The Creative Curse

I have a creative mind. I’ve grown to understand that fact and embrace it as I’ve gotten older. Perhaps the word “curse” is wrong. Maybe I should use “blessing”—but then “The Creative Blessing” doesn’t sound as cool.

For whatever reason, as I live and observe the world around me, ideas pop into my head. Often they are “Why are things this way?” or “What if…” To that end, my mind seems to dwell on these thoughts to the point where I’m driven to do something to express this creativity.

Here’s an example from last night: I was sitting on the couch with my daughter Emily. We were doing something called Family Home Evening. It’s a time on Monday nights when we get together as a family and do various activities. On the couch next to me was a stuffed animal known in our household as “Bear Bear.” (It’s a name my youngest daughter Stephanie gave him.)

I was goofing around with Bear Bear, pretending he was peeking at Emily from behind different things like pillows and her leg and shoulder. Then the idea came to me: What if Bear Bear were to slowly come out from behind a hiding place to the theme of 2001: A Space Odyssey?

So, after Family Home Evening was done, with the help from Emily and Stephanie, we recorded some video of Bear Bear doing just that. I added the music later. When I uploaded it to YouTube, I realized the video was turned on its side, but I don’t have the software to change that. And for some reason, I liked it better this way.

In the end, this was the result:

I think it’s funny. I don’t know why, but I just do.

Of course, most of the time, flex my creative muscles by writing books and story stories. Yet every once in a while, I’ll create weird graphics or images that I find funny, even if no one else does.

Here’s an example:

I am severely allergic to cats. I don’t like them. Thankfully, neither does my wife. To that end, I decided to have a little fun at their expense. I came up with the idea of “Cat is not amused.” It’s a serious of jokes told from Dog to Cat in a tormenting sort of way. (Note! I do not condone cruelty to animals! Not even cats!)

Here’s an example of one of these “Cat is not amused” jokes:

To see all of them, click here.

Some people would say I’m wasting my time in doing this. To that I answer, “Yeah? Try living in my head for a while and then tell me that.”