The Skipping Revolution Is Nigh.

[rionaleonhart]

As I wander further into the strange and unsettling world of Being An Adult, I find one thing that really annoys me is arbitrary age limits: there's no law against some things, they're entirely harmless, there's no real reason not to do them, but if you're above a certain age you're aware that society will judge you for them.

For example: why should I get weird looks if I want to climb a tree? It's not harming anyone. I won't always be physically capable of climbing a tree, so why shouldn't I enjoy it for as long as I can? Similarly, if there's a grassy space, I want the right to run with wild abandon across it without hearing the collective tut of people who think my behaviour undignified.

There are extremely well-crafted television programmes and books and films that are dismissed as being 'for children', and even children's works that aren't particularly well-crafted may scratch a particular itch. Why shouldn't adults be able to enjoy them as well? It was a sad day when I wandered into a library and realised I couldn't go straight to the children's section without being considered odd.

Some people seem to feel that fandom should be a space exclusively for people under twenty-five. Why? There is literally no reason for fandom to be an age-restricted hobby. If I'm still interested in fandom a decade from now, why shouldn't I still be involved in it? There's no age at which people need to stop having fun.

Skipping down the street becomes socially unacceptable approximately when you hit puberty, but why? It's faster than walking, and I imagine it's better exercise. It makes perfect sense as a method of locomotion. If the government want to improve the health of the population, I think they should kick off a campaign to make skipping socially acceptable. It sounds daft, yes, but I genuinely think it would be a good idea. Part of the problem with getting people to exercise is the fact that so many forms of exercise require specialist equipment, but here's a form that's more energetic than walking and can be done anywhere. Or could be, if it weren't for the burning eyes of society on the back of your postpubescent neck.

Of late, I've been going out and reading in a tree when the weather is nice, and if you have a tree, the ability to climb it and reading material handy I would encourage you to do the same. It's a lovely way to spend a couple of hours, and nobody has any real grounds on which to disapprove. I haven't yet worked up the nerve to skip to the shops, though. GOVERNMENT, SORT IT OUT.

Comments

[dracothelizard.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, are these the first signs of a mid-life crisis?

Tree-reading sounds excellent.

[rionaleonhart]

...I certainly hope I'm not in mid-life yet. Quarter-life, let's say. I've hit the rather disconcerting age at which you realise this 'getting older' thing isn't going to stop, at least.

[dracothelizard.livejournal.com]

And the disconcerting age where you're allowed everything you're ever going to be allowed to do - drinking, living on your own, driving, etc.

Also, I've been over 25 for a month now, clearly I need to leave fandom immediately before anyone is scandalised :p.

[wanttobeatree.livejournal.com]

I would love to see businessmen skipping down the high street 'cause they're late for work. Viva la revolucion.

[rionaleonhart]

That's half the reason I'm proposing this, I have to say. I dream of an age when the protagonists of a detective show discussing a murder whilst skipping along the road is perfectly normal.

[loz]

My mind just immediately went to Sherlock ("it's research, John.") I approve of this idea.

[derryderrydown.livejournal.com]

OMG LEWIS AND HATHAWAY SKIPPING DOWN THE STREET TOGETHER.

[prologi.livejournal.com]

If I hadn't just swallowed that mouthful of tea, it would be all over the screen. Thank you for that mental image. :DDD

[loz]

I currently teach five year olds, and as such, I get away with a lot of stuff under the guise of it being for work. I get to play with playdough and lego and Knex, I get to go see Kids' films and have more than a passing acquaintance with Kids' tv. I can sing childhood favourite songs as frequently as I so wish. It's really rather excellent.

[rionaleonhart]

Ooh, that's rather ingenious. I'd quite like to have children at some point, and, whilst it's obviously not the sole reason, the fact that having children gives you an excuse for these things certainly isn't a downside.

[serriadh.livejournal.com]

I'm quite certain this is one reason many people have children. My mother has a brilliant story about how pleased she was to have my sister and me as an excuse to leave during the (long, boring) sermon at church. 'They want to play with glitter now! How convenient!'

