Boredom

Back when I was a child in the 70s, I was so cute I do not remember ever complaining to anybody that I am bored. There was so much to do.

Here's some of what I did as a child:

Daily and on School days:

• bring down the chamber pots from the bedrooms to the restroom near the dirty kitchen. 
• fold the mosquito nets and fix the beds
• take the goats to a greener pasture in the neighborhood
• play with my brother and sisters
• make my homework 
• watch Flordeluna (a long running soap opera starring a nine year old Janice de Belen) at Itis' house on weekdays only at 6:00 o'clock for 30 minutes. She's Maritess but the neighborhood kids call her Itis. She's also my older sister's classmate.

Weekends and Summer Breaks:

• play hide and seek, making mud pies, and miniature mud furniture with my playmates that were mostly boys-- Nonoy, Ninirt (they're brothers of which Nonoy was older. Ninirt was my age.), Jojie (He's a relative.), and Jing-Jing (an older brother of Jojie).
• play house or play pretend as office working girls or fish vendors in the market with Ate Aimee (my big sister), Itis, Ivy and Bebie (They're sisters who lived next door.) 
• gather water from the water pump using plastic buckets and other plastic containers from in front of the house, to the kitchen . There was no running water in our house until I was in 3rd grade. 
• find birds' nests and find out of there are eggs in it
• gather guavas, star apples, santol a.k.a. cotton fruits, sineguelas from the neighbor's fruit trees
• go to my grand parents' house which is about 30 minutes away from the city
• play in the rain
• attend the month long Flores de Mayo 
• fly kites
• bathe the pigs. Actually, it's my brother's chore but I help him sometime so he can finish it right away, then we can play. 
• play war games using pretend guns or home made wooden guns with soda bottle caps as ammunitions
• play homemade slingshots
• my playmates and I annoy each other
• and more

Now, let's fast forward to when I had kids, I have heard them telling me,

"Ma, I'm bored!"

Wait... what?

Bored? 

That's one word I hate to hear. I heard them say that to me on school breaks on many occasions, or in the boy's case, when the big sister left the house for college.

I told him to make doodles as this is his most favorite thing to do other than reading spending time with his friends online.

I found this doodle while I was cleaning his room, and he did this years ago. It's unfinished though. 

He said, this doodle is not him, but his friend, Will. I think it looks like him.


This is one of a character he created for his comics.

I do not know exactly what he planned to draw on that flattened empty box, but somehow he needed a steel tape for this project.

I'll share Yna's doodles next time. Back to my children and their complains of boredom, I always answer them,

"Palihug ayaw ko ingna ana. Ayaw mo tig-reklamo ug gilaayan mo kay daghan pwedeng buhaton sa balay. Mang-limpyo. Mabubo sa mga tanum. Mag-wash sa car. Manglaba. Pwede pod mo mag-draw. Magbasa ug libro, o di ba mo tan-aw ug TV. Maminaw ug radyo. Naa poy daghang DVD diha nga pwede mo motan-aw! Find something to do." (Please don't tell me that. Don't complain that you're bored because there are so many things to do in the house. Clean. Water the plants. Wash the car. Do the laundry. You can also draw. Read a book, or maybe watch TV. Listen to the radio. There are also DVDs that you can watch. Find something to do!)

...and I'm not done talking yet. I can imagine the kids roll their eyes this time. If you think that what I did as a child were so colonial, this time I had to be more primitive. Hehehehe. 

"...pasalamat mo kay mapalit na ang butter sa grocery stores. Di na mo kinahanglan mo churn sa butter, or feed the chickens unya i-gather ang eggs kada buntag. Cure the bacon. Smoke our meat. Make our cheese ug ice cream. Maghaling aron makaluto ug mag-init ug pagkaon. Preserve our fruits ug mga vegetables. Spin wool para naa tay mga yarn. Get water from the well. Plow the fields. Fish! Magligo sa mga baboy. Unsa pa?" (You should both be thankful that butter is available in grocery stores now. You don't need to churn our butter, or feed the chickens, and gather their eggs. Cure the bacon. Smoke our meat. Make our cheese, and ice cream. Build fire to cook and reheat food. Preserve our fruits and vegetables. Spin wool so that we'll have yarns. Get water from the well. Plow the fields. Go fish! Bathe the pigs. What else?)

I even remember going to the market with our live-in house helper for meat and seafood on a daily basis because we didn't have a refrigerator until I was six years old. We didn't eat junk food. Eating a small pack of Chippy was a treat. It's a flavored corn chips. Watching Itis hugging a large pack whom her sister brought her from Manila seemed like they're rich. Normally, back then we gathered bananas and root crops, and then cook them too. Those were our choices of snacks or merienda. If not, we gather fruits from the yard or eat some from the next door's neighbor's harvest who would always share them with us. Eating bread, and chips were some of the things we wanted because it was rare. Now, eating fresh and organic seems rare because junk, frozen, and fast food is everywhere.

Looking back, it felt so complicated, and yet so simple. There were more work to do, but it was so much fun. These days, everything is made easy, and yet people still has something to complain. People complain of boredom. Interaction and socializing with one another is getting lesser and lesser, because it happens online now. 

Weeks ago after the young lady's weekend visit, the boy complained of being bored. He said there is nothing to do, and he missed his big sister. 

I felt sad for him, but the word bored irritated me more. 

Me: What bored?! Go clean your room! Ayaw ko ingna ana ha? Kahibaw baya ka nga hate nako ng moreklamo mo ug na bored mo. (Don't tell me that, ok? You know that I hate when you complain of being bored.)

...and his answer came a surprise to me. It doesn't sound like a boy anymore, but a young man.

The boy: Ma, boredom creates creativity! When you're bored you think of something else to do. 

Guess what, his being so bored lately has been an advantage. He's been creating animation. He doesn't have any special software for it, and just do with what he has. I have been encouraging him to save so he can buy the software soon.

This was made last year, and is from his old YouTube account.


This is pilot episode of his original series.


This is his recent work.

He doesn't know that I knew about his works. I really thought that what he's been doing in his room is just playing video games or chatting with friends. Sometimes, he tells me that he's doing a project, and it's not from school. I just didn't know he's making his own style of animations, and create original stories for it too. I am hopeful though of him being successful as the creator/animator of Tuna Melt Productions. He used to have a blog as a 12 year old middle schooler, but it's been over a year since he updated it. His blog is here. You can subscribe to his YouTube channel here. Just please don't tell him that I know about it, or else, I am toast.

So, would you really like to buy a butt while they're hot?

:)

I do not hate the word bored anymore. I don't love it, but I am starting to like it.

Until next time, and I heart you a latte for reading this post.