Once again I am faced with a seemingly endless period of little to do and allot of time to do it in. It has gotten to the stage when even I, am questioning, just how often can I watch the Simpsons movie before I start having nightmares about the EPA and dreams about Lisa's boyfriend Colin...
How to fight this barrage of boredom? How to take back the day from the grips of despair? What activity could possibly occupy young minds that have just learnt complicated maths problems, analysis of classic literature and enough historical quotes to make Thucydides feel inadequate.
By doing the complete opposite.
After two years of hard study our brains simply aren't equipped to cope with more in depth television then SpongeBob and The Young and The Restless. This is the time when we don't want to watch serious political thrillers... we want Zoolander. A simple return to silliness to shift and sift through the sorrow that we shoulder.
I personally have found a few choice activities that allow my brain to switch off, meaning I am free from analysing just why this action movie starts with a shot of the American flag, what that means because of the context, and how are those values that are represented going to be corrupted or reinforced through the film... yes this is what three unit English does to you.
Option 1: Building card houses...
While this may seem old fashion and can be greatly... infuriating if a freak gust off wind demolishes your work before it can be completed, it requires full attention and your mind is unable to wander. You will stay completely focused on the task until you just get fed up with it... there is also immense satisfaction in knocking over a particularly large tower of cards, much the same feeling can be derived from a line of domino's and this is a suitable substitution.
Option 2: Puzzles...
Now I do not mean the little 30 piece, for ages 3-4, kind of puzzles, big ones that take days to finish. I have been working on a 1000 piece copy of a Botticelli painting... that is when my cat isn't sleeping on it.
Option 3: Walking...
Not only will you be glad but your doctor will be too. I now spend about 2 hours of my day walking... if this seems daunting... I agree. However I survive by walking half an hour blocks, your out in the sun getting fresh air and then home just as you start to get bored.
Option 4: Organise...
Those who say that they are naturally organised are liars... they just have way too much time on their hands. Organising is simple, mind numbing and there is always something that can be done. My particular favourite is bookshelves... generally I shift it into genre before suddenly deciding I rather like it alphabetical.
That leaves me free to change it back to genre the next day.
There are of course a large number of other completely pointless activities that allow one's mind to turn into contented goo.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment