As a child, I felt as if I spent a majority of my time playing. With little homework to do and siblings older and younger there seemed to be no end to the imaginary escapes we would go through. What's more, two girls next door indulged with us on our eventful chases and dramatic fights. Playtime was a period of time in the afternoon when the sun would fall from its peak and slowly make its decent until it was time for dinner. Each afternoon consisted of a new adventure and a new tale to tell. 

When I think about the nature of my play as a child, I immediatley think about "my park." I grew up living next door to a playground with an open field, various play structures, a gazebo, and a crumbling retaining wall that functioned as a rock gym. For me and my friends, it was our neighborhood paradise, and I was particulary possesive of it because it was practically my front and back yard. When we were toddlers, we played in the park whenever we weren't napping. Through the years, I remember entertaining ourselves with various activities in that space, including gymnastics, pretend store, rock climbing, soccer, trail blazing, flower crown making, rolling down hills, sledding, calvinball, tree climbing, and pretend pirate ship.

 To me I think "playing" is when you're doing something that is fun to you with people who you are truly comfortable with. All throughout my childhood, I've loved playing tag, me and a bunch of my friends would always play tag during recess or lunch breaks. I also think playing should be something physically active, not playing computer games or board games, but running around on a playground or field. I remember playing tag or running around during recess would always leave me with this satisfying but exhausting feeling to want to play more. 

My childhood experience of play ranged from having fun by myself to playing with a group of friends. When I was younger I would often play alone at my grandmother's house with just a few toys and my imagination. Sometimes I would also play games with my brother as we would go to the park often. We would play games like hide and seek and tag. As I got older and started to go to school I would play tag with my friends or other group games like Duck Duck Goose and London Bridge is Falling Down during recess. During gym I would also play games in which there were fun races but I ended up with many scrapes on my knees many times. I would also have play dates with friends or be invited to a birthday party in which we would play ball or watch television.

My dad likes to tell me the story of my first baby doll whenever we're talking about my childhood. He was in college taking a child development course and they were discussing how by giving girl's dolls we were forcibly shaping them into motherhood. So at my first my dad worried that he was negatively effecting my development, but he would contest that when I was first given a doll I latched onto her. That was my baby and no one could take her away from me. I liked teddy bears and stuffed animals but dolls were my favorite toys especially baby dolls. My favorite games were mommy and school where I would pretend that I was either the mom of my twenty or so dolls and stuffed animals or I was the teacher.

When you are a you have the best job ever- to have fun and grow, but as you get older you realize with age comes responsibiliy and this is sometimes where the fun stops. The fun stops not because you want it to, but becuase you don't have time for it. My idea of fun growing up was playing with my two brothers outside. We would ride our bikes, go to the park to swing- I really love to swing. I loved it when my dad had to push me becuase I didn't know how to do it myself. I would watch my brothers and his friends play basketball and try to join, but I was no good. I often times would sit in the house, and play with my dolls, give them make over, which involved cutting their hair, and painting on lipstick. This was before i realized fantasy from realilty.

As a child, I tended to actively avoid all traditional forms of play. I was too shy to seek out other kids to play with and too unathletic to get involved with sports. So, most of the time, when given time to play, I would choose to read. Sometimes I would draw or just think, but no matter what, other people were always an interruption of my play, instead of being involved in it. I had a few friends, but given the choice between going outside and playing game with them, or staying in and reading a book, I would almost always choose to read. On top of that, my memory is generally pretty bad. I'm sure there were times when I played with other kids, probably acting out made-up scenarios or playing tag or hide-and-seek.

“I don’t know what to write about” - A

“You could write about that” - N

I really just didn’t know what to write about today. I sit here writing and I am aware that I’m sort of forcing myself to dig through a list of potential things I could write about but nothing that I have to or want to talk about. I don’t want to force any connection making especially in this class where we’re asked to really represent our true selves.

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Link: http://lilbub.com/bigfund 

Lil Bub's Big Fund for APSCA

Lil Bub is a famous Internet cat with physical disabilities. She has osteopetrosis, making her bones denser than typical, she has extra toes on each of her paws, and she has an under-delveloped lower jaw, causing her tounge to hang out of her mouth in a really cute fashion.