I’m a firm believer that sometimes it’s beneficial to your soul to do things that don’t necessarily have a purpose other than just being fun and being silly.
I think it was George Bernard Shaw (though I could be completely wrong) who said “We don’t stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.” I wholeheartedly agree with that statement and have lived my life accordingly since long before I knew of his quote or knew that there were such eloquently formed words to express it.
So, in keeping with the idea of finding new and fun ways to “play” and stay young, I now am the proud owner of my very own Traveling Toy!
For those of you who have already grown up, I’ll explain what a Traveling Toy is.
I think it pretty much started with the Traveling Gnome Prank. From wikipedia:
The traveling gnome prank is a popular method of returning a garden gnome “to the wild”. It involves stealing a gnome, taking it on a trip around the world (usually passing it from person to person), and photographing it at famous landmarks, with the photos being returned to the owner. Sometimes the gnome returns with a wife and children.
From there…it’s safe to say that the Traveling Gnome Prank inspired the Flat Stanley Project that many school children take part in. Again, from wikipedia:
Students begin by reading the book and becoming acquainted with the story. Then they make paper “Flat Stanleys” and keep a journal for a few days, documenting the places and activities in which Flat Stanley is involved. The Flat Stanley and the journal are mailed to other people who are asked to treat the figure as a visiting guest and add to his journal, then return them both after a period of time. Students may find it fun to plot Flat Stanley’s travels on maps and share the contents of the journal. Often, a Flat Stanley returns with a photo or postcard from his visit.
So, that’s the basis from which the Traveling Toy grew. Now, I’m not doing it as a prank or part of a school project to study geography. I’m just doing it for the fun of it.
A couple of my friends have their own Toys that they take with them everywhere and do photo shoots with and even the occasional video. I always thought it was a cute idea, so for the past couple months I’ve been on the hunt for a Travel Toy of my own.
I originally wanted to find a Peter Pan toy that would work as a good Travel Toy, not only because he is my favorite Disney character, but because the character of Peter Pan has some parallels to the whole idea of playing and not growing up. But finding a Peter Pan toy that looked like it would be good for this project proved very difficult.
I finally found one this past week that not only looked like it would work well, but also just looked fun. He arrived in the mail today, and he is perfect!
His name is Bossy Bear and he was created by the same man who invented the Ugly Dolls. I’m going to be doing some testing with him around the city over the next couple of weeks to determine how to best photograph him in various locations to optimize his facial expression and physicality to result it the funniest pictures. Because, ya know, there’s a science to this sort of thing. And then two weeks from tonight he goes on his first trip with me to Disney World.
I’m hoping to get some bizarre pictures with him as if he’s an actual travel companion. And if I’m feeling ballsy enough, I may just ask some of the characters to pose with him. Whatever happens, it’s going to be fun and silly and isn’t that the whole point anyway?
As soon as I got him home, I couldn’t wait to snap a couple pictures of him just to see how they would turn out, and I think this one is pretty cute. I think they’re going to be the best of friends.
I mean, come on! That’s adorable!
And who knows, maybe some day Bossy Bear will have even more stamps in his passport than I do.