October 15, 2010
Brian Explains: Boredom
Some people have a hard time being alone. I am not one of those people. I can be alone for hours and I always find something to do. The hardest part for me is deciding what to do. I guess this makes this an anti-explanation of boredom, but I do not understand how people can be bored. Perhaps they are just boring people so they need others around them who are exciting to make up for their boringness.
When I am alone at home, I usually feel quite guilty if I am not doing something creative or productive. Many people have a hard time finding a single hobby. I had a hard time practicing only one hobby. I had an idea or thirteen on how to occupy myself between my music, painting, drawing, juggling, Lego building (hey, building Lego is serious business), bicycling, skateboarding, swimming, sculpting, computer programming, writing, and moviemaking. As long as I have a brain that works, I can occupy it.
I always heard other kids complaining they had nothing to do. There’s always things to do. This wasn’t because I had all the toys in the world (though I did). It was because I had creativity. I could entertain myself with just a pencil and a piece of paper. I would draw, write, invent a new game, or build a paper town. My dad told me a story about spending all day building a town when he was a kid just to burn it down later in the day. That was creative and destructive at the same time. Kids, bored or not, are stupid.
I always liked toys that did not suggest how you were supposed to play with them. Not to pick on girls, but Barbies were quite suggestive toys. (Did you ever notice when you say “not to pick on” something, that picking on something is exactly what you are about to do?) You might have a house for your Barbie, a car, or a boyfriend, but they are all real things with very little creativity involved. You create situations based on the real world, not a created world. When I played with Lego, the buildings, caves, people, creatures, and other things were all created from scratch. Situations were improvised in my head after I had created the imaginary set for the imaginary movie. When I hear about the things my wife did with her Barbies, I know there was more than creative stimulation going on in Barbie’s house. My wife was a sick kid, but at least she wasn’t bored.
October 22, 2010
Brian Explains: Change
I hate change. When I buy my hair gel at the local Quicky Mart, I hate it when I get a bunch of change back. All the pennies and nickels jingling in my pocket just end up annoying me. I feel like a janitor with all his keys hanging from his belt jingling down an echoing hallway. Having said this, coins are not the change I will talk about. Therefore, in the next paragraph I will talk about dealing with change in your life (as opposed to the change of life – which I will not be talking about).
As is said by people who want to tell you what to do, change is a good thing. Especially if you are a drug using alcoholic who likes to murder people, change is definitely something to look into. Without change, we would all live in the same house, drive the same car, go to the same job, eat the same food, and die the same death (being electrocuted by the toaster we should have thrown out years ago). We would stay as we are and never grow as people.
People who never change are doomed to repeat themselves. Today is the same thing as yesterday. Tomorrow is the same thing as today. Next week, someone might try to force you to go to a wedding, but you’ll get out of it if I know you. When you drive to work, you drive the same way every day. I can’t drive the same way every day because I need to avoid traffic on the freeways. I actually prefer driving different ways to work just to make it interesting.
Hoarders come to mind when I talk about disliking change. They fear change and refuse to throw things out (along with not leaving the house). The goal of their mental game that is their life is to keep things from changing the least. You get bonus points if the nasty smell of your house keeps people from visiting you. Everyone knows lonely people are happy people.
I’m sure in a future article I will talk about the importance of routine, but this is not that article so get over it. Routine is important for your health and wellbeing. You need to brush your teeth, shower, and play with your cats regularly to maintain your health. That doesn’t mean those routines take over your life and there is no room for change. I improve my regular routines regularly.
Embrace change. Give it a huge hug and let change know you value it. Feed change to make sure your life doesn’t starve to death from a lack of excitement. If you think the same way in your whole life and never leave your house in Nebraska, you will die a slow and boring death. Get out of Nebraska and start embracing the change of scenery. You can only stare at cows in a field for so long.
Thoughts from Life 
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