I've never been a gamer. Even as a kid, it felt like too much effort for little reward. Clicking all those buttons, making all those decisions, reacting quickly (never my strong suit) again and again. But I've always kinda enjoyed watching other people play them. Immersing yourself in a world and a story and letting it wash over you is relaxing. And letting it happen without all the aforementioned effort makes watching games unfold far more relaxing than actually playing them (and isn't the ultimate purpose of a computer game to relax and have fun, after all?). So, in my youth, I'd watch my friends play their PlayStation games. And I'd reluctantly join in briefly now and again before quickly getting frustrated or overwhelmed and handing the controller back to its rightful owner. And, in later years (my thirties, I guess), I'd sometimes zone out to a Twitch stream late at night until I was ready to sleep. But, on a whim, I recently bought a handheld retro gami...
Lovely day. Woke up feeling artfully inspired; then at breakfast, the boys wanted to paint, so I joined in and painted a still life of Z’s cup. Felt good. Usual Saturday routine, then after swimming, Sarah M came round to do a half-day documentary photography session with us, which was cool. Great to see A being comfortable with her and showing her his toys etc. She even covered bed time, and A proudly showed her his bin. “When I wee my pants, that’s where they go.” Started drawing a picture of Char and Z based on a photo I took at swimming today. Drawing the water will be a fun challenge. Lovely snsm.
What if creativity isn't really a thing? What if it's just a term we use to describe "non-standard" thinking? So people who fall outside the central bell curve distribution of typical thinking are considered creative? There's every chance that, when engaged in "creative" acts, these people are being as logical as the most linear "non-creative" thinkers—it's just that they operate on a different style of logic. Maybe to them, someone saying something as basic and rational as 2+2=4 seems creative, whereas producing a piece of music, or writing, or a painting is the equivalent of making a spreadsheet. I suspect many so-called "creatives" don't consider themselves creative by their own standard—they are simply doing what makes sense to them. — The reason writing pays well but drawing (a similarly creative discipline) doesn't is that there is greater demand for writing. And, crucially, a bigger gap between the number of peo...