Monday 8 August 2016

Blaugust 8, 2016: Counting Flowers on the Wall





This song came on the radio on my way to the hike on Saturday, and it has been quite firmly stuck in my head ever since. It has brought to mind the topic of ‘pastimes’ for tonight’s blaug.

How do I keep myself occupied? I’m glad you asked! I don’t play video games much anymore, and I don’t read much anymore (which is a bit of a shame really). I am not completely certain why, but I suspect my interests have shifted to a focus more on the ‘real’ world, and interactions and observations of other real people. This doesn’t completely jive with my introversion, which is a bit of an impediment, but I make up for that via the wonders of social media. I lurk and observe, only occasionally poking my head up in public.

Although video games and books grab me less, I still consume a little bit of video. This comes either in the form of some regular television vices (almost exclusively comedy these days), and the odd movie. I think I have stuck with these because they both require a smaller investment in time from me, and because actors inject a bit of themselves into the roles they play.

My predilection for comedies is a simple reflection of how much negative I perceive in the world, and a desire to escape it. I think I have discussed this before, so I won’t go into that in depth.

Board games are an important pastime, and I need to visit friends and have friends over to play them more often than I have been. I think I enjoy them because they simultaneously stimulate and relax my mind, and I play them in a quiet social setting with people I care about. The closer I am to a person the more I enjoy playing with them, and I have an order of magnitude less fun playing with people I don’t know.

Gardening at home is a particular pleasure of mine, one that I wish I could indulge in more. There is only so much space here, and things are getting quite full. There are already a couple of casualties that are getting swamped by other plants, and being a rental I am reluctant to go crazy. When I get my own place I will need a large yard so that there is always a spot to do something new, be it planting out a new bed, or filling in gaps caused by natural attrition. Gardening for myself is extremely rewarding; I always feel very positive as a result of getting out there, and as the plants grow I get to enjoy them and the critters they attract. It also teaches patience!

There are probably a few more I could talk about if I thought about it longer, but this already feels like it is a real post, and I’m tired, so I won’t push it. Goodnight!

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