But by what criteria is one thing determined to be fun and another relegated to the dungeon called "work?" Could it not be fun, for instance, to build a house, or to write a book, or (God forbid) to raise children? What government agency determines that one activity is fun and the other isn't?
How about solving Math problems? Once in a college trigonometry class I learned how the Greeks used sundials and the length of their own feet to determine the diameter of the earth. I'm sorry, but I really had fun learning that. Recently I learned how to use basic Calculus to determine the escape velocity of a rocket leaving Earth. Bless me father, I have sinned. I confess that I actually enjoyed solving that problem.
The general definition for "fun" seems to involve losing the ability to think. When you are out of your mind, when you have given up self-awareness, when you are laughing and dancing, and not at all cognizant of any of life's more "serious" aspects, that is considered fun. Anything requiring intensity, or thought, or self consciousness seems to be the opposite of fun.
To me, everything is fun. Even when I'm sad I'm having fun. It feels good to be depressed, right? You're never so deep, never so complete, never so centered within your own being, than you are when you're sad. That's why great art comes from great suffering. That's why as soon as artists, writers, and musicians become successful and wealthy, their craft disappears.
I've really been getting into thinking lately. Thinking is great fun. You reach inside and you generate a thought. You build on that thought, and generate another. Soon, you find yourself creating whole patterns of ideas and concepts. I spent the greater portion of my life subverting myown ability to think. It was a lot of work. Expensive, too. Now my mind is making up for all that lost time.
So celebrate the darkening of the light. Put on some sad music, tell your shrink to shove it, and enjoy those winter blues. Think a thought.Trust me, it only hurts the first time. After that it just keeps getting funner and funner.