaguely like the song "Smelly Cat" from Friends.  I have always wanted a song written just for me.

Religious Books phase -- We have literally scores of different versions of the Bible, the Koran, and the Bhagavad Gita.  We also own a CD of James Earl Jones reading the New Testament.  And multiple DVDs of Mysteries of the Bible.

Poetry phase -- All I can say is lots of poetry books.  Lots. Thankfully, there was no poetry composed, in my honor or otherwise. 

Wine --  The high point was when my husband researched the best affordable wines in Consumer Reports.   A nice bottle of Kendall-Jackson chardonnay is now on my monthly shopping list.  We could have lived without the expensive special wine cellar (i.e. refrigerator) or the special leather wine carrying case, however.  This is one phase that actually didn't really stick and my husband is now back to his ordinary Joe, beer drinking ways. 

Cigars  -- This was not one of my favorites of my husband's intense interests, but certainly far preferable to the tobacco chewing habit of his youth.  This phase was super intense and long and involved the purchase of a number of expensive humidors (which thankfully he ultimately re-sold on ebay), a subscription to Cigar Aficionado, and intense arguments with people on his cigar chat group.  At one point, he was even planning some sort of trip to Cuba, which ultimately (thank goodness) didn't pan out.      

Cooking --  This one sounds good but in reality it involved a lot of purchasing of expensive gadgets and very little actual cooking.  We have a lot of cool kitchen items, I have to say, including a pizza stone, a ceramic knife that cost hundreds of dollars, and a pasta maker that has never been used.  Oh and a pad thai set that I actually tried out once.  My husband still TiVos a lot of cooking shows.  I always liked Jamie Oliver, the Iron Chef, and Two Fat Ladies, but alas our TiVo is now mainly filled with sports and America's Test Kitchen.            

We have just entered the photography phase.  It sounds expensive.   

Comments

[manogirl]

Photography IS an expensive phase. My boyfriend's been in a photography phase for ten years. (Maybe it won't end, in which case it's what? An expensive hobby?)

But some beautiful things come out of it, so who am I to complain? It's either the cheapest wall art we have, or the most expensive, if you count the camera equipment. Oh well. It's gorgeous wall art, either way.

[Samara]

I think I've been through a bunch of phases that all had to do with genres of reading material- fortunately some of them have stuck (the gardening/eco/permaculture one most firmly).

The Mr goes through music-related ones (mainly involving the purchase of instruments & recording equipment), though we've both had "camping" phases...

Photography sounds like it could get super expensive, unless it's digital photography. A nice digicamera and a copy of Adobe Photoshop Elements is a great start :)

Ha! I think everyone's husbands do this sort of thing. I could have written this, about my ex, ten years ago... No doubt I did something similar.

[Dave]

Ah... phases. Are they not normal?

Some of mine:
1. Amateur radio phase. (An extension of my work early in the service).
2. Basset hound phase. (Two of them. One did me proud by becoming a police volunteer "child find" dog. Actually found one too! The other used to do half a walk. Leave the house, stop, lie down and I would carry him home.)
3. Computer phase. (Started long ago. I built a computer from a kit [Imsai 8080]. Still doing it. I built the computer my wife, the accountant, uses.)
4. Rock Star phase. (OK... not a rock star, but I did play lead guitar in a band. We made no money... therefore it was a hobby.)
5. Automotive soup-up phase. (Started with having to keep a 1953 Morris Minor operating. Will end when my Jeep Cherokee dies.)
6. Cooking phase. (Still ongoing and something of a hobby I share with my wife.)

I have to say, I like your husband's wine phase. I'll have to try it!

[L.]

My husband is now in a very looooong samurai movie phase.

I want to get him in a TRAVEL phase someday....

(And no doubt he wants me to get out of my kitchen-gadget-buying phase and begin a real cooking phase!)

[j0lt]

Mr. J. did the photography phase (expenisve camera that now sits in closet), the cigar phase (eh-the humidor got moldy) and the expensive wine phase (yes, full-size wine fridge)- now we do good but inexpensive wine (yum!). Current phase - back to school for another post-grad degree while working full-time. Not sure if that counts as a phase, but it will be expensive & involve lots of books.

But Mr. J also did a cooking phase (involving actual cooking: chocolate bread puddings & chipolte-crusted seared tuna) that never really stopped, so I'm willing to put up with the school phase in exchange for the occasional super-yummy meal.

[ScottM]

My Dad's a perfect poster child of this... he'll collect anything.
Coins -> Guns -> Stamps -> Magic cards -> every other collectible card -> Kachinas -> WWII medals

And even when you think a phase is over, something will trigger his collection interest again. Not just looking through or organizing his old collection-- that never seems to happen-- just resuming his collecting habit again. Sigh.

Meanwhile, wine has been a constant interest of his... something he shares with some friends, but most of us [Family & Friends] aren't wine drinkers. Geneology's another-- lapsed in the late 70s, resumed in the late 90s thanks to the internet.

[David Thompson]

America's Test Kitchen

I dislike this show. The tests never fail.

[Cassandra]

Hey! I was away during your de-lurking day so this is kind of late, but I love your blog! I love the title (I'm one too; isn't it great?), I like your writing, which is both way passionate and chill, and I decided to de-lurk on this post, late as it was, because I just found it incredibly entertaining.

Good luck with your photography phase! I've never been much of a visual artist myself (I'm more of a performer, and occasionally a writer; I keep meaning to start a blog of my own one of these days) but I have a bunch of friends who are into it and they produce some really cool looking stuff.

[Poppycock]

Oooo.... A ceramic knife? What does one need one of those for? (I love kitchen gadgets).

I have phases of interest in things, but as a student, no money to fund said curiosity. So I have a V-E-R-Y long Amazon wishlist - all the books I'd buy if I could afford to. It's like window shopping, but better! And occasionally I do get a new book, eg instead of an egg at Easter from my mum.

At the moment I am in a knitting phase, because it is a cheap hobby - I can get balls of wool for £1 on the local market. And a dessert-making phase. Which has the unfortunate side-effect of rapid weight-gain.... I need to get into a complementary regular exercise habit! I'd dive into a good wine phase if I could afford to - that sounds great!

Good luck with the photography - I predict you will soon have a large digital camera, costing hundreds of dollars, together with a number of different lenses, a new super-duper printer, maybe a large flat-screen monitor for the computer, several tripods, numerous books and holidays planned to places with exciting scenery. Actually, that last part doesn't sound half bad!