Ideas to Bust Your Boredom

By Lang | Tuesday, 27 April | 9 Comments

Things to do on the weekend when boredom comes a-knockin’.

School has started again, but we all know chillax time is just as important! Grind has composed a list of activities and ideas that may keep you occupied and entertained when it’s time for a break from school.

1. Riding buses to nowhere

This idea came up as we sat around doing nothing in particular. Round up a few mates, hit the buses and cruise. As students get to travel for free, provided they have student cards, a group can travel all around Darwin for free. Buses also provide luxuries such as air conditioning and, since they move, the scenery is always changing. Another advantage of riding buses is that you will get to know Darwin and its bus routes.

2. Learn something new

Not exactly an original idea, but learning to do something new, whether it be a musical instrument, a new trick on a bike, or learning to draw can be very rewarding. Some suggestions of things to learn are: Morse code, juggling, as many digits of pi as possible, and trick card shuffling. See which ones you can come up with, try them out and leave us a comment saying how you went. You’l kill some time and learn something new while you are at it.

3. Write a short story

If you are anyway interested by reading fiction, then writing a short story can be interesting. You can write a short story about a character from a book or TV show you have watched or read, or you can make up a character. Even the character creation process can be interesting, as you can give your imaginary character any trait you want, any flaw, any strength and any name. And what is great about writing your own story is that anything can happen; from your character attempts to buy a trombone in Humpty Doo to Darth Vader attempting to destroy the human race from another galaxy, its up to you. And at the same time, you practise things such as spelling (very important) and grammar, as well as putting ideas into words.

4. Cooking

If you have a well stocked pantry or fridge that is full of ingredients, then cooking can be very rewarding and keep you occupied until you have finished. If you have never cooked before, you might want to try something simple like cupcakes, and then progress from there. Cooking can win you points with your parents and friends. Also, cooking is a valued skill by the opposite sex, so keep at it.

5. Get arty farty

Whether you are into art or not, it does not matter. Just do something which involves art, whether its finger or toe painting, drawing, arranging displays or leaving encouraging messages to passers by on the footpath in chalk. It does not matter if can or cannot draw, paint, write legibly or be creative. You can also attempt to teach yourself any of these.

Note: finger and toe painting is extremely fun, but remember only to get the paint on the thing you are painting, you do not need to redecorate the floors of the house while toe painting.

6. Make something

Home made items can be a lot of fun to make, whether you decide to make a sculpture out of the pebbles in your garden or make a castle out of a cardboard box. Or, you can make small gifts out of items laying around your house. You can make jewellery out of erasers, or robots out of you old VCR, or even a chain out of paperclips. If you are interested check out:

http://dollarstorecrafts.com/

7. Make a mini movie

If you have a video camera or a digital camera that can record videos, you can make and direct a mini video. With simple items, a few friends and a bit of improvisation you can make just about any type of mini movie from a three minute action thriller involving fights with a giant cardboard box monster to a ten minute sci fi featuring an alien with a liking to a laundry basket.

8. Make someone’s day

There are a few ways to go about brightening up another person’s day. You could write a thank you letter to someone who helped you, it is always nice to be appreciated. Or, you could write to a distant friend who may be drifting out of touch; its always good to hear from different friends. Another good idea is to write a list of things you like about someone then give it to them. If you find a display of appreciation embarrassing you could find a way to give it anonymously. If there is someone new in your street or at school/work, you could welcome them and introduce yourself and things of importance, such as your friends.

If you are interested check out http://www.operationnice.com/

9. Plan world domination

Plan out how to take over with a friend. You could try any approach, from taking over the world’s security services to contacting aliens and using them to take over the world. You could write up plans, and draw arrows on a world map and label it master plan as well as include photos and plans for strategic targets. This can keep you occupied for quite sometime.

10. Write a Grind article

Whether you are a part of Grind or not, you can write a Grind article. You can write it about anything from school subjects to genetic engineering. Anything that is relevant to you is probably of interest to others, and you could write an article about it. If you have an article already written, or even just need ideas, or maybe just interested, just email: grind@grindonline.com.au