On being silly

So I haven’t written a blog post in ages because I’ve been slack, so I thought I’d better write something. The only thing which inspired me today was my horoscope. Not the bloody RWC results, the coming election, the Rena disaster or the Occupy movement because today I have a headache, and those things are far too hard to fathom.

Here is my horoscope for today:

You haven't been celebrating life to the hilt. It's the little details that turn an ordinary scene into a party. If you haven't already, this is the perfect day to go looking for the mother of all pumpkins.

Now if I was in Dave Gorman’s Important Astrological Experiment, I would probably take this advice on board and go and find a giant pumpkin. But I am not, and I am under the weather so can’t be bothered finding a pumpkin. And given my propensity for celebrating small things, I think a more appropriate horoscope for me today would be:

You need to stop dwelling on winning the trophies you have created and maybe do something useful for a change, like seeing a dentist or getting a haircut like your flatmate Sam. Hannah, you have a mullet.

Now I don’t think I should stop celebrating small things. I think it’s a very important part of life. I was talking about it with one of my regular customers at work yesterday and we agreed that most grown-ups have forgotten what it’s like to be properly silly. I don’t mean drunken karaoke silly. I mean fall-on-your arse-when-you’re-not-drunk silly. I’m pretty good at both of these kinds of silly. And watching large amounts of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia has kind of inspired me to be more silly more often.

I think that grown-ups with kids understand silliness a little better than people without kids. That’s mostly because children say and do ridiculous things all the time. Kids are, by nature, a bit ridiculous. The only problem being that when you HAVE kids, you tend to monitor your silly better because you have to set ‘an example’. Because I don’t have kids, and I’m silly, I am not the best when there are kids are around. I encourage them to be a bit silly, and kids being kids, have more energy for silliness than me. They out silly me, and then they get in trouble. And it really is my fault, not theirs – I don’t know how to put proper boundaries around silliness, and kids are still learning boundaries themselves, so it becomes utter chaos.

As grown-ups I think we all need to be a bit silly. Parents included. Sure, we need to do some grown up things, maybe have some financial stability, goals, be nice to people, blah blah blah, but there is always room for being silly. Here are some examples of simple ways of injecting a little silly into your life:

1. Buy a big bouncy ball from the $2 shop. See how far you can kick it. This helps you to ‘press play’, be silly and meet your neighbours!

2. Pull faces at small children that stare at you in malls, buses, parks, anywhere really. Just not a scary face. In lieu of this (if you don’t know how scary your face is), smile at small children.

3. Buy some bubble mixture. Blow bubbles in a crowded public place. This makes everyone happy.

4. Play ‘$2-$3 Challenge’ with some friends at a $2 shop, emporium, The Warehouse or K Mart.Try and buy the most awesome thing you can find. You vote afterwards and can’t vote for your own thing. And play with all the things.

5. Build a hut in your living room. Probably best to do this with household objects, not sticks and leaves. That’s a little too silly.

If you need a slightly sillier challenge, try one of these ones on for size:

1. Decide on a competition of some kind (gross food eating, cup cake decorating, four square tournament etc). Invite your friends. Make a trophy. Try really hard to win the trophy but don’t break anyone’s legs or stuff whilst doing so.

2. Create a ‘local park challenge’. Go with your friends to a local park. Design some kind of confidence course on it then time trial everyone over the course.

3. Go out to a café/supermarket in your pyjamas or some awesome dress up gears. Smile at anyone who looks at you. Make some new friends.

I encourage everyone to get their silly on. And make trophies. Then you can get a trophy cabinet and look important. Being silly is important. But so is not having a mullet.