Hobbies

It's time I took up a hobby.  That's what my wife tells me every time she catches me staring morosely into space, wondering if it's too early to drink a beer (it's not).  I usually nod my head at her seriously, like I've already begun thinking of what this hobby should be, like I'm sifting through a list in a my head - parasailing, duck hunting, trinket making...

Obviously I'm not going to do any of these things.  There's no point to it, there's no end game.  I don't even like duck.  But I will concede there is a certain boredom in my life lately, more so than usual, and it's become clear, at least to me, that it's time to have a child.

I've found the generally accepted consensus to be that having a child should not be a goal pursued for your own selfish amusement - but why else would you have one?  How does one unselfishly have a child?  It's a non-entity that you are choosing to bring into existence because you happen to feel like it, which seems pretty selfish at the core of it.   But maybe people believe that by procreating they are giving a gift to the world, a gift of superior genes, empathy and intellect?  That's just disgusting.  I'll pitch it to my wife.