remember having imagination?

[lucyinthesky]

My boyfriend and i were watching this kid play outside of our apartments, he was alone just running around with like 9 sticks in his arms clearly pretending he was some sort of ninja. He was throwing the sticks like a pro, and waving them around in the face of danger. I wondered what he was imagining he was fighting as he jumped up and kicked the air.

Whatever it was, my boyfriend and i knew we'd be sleeping safely that night.

I started missing the old days where i would pretend my bike was a racecar and my calculator was a cash register. ahh, the good ol' days.

[TrippinBTM]

I like to sit on my porch and read when it's mild enough, and with lots of kids on my street, I know just what you're talking about. They are pretty fun to watch with their imaginary wars and stuff (almost all boys on the street). And when they're alone, how they can just as easily invent a whole world and not be bored by it.

[LK1]

I used to turn a big cardboard box into a store and make my calculator my cash register (just like lucyinthesky) and then sell my toys to my parents for about 50cents a piece and make my parents buy them.... I would get the toys back off them after i had closed up shop and spend my days earnings at the little corner shop... haha

[ZePpeLinA]

i had a really vivid imagination when i was a kid, and i really miss those times! last summer i babysat a 6 year old girl, and she would make up the most random things and i play along all the time, but as an adult, you can't be a apart of their world, can you? it was still fun, it felt very liberating to be 'a child again' and play cowboys and chase each other pretending we had an infectious virus heheheheh...i also realised that i wasn't ashamed of being seen playing like a little kid, maybe if i were younger i would've...so it can only mean i'm not getting any younger !

[trippedelia]

after yeas of thinking it was 'manly' and 'strong' to hide away such thoughts, ive brought it back, even stronger than when i was a kid, and so now, im never bored.

[rg paddler]

I watched half of 'Braveheart' tonight,but had to leave for the nightshift at 10.30pm - as i cycled down the road - i imagined i was on a horse with a real sexy women wondering where i was as i plunged into battle.

well - theres a real sexy women who might be thinking - 'i hope that mad f**kwit doesn't call round tomorrow night'

[PoeticRomance]

I help watch the younger kids at my church on wensdays. I find myself fighting dragons and running after fairies with them.

Why do we ever have to stop? I think one of my most cherished moments with somone was walking down the beach pretending we were in a musical...Funny part? That was last year =P

[rg paddler]

too right.
had intercourse once and we ended up being the two crocodiles out of the budweiser commercial - both singing 'ooh la la say soul - come come on' - she was underneath laughing her socks off as we waddled across the floor

[PoeticRomance]

too right.
had intercourse once and we ended up being the two crocodiles out of the budweiser commercial - both singing 'ooh la la say soul - come come on' - she was underneath laughing her socks off as we waddled across the floor
Rock on! That made me laugh!

[TrippinBTM]

I used to turn a big cardboard box into a store and make my calculator my cash register (just like lucyinthesky) and then sell my toys to my parents for about 50cents a piece and make my parents buy them.... I would get the toys back off them after i had closed up shop and spend my days earnings at the little corner shop... haha
Oh man boxes were so fun! We'd make cutouts and tape shoeboxes and the like to the outside, so that we could have cupboards inside; we'd leave the cut-out flap connected on one side for the door. And if we could find more than one box, we'd connect them and have multiple rooms. Man, we'd spend hours in there, pretending it was a rocket ship, spybase, house, or whatever.

and I love how anything could be turned into a gun. Hockey stick, tree branch, anything vaguely shaped like one. My favorite was my dad's caulk guns, but don't tell him I was playing with his tools ;)

[Kinky Ramona]

I remember my grandma used to let me and my brother go wild in her kitchen. She'd let us mix all sorts of weird things together and she'd stick them in the oven. We had some pretty weird stuff concocted, but I usually ate it...lol. We also started a "club" with our next door neighbors because they were lucky and had an old camper and a boat in their backyard, so we had all sorts of adventures. But I think my favorite thing was pretending I was a scuba diver in our old pool. That was so fun.

I decided I'm going to avoid talking toys with my kids because they don't encourage imagination nearly enough. I remember I never really liked my talking toys because I had a better time talking to my dolls and imagining what they were saying back. I also plan on having lots and lots of boxes because those are the best!

