Bored

This BBC article on boredom reminded me of this quote from Jerry Mander's Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television:

I am a member of the pre-TV generation....and I can still remember what it felt like to come home every day. First, I'd go look in the refrigerator....Then, slowly becoming bored, I'd play with the dog for a bit. Here comes the boredom. Nothing to do.

Slowly, I'd slip into a kind of boredom that seemed awful....It was exceedingly unpleasant, so unpleasant that I would eventually decide to act -- to do something. I'd call a friend, I'd go outdoors. I'd go play ball. I'd read. I would do something.

Looking back, I view that time of boredom, of "nothing to do," as the pit out of which creative action springs.