The Simple Things

It really is the simple things that make life worth living and fun. Sure, backpacking in the Andes is going to be a grand time and something you'll talk about forever but what really creates a consistently "good" (quotation marks is indicative of subjectivity) life are those teeny tiny daily moments you aren't sure anyone other than you thinks are wonderful. For instance, the inspiration of this post was that I just sent an email entitled "Running and Sociopaths", which cracked myself up. And I have many moments like this which I hadn't realized were so fulfilling until today. But I believe that that my friend is the secret to true happiness and fun in life.

Parallel Parking

I love to parallel park. I have no idea why. I can't even remember learning to do it. But somehow I am AMAZING at it. I think it's super fun. I get excited every time I see an open spot that I have to get into without just pulling straight in. Parallel parking is just one of the strange things I find fun that probably a lot of others don't. What things do you enjoy doing that the average person would avoid at all costs?

New Vantage Point

I've spent much of grad school round dos frustrated and not having a lot of fun. At least with the school part. I went round and round trying to figure out how I could get more out of it to no avail. Until this week. Thanks to some staunch supporters who both kicked me in the butt and gave me loving support I came to a realization. One I already knew but apparently hadn't entirely understood. Disappointment (and thus no fun) comes from having expectations that aren't met. I had gone into my program expecting it to be a great intellectual/academic challenge and so far, haven't found that to be the case. What I hadn't expected was it to be so emotionally challenging. That it would challenge me in ways I wasn't prepared for and up until now didn't want. That I have skill deficits that this program is bringing to light and forcing me to deal with. For that I am now quite thankful and excited. Because I'm sure this is what I need more than an academic challenge to reach my future goals. And perhaps that new perspective will lead to what I had originally expected as well. So this is scientific evidence people of the importance of being mindful and letting go of expectations in terms of complete life enjoyment. It's necessary to find the silver lining in all challenging situations. My situation hasn't changed one single bit but because I'm looking at it differently and have found the importance of it to me it's becoming much more fun.

Duh Moment

I'm not entirely sure how this relates to fun but I had a good laugh so thought I'd share. Literal quote from an article I'm reading called Integrating Family Resilience and Family Stress Theory: "These variations in functioning following risk exposure are similar to Hill's (1958) roller coaster model of family stress when he proposed that stressed families return to a level of functioning at, below, or above their precrisis level." I'm not sure who this Mr. Hill is but he sure is a funny man. I could be wrong since I have yet to publish anything in any significant academic journal but I would assume that a person's level of function in any given moment would be at, below, or above their previous level of functioning and so on for the rest of their lives. But perhaps I should conduct some research on that.

Vanity Plates

I'm not a big fan of vanity plates but plenty of other people think they're fun since I see them everywhere. But I did see one today that made me laugh. "DR 007"(unfortunately I couldn't click and drive so this was the closest pic I could find to it). I forgot to look at the type of car but I'm judging the owner to have a slight ego. Love it!

Fun Buster: Reading for Class

Tonight I'm experiencing a fun buster. I need to read for my classes and I don't want to. And I usually like to read. Pretty much anything. And a lot of stuff for my grad school program is interesting to me. But there are so many more fun things I want to do right now. Like go to the movies. Or a moonlit stroll because it's finally warm again. Or grab a drink (even though I really don't want to drink). Or paint art to hang on my bedroom wall which is currently a depression of bareness. Or anything with the bf. Or hang upside down on monkey bars. Or even cleaning is seeming more appealing right now.

I don't know if this is because I started with the worst article ever about support systems for parents. Surprisingly all studies of parental support systems indicate that parents are better at parenting when they have social support systems. Imagine that! Now for the longest time I've wanted to be an academic and I love asking questions and finding answers. However, when the answer is an obvious one why the need for so much research to support what everyone already knows?! This is one of the reasons I question whether that's actually the right career path for me. I have no desire to be Captain Obvious.

And I thought about simply not reading. I did that last semester and it worked out quite well for me. But this semester the reading accountability level seems to have been upped (probably due to my way too honest assessment of the classes). So I'm thinking reading would be a good idea. Plus it would probably be helpful to have the knowledge. Then, I still continue to debate myself, but is there a such thing as too much knowledge? Maybe I'm experiencing knowledge overload? So that is my fun buster. And blogging is another fun way to continue to postpone what I've already postponed this entire weekend.