[rg paddler]

yeah - i remember being small enough to climb into a cupboard full of blankets in the bathroom - it was like the labrynth in there except - it had a door with slits in it and one day i saw something i shouldn't have at that age (4 or 5 years) - cos they didn't know i was in there - oops

[themnax]

remeber? that's the only thing that make's us human. big part of what's wrong with the dominant culture is brainwashing people into throwing theirs away. if children were the only ones alowed to have any there'd be no art, or gardens, or much of a whole bunch of things worth living for. no wonder so many people go goofy or try to kill themselves.

without immagination we'd all just be drones, slaves, whatever idiology or anything else we payd lip service to.

=^^=
.../\...

[lucyinthesky]

I believe she's talking about the more childlike imagination... the whole... thing where you could be consumed in your own little reality... which is certainly stronger at a younger age...
thank you.

[fritz]

Certain books draw me back to that feeling of awe, & wonder from childhood.
I still have a fairly vivid imagination, but it's all cluttered up with adult crap now. :/

Yes, I miss it, it'd certainly make work a little lighter. :)

[alpharainbow]

I like to sit on my porch and read when it's mild enough, and with lots of kids on my street, I know just what you're talking about. They are pretty fun to watch with their imaginary wars and stuff (almost all boys on the street). And when they're alone, how they can just as easily invent a whole world and not be bored by it.either i am dirty minded, or that beautiful landscape has a naked chick posing as the water. either way, cool signature.

[Apples+Oranjes]

Oh my god, I could make an entire day of playing out scenes with Barbie and the rest of her gang, I was so imaginative.

Even more so, I used to like to play doctor a lot, and I would use those little keychain flash lights to look in my moms eyes, nose, and mouth... and I'd pretend to type on a keyboard when she "checked-in" and everything... it was amazing.

And haha, instead of pretending my bike was a race car I always just pretended it was a regular car, and I would go to the "Store" and park it in my driveway and pretend it was a parking lot...and all sorts of good stuff.

I'm pretty sure all children are the BEST mimes ever... they can just act all this shit out, without even having props.

[lucyinthesky]

Even more so, I used to like to play doctor a lot, and I would use those little keychain flash lights to look in my moms eyes, nose, and mouth... and I'd pretend to type on a keyboard when she "checked-in" and everything... it was amazing.
oh man i used to do this too except i used to also use these really big books as sliding windows like in a dr's office. Oh man! i also used to play 'video rental place' and have my grandma call me and tell me what videos she wanted on hold. I did this playing 'vet' too.


And haha, instead of pretending my bike was a race car I always just pretended it was a regular car, and I would go to the "Store" and park it in my driveway and pretend it was a parking lot...and all sorts of good stuff.


lol oh man i totally shit when i read this. i did the exact same thing. I would even push my mini shopping cart full of groceries from the garage all the way to my 'car' and put whatever plastic groceries i had in there in my little basket at the handles and then i would slide my cart under my dads truck as if it were one of those cart holder things in the parking lots.

god we were sweet.

[sugrmag]

The neighbor hood kids and I used to pretend that these "bad people" were spying on us. Every time a little personal plane flew overhead, the same car drove down the road, it was another spy. We had little notebooks and kept track of all the incidents.

[alpharainbow]

The neighbor hood kids and I used to pretend that these "bad people" were spying on us. Every time a little personal plane flew overhead, the same car drove down the road, it was another spy. We had little notebooks and kept track of all the incidents.hahahahhah, awww, so adorable!
i used to play with barbies like mad. id make up all kinds of different senarios.
most of the time id play with them in the bathtub. i loved getting their hair wet for some reason. i also loved dressing them up and then having a G.I. Joe rob them or something. i dont remember much details, but i remember always being entertained.

[trippedelia]

i like climbing trees

[Nalencer]

I can't believe I've not gotten in on this thread yet. I've been following it. This is exactly what i was talking about in another thread in here awhile ago.

Anyway, when I was a kid, I remember me and my litle sister would play together all the time. We'd act out scenes from videos, dress up as Batman and Robin, Robin Hood, characters from the Hobbit, explore caves, fight "bad guys", build traps out of piles or logs by piling them all against a railroad tie so they'd fall when we used a rope to pull the tie out... good times. Oh and of course cowboys too. That was just about the end of our imaginitive period. Nothing much came after cowboys. It's sad :(

[hippietoad]

Yup, I remember using my imagination to be amused instead

of having to entertained like the kids of today are. In the
60's and 70's, it didn't seem like we (meaning friends and myself)
had all the toys and games like are available today.
My Mom would by me construction paper and other craft
making items and I would spend hours creating.
I'd unwrap my crayons and lay them out on the hot
summer sidewalk in kewl patterns. They were so
purdy once melted. But my best memory is
just laying back in the yard and watching
the clouds go by. Ahhhhhh the imagination rules !

