Play

Episode #767

October 14, 2023

Sometimes I am not in my best humor.
The minutia of my day-to-day is a creeping tension felt in my heart, body and soul.
Seriousness bends my smile.

Nothing is so important that it cannot be a game.
When I feel down, I play a game and things look up.

Joking is my favorite kind of play.
Sarcasm is my ball. I throw it to another person.
I gave a coworker this compliment:
“You just made a fortune for the company… You are soooooo bad at this.”

My grandfather use to say, “If your job is fun, you will never work a day in your life.”

I am a chameleon.  When you are angry, so am I. If you are sad, I might cry.
Your smile makes my happy and then I smile and then you laugh and so do I.

Sometimes I play the collector’s game.
My crockery is an eclectic collection of one-of-a -kind hand painted primitive designs. It is fun to explore the thrift stores for new, unique pieces. When I set the table, no plate, saucer, cup or bowl is the same. It is fun for everyone.

Creative gaming is my favorite. I like to draw, work in wood and fix things. Creating makes me happy.

Exploring is a game that I play with Paula. We have visited every state of the Union and have skydived in all but Hawaii. Act 2 will be to visit the countries of the world.

Body awareness is a game that is hard for me. It requires extra effort. I make my morning stretches fun by focusing on the targeted muscles. Paula likes to count. Counting is a game to her. Paula counts and I focus. It is a game we play every day.

I love to tell stories. I will say this right out loud: “I have had an interesting life.”

In college I would tell the wild tales of my high school youth. My roommate thought I made it all up. His skepticism and disbelief took the fun out of the telling. So I changed the stories. Instead of stories about me, I made them about someone else. My roommate laughed at those stories and even repeated them to his friends. That always made me smile.

My book, “Skydivers Know Why Birds Sing,” is written in the first person and often present tense.  It is meant to keep the reader in the moment, but when I tell those same stories around the campfire it all happened to someone else. This technique takes the bragging out of the stories and allows me to enjoy them too.
“No shit, there he was. Thought he was gonna die.”

While I like competitive sports and games, winning is not the fun of it for me. Whenever I win, someone else loses and if it makes them sad, that makes me sad and I don’t have fun.

Gaming in the moment is my kind of fun.
I like the flying in freefall. It is a game where I am a bird.

Taking tricks in a card game is the real thrill, not the score at the end.
Playing giant Jinga until there are no more moves is the joy of the game. There is no loser.

When someone enjoys a story that I tell, I enjoy the telling more. 

Crafting the barley twists on the Disneyland Dumbo Calliope was fun, but stepping back and admiring the completed project was the punch line of the experience. Seeing other people admiring the work at the park is the reward.

I always like to increase the fun of a game.
When I am walking, I feel like running.
When I run I turn it into a skip.
If skipping is not fun enough, I dance.

PLEASE BUY MY BOOKS:
“Skydivers Know Why Birds Sing” by Ricki T Thues is now available on Amazon.
It is a Love story of Rick and Paula Thues and their 35 years of Skydiving.

Click HERE to buy the paperback or Kindle ebook at Amazon.

Follow Ricki T Thues on Amazon HERE.

ALSO AVAILABLE:
“Technically Human” by Ricki T Thues, the iMentor, is available on Amazon.
It is a compilation of selected episodes from this bLog which tell the story of Humanity through the eyes of the iMentor.

Click HERE to buy the paperback or Kindle ebook at Amazon.
The ebook version of “Technically Human” is also available on Kobo. Click HERE.
For you Barnes and Noble Nook readers it is available for Nook. Click HERE.
The “Technically Human” ebook is also available on Apple Books . Click HERE.