[nomelon.livejournal.com]

I approve wholeheartedly. I often lament the constraints of being a so-called grown up in society. I find the burden of public silliness is eased if you're in company, though. It's the solitary enjoyment of skipping that would really raise eyebrows.

[denorios.livejournal.com]

I agree with you absolutely. There's no logical reason for it, unless you accept the mindset that being an adult requires one to comport one's self with a certain amount of dignity. Which is clearly bollocks, because most adults are very far from dignified!

I don't see anything wrong with adults climbing trees or skipping or blowing bubbles in a public park or playing hide-and-seek, or any number of other 'childish' things. If it's still fun, why not?

[th-esaurus.livejournal.com]

A good point well made! And I have nothing intelligent to add ;__;

(Except for what did you think of CR2. ADULT LIFE.)

[rionaleonhart]

(I THOUGHT INTELLIGENT, ADULTLIKE THINGS ABOUT CAMP ROCK 2. I thought it was an interesting metaphor for, erm, erm, blind loyalty? I liked the way Mitchie had dyed her hair black in order to symbolise the fact that she was more grown-up, because black is a sombre colour and adults aren't allowed to be cheerful, and I certainly haven't been dancing along to 'Can't Back Down' in front of my computer.

Seriously, though, I thought it was cute and fun and delightfully rubbish and that the music was overall better than the first Camp Rock. Also, I found the result of the final jam refreshing, although it would have been more refreshing had it not been for the 'well obviously they only won because of the advertising campaign' thing.

I watched Up yesterday, by the way! I wept quite a bit.)

[th-esaurus.livejournal.com]

(I like that Mitchie dyed her hair black because Demi Lovato is a cool emo kid who dyed her hair black so much that they physically couldn't strip it out before filming started. True story.

The story stands up to NO SCRUTINY AT ALL. Like, Camp Rock is endorsed by Connect Three, supposedly a SUPER HUGE FAMOUS MEGABAND. So it makes no sense that it would be, like, not popular. WHY WOULDN'T KIDS WANT TO BE TAUGHT BY CAMP COUNCILLORS CONNECT THREE. Whatever. I'll just sit here and listen to Introducing Me a billion times.)

Up! It is so heartbreaking and beautiful.

[rionaleonhart]

(I found it impossible to recognise her with black hair. I rely entirely on hair to recognise people. Once upon a time, a guy came in when I was with some friends in a pub and joined us, and it wasn't until someone addressed him by name twenty minutes later that I realised I'd met him on multiple occasions before; he'd just shaved his head since the last time I'd seen him.

'Introducing Me' is a charming song! I was a little distracted from the delightful lyrics the first time I heard it by how much it sounded like 'I'm Yours' by Jason Mraz, though.)

[th-esaurus.livejournal.com]

(Hahaha, no, I am--bad at recognising people if they change something significant about their appearance. With you on that.

And, it is the same song. NGL. It is just the same song. Here for your amusement is Nick singing it under 2 minutes. LIKE A BEAST. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Srk19t6YdY )

OKAY I'M GOING AWAY NOW, what a post ruiner.

[rionaleonhart]

(NICK JONAS THAT IS NOT HUMAN.

Also, ever since watching Camp Rock 2, I've been trying to work out how one uses 'dude' as an adjective.)

[th-esaurus.livejournal.com]

(A BEAST.

During soundcheck, there was a portion where we could ask them questions. Sadly, only after the show did we hit upon the best question ever: Nick Jonas, please can you use the word 'dude' as an adverb in a sentence.)

[ihavecake.livejournal.com]

I have a great deal of love for both you and this post. And not just because "children's" cookery books/tv are amongst my favourite things.

[derryderrydown.livejournal.com]

Some people seem to feel that fandom should be a space exclusively for people under twenty-five. Why?