[Apples+Oranjes]

oh man i used to do this too except i used to also use these really big books as sliding windows like in a dr's office. Oh man! i also used to play 'video rental place' and have my grandma call me and tell me what videos she wanted on hold. I did this playing 'vet' too.




lol oh man i totally shit when i read this. i did the exact same thing. I would even push my mini shopping cart full of groceries from the garage all the way to my 'car' and put whatever plastic groceries i had in there in my little basket at the handles and then i would slide my cart under my dads truck as if it were one of those cart holder things in the parking lots.

god we were sweet.Ahaha yes!

Another totally awesome thing I played was Miss "Travel Agent" and my office consisted of my toybox as a desk, one of those big calculators as my computer keyboard, and a calander to help schedule flight dates...lmao. I made my own brochures for the trips, and "sold" luggage as well [backpacks, duffle bags, and my little barbie suitcase]

And most often while I played this, I wore a big old blazer jacket that my mom had in the basement for me to play dress up with, and these huuuuge awkward red framed glasses with no lenses.....


Man, I was BORN a geek.

And along with the grocery shopping thing, I'd have to say the fake toy foods I had were probably my favorite toys ever. I prepared gourmet plastic meals for my parents almost daily.

[lucyinthesky]

Ahaha yes!

Another totally awesome thing I played was Miss "Travel Agent" and my office consisted of my toybox as a desk, one of those big calculators as my computer keyboard, and a calander to help schedule flight dates...lmao. I made my own brochures for the trips, and "sold" luggage as well [backpacks, duffle bags, and my little barbie suitcase]

And most often while I played this, I wore a big old blazer jacket that my mom had in the basement for me to play dress up with, and these huuuuge awkward red framed glasses with no lenses.....


Man, I was BORN a geek.

And along with the grocery shopping thing, I'd have to say the fake toy foods I had were probably my favorite toys ever. I prepared gourmet plastic meals for my parents almost daily.

lol plastic foods were the BEST!!!

I used to be a die hard "school" player too since i was probably 2 or 3.... it got to the point that my mom used to pack me a lunch, dress me in this plaid smock & red baseball cap (my school uniform), packed me a REAL lunch and she set up boxes in the front hall as desks. My older sister eventually made a super huge sign that said "SCHOOL" and hung it on the wall of the hallway. It was fucking amazing, i wish i was at home where i could scan the pictures of me. It's too cute for words.

[themnax]

I believe she's talking about the more childlike imagination... the whole... thing where you could be consumed in your own little reality... which is certainly stronger at a younger age...

yes i am awaire of that. i am also however pointing out that by doing so she, and the majority of the backward headed culture i am surround by, miss the whole point of what immagination is. and how wrong wrong wrong, harmful, backwardheaded and destructive it is, to consign real immagination and the use of it like that, exclusively to childhood.

this is one of america's innermost core values that is so totaly screwed up and resaulting in screwing everything else up in the proccess.

this whole notion that it is "adult" to suppress your immagination and persue gratification in arbitrary bullshit that lines someone's pocket while gratifying little or nothing, instead of persuing the real gratifications of creating and exploring, just like we did as children.

the universe hasn't gotten any smaller or less mysterious to explore just because a few years have passed in our lives and we've learned and experienced a few things.

i'm sorry but i DON'T see this subconscious linking of immagination with 'nonadulthood' as being all that 'innocent' or harmless. it's really right at the very heart/core of lived by priorities that create a market for interests that put economic and other forms of fanatacism ahead of the kind of world we all have to live in.

=^^=
.../\...

[angelle]

my sister and i used to make radio shows and tape ourselves interviewing guests.. we'd even try to get phone in parts done by our friends. haha then we'd retire to the club house of old crates in the secret part of the garage. i was a tiny kid, so i could crawl right through them. then we'd brew up magic tea from pine needles & berries around the yard and pretend we were being chased by one of the crazy guys from the old police academy movies. hahaha priceless. and bathtime was always fun for me cause i'd invite my imaginary friends along.. sometimes archie comics crew would visit. and does anyone remember Highlights magazine? i'd read those all day and make their crafts... then do the excersizes with my mom at night... "pretend you are an elepahnt whos reaching high up into the trees with your long trunk" haha

my imagination's still going strong in me.. it's just rare i find someone who likes to play along with my shenanigans very often. i like this thread.. it warmed my heart.

