POST Posts: Enjoy Yourself, 2022

“Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think

Enjoy yourself, while you're still in the pink

The years go by, as quickly as you wink

Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it's later than you think.”

- Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think) by Carl Sigman and lyrics by Herb Magidson

Why does society like to mock people enjoying life?

If something positive gives somebody joy, and it doesn’t victimize, harm, humiliate, demonize, or endanger oneself or anybody else, and it’s relatively harmless and innocuous, why not enjoy yourself?

Everybody needs a hobby, a break from the bleak, depressing nature of the real world from time to time.

People enjoy creating things. Drawings, paintings, sculptures, stories, songs, and long-winded postings on social media. Creativity is a wonderful thing.

Some people like visual entertainment. Movies, TV shows, concerts, plays and musicals, sporting events, dance recitals, and professional wrestling (which combines all of those elements).

Me? I’m a fan of television. I like classic television, essentially the shows I grew up watching when I was younger. I wasn’t young for long, but then again, nobody is.

We’re adults longer than we’re kids, and even when we were kids, we were in a rush to grow up. As a result, sometimes, we tend to hold on to the things we enjoyed most at that age.

Like toys.

I don’t know what it was that irked me about a recent report talking about adults who buy toys for themselves. Whether it’s dolls, action figures, model kits, construction sets, or vehicles, grown-ups like toys. And why not? A lot of them are made of better material and have amazing sculpts and designs compared to the toys you played with as a kid.

Or at least compared to the toys you WANTED to play with as a kid.

Let’s face facts. A lot of us didn’t have access to funds to buy the things we wanted back when they originally came out. Either you had folks who didn’t have extra money to do things like that and wanted you to learn the value of a dollar, or they were some weird sticklers who thought you didn’t need that thing you wanted. I think that’s why kids who didn’t have money to just buy what they wanted looked forward to the holidays and birthdays.

Surely Santa would give you that Castle Grayskull set with a Battle Ram and a bunch of Masters of the Universe figures to have a great war in your bedroom. You couldn’t get the Eternia set because that couldn’t fit on Santa’s sleigh, but that didn’t bother you much.

Of course, now, if you’re lucky, you have a little extra change to buy what you want, and by some sheer twist of fate, Mattel has brought back the Masters of the Universe line for both a new generation of kids to enjoy as well as older fans of the original line who still have a love for those characters. Some are parents who want to share that love with their kids and families. Others, well, they’re buying those newer figures with greater sculpts now priced at a consumer level rather than a collector's level. You can go out and don’t have to wait for Santa to give you a Castle Grayskull, a Battle Ram, and a bunch of Masters of the Universe figures.

Eternia has to wait because that bugger is still pricey as hell.

I don’t understand the shaming of folks wanting to buy toys with their own money because they want to buy them for themselves. We don’t shame other folks for doing any similar purchases of things they enjoy.

Some buy model trains and build massive, well-engineered layouts. Some folks buy cars they’ll likely never drive. I’m not talking about Hot Wheels, Matchbox, or other toy cars, but actual automobiles. You don’t see people shaming folks with massive rooms filled with collectibles featuring their favorite sports teams and athletes.

One of my oldest friends online, a really good dude, collects weapons and other paraphernalia from World Wars I and II. It makes him happy, and he’s not hurting anybody.

And let’s talk about those folks who spend big money on virtual images that can’t be held, printed, or do much of anything. Or, better yet, don’t talk about them.

I’ll paraphrase what Sheryl Crow once sang. If it makes them happy, then why in the hell are you so mad?

Life is short stressful, chaotic, and maddening. So, why not take a little time to treat and enjoy yourself?

It’s later than you think.


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