Weird things to do when you're housebound

You might have heard that the weather's been lousy here (for lousy read: COLD), and I tend to avoid going outside when that happens.

You would too, if going outside made you feel as rotten as it does me.

Erm, or something. Was that English?

Anyway, this past weekend's avoiding going outside meant that I stayed a little longer than usual at my father's place (honestly? If I didn't have to work today I'd probably still be there), and that in turn meant that I had an extra day away from my stuff.

I miss my stuff when I don't have it. Not that I'm possession-bound, really; it's just that at least when I have my stuff I always have something to do. I can read, knit, read, do word games, read, watch silly British comedy on DVD, read, maybe read a little... you get the idea. When I don't have my stuff, however, I have to find other ways to entertain myself.

Not so easy when you have as short an attention span as I do.

The weekend consisted of playing silly flash games on the computer, playing a few carols on the piano (yes, I actually sat down at the piano. I've been so negligent about practising that I'm surprised my fingers even remembered what order the keys are in), watching mindless nothing (and the Antiques Roadshow. Good version, not lame imitators) on television, and... um... playing with the thing in the photo.

I should explain, I guess.

Back when I was still teaching voice lessons I found myself in need of a straightedge at the piano, and I picked up that cheap plastic spirograph rip-off you see there at a dollar store on a whim. It occurred to me on the weekend that I'd never actually used the thing (other than as a straightedge, I mean), so out of boredom I decided to give it a whirl.

Pretty decent for a cheapy, all things considered. The resulting patterns are tiny, but they definitely brought back childhood spirographing memories.

Man, I loved my spirograph.

Not surprising that a pattern nut like me would have a thing for the spirograph, I suppose, but there was something almost hypnotic about moving around the gear-within-a-gear once you got the hang of it. Of course, there was also the frustration of almost finishing a perfect go-round and then having the pen slip or the pins come loose or... any number of other disasters. If you got past all of that, though, the resulting pictures could be amazingly beautiful.

Ok, so I thought they were beautiful.

And shut up, world. Don't make me go on about the eye of the beholder here.

Maybe you should all just go and play spirograph the easy way for a while. If nothing else, it'll kill some time on a cold day.

There are worse things to do when you're housebound.