[Apples+Oranjes]

lol plastic foods were the BEST!!!

I used to be a die hard "school" player too since i was probably 2 or 3.... it got to the point that my mom used to pack me a lunch, dress me in this plaid smock & red baseball cap (my school uniform), packed me a REAL lunch and she set up boxes in the front hall as desks. My older sister eventually made a super huge sign that said "SCHOOL" and hung it on the wall of the hallway. It was fucking amazing, i wish i was at home where i could scan the pictures of me. It's too cute for words.Haha see I was never fond of being a student, but I liked playing teacher. I didn't have siblings my age [my brother is 10 years older than I am] so instead I either played with my mom, or I lined up my stuffed animals... We had a typewriter at my old house that my mom taught me how to use whenI was really little and I liked typing up "work sheets" for the class and actually passing them out to each "kid" [stuffed animals]... then, I would proceed to fill out each individual sheet in different handwriting so it looked like all the kids filled them out themselves, and then i would have them turn their papers in and I would correct all of them in red marker--- and yes, sometimes I purposely had them answer questions wrong. I'm pretty sure I always let my favorite plush animal get the A in class lol. I also had a ton of books as a kid, so we had reading class as well and all the kids had to choose the book they were going to read and do a report on, and when they chose it, I wrote their namesin the inside cover of the book... So, now I have like a hundred childrens books in storage with all sorts of random names in the covers hahaha!

I especially liked being "teacher" when I was like 8 years old and taking a summer school spanish class... I would come home straight from summer school and sit my mom down and teach her all sorts of spanish. She really didn't seem to absorb it lol

With that said, I must sound like a real loser having fully entertained myself with just a row of stuffed toys, but I assure you it didn't bother me a bit ;) In fact, sometimes I got irritated playing with the neighborhood kids because they just didn't do things the way I liked to LOL. And they always wanted to play "house" and I always got stuck being something lame, like the baby or the cat or something. Secretly they probably hated me.

[lucyinthesky]

yes i am awaire of that. i am also however pointing out that by doing so she, and the majority of the backward headed culture i am surround by, miss the whole point of what immagination is. and how wrong wrong wrong, harmful, backwardheaded and destructive it is, to consign real immagination and the use of it like that, exclusively to childhood.

this is one of america's innermost core values that is so totaly screwed up and resaulting in screwing everything else up in the proccess.

this whole notion that it is "adult" to suppress your immagination and persue gratification in arbitrary bullshit that lines someone's pocket while gratifying little or nothing, instead of persuing the real gratifications of creating and exploring, just like we did as children.

the universe hasn't gotten any smaller or less mysterious to explore just because a few years have passed in our lives and we've learned and experienced a few things.

i'm sorry but i DON'T see this subconscious linking of immagination with 'nonadulthood' as being all that 'innocent' or harmless. it's really right at the very heart/core of lived by priorities that create a market for interests that put economic and other forms of fanatacism ahead of the kind of world we all have to live in.

=^^=
.../\...

calm down please.

That's what i was getting at. Don't tell me i'm backward headed and all your fat talk. Read the post again. I'm not saying we CAN'T have imagination because we're adults i'm saying exactly what insane jester got out of it.

but thanks for blowing it completely out of proportion and taking the fun out of the thread. http://www.hipforums.com/forums/images/icons/newicons/icon14.gif

[Kinky Ramona]

*throws up a sheet over this thread and pretends it's a fort in desperation to save the fun*

[themnax]

*throws up a sheet over this thread and pretends it's a fort in desperation to save the fun*

i'm not against having fun. i'm only against what prevents everyone from doing so. my intent wasn't to dampen anyone else's. please forgive me if have.

by all means, lets play and immagine NOW. that was my whole point really.

(and i'm sorry but i honestly feel i was NOT blowing ANYTHING "out of proportion")

=^^=
.../\...

[Apples+Oranjes]

hahahha someone always has to take a thread and make it a topic of debate, even if it's not *really* a debateable matter...

I don't see how you could mistake this thread for anything BESIDES fun.

[ImpendingSunShine]

Exactly my thoughts...
I still faintly remember how lifelike all of the 'badguys' whose ass I kicked were...
It's ashame society forces us to lose that inner connection with ourselves...Fight the power! You can regain that connection..its not too late!

