It turns out that the well-worn adage* about Jack’s play-deprived dullness is actually true for me. Not averse to hard work in the least, I do find that I require periods of respite from work in order to re-charge my batteries, so to speak, and my various hobbies and avocations generally provide what I need, and help to keep my life rich and full and interesting. Though the dynamic has changed for me since retirement, I still have plenty of work to do–volunteer work in my church and community, for example, along with the work/chores of home and property maintenance, some of which (fixing things around the house) I love, and some of which (yard work of almost any sort) I merely tolerate and endure with hope of “playtime” not far off.
Making things, generally speaking, comprises most of my quality play time. Crafting useful things from wood is a particularly satisfying way to spend part of a day. The use of both hand-tools and power-tools for shaping wood, making joinery, creating beautiful surfaces, shapes, proportions, and finishes–all of these things are pleasing to me. There is immense satisfaction in producing a piece of furniture (or a small box, or a wooden tool for my wife’s weaving hobby) from a stack of boards of various species and dimensions.
Making a working electronic thing, either from scratch (designing, selecting components, physically assembling the parts together, operating the device) or by repairing a broken or otherwise non-functional electronic thing can keep me happily busy for hours on end. I love to make radio projects (I’m a licensed radio amateur, which involves some playtime of its own), or musical signal-processing circuits, or projects that involve programming microcontrollers to interact with the real world of sensors, motors, and more. I am particularly fond of troubleshooting non-working electronic things and helping them to function properly again.
Other forms of making are equally important forms of play for me: I try to spend some portion of each and every day writing, for example, or sketching abstract, scribbly things that have shapes and patterns that please me. The physics of pen and ink and paper, the act of hand-writing, lettering, drawing with a variety of pens and inks–and I am always engaged in a search for a better pen and a better handwriting experience–these things please me and definitely constitute “play” for our discussion here.
Among my favorite playthings is my 3D printer, which, through the use of software and programming code for creating three-dimensional shapes, allows me to imagine a thing and make the thing. While there are hundreds of thousands of pre-designed models available online for downloading and printing, I derive the most play-pleasure from conceiving of an object, or a part for some other project, and then designing it in software, and printing it in the real world.
When I am engaged with one of the many avocations that captivate my interests (I’ve only mentioned some of them) I am, in part, distracted from whatever work I may be seeking respite from, but I have come to believe that even a brief escape to pursue some of the craft-skills I have acquired over many decades also allows my mind to process in the background (so to speak) and occasionally helps me see some work problem a bit more clearly when I return to it.
My play choices may often be unrelated to relaxing, and may include walking outdoors, bike-riding, fishing, or other outdoor activities. Watching sports (live and in-person or on television) also makes it onto my chosen list of play activities. And in addition to all of the play described above are the board games, card games, device-based games, puzzles of various types, including crossword puzzles and others.
The ratio of work time to play time has shifted a bit since I became a retired person–not as drastically as one might assume, but there’s been a shift. (I realize this is a privilege and it is one that I do not take for granted.)
That’s all I have to say at the moment–I believe I my wood shop is calling my name…
*”All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” The following citation for this old proverb appears in WikiPedia.com: Howell, James (1659). Paroimiographia. Proverbs, or, old Sayed Sawes & Adages in English (or the Saxon Toung) Italian, French and Spanish whereunto the British, for their great antiquity and weight are added. London: Samuel Thomson. It is found on page 12 of the section titled Proverbs, or Old Sayed-Sawes, and Adages in the English Toung. Howell’s Proverbs is bound with Howell’s Lexicon Tetraglotton (1660).
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(Posted in response to 1/2/2024 prompt)
doug heacock: words 