Bubble Wrap

So simple. So not what it's supposed to be used for. So satisfying. I think the single most effective cure for stress is popping bubble wrap. And my fav part of it is just when you think you've popped all you can pop you find some you haven't and the fun continues. I wonder if we could find world peace by sending every single human being a piece of bubble wrap?

Oh the People You'll Meet: Potentially Former UCLA Prof

When I first started blogging that was the title of my blog. It was meant to capture all of the colorful characters I encounter along my journey. But I bored of that a bit. Then, I was relaying a story to a friend of mine the other night of a fella I met on the bus the other day and she said, "You meet the most interesting people." So I thought a part time revival of the old blog was needed.

I met Potentially Former UCLA Prof unwillingly. It was one of those days where fun to me was sitting quietly reading my book on the Number 12 from UCLA to my home. I made the fortunate mistake of sitting in the seat for those with disabilities but was totally unaware that I needed to make room for one of those people until a man following a walker gruffly told me, "Young lady, you need to move." Since I recently turned thirty and he called me "young lady" I was happy to do so. I moved not too far from him and slightly dreading it, knew some strangeness was about to ensue. First thing he did was begin mocking a woman speaking what I assume was Chinese since that's what he said he knew how to speak. Something didn't sound right, though, and she ignored him. After talking to himself for a bit he turned his attention to me. "What are you reading?" I paused because I was reading a book I assumed some people may have strong reactions to and didn't feel like getting into any type of metaphysical debate. Finally I said, "A book I got from my mom for Christmas," and showed him the cover. Sidenote, the book is called "The Power" written by the author of "The Secret" and is about the power of love and what it can accomplish. I had literally just read a page all about paying attention to everything that happens to us because our experiences are providing us with guidance and also that many people believe that we are near the tipping point of expanding consciousness. Literally as soon as I read that some believe that this tipping point is happening now Potentially Former UCLA Prof informs me that the world is ending and we're all going to die. He repeated several times that specifically I would die and I'd die soon. Now most people might get a little upset at hearing this information or at least annoyed. Bemused was probably a more accurate description for me but I still didn't quite want to talk to him. But curiosity got the best of me so the words "Oh yeah?" slipped out of my mouth. He continued out mostly spouting things I couldn't follow. But along the way I was informed that he had been a UCLA physics professor and had gotten more into quantum physics. He was fired because he couldn't keep his mouth shut and was now homeless. "Did I have any money?" I seriously didn't even have a single penny and told him so. To which he replied, "Well, you can help someone out in another way." I thought for a second because I did have half a grapefruit in my bag but have had bad experiences offering people who are homeless my food. But alas I offered it to him and alas he yelled at me for the offer. Throughout this exchange he kept getting up and down and walking to the front of the bus and back without any difficulty causing me to question the need for his walker. It was at that point I decided to turn my attention back to my book. But he kept talking, telling me that he was friends with the "gray people" and they're all over. By his description of the gray people I figured out Potentially Former UCLA Prof is friends with aliens. I was quite thankful at that moment when some other dude got on and Potentially Former UCLA Prof turned his attention to him until he exited the bus.

And so that is the story of Potentially Former UCLA Prof that I'm not quite convinced was actually ever a prof there nor is friends with the gray people nor has any inside information as to the end of the world... just in case anyone was scared.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is something I mentioned in my last post of New Year's resolutions and even in writing this I'm challenged in being mindful. Put quite simply (because it could be put quite complicated) being mindful is observing that which is without judgement (ironic as I sit here judging my writing). There are many corresponding terms, acceptance, meditation, being present, awareness, that go along with this and really we could go on and on. It's one of the most difficult simplicities to explain and understand (along with love). Yet that's all it is.

Mindfulness might sound like too spiritual of a practice to include in a blog about fun. But it's impossible to get the most out of your fun without it. Think back to the last super fun time you had. Maybe you were playing a sport? Perhaps you were adventuring with your significant other? Having a dance party with friends? Eating your fav meal? Climbing on the jungle gym. Can you remember anything else that was going on in that moment? The answer is probably not because you were so absorbed in the fun of that moment.

The key to really experiencing life and all of its fun to its fullest is being mindful in every moment. Eckert Tolle calls it The Power of Now and made a fortune off of writing a book that my one statement encompasses. It's that simple and that complicated. Remember a time when you were driving and the next thing you knew you were at your destination but couldn't recall the trip there at all. Now metaphoricalize (I can make up words; it's okay) that driving trip into your life. Do you really want to be on your death bed (aka end of your trip if you have difficulties with metaphors) and barely remember the journey?