Saturday, July 26, 2008

Having Fun...

is so rare in adult life, it seems to me. I think about the times I've thought of as "fun" and they often were actually moments of drunken high jinks or laughter at some contrived comic experience or sober enjoyment of some performance. None of your little-kid jubilantly leaping up in joy with arms stretched out, unselfconsciously and bodily taking pleasure in being part of an experience of creative passion. That's what FUN is----full scale pleasure in the moment without regret, without worry about how one looks or is perceived, without anxiety about consequences.

In looking back over the past two days, I can wholeheartedly say I have had two major, extended experiences of genuwine-article FUN, boys and girls!

Last night, Richard, Debbie and I practiced for an hour before we went over to Rockhoppers for the open mic, which was probably too much practice, because we didn't have the spontaneity we might have had. But that wasn't the fun part, though we did just fine.

The fun part came after our performance, when all the 15 or so musicians who had come to take part in the open mic got into the act and we put on a heck of a show together, just for ourselves and the one or two non-performers who showed up.

I morphed from my rather staid songstress persona into a rock and roll warbler, complete with the old bump and grind, making eyes at the guitarist, acting not-at-all like a Unitarian minister is supposed to act, and having a blast at it. There were no congregants lurking in the seats; I was not self-conscious, I was just living it up. For most of a couple of hours last night at Rockhoppers, we just got down with the tunes and the music and I had FUN, FUN, FUN!

Today was another experience of that type. There's a local group called Deja Blooz, and they were performing over in Langley for a couple of hours in a street concert. One member of the group had been at the open mic last night so I decided I'd go hear them this afternoon. This guy's wife is a good friend and during their performance, we were invited to "sing" with them on a couple of songs. Our part mostly consisted of chanting things like "mind your own bizness" or "la la la la" plus clapping and gesturing as appropriate. Again, no self-consciousness, just goofy fun.

Tonight I feel exhilarated by two truly joyous experiences of FUN!

Tomorrow I have to hustle over to preach at the Skagit Fellowship and then hustle back to do a wedding rehearsal at the Whidbey Institute for a wedding on Monday afternoon.

I got an unexpected refund of my Eliot tuition, so I went and spent it on books and a beautiful big sheepskin for the cats, which they have mostly ignored so far, but I will enjoy squinching my toes in it when I wake up tomorrow morning as it will also be my bedside rug.

3 comments:

Lizard Eater said...

IMHO, Fun is very, very important and we must have copious amounts of it.

I enjoyed watching your Rockhoppers performance, but after hearing your sultry voice (my voice can be described in many ways, but alas, sultry is not one), I propose that your next performance be in a long evening gown, sitting atop a grand piano.

C'mon, wouldn't that be fun??? :)

Staid Unitarian Universalist minister. Pffft.

Lilylou said...

It would be great fun just to go through the effort to get atop a grand piano while wearing a long evening gown. My tomboy days have not given me much in the way of those kinds of talents.

Sultry? Woowee, I am grateful for the compliment!

Hey, you need to bring your guitar out here one of these days and we'll really show them what for.

Mile High Pixie said...

Yay! to fun, Rev. Kit! We adults keep forgetting how important it is to have real fun. Now I've got to fix the speakers on my computer at home so I can hear your sultry voice!