See, I am an Old Fogey of fandom and remember the days when fanfiction came in paper zines. And because these cost around £10 (and this was more than ten years ago, so £10 was more than it is now), people under twenty-five generally couldn't afford to be in fandom.

[dracothelizard.livejournal.com]

And yet, whenever I see a wank report on Fandom Wank from the zine times, it doesn't seem to be all that different, except more verbose and slower, as everything had to be done by regular mail.

[derryderrydown.livejournal.com]

Well, with fandom being harder to get into/slower/more expensive, you only got the really obsessive people. Which meant there was plenty of batshit to go around!

Alas, age doesn't equal maturity. (I am living, breathing proof of this.)

[dracothelizard.livejournal.com]

Oooh, more concentrated batshit! I like it.

[theoret.livejournal.com]

I VOTE YES TO SKIPPING BUSINESS PEOPLE.

Also, my summer job this year took place in a business park with quite tree-y grounds, and I spent several lunchtimes over the summer sitting in a tree reading and eating my lunch. GOOD TIMES.

[littlemoose.livejournal.com]

Growing old is compulsory, growing up is optional. *nods*

I vote yes to skipping (I know what you mean on that point, I still skip, but only when there's no-one looking) also yes to not getting funny looks for going on the swings! Swinging is great exercise!

[swing-set.livejournal.com]

<3

That is all.

[bubbles-san.livejournal.com]

My dad is building a new shop in our backyard and yesterday I got distracted by the resulting dirtpile for about twenty minutes. And one of my friends turns thirty in about two months and my dad thinks he's MY age because of the way he acts/looks. Which is convenient, you know, I doubt Dad would be keen on that.

[prologi.livejournal.com]

Dignity is hugely overrated.

I fucking love skipping. It's way faster than walking and way more fun that running. I think Michael McIntyre or someone has a bit about it, so we're not alone in this. :D

[rionaleonhart]

Ooh, so he does! Thank you for pointing that out. Carry on raising awareness of the practicality of skipping, Mr McIntyre!

[tangyabominy.livejournal.com]

Word to the wordy McWord.

Why is it that society is determined to insist that past a certain age, you just ought to get to have less fun? Why? Can't life be tricky enough as it is without arbitrarily diminishing the fun people are allowed to have?

And yet even if you know this, it's hard to stand up to the EYESONTHEBACKOFYOURNECK. Props to you for the tree thing. :)

[ukcalico.livejournal.com]

http://xkcd.com/150/

That is all. :)

[nicodeimus.livejournal.com]

Treehouses, man. That's what we need. Solve the housing crisis and 85% of the country's depression in one fell swoop.

[justspaz.livejournal.com]

SKIPPING IS AMAZING.

I adore it. In fact, there are many things I do that aren't socially acceptable but only for boring reasons, like singing badly in public and dancing in the street/rain/on the ceiling. So yes, I approve of this entry.

But it segways me into something: this topic (well, sort of-hard to explain) was the subject of a David Mitchell's Soapbox, and I do not like disagreeing with him, but unfortunately I do on this subject. Have you seen it?

[rionaleonhart]

Don't ever let society arbitrarily keep you from physically implausible dancing!

I don't believe that I have seen that Soapbox, no. David Mitchell strikes me as a man who is a bit terrified of breaching society's unwritten laws, so I wouldn't be surprised if such things made him uncomfortable.

[kaatsu.livejournal.com]

I skip all the time inside my house/yard, and no-one can take that from me. :I It's fun AND efficient!

[invisiblecake.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I skip at work, and my friend who just started working there dances when it gets slow. The managers are confused by it, but it's awesome.

I totally bought myself a box of Lego last winter, but felt embarrassed about it at first, so I hid it outside in a bush until everyone went to bed. That seems horrible to me. I love Lego (this may be partially James May's fault), and I shouldn't have to hide it!

I watch kid's shows when no one's home.

I bought a Hot Wheels car today.

