How to Never Be Bored Again: Embrace the Joy of Being Quirky

Raise Your Hand if You Never Want to Be Bored Again! I will be the first to raise my hand and admit to being more than just a little bit quirky.

I wonder if you will be surprised to hear it is that very quirky nature of mine that keeps me from ever being bored.

I’m not overly fond of being called “weird” or “nut job” or “strange” but quirky, charming, unique – these I will take.

Being this way means I am attracted to some rather unusual subjects which usually boil over into one or more of my creative projects. Here’s what I mean:

I love finding strange, beat-up and not entirely legible signs along the roadside that point to either something that no longer exists or something that is an eraser smudge of what it used to be. Since I live in Bakersfield, California, the majority of such signs are right here within the range of my normal, everyday activities.

Today one of my activities was dropping sixteen-year-old Emma off for her final performance of “Les Miserable” at a high school far from home. I have become rather expert in the drive and usually take it from one of three ways, specifically so I can see more and also so I get less bored.

This Quirky Pig was once the Logo for the Kern Valley Packing Company, since 1915! I had been having a happy celebration in my mind when I started thinking of the photo challenge I am currently participating in called AugustBreak13. I was thinking, “Sound, I need to find something related to sound,” when out of the corner of my right eye I saw… this pig, up in the air.

Given my unconventional leanings, this meant I had to take a short detour to come to know this sign better. The back of the sign, the one which faces sweet, gentle sunrise versus tired, cranky late afternoon into sunset, told more of the story:

The Eastern Facing Side of Quirky Pig was much easier to read....

Over the past few months I have found these signs fascinating:

In Oildale, I noticed an old ice cream joint:

Another find on my way to and from Emma’s rehearsal and straight out of the grapes of wrath:

This treasure is easily missed... the Kern Motor Inn... South Union in Bakersfield And finally, there are my beloved shopping carts. Since I discovered a shopping cart library last Spring on the way to my daughter’s school last Spring, I’ve been addicted. Last night I found a lonely shopping cart from the Tractor Supply Store – you can’t get much more Bakersfield than that – I Never Stage My Shopping Cart Photos - it is as if they pose and wait for my attention.

and I could swear I could hear it humming country and western music as I snapped photos of it.

Here’s a challenge, a dare perhaps – for you. You see, I don’t understand when people say they are bored or that the places they find themselves are boring. I don’t live in a space of that ever being a possibility.

Allow yourself to join me in the consciously lived space of, “Oh, that’s interesting…” which yes, I actually say aloud.

Instead of talking yourself into being bored by saying, “I am bored” or “This is boring” talk yourself into making your life a daily treasure hunt for quirky, oddly wonderful things that catch your attention. You know those things that make you smile and you don’t know why they do?

Become even more aware of those and get to know how easy it is to eliminate the whiny “I am bored” persona from your life.

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