um. video games, mostly.

I stared at the patterns in wallpaper, wood, and paint swirls. I saw monsters, fairies, clouds and people's distorted faces all telling fascinating little stories about how big and absurd the world is, under the surface.
I think it fits with being a journalist. What does no one else see in the patterns...?

Wow - just had a profund penny drop moment. As kids, we used to build villages of little houses out of natural materials. Walls made of bark; roofs made of moss. Tiny windows with frames of thin tree branches. Then invent stories of who lived there, what their daily lives were like and which adventures they’d encounter in the garden / forest. All at a doll / gnome scale at first, I think we called them gnome villages. This was around year 4 in school. As older kids, around year 5-7, we went out and built ‘huts’ in the forest at a larger scale so we could use them ourselves, nestled on a slope between the trees, next to a creek. Merely re-arranging sticks, hacking steps in the clay and using our imagination to fill in the gaps and connecting our homes to form a village / commune - yet again. Im sure we all envisioned it differently, I saw it as an Ewok style village. So much fun, and countless adventures were had and stories were told over 2-3 summers. The days lasted forever and yet went by in seconds. We also started cleaning up the creek bed and felt like heroes when we brought back a wheelbarrow full of trash. We took pride in taking care. Fast forward a couple of decades, I ended up in high end hospitality interior architecture, and have been super interested in the application of natural materials like bamboo, stone, (rammed) earth, clay bricks, lime plaster etc and creating low impact, sustainable, regenerative, experiential, retreat style boutique accommodation. Pavilions in a food forest. For people to be able to connect with nature, re-discover their oneness with the cosmos, dig their hands into the soil and feel the web of life, share their vision and knowledge of the world in workshops and retreats, and ultimately create a community of like minded spirits that can inspire others. A little Ewok village of tree houses and earthships, bonfires and creek cleanups, for story telling and self-expression. I CANNOT BELIEVE this is the first time I made that connection. Thank you.

I think we should give Carl most of the credit, but I'm loved reading this reminiscence/realization.