I shouldn't need to feel ashamed of this stuff! :(

[invisiblecake.livejournal.com]

Also I read Animorphs books all the time. I bring them to work and read them on my breaks and tell everyone how good they are. :D

[rionaleonhart]

I was so in love with the Animorphs series! It would have been my first fandom, had I known what fandom was when I started reading them. Those were some great books.

Reading about your age-inappropriate escapades made me smile a lot. (Lego is architectural construction in miniature! What's immature about that? Nobody should be allowed to judge you.)

[invisiblecake.livejournal.com]

I totally don't have time to play with them anymore with my work schedule and art making, but I REALLY want to get more to add to my box. It's kinda empty.

[vampirespider.livejournal.com]

Solution: Grab three friends, link arms and skip happily down the road, humming, or out-right singing, Follow the Yellow Brick Road. Sure, you get weird looks, but it's awesome.

(In other words, you are so right <3)

[anamour.livejournal.com]

I haven't skipped in a woefully long time but as someone who used to used it as a method of keeping up with longer-legged parents I can definitely see its advantages in both speed and fitness. I did however quite recently run out into the middle of a grassy area and spin around and around until I fell over, which is less practical but enjoyable nevertheless.

[timydamonkey.livejournal.com]

See, the good thing for me is people already view me as a total weirdo, so me skipping down the street wouldn't gain me any weirder looks than I normally get XD

But yes, I see what you mean.

Funnily enough, I'm a Runescape player still, on-off (I know not a lot of people like it these days but what can I say). I'm twenty now - I made my accounts when I was twelve. So sometimes when people say stuff like "people over 18 playing this are disgusting :(" or whatever, I kinda feel like saying, "Hey kid, I started playing when I was younger than you, I haven't grown out of it yet - what does it matter how old I am now?".

I like fandom and have no intention of getting out of it yet. Some of my friends have grown or are growing out of it and it worries me that they're gonna hate me when that happens, but that isn't quite yet. I still have time for now.

-

On a completely random note, Riona, I thought you might like this fic I found swim up on my author alert list: A Brief Account of Life With Zombies (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6253167/1/A_Brief_Account_Of_Life_With_Zombies). It's a Sherlock fic which I know you enjoy.

[amy-wolf.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, all of the good-sized trees in the vicinity are coconut trees, which are quite hard to climb and don't have convenient sitting space on top. But I approve of the skipping revolution.

One of the good things about the crutches is that I can hop along the street playing imaginary hopscotch (I pretend there's a grid) or pretend balance-beam walk across the concrete things in parking lots or otherwise be silly. People look at me a bit for it, but they stare anyway, so why not have fun with it?

I think part of the problem with not enough exercise is seriously related to the skipping thing. Adults are only allowed to exercise in sufficiently serious ways. It has to either be A Workout Program with a serious face and results on a chart and workout clothes and equipment and lots of numbers to show you're working at it, or something competitive. And even the competitive stuff gets a bit of a "Oh, grow up!" attitude if it's at the point where you're clearly never going to be a professional and are just doing it for fun. Adults aren't supposed to play or exercise in fun ways, and it's hard to get people to do serious work after a day at the office of serious work.

I hope they don't start kicking people out of fandom after twenty-five. I didn't really find fandom until after twenty-five.

[sparklenight.livejournal.com]

I love this post. One thing I have to add is, now that we're past adolescence, it seems even odder if we enjoy things aimed at teenagers. At least acting like children has that distance with it that could be interpreted as nostalgia or whimsy, but I feel like, for example, enjoying young adult literature is more readily dismissed as immaturity.

[saaski-moql.livejournal.com]

I enjoy reading books from the YA section, follow more comics than I should care to admit, and plan to someday fulfill my lifelong dream of being a Power Ranger. I think the skipping revolution is an excellent idea.

Then again, part of my exercise routine is to scale and/or hang upside-down from bits of jungle gym (http://saaski-moql.livejournal.com/422795.html), so I might not be the one to talk to about being worried with causing a scene.