dang rechargables ... again

Hi all, and belated Happy New Year. I apologize for being tardy with posts.
I have some more Mini's done, the Miniature show at Portside Gallery in Port Stanley (opening night Sunday Feb 3rd 1-4 is just around the corner, and due to a flare up of arthritis which made it imposable for me to paint (or type) for 10 long days I'm behind. Hopefully I'll be able to post them later. I have 4 sets of re-chargeables and... you've heard this rant before.
During a conversation this week, I had a revelation. I was speaking with an old friend I haven't had much contact with the last few years. She knew me before I put art on the center stage of my life, (even though it had always wanted to be).
I was talking about my art (surprise???) and she said "it's nice you have a hobby" . I was taken aback by my reaction, I didn't say anything to her but I was thinking hobby-watayamean hobby!!
I guess that when at the point I made the transition from hobbyist to artist I expected the whole world to be able to see it stamped on my forehead. Granted, there is/was no one point when that transition happened, but it did.
I guess that begs the question what is the difference?
I think it's about commitment level. I must paint. I'm not happy unless I do. Art directs most of my thought and many of my actions, and as time passes I'm getting more obsessed not less. Hobbies, are something you pick up and put down, and often times loose interest in.
A little voice in my soul tells me that this is what I was born to do. Hobby???? not on your life.
Speaking of little voices... I ran across a article on the web, about a paper published by Daniel Nettle of Newcastle University titled " Schizotypy and mental health amongst poets, visual artists, and mathematicians" his conclusion? artist are slightly crazy, they see things differently, are more creative with unusual ideas, and have brain scans that are more consistent with the mentally ill then the "normal" population. I'll leave you to mull that. R.B.