The Pondering Absurdist

Some people have it, some people don’t. John Lennon had it (I often hear that song in my head, BTW)… but 50 years on, sadly his dream still hasn’t come to fruition. The Republican Party apparently doesn’t have it; they can’t seem to imagine a brighter future for America, instead choosing to live in the past, with all of the bigotry and hatred associated with it. But, I digress. That’s not what this post is about.

I’m talking about the ability to see things that aren’t really there. Some people’s brains just don’t seem to be wired that way, and some people’s brains are. All of my life my brain has fallen into the second category. As a child I would look at a patch of texturing on the painted wall of our house, and I would see shapes in the patterns that made me think of something else. I would see animals, faces, and other objects. I would look up at the clouds in the sky and imagine that big puff of white condensation being a giant bird flying through the sky. As I said, it has been this way all through my life. I have pointed out things to others who couldn’t see what I was talking about. Then there were others who could. Are you one of those people, like me, with a healthy imagination? Or is your brain wired differently, so that you focus more on logic than possibilities?

This an example from my job. Every day I open the AutoCAD program Civil 3D, and this captured image below is a small part of the splash screen that is displayed on my monitor. These are a couple of the default drawings that come with Civil 3D.

Does your imagination tell you anything from these images? Mine does for me. Every time I see the images, the green outline of the “Quantities-7” drawing reminds me of a kangaroo, or maybe a jack-rabbit. I know, it’s not an exact representation of one of those animals, but it provides me just enough impetus to imagine that it could be one. Do you also see that, or is it just a pattern of lines to you? That’s the kind of imagination that I’m referring to.

Now to the spark that started this post this morning. When I got up to start my day, I ended up in the kitchen to feed the cats and make some breakfast for myself. As I looked over at the cats’ water fountain (SO much better than “still” water for them), my imagination immediately took over. I took a photo of it to write this blog about it, and I will share it now, below.

Does anything jump out at you? Spark your imagination?

How about now? Anything?…

How about now?

Welcome to my life.

PA