100 Days of Wonder – #66
I attended a brilliant workshop today and my brain is full and I’m going to need some time to process the ideas discussed today. But it’s a happy full and I feel a bit like I did in that picture. It’s a silly selfie I took at Disneyland Paris but I felt like I was where I belonged in that moment. I thought I might feel out of place today. It’s been a minute since I did any real thinking about EU Law but it felt like I was where I belonged. It’s been a good day full of really hard brain work and lots of feminist and activist joy.
100 Days of Wonder – #62
Here’s the latest Lego build. We finished it today. Piglet looks pleased with it anyway. Most of our Lego is Disney or Starwars. It feels like we’ve been building Lego sets for as long as we’ve been going to Disney, it feels like they are somehow connected. But that’s not actually true. The first proper set we built was a Winnie-the-Pooh set that Kath bought us when we bought our flat in Birmingham. So we’ve only been doing this since 2021. I sometimes wonder if it would have helped me recover more quickly if I had discovered how calming and helpful it can be. Lego is great for headspace and for quieting a too busy brain and for me Disney adds another layer of happy place magic.
I like this build because it mixes old Disney with new Disney. It looks back but isn’t stuck in the past. It celebrates the new (er) without throwing out the classics. Yes, yes I know, it’s just Lego. My brain is very overthink-y today so obviously I’m reading everything into everything. And building this set as well as just chatting about the upcoming trip has made me think about the importance of being able to celebrate new things and embrace change but without just dismissing what came before. I guess the point is a similar one I made when writing about traditions previously. I think it’s about enjoying the familiar as a place from which to explore the new rather than being permanently stuck in the familiar.
100 Days of Wonder -#59
Did I tell you about the time I met Spider-Man? Probably not because I don’t really remember. In fact before scrolling through and finding this photo from September 2016 at Disneyland Paris during the race weekend I would have said I have never met Spider-Man.
This happens with running related things. I have enough of a hard time just putting one foot in front of the other and reminding myself that this stupid race over this stupid distance was something I wanted to do, that I have no bandwidth for remembering stuff that happens out there. But I do often remember little snippets of joy. And I think that’s why I like doing stupid long Disney distances and challenges because ‘I know every mile will be worth my while…’ no not that (sorry Hercules) – but you did sing it, didn’t you? Because there is joy and wonder to see everywhere. Some of it through the entertainment on course, Spider-Man with no queue for photos for example or the elaborate mile markers, the music, the people cheering, the other runners. There is joy everywhere early on and then it turns into a just getting it done vibe and then to one of wonder and maybe disbelief that we got this far and then to joy when that finish line is finally behind you. And somehow that is a good metaphor for all sorts including work. The excitement of a new project, the ‘hm a bit bored with this now but getting it done’ phase and the ‘will this never end’ bit before ‘yay, did it’. So that’s a long way round of saying, celebrate the yay I didn’t moments!
So anyway, I met Spider-Man.
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