I’m no cat and I’m still kickin’

I saw this on the Goodreads newsletter and it immediately resonated with me.

This blog’s motto is “Boredom is not an option.” It’s right up there under the title, see? I never feel bored and feel like there is always something out there to do or learn or explore. One of the best things my parents ever gave me was an abiding sense of curiosity about the world around me and the ability to find joy in learning about even the most mundane things.

The growing stacks of books in our spare bedroom attest to this. It’s gotten so bad that on the rare occasion that we have a houseguest, I feel that I’ve done right by them if I “clear a path.” I’m not kidding. Ken said, “We probably need to clear some of these books out of here.” I said, “No, he can get in there. See?” Our last houseguest seemed to sleep pretty soundly, so I don’t think he was overly bothered by the books!

I fully realize that it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to work my way through so many books in the years I have left. But it gives me great joy to know that no matter what I’m in the mood for, I can browse my library and find something that will interest me. (Thank goodness for my Kindle! Without it, there would be books piled up even higher.) I have books about politics, memoirs of rock stars, classics, post-apocalypse sci-fi, art books, science books, mythology collections, horror, legal thrillers, psychology, microbiology….

[deep breath]

But it doesn’t stop at books (or music or movies or documentaries). I’ve somehow managed to maintain an abiding curiosity about interesting things that catch my eye. A spider sitting in its web. A stick with a really interesting pattern. A bluebird splashing around in the bird bath. The way bananas will get all liquidy inside if you let them ripen long enough. (That one is kind of gross, but there is no denying that it’s kind of cool, too!)

There is just so much out there to fascinate me. At times, I almost feel overwhelmed and somewhat scattered as I go from thing to thing.

That’s not an entirely bad thing to deal with, though. I am ennui immune!

Boredom Shmoredom

One of my pet peeves is hearing anyone, child or adult, utter the words, “I’m bored.” Heck, it’s right up there as my blog motto: “Boredom is not an option!” It’s really one of my life mottos, too.

I remember having a conversation with a coworker about retiring. I was still a few years away from that, but it was what Ken and I were working towards, and I said I was really looking forward to it. She said, “Won’t you get bored? I’d get bored!” I laughed and said, “No way! There is so much fun stuff to do!”

Over seven years later, and I don’t believe I have ever said or even thought to myself, “I’m bored.” It’s a bit of an alien concept to me because there is always something to occupy me. Music, a movie or TV show if I feel like watching something, articles to read, emails to write, and books...so many books to be read! I can color if I need something meditative, I can get ambitious and try to draw a picture (I’m not very good at that, but it’s still fun), or I can write some thoughts down here. There’s always housework, but that’s just a chore, nothing fun. But it still occupies your time.

I tend to think that anyone who says they’re bored is just lazy. It’s not MY job to entertain you or come up with some activities to delight and intrigue you. If you can’t figure that out on your own, with the vast array of interesting things that exist in this universe, then you need to try a little harder. Make an effort! Go for a walk. Look at the flowers and plants and interesting bugs. If you have mobility issues, get lost in your own head and dream up something wild and exotic. Write it down, or draw it.

I suppose it helps to have a natural curiosity about things. There is so much that I don’t know and so much more to learn. I am fascinated by things both large and trivial, such as recent articles about Donald Trump, and a research instrument called the Vomit Machine, designed to test the aerosol spread of Norovirus. Although mentioning Trump and a Vomit Machine in the same sentence is probably redundant. Ha!

Don’t limit yourself with easy proclamations of boredom, or expect those around you to entertain you. YOU have the power to change that, so do it. And say, “I’m bored” in my presence at your own peril!

Hey! I made you guys a present!

Don't say I never did anything for you! (wink)

It's not perfect, but I had some fun making it today. Hope it gave you all a chuckle. And if you'd really like to snag it, feel free. I'm thinking of resizing it and putting it by my Trekkies for Obama button. Ha ha!

I'm not going to beat the fruit fly thing to death, but it did get me thinking a lot today. (Uh oh....) As I told Indigo, last night I had steam coming out of my ears, but I'm a little more reflective today. Before I got up this morning, I was thinking about what it is that bothers me so much about not just Palin, but the general tone of the GOP's campaign lately. The word that sprang to mind was "incurious," and when I read my comments, my friend Dan-Guido had remarked that Palin isn't "intellectually curious." We both had the same thought, but I definitely like his phrase better!

That's something that is really bothering me lately. It's not just the recent GOP tactics of portraying anyone with a college degree, or anyone who dares to show a broader knowledge of issues and a broader world view, as someone who is "not one of us," it's the general pervasiveness of anti-intellectualism. The campaign keeps throwing out that word "elite." The liberal elite...the Washington elite...it seems that anyone who doesn't believe the way they do, or shows a desire to look beyond the superficial meaning of things, is somehow "elite."

I'm not sure when a thirst for knowledge became something to be ashamed of. This was something that was fostered in me and my sisters by my parents, and encouraged in Ken by his father, and by his mother in her love of reading. Palin's ridicule of fruit fly research in Paris, France (and I do wonder if she was referencing the Pasteur Institute) was cringe-worthy. Did she or her handlers not bother to do at least minimal investigation as to how something like that might be important? Google "fruit fly research," for Pete's sake, and you'll turn up all kind of references as to how these tiny insects have aided scientists in numerous research efforts and countless studies. It is not something to take lightly, and it disturbs me that she seems patently unable to understand that.

Palin strikes me as someone whose world view is so narrow that she simply cannot comprehend why something that makes no sense to her whatsoever might be important to someone else. If it doesn't exist in her world, it's not worth learning about and it's not important. This is not just about the campaigns and those involved with them; I've seen it in people I encounter in daily life. A feeling that someone who is curious about the world around them is somehow pretentious, or a know-it-all, or "putting on airs." There is nothing wrong with a healthy curiosity about a variety of subjects, and it's an admirable goal to want to further your education. Not everyone is able to do this, but that doesn't mean that learning has to stop. It didn't stop for my parents, although they didn't go to college.

I'm also disturbed by the fact that Levi Johnston, the father of Bristol Palin's baby, has dropped out of high school in order to get a job in the oil fields. I'm not mad about it, I'm not self-righteous about it, I'm not condemning anyone for their decision...I just find it really sad that the kid (and yes, he IS a kid) is not finishing high school. I wonder what kind of life they will have, and I hope that he is able to at least eventually get his GED.

The narrow-mindedness I've been encountering lately boggles my mind. The inability to see a broader world view is not only sad, it's dangerous. I know it's not easy to step outside our comfort zone, but it's imperative that we begin to do so, and try to understand that we are not the center of the world, anymore than the Earth is the center of the solar system, as so many once thought. (Copernicus got a raw deal, didn't he?) I had an email this morning from one of my uncles about a forward he'd gotten concerning alleged quotes from Obama's books. My uncle said that he knew I'd read the books, and he wanted to know if these quotes (mostly concerning race) were real...and if so, didn't I find them scary? I wrote back that one suspicious thing was that no page numbers were provided, that I thought that they were taken out of context, and that some of these quotes rang a bell, so I did a Snopes search. Sure enough, the exact email he sent me has been widely circulated, and the quotes were either out of context, rearranged, or were not Obama's words at all. My 80-some year old uncle cared enough to ask me if it was true. Why are others not investigating what is truth and what is lies?

But again, this transcends politics, although Palin's lack of intellectual curiosity (thanks, Dan!) is what got me to think along these lines. This is about an inability to take "one step beyond," and to realize that there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. The attitude of ridiculing someone for furthering their education, or for pursuing research that you have deemed laughable, is not being "salt of the earth." It is foolish and dangerous.