Childish Liberty

Yesterday, I picked up a package from the post office in town. It contained a supplement Lydia and I use, a fitting to get Lydia’s freeze dryer running, Trevor’s birthday gift, and what I assumed to be another fitting. When I got home, I promptly stashed Trevor’s birthday gift (a pail of Lego blocks) out of reach. Trevor opened the little box, which I assumed to be another fitting. Turns out, a battery charger and three batteries showed up that I had ordered and forgotten about. Trevor discovered part of his birthday gift early.

Trevor immediately recognized the batteries as his camera batteries. He’s been playing with a non functioning camera that Lydia used in bygone years. I figured that perhaps the camera was not working simply because the existing battery was dead.

I plugged in a battery and hit the power button. The camera came alive! The lens opens and closes properly. Even the pop out flash works!

Instead of make belief play at taking pictures or videos, Trevor now has a real camera and he knows how to operate the lens zoom and take real pictures. He’s learned how to play back pictures and even how to do delete pictures.

He spent at least an hour or two taking pictures. Everything from outside landscape pictures to interior pictures of a mustard bottle on the floor. What impressed me was his unbounded liberty in experimentation. With no pressure to get good quality pictures, he bounces from scene to scene snapping lots of pictures.

I’m thinking about all the times I’ve thought of experimenting with something new, but feel boxed in by expectations. These expectations may be my own or expectations from others. This ends up holding me back from getting going and enjoying the process when I am terrible at it. Instead of embracing the terrible early results and pushing through to eventual success, I sometimes never even give it a try.

Trevor has the liberty to play and experiment without fear or worry. I’ll try to learn to be like my little boy.

Here’s a couple of pictures from his second day of taking pictures:

Trevor’s piggybank

A picture of a puffin in one of Trevor’s picture books.

Picture of part of the book cover of “On the Banks of Plum Creek”

Here’s to a week of learning something new or experimenting again,

— Simon

Having fun

What I am thinking about:

Today I revisited an old website that I last visited probably several years ago. This site is Ken Rockwell’s. (If you’re interested in cameras and related gear, this site will be of interest to you.) What impresses me however, is the fact that he’s been working on his website since 1999:

“I started this website as a goof in 1999. Back then it took forever to download an emailed scan of a photo, and longer than forever if there were a few photos. This website was an easier way to share recent photos with my immediate freinds than trying to send a bunch of emails.”

— Ken Rockwell

This means he has been working at this website for 25+ years now. And it appears like he is having fun. This having fun part is what I’ve been thinking about. He goes on to say:

“I continue to do this site all by myself for fun — probably the last remaining 1990’s for-fun website that hasn’t sold out to other interests. Even though it has become popular, presumably because so many people find it helpful, it is still run just for fun. I am this site’s only author. I have no one to proofread, spell check or fact check for me, so there will always be errors and omissions.”

— Ken Rockwell

“…all by myself for fun…” and he makes a living doing it. When you read his reviews or descriptions under his photographs, they seem like unconcerned expressions of what others think about his work. He is having fun. Further down in his old about section, he continues:

“I’ve been adding to this site since 1999. This means that many of these pages, including this one, are over ten years old. I can’t possibly go back and update everything magically as the world turns. Read, enjoy, have fun, and take everything in the spirit in which it’s shared.”

— Ken Rockwell

This carefree way of documenting his work and sharing something that contributes to other people’s lives, all while having fun, this sort of work seems highly attractive to me. This is what I would like this site to be for me.

I’ve thought about creating a page on this website for book reviews. Quite a few years ago, I dabbled with book reviews on an old Wordpress site I started. While I enjoyed the process of reviewing books then, it doesn’t feel like quite the right fit now. Perhaps a better fit for me now is to simply share what thoughts those books provoke instead of actually reviewing the book in a formal fashion. After all, if I (or you) am having fun, chances are I will continue the project in a much more sustained fashion. For 25+ years? Who knows? Time will tell.

What I am reading right now:

Company of One

So far, this has been a thought provoking read. It has challenged the notion that our business needs to grow to be sustainable. Better, yes. But not necessarily bigger. Focusing on quality and customer service are hallmarks of an excellent Company of One. This is a book I return to frequently in my mind while at the office.

Amazon link.

On Creativity

What exactly is creativity? We notice children play with things that aren't toys and say: "Boy, he's being creative." Trevor, our 2.5 year old boy is happy to haul a spent thread spool on his John Deere tractor and trailer. Why this combination? To his credit, the spool does sort-of resemble a hay bale. Just sort-of though. And we (adults) think: "Thats neat, the spool fits inside the trailer really well." Likely though, we would not think of said combo. What is it that children tend to have and adults tend to lack?

Is it perhaps simply the willingness to try things without the fear of being different or criticized or even critiqued? Children simply are. They live in their mostly carefree world, happy to follow the happy whims of their productive minds.

You may counter with: "Well, that's childish". It is, but does being a grown-up require us to lose our sense of exploration to the mundane pursuits of "what adults do"? Perhaps this world would benefit from us relooking at things from a vantage point of fresh childlike curiosity.

I, certainly, would benefit.