[ImpendingSunShine]

Back when I was a child I didnt have many people to play with..mom and dad were always busy or not in the mood..my brother hated me..
I didnt have that much of a fun childhood..but it made me stronger..and more independent.
I used to create my own little world as well..unfortunately it was often a quite frightening one!
*wishes he could go back in time to do re-do his childhood*
I grew up 2 quick..

[prismatism]

one of my best friends and i acted out the entire trial scene in alice in wonderland with stuffed animals as the jury, a doll as alice and a doll as the queen, a little stuffed bear or something as the king, a stuffed rabbit, and a deck of cards. last winter.

my boyfriend and i had a funeral for a dragon. his coffin was a hot pocket rapper, and a thumbtack was his flowers. this was last winter too.

my boyfriend and i sometimes play with my pink lovealot carebear and purple unicorn. they'll say something to eachother, and then they'll start beating eachother up. it's fun.

i play dress up with my sister (she's 12). i pretend all sorts of things. i pretend i'm a man who is a proffesor when i write (i'm writing all whole book as him). i pretend i'm a little bug when i play in the sand. but i could play more :). if i could just find someone to play with.

there's this little girl named molly, she can barely talk but she's the funnest person i know. when we play with toys we go into this world where i don't hear any sounds other than what the stuffed animals are saying, i don't notice anything going on around me, i understand her completely even though she's barely saying anything. she does this thing where she'll make her hands like a gun, and say "Put yer hands up!" and you'll have to stick your hands in the air, and she shoots you, and you have to fall down dead. when you get up, you have to shoot her, and she falls down dead. we can go between that and stuffed animals for an hour straight.

her friend luther and her and i all live in a castle, but sometimes we have to hide from the monsters. we throw the blanket over ourselves and go "shh! shh! shh!" until one of us goes "RAAAAAAAAWWRRRR!!!" and then we all scream and wiggle around :).

when i was little i played mostly with my little ponies and littlest petshop toys. and i played in the woods a lot, pretending there were goblins and monsters all around me. actually, i still do that.

my friend and i would pretend that every time you stepped on a tile on the floor at school, it would sink, so you had to keep walking so you didn't fall, and you could only step on one at a time.

when i'm by myself, i pretend to be other people. if i'm cooking, i'm a french chef who is absolutely disgusted by the condition of the kitchen and the food i'm preparing. if i see a flower, i talk to it.

imagination is amazing :). there's no reason not to imagine every second of the day.

"you're sorta stuck where you are, but in your dreams you can buy expensive cars, or live on mars and have it your way. and you hate your boss at your job, but in your dreams you can blow his head off. in your dreams, show no mercy. and all your bad days will end" - Bad Days by The Flaming Lips

[themnax]

hahahha someone always has to take a thread and make it a topic of debate, even if it's not *really* a debateable matter...

I don't see how you could mistake this thread for anything BESIDES fun.

the FUN is in having and using your immagination NOW. not treating children, and your own rose colored hindsight, like some kind of cute funny little aliens. and not throwing it out with the bath water, except to relive as memories, on the pretense that it is somehow dignified, expected and 'adult' to do so.

i remember having an immagination. i remember refusing to throw it out with the bath water, and i remember still having one now.

=^^=
.../\...

[Maz]

thats the thing with imagination. It something connected with your earliest memories and you remember all this stuff when you were a young human being that totally reminds you who you are. seeing the concept trashed in the adult world and not managing to seperate from it I want to get more imaginative as an adult and see what the reaction of other adults is around me. So far... negativity would you believe! Mazz

[prismatism]

i was babysitting yesterday and they were playing pirates, and i was trying so hard to get back into their world... it's really hard to get into the flow of the story.

i can do alright with games, like "you two are evil and we're good", and i can play with toys... it's just hard for me to lose my identity and become another person in another world, unless i'm by myself.

i'm going to study imagination the way most people study world history :). i'll get it back!

i have this book from the 30's filled with art by little kids, with explanations of what they mean as told by the kids. it is absolutely amazing. it makes me want to make my ego walk the plank... so badly.

[ayahuasca]

the first thing that came to mind when i read this thread, was playing Lion King with my babysitter in the forest by my old house. i always wanted to be Simba, and she was usually Nala. it was so much fun, we would crawl around, and make lion noises, and 'catch' our food. ohh, what fun times. i wonder what's stopping me from doing that now? i guess it's because of the social consequences that i would have to put up with? lame.

[erzebet1961]

I miss pretending that the barn was my castle..and that my morgan-quarter horse was a beautiful black stallion!!